Manalapan Jr Pee Wee and Jr Midget Teams Advance to Nationals

3:24 left on the clock, ball on their ten yard line and trailing 18-16 to a tough Freehold Giants squad. This was the predicament the young Manalapan Braves found themselves in at the end of the Jr PW AYF State Title game On November, 16th. Head Coach, Pat Marzo, had all three timeouts and an offensive set and series of plays he rarely showed in his team’s eleven straight victories this season. The Braves executed thirteen straight flawless runs that covered eighty six and a half yards with five first downs. On a third and goal from just outside the six with just under thirty seconds to go Coach Marzo called on Hunter Konstantoulas. “I told Hunter if he had massive daylight and no one around him that he could try to get the edge but center field placement was more important because we could win this game with our field goal unit”, Coach Marzo stated. Hunter, seeing that the edge was contained, cut the ball up behind star guard, Joe Fratacci, and picked up three more yards in the center of the field.

What happened next, in conjunction with that drive, created what the announcer boomed, “Is what movies are made of.” Marzo let the time run down from twenty seconds and run and run signaling a timeout with just one second to go. The clock ran off a little extra and for what would make the scene even more dramatic, the clock at Rumson’s Borden Field showed 00:004 as in four tenths of one second remaining. It was 4th down and goal and no one, except for the Brave’s staff, seemed to know that they were attempting a field goal with their kicker, Vincenzo Rea. When the Braves lined up for the attempt the place went from a roar to almost complete silence. Marzo explained, “ Vincenzo kicks for thirty minutes before every practice with his father, Paul, who is our special teams coach. We practice extra points and field goals out to about the 15 yard line (32 yard FG) every practice. As a unit we go live offense and when we score against our defense we line up for a live kick. While we do this we shout out mock scores, scenarios, and put as much pressure on our snapper (Mike DeMayo), holder (Chris Marzo) and of course our kicker (Vincenzo). We yell during the kicks, distract them, and do what we can to mimic a high pressure situation. The snap and hold at this age are not easy tasks but Mike (DeMayo) and Chris (Marzo) are two great athletes who seem to be able to perfect anything. When the snap and hold are executed, Vincenzo is over ninety percent from that distance. Including the occasional error in the snap or hold we are still at eighty percent. It was a numbers call and what we, as a staff, thought was our best chance to win.” Win, they did. Rea’s kick rocketed through the uprights and although technically was a twenty yard field goal it may have been good from that thirty plus range Marzo spoke about.

The Braves trailed 12-0 in the first quarter and 18-8 at the half. Anthony Matrone had a long touchdown run in the second quarter of forty plus yards and punched it in from the one for his second score of the day in the early fourth quarter to cut the Freehold lead to 2. On both of these touchdowns, Rea kicked extra points (two points in youth football). Matrone and Konstantoulas both rushed for over 100 yards on the day. Rea, with his seven points scored and game winner, was named the game’s MVP. Freehold dominated the rest of the league but at 10-2 took both losses at the hands of Manalapan. Marzo added, “Freehold came prepared. They have a deep squad and some of the best athletes I have ever witnessed play this game at this age.” The Brave’s coach wanted to acknowledge the fourth and three defensive stop by Ray Vender, Gavin Claro and Francesco Barone that turned the ball over on downs and gave his team the ball and a chance to win. Marzo is now heading to the AYF Nationals for the fourth season in a row as the NJ State Champ with two different teams. Coach Joe Santomarco is the head coach of the Manalapan Jr. Midget team and he and Marzo were together for the Brave’s Jr PW National Title in 2012. Marzo explained, “Joe and I started coaching together in 2011. We came together and had common goals of discipline, fundamentals, and winning. We fell just short of a National Title in 2011 but achieved that goal in 2012, together. We have different styles but learned a lot from each other. In 2013, I moved down to a younger squad and after a State Title fell just short of a National Championship. Joe fell just short of the State Title last year with the older team. Now we are both back in the National Championship hunt with our respective squads and we both have solid chances.”

Santomarco’s Jr. Midget squad (11-1) won their State Title game in convincing fashion, 28-0 over the previously undefeated, Jackson Jaguars. Andre Johnson was named MVP with two touchdown runs and over 170 yards on the ground. Fullback Alex Baran and QB Lucas Demato scored for the Braves as well. The Brave’s defense set the tone early on a stop after one first down by the Jaguars. This is a team that has lost just two games in NJ over the last four years, has three State Titles, and one National Title. Both Marzo and Santomarco gave a lot of praise to MYFA President Rich Staklinski and their respective coaching staffs for putting in a ton of time and effort to make both of these teams State Champions.

These Manalapan squads head down to Kissimmee, Florida on Dec 5th to compete in against the rest of the country’s regional champions.

The State Champion Jr Pw team: I’shawn Pitts, Chris Marzo, Mike Spinelli, Mike DeMayo, Spencer Cusumano, Ben Pirozzi, Calvin Burke, Francesco Barone, Dante Barone, Nick Martini, Andrew Roginski, Vincenzo Rea, Corey Holowach, Joe Fratacci, Joe Sauchelli, Anthony Matrone, Hunter Konstantoulas, Jake Heitzner, Mario Chierchia, Gavin Claro, Jon Gelb, Tyler Walker, Zach Simmons, Justin Nyers, Matty Defelice, and Ray Vender

The State Champion Jr Midget team: Nick Marzo, Andre Johnson, Paul Santomarco, Lucas Demato, Ron White, Kyle Spilsbury, Isa Farraj, Alex Baran, Julian Boyarsky, John Defelice, Ryan Dawe, Joe Berry, Josh Shoenhaus, Alex Claro, Nico Santorelli, Jack Dematteo, Mike Danzieri, Evan Sivelle, Ed Uhrig, Justin Soluri, Charlie Paulucci, Matt Benedetti, Angelo Sciarappa, Justin Lombardi and Matt Kovacs