Coach Anthony Lanzafama remained optimistic that his Old Bridge High School football team will rebound after opening the season with a defeat.
Old Bridge launched the 2017 season on its home turf on Sept. 8 when South Brunswick High School came to town and left with a 35-6 victory.
South Brunswick had built a 22-0 lead in the first quarter, but Old Bridge cut into that deficit when Tyler Haughney bolted 14 yards to score a touchdown.
After a surprising downpour of rain came down at halftime, South Brunswick came out and dominated to ice the victory.
“I just told the guys, ‘Look, we just played a really good team in South Brunswick,’ ” Lanzafama said. “We knew they were good. But I love the fact that we kept fighting. We were down 22 points in the first quarter, and we fought back to put the ball in the end zone to make it a two-score game. [There were] a lot of positives. I think our kids showed some fight. They stayed together. I didn’t hear any negativity on the sideline. So there’s a lot to build on from this game.”
Lanzafama pointed out that his team will learn from the defeat.
“Playing a great opponent in week one is good,” Lanzafama said. “If we can now get better from it and clean up our mistakes, we’ll be fine. We did make some mistakes, too. They’re very good, but we made mistakes that didn’t help. Add it all up and you get what you got tonight. But we’ll learn and be fine.”
Lanzafama is also looking for his Knights to improve on executing their skills.
“Just the execution needs to be better, especially on the offensive side” Lanzafama said. “We missed some blocks. We also missed some assignments. Against this team, not only do you have to execute perfectly, but you also have to go make a play. We had a hard time executing, and once we got [in the red zone], they’re good. They’re hard to block, and they’re fast. Really, [it’s] just the execution on offense, and we need to tackle a little bit better on defense.”
Lanzafama is standing firm that the loss will not halt the goals of his club, which will bid for its first victory on Sept. 15 when Monroe Township High School pays a visit to Old Bridge for a 7 p.m. game. Monroe lost its opener at home to Edison High School, 28-16, on Sept. 8.
“Our expectations are to try to get better every day,” Lanzafama said. “By playing this opponent, we’re going to get better, and now we focus on the next game. We have Monroe on [Sept. 15]. The goal is to be 1-0 next week.”
