The Old Bridge High School football team is not going to overwhelm opponents with talent.
Instead, it will have to play solid football in all three phases, offense, defense and special teams, to win games and make the NJSIAA playoffs in 2019.
The Knights did that on Sept. 6 at East Brunswick High School in their season opener, beating the Bears, 17-14. Old Bridge blocked a punt and converted it into a touchdown. It made a field goal and two extra points. It even pinned the Bears deep in their own territory throughout the game.
Old Bridge was solid on offense and defense, too. Its offense scored a 78 yard touchdown in the second half, stretching the Knights’ lead to double digits. Its defense held East Brunswick to 99 rushing yards on 27 carries and 199 passing yards on 29 attempts, forcing 17 incompletions.
Coach Anthony Lanzafama’s team was stout, tough and well rounded at Jay Doyle Field, and those are the characteristics that make the difference in three point games.
Old Bridge will probably play a lot of those games in 2019, and it will be well equipped to win them. The Knights have a bye this weekend but they will continue their season on Sept. 20 at Perth Amboy High School. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
“I think we played well overall,” Lanzafama said of the East Brunswick victory. “Our defense and special teams were outstanding.”
Lanzafama really emphasized the special teams when he discussed the game on Sept. 11, five days after the victory.
“That was the key to the game,” he said.
And he was not wrong.
Sam Kamara’s blocked punt and the 43-yard return touchdown broke the ice late in the first half, putting Old Bridge up 6-0. Early in the fourth quarter, Old Bridge’s kicker, Andrew Vera, drilled a 21-yard field goal to increase Old Bridge’s lead to 10-0. Vera also nailed both extra point attempts.
His kicks, like Kamara’s run back, ended up making the difference in the final score.
When special teams is the story of a game, you know the winner earned a team victory, and team victories require a bunch of contributors.
For Old Bridge, there was Kamara and Vera on special teams.
There was Joe Santora, Elijah Mack, Manny Joseph and Jaden Ramos on the defensive line, who filled the gaps in East Brunswick’s option blocking scheme and freed up their linebackers, like Vera and John Fullman, to race around and make tackles.
There was one classic offensive highlight play, too. Senior back Rhyne Smith’s 78-yard touchdown gave Old Bridge a 16-7 lead in the fourth quarter and, like the special teams plays, it made the difference in the game.
Without any of those plays or players or performances, Old Bridge would have lost.
“It was a good test,” Lanzafama said. “When you battle through adversity, good things can happen.”
More than anything, Old Bridge showed character on Sept. 6, and that could go a long way this fall.
“We had an opportunity to respond to some adversity and we did, and we were able to win the game,” Lanzafama said. “There’s no quit in these guys.”
