Manalapan Braves Football team does it again

The 11u Braves took their second straight state American Youth Football title on Sunday with a 24-0 dominating victory over Point Pleasant. The game was played at Long Branch High School and was the Point Pleasant program's first ever team in a title game.

Johnny Williams lead all runners with 11 carries for 131 yards alongside two scores. Luca Minardo and Chase Enlow added some bruising runs and combined for another 90 on the ground. Andrew Mucciolo and A'shere Woolfolk kept the Point defense honest via wedge and edge runs to the tally of 80 yards. The Braves offense had well over 350 yards with Mike Ardito, Andrew Carver, Alex Osmun, Joe Hughes, and Nick Montelone leading the way in the trenches.

Coach Pat Marzo had some high praise for his team's performance. Marzo stated, "We stress effort, preparation, team work, and Hudl study. We ran a counter with Johnny Williams early in the second quarter because our opponent over loads too much to strength. Johnny darted for a long td run and on that run we had Andrew Mucciolo and Chase Enlow deliver key blocks at the point of attack. What was most impressive was the fact that thirty yards down field both players delivered another block each and then two lineman on the play, Minardo and Piedrahita, were 40 yards down field escorting Johnny into the end zone. That is what we teach and to see these young guys execute at that level is just terrific."

Defensively, Anthony Hammel put on a show. Bone jarring hits, tackles for loss, and a caused fumble on a huge sack in the third were some of his exploits. He was not alone. Billy Andrade, A.J. Mucciolo, Williams, and Andrew Mucciolo also had big plays on the D. Woolfolk (50 yard td return) and Minardo had interceptions.

For Manalapan, this is the programs 11th title. The Brave's offensive coach, Marzo, has been a part of 9 of these 11 titles and has lost just three games in New Jersey in the last 9 years. Marzo has won three National Championships ('12,'14,'16) and hopes to add to that this time around. Head Coach, Anthony Mucciolo, now enjoys his second straight title and has a strong supporting cast (Marzo, Frank Tackett, Jim Nolan, Jimmy Graham, Chris Hammel, Kameron Williams, Vin Difilippo, Nick Marzo, Rob Osmun, Kyle Drehwing, and Lou Cupo)

Coach Mucciolo had this to say, "all of the coaches worked tirelessly in managing 30 players and put them in a position to succeed, both individually and as a team." The coach then went on to praise the preparation these boys are receiving for high school by saying, "Coach Marzo has been sending champions and well schooled football kids to our high school for a decade now. We come from the same background and together are preparing a new group of champions for the next level."

This Braves squad heads down to the National Tournament to battle California, Texas, Florida, Michigan, and some teams TBD. The tourney lasts from Nov 30th to Dec 7th.

The Braves roster: Johnny Williams, A'shere Woolfolk, Andrew Mucciolo, AJ Mucciolo, Chase Enlow, Luca Minardo, Anthony Hammel, Billy Andrade, Jarrett Barber, Dennis Gabinelli, Dennis Healy, Alex Osmun, Vin Difilippo, Sean Nolan, Frank Tackett, Patrick Marzo, Joe Mizrahi, Jackson Pfister, Mike Bonaventura, Ryan Graham, Nick Leone, Christian Macalauso, Jake Piedrahita, Sean Sparks, Nick Montelone, Andrew Carver, Mike Ardito, Alex Drehwing, and Jospeh Hughes.

notes: Coaches of Manalapan's 6 degrees ... Nick Marzo, son of Pat Marzo, won three state titles and a national in the youth program. He is now the safety on the MHS varsity team but gives back to the MYFA program. Cupo is the brother in law of Mucciolo, Mucciolo played HS football under Marzo's dad at Monsignor Farrell. Marzo and Cupo played HS football together and were seniors, at Farrell, when Mucciolo was a freshmen. Williams played college football at Maryland but first was on one of NY State's best HS football teams (North Rockland) that was ranked in the top 10 along with the Marzo/Cupo team. All the above in mind, Mucciolo's team is the one with a NYC Title and recognized as one of NYC's best ever varsity squads!