Cougars Top North Plainfield

Earlier this week Cranford head coach Erik Rosenmeier said two
things that came true Friday night.

The first was if his football team made mistakes against North
Plainfield it would pay for them.The second was that his offense – although it didn’t show it in its first two games – had big-play capabilities.

Sparked by an outstanding performance from first-year junior
quarterback Reggie Green, who scored four touchdowns, including his first on a 60-yard run on the game’s second play from scrimmage, visiting Cranford went on to post a come-from-behind 35-20 win vs. North Plainfield at Krausche Field.

The Cougars also overcame giving up two touchdowns following their
own turnovers while North Plainfield’s third and final score gave the home team Canucks a very brief third quarter lead.

Cranford, which scored the game’s final 21 points, is now 3-0 for the
first time since 2003. North Plainfield fell in its home-opener and dropped to 1-2. Cranford also moved one step closer to qualifying for the playoffs for the first time since 2004 and for the first time in North 2, Group 3 since 2002.

“It’s great to be 3-0 because there was a lot of doubt about us,” said
Green, who now has seven rushing touchdowns and has also thrown for a TD pass in the season’s first three games.

Green, who is the first Cranford quarterback to lead the Cougars to a
3-0 start since junior Chris Drechsel did so eight years ago, found a hole up the middle and ran 60 yards, untouched, into the end zone. Sophomore placekicker Troy Kettler’s first of five point after kicks put Cranford up 7-0 just one minute in.

After holding North Plainfield to a three-and-out, Cranford lost a
fumble on its second possession, with Canuck junior linebacker Chris Smith recovering. North Plainfield marched 35 yards in nine plays, with senior fullback Marquis Rawlings scoring from the two-yard line to make it 7-6. The point after kick failed.

Green capped Cranford’s third possession with a four-yard
touchdown run as the Cougars led 14-6 at the half. Cougar senior linebacker Anthony DaSilva made two fine tackles on North Plainfield’s final first half possession.

Green lost a fumble on Cranford’s first third quarter drive, but then
North Plainfield quickly lost a fumble, with Cranford senior defensive
linemen T.J. Nichols recovering.

Following a pass interference call and a personal foul penalty on the
same play, Cranford had a first-and-goal at the North Plainfield 12. On first down, Green ran straight ahead and got hit at the 10.

The ball was jarred loose from his control, popped straight up in the
air and landed in the arms of Smith, who returned it 90 yards, untouched, into the end zone for six points. After a two-point run failed, with Cranford junior defensive lineman Ryan Farrell in on the tackle, Cranford’s lead was now 14-12.

“I cut back and slowed up a bit,” Green said of the fumble. “I know I
have to do a better job of holding on to the ball there.”

“That was a good hit, that’s the way we teach our kids to hit,”
Rosenmeier said.

North Plainfield struck again on its next possession, with Rawlings
getting to the outside on the right and rambling 63 yards to a go-ahead score. Sophomore quarterback Kyle Grant found an opening on the right side for a two-point run to put the Canucks ahead by a 20-14 count.

To Cranford’s credit, the lead didn’t last long at all. Cranford senior
Eric Garguilo returned the ensuing kickoff 55 yards from his own 30 to the North Plainfield 15 before he was dragged down by two tacklers.
Then on the very next play Cranford senior running back Chris Witwick found an opening and sprinted for a 15-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 20-20. Kettler’s third extra point put the Cougars ahead to stay at 21-20.

“Those were two huge plays by two seniors,” Rosenmeier said of the
Garguilo and Witwick efforts.

“After we fell behind we knew we could rally back,” Green said.
Witwick bolted for a 45-yard run later in the third quarter, at the time
giving him 59 yards on six carries. It led to a three-yard touchdown run by Green that put Cranford ahead 28-20 with less than a minute to go in the third.

Green scored his fourth touchdown on a one-yard run with 6:56
remaining to make it 35-20.

Cranford scored three touchdowns in each of its first two victories,
but there was still room for offensive improvement. Against North Plainfield that was accomplished, including that big-play capability Rosenmeier knew he would eventually see.

“Our offense was a lot more balanced,” said Green, who also
completed a couple of effective long passes, one going to a diving Gargiulo and the other to junior end Ryan Williamson.

When Cranford fell behind in the second half, the Cougars continued to fight. They didn’t let a couple of turnovers prevent them from their
ultimate goal of winning the game.

“That shows the character of this team,” Rosenmeier said. “I told
them that North Plainfield was going to make us pay for our mistakes and they did. However, the difference was that we found a way to come back and were still able to execute our game plan.”

MID-STATE 39 CONFERENCE-INTERDIVISION GAME
AT NORTH PLAINFIELD’S KRAUSCHE FIELD

CRANFORD (3-0)               7    7    14    7-35
NORTH PLAINFIELD (1-2)   6    0    14    0-20

FIRST QUARTER:
CRANFORD – Reggie Green 60 run, Troy Kettler kick (C 7-0)
2 plays, 63 yards, 1:01 used
NORTH PLAINFIELD – Marquis Rawlings 2 run, kick failed (C 7-6)
9 plays, 35 yards, 3:54 used: capitalized on turnover - fumble

SECOND QUARTER:
CRANFORD – Reggie Green 4 run, Troy Kettler kick (C 14-6)

THIRD QUARTER:
NORTH PLAINFIELD – Chris Smith 90 fumble return, run failed (C 14-
12)
NORTH PLAINFIELD – Marquis Rawlings 63 run, Kyle Grant run (NP
20-14)
CRANFORD – Chris Witwick 15 run, Troy Kettler kick (C 21-20)
1 play, 15 yards, :07 used
CRANFORD – Reggie Green 3 run, Troy Kettler kick (C 28-20)

FOURTH QUARTER:
CRANFORD – Reggie Green 1 run, Troy Kettler kick (C 35-20)