Bombers' Back Too Much for TR East Raiders

For the first 22:30 of its game against Sayreville Friday night, the Toms River East football team had done enough to limit Bombers speedster Delon Stephenson and stay within striking distance of its opponent.

But with one shift to his third gear, Stephenson blew past the Raiders and took a potential 2-0 start for Toms River East with him.

The senior running back and Rutgers University recruit rushed for 185 yards and four touchdowns, including a back-breaking 80-yard dash with 1:13 left in the first half that helped Sayreville pull away for an eventual .

Toms River East trailed 14-6 with 1:27 left in the second quarter and had a chance to go to the locker room down only one score with Sayreville pinned back at its own 20-yard-line.

With 80 yards to go in a short amount of time, the Bombers handed the ball to their one-man Hail Mary. Stephenson took a hand-off running left and turned the corner before running past the Toms River East secondary and all the way to the goal-line, where he gently laid down the ball just as he broke the plane.

Isaiah Cureton's extra point made it 21-6, a deflating turn of events from which Toms River East could not recover.

The Raiders showed life coming out of the halftime locker room when Austin DiMarco recovered an onside kick by placekicker Jerry Caporale to open the third quarter. Toms River East, however, managed only one first down before Sayreville's defense forced a turnover on downs when the Raiders could not convert a fourth-and-4.

"They were fast, physical and had a lot of good athletes up front," Raiders coach Charlie Diskin said. "I thought we could do some things going in and we had our moments, but just couldn't do those things consistently enough.

"I was proud of our guys in the second half. They didn't quit. We got the onside kick and gave ourselves a chance, but hats off to them, they played a good game."

If Toms River East had any hope, Bombers quarterback Mike Carey crushed it with a 49-yard touchdown run up the middle to make it 28-6 with 7:51 left in the third quarter.

Stephenson added his fourth touchdown run with a one-yard plunge on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 34-6. Raiders senior defensive lineman Jason Rodd blocked the ensuing extra point.

Rodd also made a momentum-changing play during the first half when he sacked Carey and forced a fumble that senior Glen Kohles recovered with the score still 14-6 in the second quarter.

Toms River East faced a fourth-and-3 on the Sayreville 34 yard-line, but a false start penalty made it 4th-and-8 and forced the Raiders to punt rather than go for the first down.

Two plays later, Stephenson broke off his game-breaking run.

Toms River East opened the game with a 10-play, 66-yard touchdown-scoring drive that put the Raiders ahead 6-0. Quarterback Joe Funicelli found sophomore running back Matt Gudzak over the middle for a 55-yard completion on third-and-10 for the key play of the drive. The play set up the Raiders at the one yard-line and junior Patrick Gallagher punched the ball over the goal line on third-and-goal to open the scoring.

"I thought we gave ourselves some momentum with our drive to start the first quarter," Diskin said. "It was tough to keep it, though, against a very well-disciplined, well-coached team."

Gudzak later scored Toms River East's second touchdown on a seven-yard touchdown run. Funicelli connected with senior running back Matt Guarnieri for a 34-yard completion to key that drive.

Gudzak led the Raiders with 95 total yards, 40 on the ground and 55 receiving.

Stephenson helped Sayreville take the lead with a three-yard touchdown run and made it 14-6 with another score from 40 yards out.

"(Stephenson) is an outstanding athlete and a great back and we knew he was go to present a challenge," Diskin said. "We stopped him there a few times, but a with a guy like that, it only takes one big run."

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