By Jeff Appelblatt
Piscataway Township High School outplayed Manalapan High School when the teams met in Piscataway Oct. 29. But Manalapan was able to overcome the deficit through three quarters and turn the game around. With a few fourth-quarter touchdowns, Manalapan walked away with a 21-10 victory.
That win got the Braves to a perfect 8-0, and they never looked back. It was only going to take four more wins before the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group V title was their own. The first three wins came convincingly, including a pair of state playoff victories. However, win No. 12 just wasn’t meant to be thanks to the team from Piscataway.
The Chiefs made that clear to the Braves when the teams faced off in the championship game Dec. 3 at Rutgers University’s High Point Solutions Stadium. The Braves found themselves down by 14 points at halftime, and the team that averaged more than 38 points per game entering the contest struggled to find the end zone the rest of the way. Naim Mayfield was able to cross in twice, but it was far too little for Manalapan.
When the final horn went off, the Braves were down, 34-13, and the Chiefs were the 2016 Central Jersey, Group V champions.
“Those guys deserved to be the champs,” Manalapan coach Ed Guerrieri told his club as it circled around him after the game. “[Piscataway] outperformed us in every way possible.”
The coach also begged his team to place all the blame on him, but quarterback Luke Corcione knew it was the players that lost the game on the field.
“We ran the plays we were running all year, and it just didn’t work,” the junior said. “They played a better game than us, and there was nothing really we could do.”
Corcione himself only managed to get 12 passes off against the suffocating Piscataway defense, completing six of them for only 14 yards. Two of his passes were intercepted, and twice Corcione failed to even get a pass off because he found himself looking up into the air following a pair of sacks.
Senior Cody Wiener, who took a seat alone on the side of the field after his coach’s speech, was more or less stunned by what had taken place.
“We came out confident. They came out confident,” the team’s top kicker said. “[But] they smacked us around like we were nothing.”
The fans on the Manalapan side of the crowd were cheering just as hard when the second half started, but Piscataway opened the frame showing the Braves and their fans that a comeback was out of the question. The Chiefs found another path into scoring territory quickly in the third quarter, allowing them to go up, 20-0.
Mayfield kept the fans loud when he got the Braves onto the scoreboard before the end of third, but Piscataway wasn’t ready to slow down on either end of the field. In fact, the Chiefs found the end zone two more times in the fourth quarter, putting a bow on the their first state championship since 2011.
Manalapan’s defense allowed fewer than 10 points per game to its opponents in the first 11 outings. So after giving up 34 in the most important game of the year, the team’s defenders also felt at fault for the loss.
“I came out with the same mindset [as any other game], and that was to win the football game,” defensive tackle Mike Cardinale said. “We just didn’t match the intensity that was set out.”
Manalapan was outplayed on both sides of the ball — something that Corcione hopes will only help motivate the Braves to get better in time for next season.
“They just outplayed us,” the junior said. “Every day, we’re going to be improving. Every day, we’re going to be getting better until we’re ready to come back next season.”
However, not all of the Braves will be back next year, including Cardinale.
“I’d love to play football in college. I’ve just got to see,” Cardinale said. “I hope to God I could find something; somewhere to go.”
Wiener is also hopeful for the chance to play beyond the recent loss.
“Hopefully I’ll go on to play at the next level,” he said. “If that was my last game, that just hurts.”
No matter where any of the 16 graduating players end up after this season, they’re optimistic about the future at Manalapan.
“This was a great season, and I really see a bright future for Manalapan,” Cardinale said.
Wiener agreed, adding that his teammates will be ready for another championship game.
“They’ll be back. Don’t worry, they’ll be back,” the senior said. “Just like we had to do this year, they’ll be stronger than they were this year. They’re going to be ready to play 12 games, and they’re going to be ready to win 12 games. I’ve got the trust in them to keep the program going, just like we did.”
Guerreri didn’t hear Wiener’s breakdown, but he’d unquestionably agree with it.
“We will be back,” the coach told his team. “We will be back.”
The 2017 season kicks off in September. Only time will tell.
