Huskies Top Spartans 33-14

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Hayden Ansell (1) a senior at Ocean Township HS hurdles a Matawan defender as he get a first down for the Spartans.

Friday night the Spartans of Ocean Township hosted and lost 33-14 to the Huskies of Matawan High School in a non-divisional Shore Conference football game. Matawan dominated the game from the opening kick-off to the final horn.

Matawan is in the C North division of the Shore Conference and with the win are 1-1 on the season. They opened the season with a 9-7 loss to Hightstown and came into Ocean Township fired up.  Sophomore BlairCarter Gagneron played his second game as starting quarterback for the Huskies and made the most of it. In the air, he completed 8 of 12 passes for 154 yards and one touchdown.

On the ground, Matawan had an impressive 361 yards. Erik Martinez, senior, had 165 yards on five touches. He scored two touchdowns with his longest run of 80 yards. Sean Euell, sophomore, had 22 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Gagneron kept the ball seven times for 29 yards and rounding out the rushing yards was Zacary Johnson, sophomore, with seven yards.

In the receiving department, sophomore Matawan had Cayson Williams making four catches going 70 yards. Senior Damian Marsh had two receptions for 42 yards.

Ocean Township, which was coming off a very impressive opening week win over Long Branch, looked like a completely different team on Friday night. They were not playing with the same intensity, and were struggling the entire night.

Tae’Jon Nevins (50) a junior at Ocean Township High School recovers a Matawan fumble.

Junior Jordan Gaudious completed only four of 13 passes for 54 yards. He was also picked off once during the game. On the ground the Spartans had a better night than in the air. Josh Calixte, senior, ran the ball for 130 yards on 13 carries. He also had one of the two touchdowns for Ocean that night. His longest run was 84 yards against Matawan.

Total rushing yards for the Spartans was 218.  Braylin Thompson had 34, Gaudious finished with 30, Hayden Ansell ran for 15 yards and De’Antae Richardson had seven yards and the other touchdown. Mickey McGovern had two yards in the loss.

With the loss, Ocean drops to 1-1 overall. They play in the D North division. Asbury Park is currently on top of that division followed by Freehold Borough, Neptune, Ocean, and Raritan in last. The Spartans will travel to Raritan on Friday, September 12, for a 7:00 p.m. game.

Matawan is now 1-1 with the win over Ocean. In the C North division Manasquan is on top followed by Shore, Matawan, Colts Neck, Long Branch and Red Bank Regional. Their next game is also on Friday night, facing Manasquan at 6:00 p.m.

Over the past two weeks the Spartans have received a lot of yellow flags. Many of those were 15-yard penalties for unsportsman like conduct. Chad King, head coach of Ocean, along with his staff will have to work on reducing these senseless penalties.

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