Stony Brook Bound RB Scores 3 TDs to Lead Barrons Past Falcons
METUCHEN, NJ—At the beginning of the 2019 Greater Middlesex Conference football season, the Woodbridge Barrons moved down from the White Division to the Blue. With then new head coach, Joe LaSala, the Barrons were looking to improve from its sub .500 season a year ago. On opening day of the season, Woodbridge made a huge statement by defeating a St. Joseph’s program that was considered among the top teams in the GMC.
Not only did the Barrons defeated them, but they also won by two scores at the Brenner Family Field, which even the likes of North Brunswick and Piscataway had difficulty playing at in 2019. Woodbridge defeated Joes by a 28-12 margin as Ali Lee Jr., made his Middlesex County debut after transferring in from Moore Catholic on Staten Island. Some 14 months later, Lee, who announced prior to the season his intent to play college football at Stony Brook on Long Island next fall, was still making a huge impact for the Barrons.
Although the Woodbridge senior running back didn’t rack up as much on the ground than he did in the 27-14 victory at Cranford on October 23rd, he still proved to be a huge factor in all phases of the game with his ability to deflect passes and make big hits from the secondary, making big runs, catching passes, diving for the pylon to get the score, and his punting.
All of this coupled with an outstanding effort in the trenches by the Woodbridge offensive and defensive lines, Anthony Santino’s game management at QB including his utilization of Isaiah Allen for short passes leading to big gains, and big plays from Justin Magera including a punt return that set up Lee’s final score, the Barrons were able to come away with a dominant performance in a 21-0 victory over the Falcons on Saturday afternoon at Brenner Family Field in Metuchen.
Lee rushed 24 times for a total of 144 yards, or an average of exactly 6 yards per carry along with two touchdowns while catching one pass for 7 yards, and another score to account for all three Barron touchdowns. Lee also added a fumble recovery and an interception while deflecting away another pass. Allen caught 6 passes for 58 yards, or an average of 9.7 yards per reception while Magera added 3 receptions for 46 yards, or an average of 15.3 yards per catch.
Magera also converted all three PATs for the Barrons while Santino completed nearly 53 percent of his 19 pass attempts for 110 yards, or an average of 11.1 yards per completion along with a TD pass. Dylon Edwards, Jordan Harris, and Ayman Elhossiani all recorded sacks for the winners while the entire Barrons defense limited St. Joseph’s standout running back, Jordan Kinsler to just 15 yards on 7 carries. Matt Stanton (10 of 19 for 112 yards) had almost the exact same game statistically as Santino did, but had no touchdown passes and gave up an interception.
Anthony Roige (3 catches for 34 yards, or an average of 11.3 yards per reception) and Calson Goodwill (2 catches for 50 yards, or 25 yards per catch) were also bright spots for the Falcons. One of Goodwill’s receptions was especially noteworthy since it was a diving grab. Woodbridge recorded its third shutout of the season in the win, and has outscored its opponents by a margin of 164-33, or an average of about 33 to 7 per game.
Woodbridge got on the board first thanks to its defense. On St. Joseph’s first offensive series of the game, the Barrons forced a Falcon fumble on the second play from scrimmage, which was recovered by Lee. Three plays later, Lee scampered to the end zone with a run to the left side of the field toward the St. Joseph’s sideline from 15 yards out. Magera tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 lead with about 10:30 to play in the opening period.
St. Joseph’s was still able to hang around on the scoreboard for much of the first half despite Woodbridge controlling the tempo and style of play. Woodbridge would begin to pull away as the first half was coming to a close. The Barrons put together a drive that was ultimately capped by a pass from Santino to Lee in the corner of the end zone near the Woodbridge sideline with 38 seconds to play in the second quarter.
The Falcons would threaten in the third quarter with a couple throws toward the Barrons end zone, but both were defended by defensive back, Treyshon Fudge including one where he leaped and reached out to tip away a pass intended for Goodwill. Woodbridge maintained its two score advantage heading into the final period.
Woodbridge then wrapped a bow on the victory when Lee scored on a run to his left toward the Barrons sideline, and the dove for the pylon for a 5 yard touchdown with 6:15 left to play. The defense then closed things out with a sack from Harris with under two minutes to play. With the victory, Woodbridge remained undefeated at 5-0 while St. Joe’s lost its third straight to drop to 2-3 overall.
Both teams will be back in action next weekend as Woodbridge hosts Somerville for the de facto or unofficial Big Central Championship on Friday night at Prisco Stadium in Woodbridge while Joes will host undefeated Delbarton of Morris County and the New Jersey Super Football Conference on Saturday afternoon in Metuchen.
Since Woodbridge and St. Joseph’s began competing against each other on the gridiron in 2012, the Barrons have won 5 of the 8 meetings including the last two. Despite the edge in the series, Woodbridge has actually been outscored by the Falcons 154-132, or an average of 19 to 17 per game. The reason for that is the lopsided wins St. Joe’s has had in their three victories with a 102-19 edge in those games for an average margin of victory of 34-6.
