By Jim Hintelmann
MIDDLETOWN – Neither rain, nor wind nor chill could prevent Middletown North’s football team from scoring one of its more significant victories in school history Friday.
The Lions ignored the terrible weather conditions to stun five-time defending A Division North champion Manalapan, 18-8, ending the Braves’ 33-game A North winning streak.
The win was also important because North was coming off a 26-22 upset loss to Freehold the previous week. A bad start in which it fell behind 26-0, was too much to overcome with a late rally just falling short.
“We knew that this would be a big challenge to us, especially after losing to Freehold,” said North coach Steve Bush. “However, the kids rose to the occasion.
“This was really exciting,” he said. “We knew that we would have trouble throwing the ball, but our defense tonight was great.”
The North defense, led by Matt Dombrowski, Dwight Wilkerson and Josh Gomez, held Manalapan’s usual strong running game to just 135 yards.
“We had to get the bad taste of the Freehold game out of our mouth,” said lineman Pat McGowan. “Manalapan has a good team and we needed to beat them and get back on track.”
North set the tone of the game almost from the start when it jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Lions scored on their first series of the game when they went 70 yards in six plays with sophomore Connor Welsh scoring on a two-yard run. Welsh has been doing a standout job after replacing leading runner Chad Freshnock, who is still sidelined with an injury.
The defense took over following the kickoff when Wilkerson knocked the ball loose from a Manalapan runner and Brock Zenkert picked up the ball and returned it for a touchdown and a 12-0 lead.
“We knew that the weather conditions would be bad, but we were ready for it,” said quarterback Donald Glenn. “The loss to Freehold was tough, but the coaches just told us to work hard in practice and show Manalapan and other people what we were capable of doing. This was a big win for us.”
Manalapan’s lone touchdown came in the second quarter when Marcus Salinas finished off a 17-play, 89-yard drive with a two-yard run.
The Lions added an insurance touchdown in the final on a seven-yard run. Manalapan threatened late in the final quarter when it marched to the North 2-yard line, but Wilkerson broke through to tackle a Manalapan runner for a two-yard loss.
return. Photo: Sean Simmons
North couldn’t move after taking over and elected to take an intentional safety rather then risking a blocked punt in the end zone.
“We knew that Manalapan had a good offense,” said Bush, “but we didn’t allow any big plays. We were determined to get this done.”
North (3-1) will be home to Ocean Township in a non-division game Friday.
