Red Bank Regional Remains Undefeated, Hands Raritan First Loss of the Season

Photo above: Red Bank offense - getting set - benefits from its teams defensive prowess.

HAZLET – The start of Friday night’s game between Red Bank and Raritan was delayed until 8:30 p.m. as the sky’s opened up with a soaking rain and periods of thunder and lightning that made a postponement seem inevitable.

But amazingly enough, just as predicted, the weather improved and by game-time it was a perfect night for some football.

It was also a perfect night for the unbeaten Buccaneers – ranked No.9 in the Asbury Park Press top 10 – to play football, as this close-knit group of athletes again rode their intimidating defense, opportunistic offense and stellar kicking game to their fifth straight win, beating No.10 Raritan 30-14 in Hazlet.

The Bucs defense held the Rockets (3-1) to 14 points, 236-total yards and 11 first downs in the game. 2014 second-team All-Shore running back Derek Ernst did run for a game-high 143 yards on 27 carries but 61 of those yards can on a touchdown run on Raritan’s first possession of the third quarter. His run pulled the Rockets to within 16-8 after a successful two-point conversion.

“Ernst is a tremendous running back,” Bucs coach Nick Giglio said. “He’s a different style running back, he’s stocky, he’s quick and he’s so hard to tackle.”

Other than that long touchdown run by Ernst, the Bucs defense held him to 82 yards on 26 carries for a 3.1 yards/ carry average. Prior to Friday night’s game, he had gained 467 yards on 55 carries for 8.5 yards/carry average. Raritan didn’t have an offensive play that gained over 20 yards the rest of the way and the Bucs (5-0) have held their five opponents to an average of 6.8 points a game.

Following Ernst’ touchdown, things got a bit dicey for the Bucs when on their subsequent possession senior quarterback Jack Navitsky was picked off by Raritan free safety Jordan Smith at the Bucs 25-yard line and returned all the way to the six.

But the Buc defense dug in, and on second-and-goal from the eight, junior outside linebacker Chris Outterbridge – who again recorded double-digit tackles – and safety Jalen Willis ran down Ernst for a nine-yard loss setting up a third-and –goal from the 17.

Rocket quarterback Jonathan Rodriquez - who replaced starting QB Marc Carnivale to start the second half – took the fourth-down snap and faded back looking for the 6-foot-4 Smith in the end zone. But Syracuse University commit Sadiq Palmer was all over him picking off the ball and returning it all the way to the Raritan 49. However, a blocking in the back penalty on the return set the ball back at the Bucs 23 but Red Bank retained possession averting a possible tie.

“Huge stops, that is the key, and we’re getting them now,” Giglio said. “It’s huge and our team is building off of those stops, and it’s carrying over into offense giving them momentum as well.”

The two teams traded punts before the Bucs got on the board again to give them a little breathing room. A Navitsky to Teddy Mitchell 31-yard completion to the seven on first-and-10 from the 38 set up a three-yard burst up the middle by Alim Godsey on second down for a 23-8 lead with 5:02 left in the third.

The Bucs built a comfortable lead in the first half on field goals of 37 and 42 yards on their first two possessions by Jack O’Connor before Navitsky hooked up with Matt Reardon on fade pattern deep in the right side of the end zone for a 20-yard score pushing the lead to 13-0 with 18 seconds left in the first quarter.

“Matty Reardon, to me he’s Gordie Lockbaum from Holy Cross,” Giglio said. “He does it all, defense, offense, receiving punts; he’s just a fierce competitor. It takes six people to do what he does for us.”

“This is just the first of many big games, the season’s only half way over,” Reardon said. “That’s our mind set, we never give up and we always battle every play. Sadiq draws a lot of attention so I got to credit him, he opens me up. When I get one-on-one coverage Jack and I capitalize on that.”

Raritan advanced the ball to the Bucs 39 following O’Connor’s kickoff and decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 but stud defensive end Sean Naiman and Outterbridge combined to stop Ernst for a one-yard gain turning the ball back over to the Bucs.

“We knew about Ernst coming in,” Naiman said. “He’s a big player for them and he was our focus.”

From there Red Bank put together a 12-play drive and had a first-and-goal from the nine, but three straight runs netted only six yard and they decided to call on their secret weapon and O’Connor nailed a 22-yard field goal for his third successful kick of the half. One of the best kickers/punters in the Shore this season, O’Connor came through with 12 points in Friday’s game.

“What a super kid Jack (O’Connor) is, “ Giglio said. “He’s been a shining light for us. He’s worked at his craft and has a great mind set out there and he’s a weapon anywhere on the field right now.”

Now leading 16-0 with 4:09 remaining in the half, two big plays by Outterbridge and one by Palmer forced another Raritan punt which got a favorable roll all the way to the Bucs two-yard line.

Backed up to their own end zone, a nine-yard run by Godsay gave the Bucs a first-and-10 at the 14, but Godsey coughed up the ball turning it over to the Rockets at the 18.

However, with this Buc defense it doesn’t matter what type of position they’re put in, they seem to be able to always rise to the occasion and that’s exactly what they did once again. A seven-yard sack by middle linebacker Brian Fagan on third down put the Rockets in a fourth-and-13 position before Outterbridge forced Nicholas Pasquin out of bounds after a short four-yard reception preserving the first half shutout and a 16-0 halftime lead.

Raritan scored with 1:49 left in the game on a Rodriguez to Pasquin 18-yard touchdown reception but Palmer knocked down a pass intended for Smith negating the two-point conversion with the score now 23-14.

Red Bank recovered the onside kick and three plays later Palmer put the game away for good with a 40-yard TD run. Running towards the left sideline, he then reversed field, received a crunching block from Reardon and sprang free down the right sideline for another signature Palmer TD run.

Palmer finished with 88-yards rushing and one TD and one reception for 28 yards while playing an awesome defensive game in coverage as well as run support with at least eight tackles.

The Bucs finished with 355 total yards with Godsay gaining 67 yards on 15 carries while Mitchell added 53 yards on just four runs. Navitsky went 4-of-10 for 92 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

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