Absegami Can't Keep Up with Holy Spirit

Last season, the Absegami High School football team was a preseason favorite in the Cape-Atlantic League. However, an early season loss to Holy Spirit derailed their chances, and the Braves finished at a disappointing 4-6.  

On Friday night, the Braves met the Spartans again, this time at Ed Byrnes Stadium. While the final score of 42-14 seems like a similar result to last season’s final score, this game was very competitive.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Absegami head coach Dennis Scuderi Jr. “I thought we gave a very good effort. If they are one of the top teams, I'm not sure how far behind we are.”

For two quarters, Absegami was every bit as good and at one point deep in the second quarter was better.  

After Holy Spirit scored on its opening drive, Absegami answered right back on a Tyler Bing touchdown run, making it 7-6 Braves with 2:14 left in the first quarter.

In the second, Holy Spirit got a 20-yard run from Donta Pollock, who had 243 yards and three touchdowns on the night, to make it 13-7.

The Braves answered right back on a 9-yard run by junior quarterback Rashad Kinlaw. With 5:35 left in the first half, the Braves held the lead, 14-13.

“They told me to read my keys,” said Kinlaw. "I saw the end commit, so I took it in. We knew their goal was to try and contain me and it was a battle out there."

A Holy Spirit fumble gave the Braves the ball back with 3:46 left in the half and a chance to add more points before heading to the locker room. On a key third down, Kinlaw found Bing, who was unable to bring in the pass.

The Braves were then stopped on fourth down, giving the ball and some momentum back to the Spartans.

“There is not a kid I love on this team more then I love Tyler Bing, but this loss can’t be pinned on that play. We were moving the ball well,” Scuderi said about the decision to go for it on fourth down. “We just knew to win this game we had to take chances.”

It seemed after that series, all the chances for Absegami were gone.

Holy Spirit, considered one the of state’s top teams, took the ball down and scored with just 10 seconds left in the half, making it a 21-14 game.

The Braves got the ball to open the second half, but were stopped right away and never challenged the Spartans defense the rest of the night.

“I thought we fought and battled,” Scuderi admitted after the game. "I told the kids to be proud and keep your heads up, we have a whole season ahead and we will take it one week at a time. Last season, this game cost us the season because we never rebounded from it. We are not letting that happen again.

"We are more together this season,” admitted Kinlaw. “We are like a family this season, I think we will move on from this. We’ll learn from it and move on.”