South
There isn’t a great deal of variety in the 2006 WW-P South (6-3) offensive playbook. For the most part, it’s been Lupo right, Lupo left, and Lupo up the middle. The Howell Rebels (6-3) saw that coming, and still couldn’t keep Ryan Lupo from running for three touchdowns and 166 yards on November 11 in the first-round game of the state tournament.
What WW-P South didn’t see coming was Sean O’Reilly, the Howell quarterback, who rushed for three touchdowns of his own and neutralized the Pirates’ pass rush and avoiding sack after sack en route to rushing for 77 yards and passing for 163. Howell defeated WW-P South, 26-18.
The Pirates managed to keep the score close, but lost the game on turnovers. The plays that made the difference were two second half fumbles that gave the Rebels the ball on a short field at a critical time.
The first came on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. The Pirates were down 14-12 and received the kickoff. Sophomore quarterback Connor Farrell fumbled the snap inside the ten yard line. Howell scored soon after, and the Pirates spent the rest of the game playing catch-up.
Down by eight in the fourth quarter, they looked like they were indeed about to catch up. After calling one running play after another, Coach Todd Smith opened up the offense and went to the air. Farrell completed two long passes, one each to Stuart Adams and J.B. Fitzgerald, and they Pirates had just gotten inside Rebel territory when Farrell lost another fumble, again to linebacker Chris Tash. The Rebels kept the ball, ran out the clock, and will now move on to play number one seed Brick Memorial in the second round of the Group IV Central Jersey Championship.
The Pirates will play at Nottingham this Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. This is a regular-season game which would not have been played had the Pirates advanced in the tournament.
North
The WW-P North Knights finished the season 2-7 after losing its Group III consollation game to Freehold Boro(4-5). The game was tied at half time, and the third quarter was all Freehold. WW-P, down by 14 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Knights charged back to tie the game at 28. It took a field goal with no time on the clock to beat the Knights, who saw Chris Petrone throw three touchdown passes to Leslie. One from 72 yards out, one from 60, and one from 51. The other touchdown was a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown by John Blasingame. Junior kicker Jack Mulhall made all four extra point attempts.
