Photo by Patrick Olivero
By Vincent Landolfi, Jr.
WALL – When an RFH extra point attempt caromed off the right-side goalpost in the third quarter of last Friday’s NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 3 finals football game, the clanging sound signaled an end to Bulldog supremacy as sectional champions. Wall High School, having worked itself to a first-half 14-0 lead, unseated RFH, holding on for a 14-13 win and capturing its first title since 2016.
The victory sends the vaunted Crimson Knights into the NJSIAA regional championship game against the Tigers of Woodrow Wilson High School (Camden) at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 8 at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium in Piscataway. Woodrow Wilson is the South Jersey Group 3 sectional champion, having defeated Somerville High School 54-30.
In front of one of the largest home crowds in recent memory, many of the characteristics that put Wall at the top of the heap as the consensus No. 1 in the Shore Conference throughout the latter part of the 2019 campaign were apparent in its victory against a team it defeated earlier in the season.
First was Wall’s ability to make adjustments, both to the game plan finalized earlier in the week and also on-the-fly. Head Coach Tony Grandinetti knew the Bulldogs staunch defense would be formidable against the Knights rushing attack and standout ball carrier Casey Larkin, so he and his staff devised a plan to allow the speedy junior to line up as a slot and wide-split pass receiver to take advantage of man-on-man matchups that were to his advantage. Quarterback Logan Peters understood this as well and was excited for the prospect of making some big plays with his best friend on the team.
“Their defense can stop the run, so we knew going in we were going to have to do some different things,” said the 6-foot-2, 195-pound passer. So pass the ball he did.
The Crimson Knights 2019 leading rusher ended up with 111 receiving yards on only three catches, which buckled the will of the Bulldog defense more and more with each reception. “Casey’s a special guy,” Peters marveled after the game. “He’s got a knack for making the big play.”
The first of those big plays came early in the second quarter of the until then scoreless game. Lined up wide to the right, Larkin streaked to the end zone and hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from his pal, while seemingly being interfered with by an RFH defender. Then, with only a minute left in the half, Wall doubled its score when another Peters-to-Larkin hookup went for a 41-yard touchdown after No. 23 once again left Bulldog defensive players in his rear view.
But the final bomb of the game was truly that, blowing up any chances of a Rumson-Fair Haven comeback. Facing a third down and 9 from their own 44-yard line, and clinging to a 14-13 lead, Larkin cradled in his third pass completion of over 25 yards to give the Knights a first down at the Bulldog 10-yard line. Wall didn’t score but forced RFH to exhaust its remaining timeouts and ensure a victory.
Prior to that final back-breaking play, RFH tried to make a comeback in the second half. Taking the ball at the start of the third quarter, the Bulldogs went on a 66- yard, 12-play drive culminating in a 2-yard TD blast by fullback Pete Crowley. Then, after a Wall punt that garnered just a 1-yard net, RFH went at it again. The Bulldogs dinked and dunked down to the Knights’ 4-yard line, where quarterback Collin Coles stood coolly in the pocket until he picked out tight end Patrick Jamin along the back of the end zone on a fourth-and-2 for the near score-tying touchdown.
While these two squads seem evenly matched on the stat sheet and on the field, it was not only the big plays by Wall that made the difference but the little ones as well. Crimson Knights placekicker Max Oakley, just a sophomore, connected on both of his point after touchdown attempts, while RFH missed a try and a seemingly makeable 28-yard field goal in the first quarter, both of which could have seriously impacted the outcome of the game.
Wall’s bend-but-don’t-break defense also made big stop after big stop when it counted and held on for dear life at the end. Ian Ackerman and Charlie Sasso, two of the Crimson’s dual-way players, led an attack that held Bulldogs stalwart running back John Volker to 14 yards rushing: Not on the first drive, not in the second half, but for the entire game.
Rumson-Fair Haven turned to a short passing game in the second half to try and even the score, but offensive stars Larkin and Peters, who were pressed into defensive duties, came up big. They were a huge factor in helping unseat the perennial Central Jersey champion Bulldogs.
In what appears to be a burgeoning rivalry, don’t be surprised to see RFH and Wall go head-to-head in years to come. Not only because the top-rated Crimson Knights have one of the younger rosters in Shore Conference, but as Bulldogs head coach Jerry Shulte said, “at Rumson we’re a program, not just a team.”
