Devils dominate Hawks in flag football

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Shore Regional High School junior Kimi Sayson had three touchdowns and two extra points in the 31-2 win over Manchester.

Shore Regional High School junior Kimi Sayson had three touchdowns and two extra points in the  win over Manchester High School on Wednesday night. The other touchdown was scored by Lauren Davis who also had the extra point in the victory.

Flag football was introduced to the Shore Conference back in 2021. At that time there were eight schools who took part in the inaugural season. That year the New York Giants donated $64,000 to the pilot program which covered uniforms and some other cost for the schools.

Shore Regional was one of those first eight teams, winning the championships the first two years. Now in 2024 there are 16 teams competing. Next season the sport, which has been a “club” activity, will officially be a junior varsity sport in 2025 and a full varsity sport the following season.

Shore Regional started this season with a 38-25 loss to Neptune and then a 35-6 loss to Pinelands. However, since then the lady Blue Devils have been unstoppable. They beat Trinity Hall 29-14, then crushed Manasquan 48-7 and the latest 31-2 victory over Manasquan.

The team has two coaches. Rich Bohnert is in charge of the offense and Julie Thornton is the defensive coordinator. Thornton was an assistant coach with the team since its inception and with the retirement of its former head coach, she stepped up to run the program and Bohnert came in to help. “Can’t replace a legend and person who ran both the offense and defense like Mark Costantino, so we spilt up the roles and so far our continuity has been good,” said Bohnert. His coaching experience at Shore has been in fencing and basketball, football was not his strongest suit. “We both had experience as coaches, Julie was a former head field hockey coach at Rancocas Valley. The girls had to adjust to a new system and they have been great to work with.”

Flag football has teams starting on the 40-yard line. In order to get a first down team must reach the 25-yard line. The next opportunity for a first down is the 10-yard line. However, if you reach the 10, you can’t run the ball in for a touchdown, teams must throw from the 10-yard line in. If they score a touchdown, they can go for a single extra point from the five-yard line or two points from the 10-yard line. Any interception is worth two points.

As of this game, the Blue Devils are now the second highest scoring team in flag football. Rumson-Fair Haven is ahead of the Blue Devils by one point. “We have great athletes on our team. Kimi Sayson mixed in with veteran leadership from seniors Antonette Russo and Cameron Macioch. We had 47 kids initially sign up which gave us a full varsity and junior varsity level teams,” added Bohnert.

“This is my fourth year coaching flag football at Shore. Stepping in as head coach was a little daunting, with being the only female coach in our league. Thankfully, I gained a lot of experience working with Mark Costantino, and very grateful for his knowledge and mentoring,” said Thornton. Her 17 years as a varsity field hockey coach and eight years coaching softball has given her experience. “My brother played football in high school and college. In our late 20’s, he asked me to join his co-ed football league in Philadelphia. I played a few season with his and his wife and I loved it.”

She added as a team, Shore Regional is really coming together. “We are currently 3-2 and two games left. After those two losses to start the season, we attended the New York Giants Blitz Clinic and incorporating more structured practices has resulted in success on the field,” said Thornton.

Thornton also credited the senior leadership of Russo, Macioch and Hannah Sasso. “We also have some key returning players in Camille Mandil, Liz Vaughan, and with the addition of Long Branch High School transfer Kimi Sayson rounded out the squad with excellent speed, agility for scoring,” Thornton said. The Devils also have some highly skilled underclassman on the squad. “Freshman Grace Ascolese has easily stepped into the quarterback position. Addison Vincelli and Cameron Klein have been assets on both offense and defense. Addison has two interceptions and Cameron has one this season.”

Sayson and Russo were part of the state championship basketball team and when asked what the difference between the two sports were they were both consistent in their response. “This requires a lot more energy, and it’s more fun and a good time all the time,” said Russo. She added that it’s not as competitive as basketball or as stressful. When she was asked if she preferred defense or offense, it was all offense. “I have to give credit to Coach Bohnert, he came in to help and he is really trying hard and doing a great job.”

“Basketball is a continuous sport; you just keep going. But in this sport, you run and go. I also like playing offense more than defense,” said Sayson. So far this season, she has nine touchdowns, six extra points and four interceptions. Russo has five touchdowns and one extra point.

Russo will be attending St. Joseph University in Philadelphia. But for the first time in her career, she will not be participating in sports. “I am going to focus on my academics, sports marketing. But, I might do some club sports,” said Russo.

Shore will be playing St. Rose on May 21^st at Long Branch High School and their last game will be on May 28^th against Central Regional at Shore. Both games have starting times of 6:00 p.m.

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