Shore Regional powers their way to the NJSIAA CJG 1 semifinals

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Shore Regional John Mazzacco (15) forced a fumble on the second play of the game. He finished with seven tackles, had five carries for 55 yards in the 34-0 win.

The Blue Devils of Shore Regional opened the 2025 football season with a 42-14 win over New Egypt back on September 5. Then on October 31, the Blue Devils ended the New Egypt season with a 34-0 win in the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 playoffs.

Just this season Shore has outscored the Warriors of New Egypt 76-14. “We are very familiar with New Egypt, having played them four times in two years,” said Don Klein, head coach of the Devils. Klein, a graduate of Shore Regional in 1997, was named head coach of the Blue Devils last year. He spent 17 years as head coach of the Ocean Township Spartans and holds the school record of 93 wins, the most by any Ocean football coach.

He took over a program at Shore last year that had a large amount of seniors and wasn’t expected to be competitive. Klein and his staff guided the Blue Devils to a perfect 6-0 in the D North division of the Shore Conference and lost their only game to Woodstown in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 final last season.

This year, Shore Regional, a small Group 1 school, was moved into the C North division to compete with bigger schools; Manasquan, Red Bank Regional, Matawan, Colts Neck and

Cole Torres (10) a junior at Shore Regional had three rushing touchdowns in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 34-0 quarterfinal win over New Egypt.

Long Branch. Playing those larger schools this season was just an opportunity for Klein, his staff and players to show that they might be a small school, but they are big in talent and skills.

Shore finished the regular season at 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the C North, which was good for third place. The playoffs started on Halloween night, and Shore entered the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 bracket as the two seed. New Egypt was back in West Long Branch as they were the seventh seed.

The Warriors started the game on offensive and on their second play, fumbled which was recovered by Shore’s Reid Spallone. Two plays later, Cole Torres, the power running back for Shore Regional powered in for the first of his three touchdowns on the night.

With just 18 seconds left in the first quarter, Torres ran 15 yards for his second touchdown. The Blue Devils attempted a two-point conversion, but failed, taking a 13-0 lead into the second quarter. Shore Regional scored again with 1:32 to play in the first half. This was a 14-yard pass from Logan Clark, junior quarterback, to Enzo Cagliostro a senior. John Mazzacco was good on the extra point and Shore took a 20-0 lead into the halftime break.

With a first and goal at the New Egypt nine-yard line, Clark handed the ball to Torres who broke two tackles for his third touchdown of the game. Mazzacco was perfect on the extra point and with 9:15 to play in the third Shore was up 27-0.

The final Blue Devil score was in the fourth quarter on a 16-yard run by Quinton Roberts a sophomore. Mazzacco, accurate as ever and that was the 34-0 shutout win for Shore Regional. “We are looking forward to hosting Point Beach on Friday night. I’m really proud of our players and coaches and the hard work we are putting in during the work week,” Klein said.

Clark didn’t throw much in the game as the winds were reach over 30 mph. However, he did completer five of eight for 37 yards and one touchdown. Torres had 16 carries for 104 yards and three touchdowns. Anthony Pernice had eight carries for 55 yards, Mazzacco ran the ball five times for 44 yards.  Cagliastro had three catches for 22 yards and a score, while Vinny Sasso had two catches for 15 yards.

Defensively, Anthony Pernice had nine tackles, Mazzacco and Mike Marotta had seven each. Mazzacco also forced that early New Egypt Fumble. Kelty Connors had five tackles, two of which were for loss and a sack.

Point Pleasant Beach, the sixth seed, beat Riverside the third seed 42-14. They go into West Long Branch for the November 7, semifinal with a 7-2 record and were perfect 4-0 in the D South division of the Shore Conference.

Shore is now 7-2 overall and have outscored opponents 297-124 this season. Over the past two seasons the Blue Devils are 17-3 and have outscored the opposition 622-216. Shore beat Point Beach 63-7 last year and 34-0 in 2024. The last time the Gulls beat the Blue Devils was in 2017.

Additional photos can be found at www.Facebook.com/TheLinkSports