Devils down Falcons 27-13

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Logan Clark (14) junior quarterback for Shore, completed 14 of 21 passes for 153 yards and 1 touchdown in the win over Monmouth Regional. Protecting Clark are Jayden Cox (50) senior 255 pounds and Mike Russomano (78) 295 pounds.

Shore Regional hosted the Flacons of Monmouth Regional on October 17, for a non-divisional Shore Conference football game. The Blue Devils had taken a 14-7 lead at halftime and took control in the second half winning 27-13.

With the victory, Shore Regional improved to 5-2 overall and are 2-2 in the C North division. “Monmouth Regional is a Group 2 school with five wins, so it was a big power point game for us,” said head coach Don Klein. He is in his second year as head coach of the Blue Devils, who had an amazing 10-1 overall record last year, losing in the state finals.

Shore Regional is a Group 1 school, the smallest ranking in the NJSIAA, the state governing body for scholastic sports. As a result of having such a great 2024-2025 season, the powers that be, moved the Blue Devils up into a division with much larger schools. Besides playing the Falcons, Devils had to face Manasquan, Matawan, Red Bank Regional, Colts Neck and Long Branch. “We can play with any of those bigger schools. However, they have greater numbers and if a player is hurt, they have a deeper pool of players to pull up. We have great athletes here at Shore, but if one or two key guys get hurt, that effects the entire team,” said Klein.

Dan Wendel is in his seventh season as the Flacons head coach. Going into this year his overall record was 17-39, but has one of the best overall Falcon squads in years on the field for 2025. Last season, Monmouth Regional finished 1-9 overall and were 0-5 in the C South division. That division included Manchester, Barnegat, Jackson Liberty, Pinelands, and Lakewood. Not a single opponent from Monmouth County.

For 2025-2026, Monmouth Regional was moved into the D South division with Point Pleasant Beach, New Egypt, Keyport and Keansburg. Currently, the Falcons are in second position behind unbeaten Point Beach in the division.

Friday night, the Blue Devils started the scoring with 4:05 left in the first quarter on a touchdown run by Cole Torres. He is a junior, who plays running back and linebacker. In the win over the Falcons, he had 33 carries for 207 yards and two touchdowns. He also surpassed the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the season. He is the Blue Devils workhorse. With one regular season game left, Torres has 129 carries for 1,042 yards and 10 touchdowns.

In the second quarter with a third and goal at the Monmouth Regional two yard line, Logan Clark, junior quarterback for Shore, rumbled in for the score. After John Mazzacco was good on his second extra point kick, the Blue Devils were up 14-0 with 9:27 left in the first half.

Clark had another great night. He completed 14 of 21 throws for 153 passing yards and one touchdown. Since Klein took over the Blue Devils, they have added a throwing game, where in the past Shore was known for the ground attack. Now, the Blue Devils can score from the air or the ground.

Monmouth Regional scored with 3:17 left in the first half. Tyler Gustafson, senior who not only runs but plays linebacker on defense, ran 14 yards through the Devils defense for the first Falcons touchdown. Junior, Sal Bruno, kicked the extra point and Monmouth Regional went into the halftime break down 14-7.

Gustafson had one more touchdown for the Falcons. It came in the fourth quarter on a three yard run. The extra point was blocked.

Ryan Corwin, sophomore, threw for 112 yards in the loss for Monmouth Regional. Leading all the Falcon receivers was Liam Faulkner with 44 yards. Gustafson finished with 134 rushing yards and the two touchdowns. Defensively, Donovan Hicks. Sophomore, had 10 tackles and James Hicks, junior, had one interception.

Falcons will close out the regular season on October 24, where they travel to New Egypt for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

Shore Regional had Vinny Sasso, senior, pulling in seven catches for 45 yards and one touchdown. He also had six tackles on defense and two interceptions. Leading the Devils in tackles was Mike Marotta, senior, with 15 tackles and an interception. Anthony Pernice, sophomore, had five tackles and an interception. Kyle Stehnacs, sophomore, had four tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery.

“Proud of our effort the last few weeks as we are drawing close to the conclusion of the regular season. We understand that we need to take care of business during the regular season to give ourselves the best chance to have success in the playoffs,” said Klein.

Shore will close out the regular season on Friday night, October 24, when they play Matawan at 7:00 p.m. They have only faced off twice in the last few years. Back in 2018, Matawan won 35-0, and in 2019 Shore took a 10-6 victory. Currently, Matawan is in second place in the division at 3-1, while Shore is sitting in fourth at 2-2. Should be an exciting game.

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