Mustangs Edge Pioneers in State Semis on Two-Point Conversion in Extra Period, 36-35
SOMERVILLE, NJ – For the first three-plus periods of the NJSIAA Group 3 State Semifinal at Brooks Field on Friday night, South Jersey champion, Mainland Regional was in control of its contest with Somerville. The Mustangs ran the ball effectively behind senior RB, Rocco DeBiaso. Junior QB John Franchini was making plays with his arm and legs, and junior wideout Jake Blum was giving the Pioneers’ secondary fits.
In addition, Mainland’s defense was able to contain Somerville’s potent ground game. The Mustangs also halted a Pioneers scoring drive late in the second. Then, Mainland’s defense held Somerville scoreless in the third period thanks in part to a Khaleeb Foster interception in the end zone. With 10:42 remaining, the Pioneers trailed 28-14 after DeBiaso scored his second TD of the night on a 14-yard sweep. Somerville didn’t concede though.
Instead, the Big Central’s top-seeded team in this year’s playoffs picked up the tempo offensively and responded with two TD passes by Brenden Pacheco with 8:38 and 1:36 left in regulation to tie the game and force overtime. Then, the Pioneers took its first and only lead of the game with a scoring run by Pacheco in the first extra session. Despite all of their struggles, the Pioneers had somehow seized the momentum and had Mainland on the ropes with a 35-28 advantage.
Tested by a tougher schedule that included the likes of Group 4 powerhouses Winslow and Millville as well as a St. Augustine squad that upended Delbarton in the first round of the Non-Public A playoffs a week ago, Mainland showed some resiliency of its own. On its first and only drive of the extra session, Franchini scrambled to his right and got out of bounds inside Somerville’s 10-yard line. Moments later, DeBiaso took the handoff, ran left on another sweep, and found the corner of the end zone for his third TD and a 35-34 Pioneers’ lead.
On the extra point, Mainland head coach, Chuck Smith decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion. The gamble paid off as Franchini rolled to his right and threaded the needle to Blum right at the pylon for a stunning 36-35 win. The Central Jersey Group 3 champions’ season came to an abrupt end. A once jubilant Brooks Field crowd sensing victory moments earlier was in stunned silence.
The game began with wet snow falling to the turf at Brooks Field. You could see the vapor trails from the player’s breath thanks to the cold air that dove in during the day on Friday. However, the elements didn’t deter either team’s offense for much of the first half. The two teams exchanged scores a couple of times before Mainland went ahead midway through the second quarter. Somerville tried to respond with a score late in the second but was stopped on downs after getting into the red zone.
Pacheco left it all on the field in defeat for the Pioneers. The senior QB threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth. Classmate and wideout, Josh Rodriguez rushed for a score out of the wildcat and caught a TD pass in the second period. Senior running back, Terrell Mitchell had been contained for a good portion of the game, but found some daylight with several tough fourth-quarter runs and catching a TD pass that drew the Pioneers within seven.
Senior wideout and defensive back, Brady Scheier made plays in all facets of the game for the Pioneers. Scheier caught two passes on Somerville’s first scoring drive. Later, he deflected a pass intended for Blum along Mainland’s sideline in the third. Scheier then sparked the first fourth-quarter scoring drive with a huge kickoff return to around midfield. Finally, after the Pioneers tied the game on a TD catch by Max Nuzzi late in the fourth, Scheier gave the hometown faithful hopes of victory by forcing a fumble with about a minute to play in regulation.
Mainland’s three-headed monster of Franchini, DeBiaso, and Blum were able to match those efforts and then some. Franchini completed over 80 percent of his pass attempts for over 200 yards. Blum was the recipient of 77 percent of those completions for an average of 17.5 yards per reception. He accounted for 82 percent of Mainland’s receiving yardage on the night. DeBiaso averaged 5.8 yards per carry and accounted for 83 percent of the Mustangs’ ground attack.
Entering the contest, Somerville’s offense was more run-oriented with two-thirds of its plays on the ground this season. Against Mainland on Friday night, the Pioneers were forced to throw more often. Somerville’s play selection ended up slightly more than 50 percent in favor of the pass. Pacheco made things work though. He ended up completing nearly 56 percent of his passing attempts for over 230 yards and averaged 12.2 yards per completion. He also rushed 9 times for 40 yards.
Mitchell ended up averaging 5.5 yards per touch between his rushing and receiving. Scheier caught 8 passes for an average of 16.9 yards per reception. Rodriguez had only 4 touches for a total of just 24 yards, but two of them were for scores. Somerville’s rushing attack was held to 77 yards below its season average. However, the Pioneers’ passing game picked up the slack by outdoing its season average by 106 yards.
Penalties hampered Somerville on defense. Early on in Mainland’s first scoring drive of the game, the Pioneers had a chance to get off the field but were hit with a penalty that gave the Mustangs a first down and kept the drive alive. Then, in the fourth quarter, Mainland’s final score in regulation was aided by a pass interference call on a pass attempt to Blum.
