By Jeff Appelblatt
The football team from Colts Neck High School knew the offensive dominance it was going to face when it went to Manalapan High School Oct. 7. The Braves posted more than 36 points per game in their first four contests.
When Manalapan took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter after Eli Avivi returned a punt 51 yards for a touchdown, the Cougars had to have known they were in trouble.
Manalapan’s defense allowed a mere four points per game entering the contest. In fact, all 12 points Manalapan gave up over the first four games were in the season opener. It then put up three straight shutouts.
The Braves couldn’t silence the Cougars for the full 48 minutes, but they kept them pretty quiet in cruising to a 41-8 victory to improve to 5-0 on the season.
Colts Neck ended Manalapan’s shutout streak in the second quarter when Carmen Catena carried the ball into the end zone, but the touchdown and 2-point conversion the Cougars scored were the end of their offense.
“The defense has been playing really well,” the Braves’ defensive coach, Dominic Lepore, said after the game. “The kids have been working really hard. They’ve been playing with a lot of confidence. It’s exciting.”
Giving up any points was still disappointing for the defensive players.
“Obviously, it’s going to be disappointing,” said junior Sal Tardogno, who got his first interception of the season in the second quarter. “We always want to get those shutouts.”
Senior Mike Cardinale couldn’t help but agree.
“It really hurts the defense,” he said. “You [hold] your head high on the shutouts.”
But Cardinale knows that the coaches will help get the defense back into top-notch form in time for the next game.
“We’re going to come back strong,” the senior said. “And hopefully next week, we’ll get another shutout.”
Lepore knew his defenders were bothered, but he had plans to get them looking past the eight points.
“It was tough. But it’s going to happen,” the coach said. “You got to forget about it and move on.”
Besides, the defense only gave up one touchdown, while the opponents’ defense allowed Manalapan into the end zone six times.
Cardinale, who got one tackle and three assists against Colts Neck, recognizes how great it is to defend for a team that’s taking care of business on offense.
“[To be 5-0] — it’s amazing. But you can’t give all [the credit] to the defense,” he said. “The offense does a great job. You don’t get 40 points for no reason. As a group, the offense is lethal.”
That lethal offense is run by quarterback Luke Corcione. In three quarters on the field against the Cougars, the junior completed 11 of 18 passes for 187 yards and four touchdowns. The touchdown passes went to Michael Taylor, Sean Kinniburgh, L’Jeron Holder and Scott Scherzer.
Naim Mayfield spent much of the game picking up yards for the Braves. The junior caught three passes for 75 yards and ran the ball nine times for another 41 yards.
Like the defense, the offense never needs to depend on just one guy.
With that in mind, Lepore hopes his team will be more prepared to stop the offense of its next opponent, Howell High School, than Howell’s defense will be to stop Manalapan.
“Howell’s going to be a big challenge, so it should be fun,” the coach said. “It’s a rivalry game.”
Howell (3-2) is coming off a 24-15 victory against Neptune High School.
The upcoming game is slated for Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in Howell.
