Freeman, Lewis, Defense, and Special Teams Lift Green Wave to 6-0
METUCHEN, NJ—Right from the beginning, the Falcons were in peril. After winning the coin toss, and getting the opening kickoff, St. Joseph’s offense struggled as it went three and out. On the very first play from scrimmage, Delbarton registered a sack, and then tackled Falcons running back Jordan Kinsler on the second play. The series set the tone, and although the Green Wave only led 7-0 after one period, they were in control of the contest.
Delbarton scored on three possessions in the second quarter to establish a 28-0 halftime lead, and never looked back in a 37-6 victory over Joes in a battle of Non-Public Group 4 teams at Brenner Family Field in Metuchen on Saturday afternoon. Cole Freeman and Gary Lewis III led the charge on offense for the Green Wave while Matt Gemma, Elijah Hills, Jake Jarmolowich, and P.J. Casale anchored the stout defense. Patrick Ryan made all five of his extra point attempts, and boomed a couple long punts that pinned the Falcons deep. Lewis also contributed in the return game for the winners.
Freeman accounted for four of Delbarton’s touchdowns as he used his arm to throw for two scores, and his legs to add two more scores. Lewis caught a TD pass and opening the scoring with a first quarter touchdown. Dylan Hakes added two touchdown receptions off rollout pass plays by Freeman as he finished with three receptions for 36 yards. Freeman accounted for 154 total yards on offense including 9.4 yards per carry on the ground, and 12 yards per completion in the air.
In spite of the lopsided loss, there were some positives by the Falcons, especially on the defensive side of the ball as defensive lineman, Gianni Principato batted away three of Freeman’s 12 pass attempts. St. Joe’s defense actually limited Freeman to complete only 42 percent of his passes on the day. The Falcons also pressured Freeman on several occasions that led to a sack, another deflection by Kyle Kaminski, and Freeman throwing the ball out of bounds along the St. Joseph’s sideline in the second quarter. Calson Goodwill also came up with a 2nd quarter interception to halt another Delbarton drive.
Pinned deep in their end of the field for most of the game, the Falcons did not get a score until the 10:40 mark of the fourth when QB Matt Stanton scored on a keeper to his left from 17 yards out that made the score 37-6. The Falcons tried to change things up a bit by using Kinsler in the wildcat formation, and while there were a few decent gains from scrimmage by Kinsler and Goodwill, they were not able to sustain continued success with it. The big play of the scoring drive occurred toward the end of the third when Stanton hooked up with Cameron Watkins for a nice gain into Delbarton territory.
Stanton then followed that up with a screen pass off a scramble to Kinsler early in the fourth that helped set up St. Joe’s only score of the contest. Delbarton opened the scoring with a Lewis touchdown at the 7:51 mark of the first period to cap its opening drive. The Green Wave would not get on the board again until the 11:33 mark of the second when Freeman scored on a QB keeper from four yards out for a 14-0 lead. Taking advantage of great field position on just about all of its possessions in the contest, Delbarton made it a 21-0 lead when Freeman kept it again for a 35 yard jaunt exactly two minutes later at the 9:33 mark of the second.
There would be an 8:25 lull in the scoring until the Green Wave struck again when Freeman took the snap, rolled to his right, and threw a two yard touchdown pass to Hakes for a 28-0 lead with 1:08 to play in the first half. Delbarton took the second half kickoff, which was a pooch kick, deep into Falcon territory again, but the St. Joseph’s defense was able to stop the Green Wave on downs when they gang tackled Freeman to prevent him from getting into the end zone once more.
However, on the ensuing play from scrimmage, Casale led a group of Delbarton defenders on tackling St. Joe’s fullback Rocco Bellamy in the end zone for a safety and a 30-0 advantage. The Green Wave then took the Falcons free kick into Joes territory again. Freeman first went back to pass, then scrambled to his left, and made two nice cuts in open field to make a nice gain. A couple plays later, Freeman rolled to his left and found Hakes again for a 29 yard touchdown pass, and a 37-0 lead with 6:12 remaining in the third.
With the victory, Delbarton, which has beaten the likes of Seton Hall Prep, Pope John, DePaul, Don Bosco Prep, and Hudson Catholic so far this season, improved to 6-0 overall while St. Joseph’s, which has now lost four in a row, dropped to 2-4 on the season. Both teams will be back in action again next weekend as the Falcons will host highly touted Cranford of Union County at Brenner Family Field next Saturday, November 21st at 1:00 PM while Delbarton will travel up to Bergen Catholic for a 1:00 PM game next Saturday as well.