Football Team Travels to Voorhees Saturday in Search of Another Win

Call them the hungry Cougars.

One week after their outstanding opening night performance against Johnson Regional, the Cranford varsity football team will hit the road again - when they travel down the turnpike to face Voorhees tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Sixth-year head coach Erik Rosenmeier is confident his team will be ready after last week's impressive 43-20 rout of the Crusaders in front of  a packed house in Clark.

"We hadn't won a season-opener since 2005," noted Rosenmeier. "It was very important for this years' team to set the tone by starting out with a victory. Johnson was a playoff team last year -- they had a lot of guys back -- and our kids knew that they would have to come and play well and follow the plan that we had set forth, control the football, run the ball, play good defense, keep their offense off the field and we were able to get that."

Things didn't start off well for the Cougars when they turned the ball over on the second snap of the game which led to a Johnson touchdown. But they found the resolve to fight back moments later, driving for the touchdown to get them right back in the game.

"What I was proudest of, was that we had talked to them about fighting through adversity," added Rosenmeier. "The last couple of years, when bad things happened to us, we struggled to get out of it...While I didn't need them to find adversity on the second play of the game by fumbling, I was happy that we were able to overcome it."

And did they ever -- scoring 29 unanswered points in the first half alone to take a commanding 29-7 lead.

"Even though we let the touchdown up, we were able to go right down the field afterwards and score and then take control of the game after that. For that period of time up until the end of the first half, we dominated the game, and that was enough for us to be victorious."

For the Cougars to be victorious against Voorhees -- they'll need more big performances from their triple threats running out of their triple option offense. Quarterback Joey Papandrea, and backs Sean Trotter and Tyrone Avent each amassed over 100 yards of rushing apiece last week. Justin Van Ostenbridge had 50 yards to add to the potent offensive attack.

"I think we make it very difficult for teams to scheme for us. If they decide they're going to take away one, then we can take advantage of our other guys...Voorhees struggled in their first game, but I know they had a couple of injured players they'll be getting back. This is their home opener. They'll be excited."

And what does the coach want to see tonight?

"I'm looking for us to become a consistent football team. We've been saying an old quote -- one warm day does not a summer make. Well, we gotta make sure that we can do this consistently. So I think we're out this week to prove we have a good football team this year -- not just with that one last week -- but for us to show a little consistency and go out and play the same type of game we played in week one, and hopefully, even better."