Middletown North Lions Fall Just Short of Storybook Season

A North Jersey Section Group 4 state title looked to be in the cards for Bush’s team in 2016, as they entered the championship game with the record of 9-2, going up against Sayreville War Memorial High School.

After yet another touchdown pass between Glenn and wide receiver Brendan Kube – surely a sight that North fans across Middletown will miss – and a touchdown run by Connor Welsh, the Lions looked like they were going to cruise on to a state title.
After some tough running by Sayreville and a Glenn pick-six in the third quarter, the game slipped away from Middletown North, who fell 41-14 at Rutgers University last Saturday morning.

“I think we just kind of let that game get away from us a little bit,” Bush said. “We’ve been pretty good about taking care of the ball this year and we just had some crucial turnovers that sort of turned the tide. We got behind and played into the wind in the fourth quarter and then it was just a little difficult to try to come back from that; it just snowballed a little bit from there.”
Despite the tough loss, there were many highs for the Lions to be proud of in 2016.
Donald Glenn emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in Shore Conference history. The Wagner College-commit was masterful in his senior season, lighting up scoreboards across the Shore Conference to the tune of 23 touchdowns and only six interceptions. According to Bush, Glenn ended his Middletown North tenure as the high school career leader in passing yards in the Shore.

Defensive stalwarts like Dwight Wilkerson, Austin DeWise and Nick Kish helped anchor a defense that shut out top-tier offenses week in and week out. The Lions held Eddie Morales and the explosive Howell High School offense to a single touchdown in their Week 3 meeting, and stymied Ocean Township quarterback and University of Pittsburgh commit Kenny Pickett to only eight points in Week 8.
Easily the most notable win in 2016, which featured both a great game from Glenn and the defense, was the 24-6 upset where Middletown North captured their first Turkey Day win over Middletown South since 2000. Glenn had a completion rate just a hair under 70% while throwing for 326 yards and 3 TD’s, and South only mustered up six points with a touchdown pass in garbage time.

Bush could not say enough about this quarterback, who has been his man under center since taking over the Middletown North football program four years ago.
“He’s done a great job for us,” Bush said. “Even when he was a freshman, he got thrown into the starting huddle with seniors and really handled that whole thing well. Each year he just got a little more mature and a little more confident, a little more understanding of what we’re trying to get done offensively.”

With the foundation that Bush has laid in Middletown, there is room for the Lions to grow in future seasons, something the fourth-year coach looks to at the start of each new year.
“I’ve always talked about trying to take it one step further than we did the year before, and we’ve kind of done that each year here,” Bush said.