Cranford Football Aims for Two Straight Wins

The Cranford football team is happy to be playing on their “turf” this week, after traveling to West Jersey last Friday to earn a hard-fought 20-13 victory over Delaware Valley. In their version of "Friday Night Lights," they host Union County power Governor Livingston, a team which head coach Erik Rosenmeier holds a healthy dose of respect.

“It’s a great matchup,” said Rosenmeier. “Governor Livingston is where we want to be. They’ve been to the playoffs the last five years, went to the state finals last year. They only have two losses this year, but I like our chances."

The Cougars hope to pile up the yardage after last week’s impressive running attack amassed over 300 yards of rushing with five different ball carriers in their triple option offense.

Quarterback Joey Papandrea carried 18 times for 96 yards in that victory, including the final two touchdown runs. Tailback Kendall Greer also had a touchdown while hauling the pigskin 18 times for 88 yards, 23 of those yards on his TD scamper. All in all, it was a strong performance from the road team.

“I was very happy for the kids,” said Rosenmeier. “It’s a long ride out there, a longer ride home if we didn’t get it done. We faced adversity over there. We were down by seven, two times during the game, and we scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, so that means my kids are still getting after it, still working hard. And it was nice to see them get a victory.”

Junior back Sean Trotter also helped the cause with 48 yards on six carries, and Tyrone Avent rushed 12 times for 60 yards as well.

Defensively, the Cougars are led by sophomore Michael Klimek, JT Vicci, linebacker Alex Bartley, and defensive back Justin Van Ostenbridge, who made seven tackles last week. Rosenmeier knows his defense has to come up big if his team is to beat GL.

“Most of the year they’ve played well and we have a number of guys who can make tackles,” said Rosenmeier. “We keep rotating guys in, try and keep them fresh. J.T. Vicci had a good game, Michael Klimek as a sophomore has been outstanding, and so has Anthony DaSilva, Alex Bartley and Brian Fitzsimmons.”

And looking ahead, the future seems to be bright for the Cougars, thanks to a number of young players stepping up in key spots, including Klimek, DaSilva, J.P. Christiano, and Chris Wentwick, all sophomores who have been on the field exclusively as starters.

“We only have eleven seniors on the team," said Rosenmeier. “Only five of those guys start, so we do have a lot of young guys playing well.”

They’ll look to take the next step against a tough Highlanders squad this Friday. Game time at Memorial Field is set for 7:00 p.m.