Fliers control second half and beat Spartans

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Ocean Township senior Hayden Ansell (1) powers through the Neptune defense.

Saturday afternoon, October 11, Neptune held their homecoming parade from the high school to Summerfield School, where the Scarlet Fliers play their football games. Minutes before kickoff the skies opened up and dumped a lot of water on the large crowd in the stadium.

When the teams took to the turf, the rain stopped and everyone was treated to an exciting game between the visiting Spartans of Ocean Township and the Scarlet Fliers. Both schools are part of the Shore Conference D North division, where Neptune had a 5-1 overall record and 2-0 in divisional games, while Ocean started at 3-4 overall and 2-2 in D North.

With just 11 seconds remaining in the first quarter, Daaron Lynch of Neptune scored on a 41-yard pass from Hassin McMillian. The extra point missed, but Neptune took an early 6-0 lead on Ocean.

Ocean came right back during the second quarter. With 9:03 to play in the first half, facing a third and goal at the Fliers two-yard line, Mickey McGovern caught a pass from Jordan Gaudious. The extra point kick was good and the Spartans were up 7-6.

As the clock ticked down to end the first half, Ocean was deep in the Neptune red zone. However, they couldn’t punch it in for the score, but did have Joey Bercovicz kick a 23-yard field goal with six second left in the half to take a 10-6 lead into the break.

Unfortunately, the Spartans didn’t find the end zone offensively in the second half. However, the Scarlet Fliers had Caleb Brown run in for a touchdown in the third quarter from three yards out. McMillian then connected with Brown for the two-point conversion. Neptune took a 14-10 lead into the final quarter of action.

In the fourth quarter, McMillian ran in for an 11-yard touchdown. The extra point kick failed. The last score of the game had McMillian connecting with Brown for a 26-yard pass play. The extra point kick by Jack Waldmann was good and Neptune took the 27-10 victory.

In the passing game for Ocean, Gaudious completed 13 of 20 passes for 150 yards and one touchdown. McGovern completed 2 of 4 passes for seven yards.

Hayden Ansell was the leading receiver for the Spartans. He had three catches for 57 yards. Jack Varley had three grabs going 41 yards. Nick Alessi had four catches going 37 yards and McGovern had two receptions for 25 yards.

On the ground, Ocean didn’t put up big numbers. Only two Spartans had positive yardage. Ansell had five carries for 29 yards and De’Antae Richardson had three touches for 14 yards.

Neptune had a great day in the air and on the ground. Combined, their quarterbacks completed 7 of 12 passes for 116 yards. On the ground, Brown had 18 carries for 148 yards and one score. Kingston Pinnock had 11 touches for 43 yards, McMilliam ran the ball for times going 31 yards and William Holland had one touch going 25 yards. Combined, the Fliers had 247 yards on 34 touches.

The D North division has Neptune on top followed by Raritan, Ocean, Asbury Park and Freehold Borough. Ocean has two games left this season. They travel to Colts Neck on Saturday, October 18, for an 11:00 a.m. start and then close out the regular season on October 24, hosting Central Regional at 7:00 p.m.

The Scarlet Fliers also have two games remaining. They travel to Barnegat on October 17, for a 6:30 p.m. start and then host Raritan on October 24, for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

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