Lotito, Defense Power Middletown South Past Brick

Photos courtesy of Tom Smith https://www.tspsportsimages.com/

MIDDLETOWN – Senior running back Chris Lotito turned in a brilliant performance and the defense completely suffocated the Brick offense in the Eagles 28-7 win Friday night at the “Swamp.”

Lotito rushed for 154 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, tossed a 43-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Schork and recorded an interception on defense while accumulating 80 yards on kick and punt returns. He also had an 88-yard touchdown run nullified on a holding call.

“I owe it all to my offensive line, they played their tails off tonight,” said Lotito. “It may look like it’s all on me but it’s not, it’s all of them up front, I owe it all to them. Everybody played well tonight. We all came together as a family, made plays when we had too, and just had some fun out here.”

Middletown South head coach Steve Antonucci has nothing but high praise for Lotito.

“The last couple of weeks he’s really stepped it up,” said Antonucci. “He’s a great player; he’s a great kid. Of all the kids I’ve had here, he goes above and beyond of what’s asked of him. He works his tail off week-in-week-out and he deserves this. This a great night for him and hopefully he can continue to roll.”

On the other side of the ball, junior defensive end Joe Stanzione and seniors Nick Bonfiglio and T.J. Latore led a vicious defensive attack that held Brick to one first down and 13 yards of total offense into the fourth quarter before the Dragons put together their only drive of the night scoring with 2:59 left in the game.

“Joe’s come a long way and is a very athletic kid,” said Antonucci. “He’s a three-sport guy and can really get after the quarterback. On the defensive side tonight we were on point; we played well.”

“We came together and played as a team,” said Stanzione. “We had 11 guys flying around to the ball doing everything we could as a team to come out with the win. Last week we had a good defensive effort against RFH and we just built off of that. We knew if we wanted a home game (in the playoffs) we had to come out here and play our best.”

Lotito agreed with Stanzione’s assessment of his teams defensive play.

“I don’t keep track of that stuff, but probably I’d say so yea,” said Lotito when asked if this was his teams best defensive performance of the year.

The Eagles (3-4, 2-3) had some additional motivation entering the game; a win Friday night assured them a home game in next weeks first round of the state playoffs.

“Like anybody, that’s where you want to be when you start the playoffs,” said Antonucci on securing a home game in the first round of the playoffs. “Hopefully we’ll get an opportunity to move on from there.”

Middletown South is playing their best football of the season after a loss to Long Branch put their season on the brink of implosion.

“We’re starting to come together,” said Antonucci. “We’re getting a little healthier too which is a huge part of it and the schedule has been a grind. This group is coming together and we played a rugged schedule just like everyone else in our conference and hopefully that that will pay off as we move forward.”

In their last two games, they lost a heartbreaker to No. 2 Toms River North in a back-and-forth contest where they had the ball and chance to win on the final possession of the game but failed to score. Then last week they upset No. 3 Rumson, 20-3, for huge win setting the stage for Friday night’s win.

“We rallied together as a team after the Long Branch loss,” said Lotito. “That loss made us tougher and stronger as a team and we’ve come together the last few weeks and have just gotten stronger and stronger.”

The Eagles took their opening possession of the game 55 yards in seven plays to take an early 7-0 lead with 6:43 left in the first quarter. Senior quarterback Tyler Cuccia fired a 34-yard strike to Schork on a slant over the middle setting the Eagles up with a first-and-goal at the 8-yard line.

Schork was the only Middletown South player to catch a pass during the entire game but he put on a show catching 10 passes for a 140 yards and a touchdown.

Senior running back Vincent Condito, who finished with 35-yard rushing on eight carries, picked up seven yards on first down. Cuccia then disguised a pretty play-action fake to Condito on second down before tucking it in and scampering around left end for the 1-yard touchdown. Junior Mike Damato’s extra-point kick made it 7-0.

“He’s a very athletic kid and he knows our offense very well,” said Antonucci of his starting quarterback. “It’s nice to throw Vinny (Bonavita) in there time-to-time to give him (Cuccia) a little break because he’s one those guys playing both ways for us. So, between the two of them - mainly Tyler - I think we’re in good shape.”

Senior Carvenston Lavarin returned the ensuing kickoff 25 yards for Brick to the 50-yard line. On first down, senior quarterback Anthony Prato attempted to go deep but Lotito had the receiver blanketed and made a leaping interception at the 9-yard line.

“I was just dropping back following the quarterback as he was rolling out,” said Lotito. “He threw it up and I just made the play on the ball.”

Following the turnover, the Eagles embarked on a time consuming 91 yard, 19-play scoring drive that took 11 minutes of the clock for a 14-0 lead leaving just 7:28 remaining in the half.

Lotito finished off the drive taking a pitch from Cuccia around left end for a 3-yard touchdown run. On the drive, the Eagles ran the ball 15 times for 66 yards with Lotito picking up 50 of those yards, including a nifty 19-yard gainer showcasing a spin move that sprung him.

Up to this point, Brick (3-5, 1-4) had run four plays for 1-yard of total offense.

“The defense was solid all-around,” said Antonucci. “We had a pretty good game plan going in. We weren’t sure which quarterback was going to play, they’re quarterback (Anthony Proto) didn’t play last week and he brings a little different dynamic to the game in terms of running the ball. But all-and-all we had what we thought was a pretty solid package and they executed.”

Up until the Dragons only drive of the game in the fourth quarter, Prato was 2-of-6 for 10 yards and ran the ball three times for minus-one yard. He finished 7-of-14 passing for 76 yards and a touchdown with minus-one yard rushing.

Brick was forced to punt on their next possession with the Eagles taking over at the 12-yard line after an illegal block in the back penalty negated a nice return by Lotito.

Another long drive by the Eagles ended with the ball at the Brick 4-yard line. On second-and-goal with 14 seconds left in the half, Bonavita was stopped by senior John Costanza, who had a stellar game for the Dragons, for a 1-yard loss and time ran out on the half with the ball on the 4-yard line and the Eagles still leading 14-0.

On the opening possession of the second half, the Eagles used a little trickery to get into the end zone.

Facing a second-and-three from the Brick 43-yard line, Cuccia pitched back to Lotito who lofted a perfect strike to Schork for a 43-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

Following another three-and-out by Brick, Lotito returned the punt to the 50-yard line. The Eagles then marched to the 14-yard line in eight plays but the drive stalled and Damato’s 33-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.

Brick lost a yard on their ensuing possession and the ensuing punt rolled to the South 39-yard line.

Seven plays later on second-and-9 from the Brick 12-yard line, Lotito bulled his was up the middle flattening a defender at the goal line to get in for the score and extending the Eagles lead to 28-0 with 8:48 left in the game.

Brick then went on a meaningless scoring drive against the Eagles reserves to prevent a shutout picking up 75 of its 88 yards of total offense for the game.

Middletown South racked up 277-yards rushing and 140 yards through the air for 417 yards of total offense.

Cuccia rushed for 83 yards on 11 carries and was 5-of-7 for 60 yards passing while Bonavita finished 3-of-4 for 37 yards.

The Eagles now have a great opportunity to salvage the season with a playoff run after starting out 1-4 after five games.

“I think we’re just starting to click right now,” said Lotito. “We’ve come together so much in these last few weeks. We’re home next week; they’re coming to the “Swamp” and we’ll be ready to play.”

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