Somerville took the opening kickoff and got a first down before being forced to punt. It would be the Pioneers’ only first down for much of the opening period. Meanwhile, Mainland Regional rode the back of DeBiaso, who eventually put the Mustangs on the board with a 17-yard scamper to the end zone off a sweep to the left. Placekicker, Nate Kashey added the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 4:59 remaining in the opening stanza.
Mainland’s defense forced a three-and-out on Somerville’s second drive of the game, and the Pioneers punted again. DeBiaso managed to gain a first round on a toss sweep to the left on the Mustang’s second play of its second drive. However, Somerville’s defense clamped down including a tackle for a loss on third down to force Mainland to punt.
The Mustangs managed to get the punt off despite a diving attempt to block it by Scheier just missed. After two Somerville rushing attempts were stopped for little gain, the Pioneers went to the air and Pacheco found Scheier in the seam for about a 40-yard gain to the Mainland 43-yard line. A couple of plays later, Pacheco connected with Scheier again on a screen pass that Scheier turned into a huge game with by getting inside a great block by Spencer Carran.
Scheier ended up gaining about 15 yards and got additional yardage when a Mainland player was penalized for grabbing his face mask and throwing him to the ground out of bounds as time ran out in the first period. After a Pacheco rollout pass to the end zone slipped through Scheier’s fingertips to begin the second, the Pioneers went to the wildcat with several rushes that were capped by a Rodriguez two-yard run into the end zone. Carran tacked on the extra point to knot the game at 7-7 with 10:48 to play in the first half.
Mainland took the ensuing kickoff and proceeded down the field for another score. DeBiaso opened the drive by slashing through the left side of Mainland’s offensive line for a first-down run. Then, on the next play, Franchini dialed long distance to Blum in the middle of the field for a 44-yard gain. Following a timeout, Mainland got the ball to DeBiaso again on a toss sweep to the right for an apparent 26-yard TD, but it was negated by a penalty.
Two plays later, Franchini overcame the Mainland miscue with a rollout to his right for a pass completion to Lucas DeBiaso along the Mustangs’ sideline to convert the first down. A couple of plays after that, Franchini rolled to his right to pass, but then decided to run toward the pylon, and managed to get inside the Somerville three-yard line before being knocked out of bounds by Nuzzi.
After two runs up the middle by the Mustangs that the Pioneers stopped short of the goal line, Franchini sneaked into the end zone from a yard out. Kashey tacked on another extra point for a 14-7 Mainland Regional lead with 6:56 left in the second quarter. Mitchell took the ensuing kickoff for the Pioneers and ran it back to Somerville’s 30-yard line.
On first down, Pacheco dropped back to pass and threw to his left down the field to Scheier for about a 30-yard completion to near the Mainland 40-yard line. Several plays later and after a Mainland penalty, Pacheco connected with Rodriguez for a 14-yard TD pass. Carran converted the point after attempt to tie the score again at 14-14 with 5:56 left in the first half.
Continuing the back-and-forth scoring, Mainland took the ensuing kickoff and scored again. On this scoring drive, Franchini found Blum for three completions. The first two were off Franchini rollouts to the left and throws toward the Somerville sideline. Then, Franchini dropped back and threw a 43-yard strike to Blum along the Mustangs’ sideline for a touchdown. Kashey converted the extra point for a 21-14 lead with 2:18 remaining in the first half.
The defenses took over after that with Mainland bending, but not breaking on two key occasions. The first time was late in the first half when the Mustangs stopped the Pioneers on downs after three straight incomplete passes near the red-zone. One pass was almost snagged for a tremendous diving catch by Carran near the Somerville sideline, but he couldn’t hang on. Mainland’s defense came up big again in the third quarter following a huge defensive play by Scheier and a miscue by Mainland’s special teams.
In the third quarter, Mainland took the second-half kickoff, and Franchini looked Blum’s way again. Franchini threw to Blum along the Mainland sideline for an apparent huge gain and perhaps a score, but Scheier hustled toward the ball and knocked it away. Franchini threw again to Blum for a sliding catch that yielded only a modest gain short of the first down. On the next play, Mainland’s punt team turned the ball over after a high snap was fumbled and recovered by Somerville near the midfield stripe.
Pacheco first found Scheier for another screen pass toward the Mainland sideline. Scheier utilized a nice block by Rodriguez to scampered inside the Mustangs’ 40-yard line before being knocked out of bounds. Mitchell followed up with a run to the left toward the Somerville sideline for a few yards. Pacheco then kept it himself and rushed for a first down at about the Mainland Regional 30-yard line.
