By Jeff Appelblatt
The sidelines at Freehold Township High School were roaring when the school’s football team hosted rival Howell High School Oct. 21.
While the fans on the Howell side were able to match the noise level of the home team, Freehold Township was unable to match the offensive intensity of the visiting Rebels.
When all was said and done — despite the “we’re not stopping” cries from Freehold Township’s fans with the Patriots trailing late in the game — Howell marched into Freehold Township and won, 22-13.
“They’re our top rival,” Freehold Township coach Cory Davies said after the game. “They outplayed us. We just couldn’t get things going.”
The rivalry between the teams goes even further than the actual game. Davies was on the Howell sideline for 21 years before a short-lived retirement and a switch to Freehold Township.
But when it came to the game, it was about what was happening on the field. Howell quarterback Edwin Morales III could not be stopped the first three quarters, beginning just over two minutes into the game when he threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Nasiem Brantley.
“He’s good,” Howell’s coach, Luke Sinkhorn, said about Morales. “He’s one of our top playmakers. People talk about coaches, but it’s your playmakers that decide a game.”
Howell lost to an undefeated team, Manalapan High School, the week before the trip to Freehold, but Morales still believed his team was as good as any other. And that was his mindset the minute the game started against the Patriots.
“We don’t look at anybody as a big threat,” Morales said after the win. “I have all the faith in my defense.”
Howell’s defense kept Freehold Township, a team that scored 77 points in its two prior outings, uncomfortable on its home field.
Freehold Township quarterback Charles Sabbagh couldn’t get things going. He connected on more than two touchdown passes per game in the team’s first six contests. But against the Rebels, it was only a 27-yard pass to Adrian Rybaltowski in the second quarter that got the Patriots into the end zone.
“They got the better of us today,” Sabbagh said following the game. “They’re a great team. They did a great job.”
Sabbagh made Freehold Township’s other trip into scoring territory when he took it in himself in the fourth.
But it was too little, too late. The Patriots misfired on a two-point attempt. From there, Howell was able to take its time with the ball and a nine-point lead.
And next thing Sabbagh and his teammates knew, the fans from the Howell side were on the field celebrating.
“Obviously, it’s tough to get over,” Sabbagh said. “Our crosstown rival [beat us].”
Nonetheless, Sabbagh expects to get over the feeling of defeat in time for the squad’s next game.
“As coach was telling us, it’s not how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you could get hit and keep moving forward. So we took a hit today. We just got to bounce back; we got to move forward,” the senior said. “We’re gonna come out next week; we’re gonna play our hearts out. And we’re just going to keep going forward. I have 100-percent faith in our guys to bounce back.”
The chance to bounce back for Freehold Township (6-1) will be at East Brunswick High School (1-5) Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.
Like Sabbagh, Freehold Township’s coach expects things to improve following the team’s first loss.
“We already talked about what went wrong in this game,” Davies said after talking to his team on the field. “I’m confident we’ll right things in time for the next game.”
Howell (4-3) also returns to the field Oct. 28 when it hosts New Brunswick High School (2-5) at 6:30 p.m.
