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October 11, 2022By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.
Friday night the Blue Devils of Shore Regional hosted the Garnet Gulls of Point Beach in a Shore Conference Patriot Division football game. Shore dominated every aspect of the game and crushed their rival 35-7.
Mike Whitacre, an assistant coach at Shore and the only coach on the staff that has been working with head coach Mark Costantino since he took over the program 13 years ago, said that Point Beach is very similar to the Devils. “They are just like us, going right at you,” said Whitacre.
The Devils have been known as a hard-nose running team, and they showed Point Beach how hard they pound the ball. Shore ran a total of 56 offensive plays, had a total of 431 yards, 165 in the air and 266 on the ground.
Point Beach had 33 offensive plays for only a game-high 149 yards, a majority of which were in the air with 129 and only 20 rushing. The Garnet Gulls had only five first downs the entire game, while Shore racked up 20.
In the first quarter, the Devils first offensive series went nowhere. They were forced to punt, and then Point Beach had a horrible first series and they had to punt. On the second offensive series of the game Shore turned on the pressure and never let up.
Lucas White, a senior running back, caught a pass from senior quarterback Ty Koch, that resulted in a 47-yard touchdown. Michael Furlong, senior defensive end and kicker made the first of five extra points to give Shore a 7-0 lead.
On their next offensive series, White was handed the ball and blasted through the Point Beach defense, keeping his legs moving and his balance, and ran 47 yards for another touchdown. Furlong was good on the kick and with 4:33 left in the opening quarter the Devils were up 14-0.
In the second quarter, Jackson Whitacre son of Coach Whitacre, caught a pass from Koch for 53 yards. That set-up a six-yard touchdown run by junior Alex George. After the kick, Shore had a 21-0 lead going into the halftime break.
Third quarter had Whitacre catching a 17-yard pass from Koch for a touchdown giving the Blue Devils a 28-0 lead. That was the only score of the quarter.
In the final quarter of play, Koch scored on a one-yard run. The extra point by Furlong gave Shore a 35-0 lead with 7:59 to play. In accordance with NJSIAA rules, once a team has a 35-point advantage over an opponent the clock will run.
Point Beach had one shining moment with 5:40 to play, they connected on a 77-yard pass play for a touchdown. That was the last score of the game. The Blue Devils improved to 5-1 overall and are undefeated in the division at 4-0. Shore is in first place followed by Keyport, Asbury Park, Lakewood, Point Beach at 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the Patriot Division and Keansburg which is winless.
The Blue Devils have two regular season games left. They play at Manasquan on October 15, at 1:00 p.m. and close out the season at home on October 21, at 7:00 p.m. against Asbury Park.
Individual stats: Koch was 6 of 10 for 165-passing yards with two touchdowns. White had 10 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown. George had 74 yards on 13 touches and one touchdown. Lucas Rosa had 52 yards on 10 carries. Receiving, Whitacre had four catches for 95 yards and one touchdown, while White had two catches for 70 and a score.
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