Mitchell then took the handoff up the middle and briefly found daylight before receiving a vicious hit from junior defensive back, Nathan Rivera, who was subsequently flagged for a penalty. Pacheco then rolled to his left and threw to the corner of the end zone twice. The first pass attempt fell incomplete. The second attempt was intercepted by Foster for a touchback with 4:20 left in the third.
The Mustangs then put together a 7-play, 80-yard drive that took 5:38 and bridged the end of the third quarter with the start of the fourth. The key moment occurred on the sixth play of the march when Franchini dropped back to pass, threw to his right in the direction of Blum, who was literally taken down as the ball sailed by. The officials threw a flag for pass interference.
On the next play, Franchini handed off again to DeBiaso, who ran a counter sweep to the left toward the corner of the end zone for another touchdown. Kashey added the point after for a 28-14 lead with 10:42 remaining in the fourth. Somerville would battle back with three unanswered scores over the remainder of regulation and overtime. The Pioneers’ first scoring drive only took a little over two minutes.
After Scheier took the ensuing kickoff and scampered to near mid-field. Pacheco began to pick up the pace. He handed off to Mitchell for a counter-play to the left side of the Pioneers offensive line. Mitchell patiently waited for a hole to open up, found it, and then turned it up-field while fighting off Foster along the way for about a 24-yard gain to the Mainland Regional 24-yard line.
Moments later, Pacheco threw to his right and found Mitchell on a screen pass that the Pioneer running back turned into a 23-yard scoring play. Carran added the extra point to draw Somerville within seven at 28-21 with 8:38 left in regulation. Now, it was Somerville’s turn to come up with the big stop. The Pioneers forced a three-and-out after Nuzzi chased Franchini down for a sack along the Somerville sideline.
Mainland was forced to punt and the Pioneers got the ball on its own 28-yard line with a little over six minutes to play. After being stopped for a two-yard loss on first down, the Pioneers got going. Pacheco first threw a short pass over the middle to Scheier for a completion close to the first down. Next, Pacheco handed off to Mitchell, who ran left and then turned upfield for another solid gain past the midfield stripe.
On the following play, Pacheco threw a screen pass to his left to Scheier, who picked up a couple of nice blocks including one from Nuzzi to yield a gain close to a first down. Next, Pacheco threw to his right toward the Somerville sideline for Scheier, who scampered for about a 20-yard gain to the Mainland Regional 26-yard line. Mitchell followed that up with another nice run up the middle inside the Mustangs’ 20-yard line.
After throwing a pass off a rollout to his right toward the back of the end zone that just was beyond the reach of Scheier, and another pass toward the right corner of the end zone that was too long, Pacheco struck for a score. He dropped back to pass, looked left, followed his progressions, and found Nuzzi for a 15-yard touchdown pass. Carran converted the extra point to tie things up at 28-28 with 1:36 remaining in regulation.
The Mustangs still had a chance to win the regulation. Mainland took the ensuing kickoff and immediately threw downfield to draw a pass interference penalty. Moved up to midfield by the Somerville penalty, the visitors from Atlantic County then moved closer to the Pioneers’ 40-yard line on a pass from Franchini to Blum with 1:17 to play. The Mustangs ran right for several yards. Franchini scrambled to his right to the Mainland sideline for a first down.
Franchini then threw to his right for Blum along the Mainland Regional sideline for a five-yard gain that stopped the clock. Then, on 2nd and 5 at the Somerville 33-yard line, Franchini handed off to DeBiaso, who ran to his left toward the Pioneers 25-yard line. Waiting to strike was Scheier, who popped the ball loose from DeBiaso’s left arm and linebacker Sam Muse recovered the fumble at about the Somerville 20-yard line with 1:03 left in the fourth quarter.
Somerville couldn’t take advantage though and was forced to punt on fourth down with 16 seconds to play in the fourth. Mainland had another opportunity but failed to score as the two teams went to overtime. The Pioneers got the ball first at Mainland’s 25-yard line. On the first play of the extra session, Pacheco faked the handoff to Mitchell and then ran to his left for a 20-yard gain to the Mainland Regional five-yard line.
Three plays later, Pacheco kept it himself again and ran it in from four yards out for Somerville’s first lead of the contest. Carran missed the extra point, but a penalty on the Mustangs gave him a second chance and he converted for a 35-28 lead. Now, the ball was literally in Mainland’s court at Somerville’s 25-yard line. The momentum had shifted. The Mustangs needed a touchdown and an extra point to keep the game going.
After Somerville’s defense came up with a stop on first down, Franchini rolled to his right and ran out of bounds on the Somerville sideline inside the Pioneers 10-yard line. DeBiaso then ran the ball in from 7 yards out to draw the Mustangs within one. Kashey was originally called on to attempt the extra point, but Mainland called for time and decided to go for two.
And the rest was history as Franchini connected with Blum for the game-winning two-point conversion. With the victory, Mainland improved to 10-3 overall on the season and advanced to its second straight state final. The Mustangs will play against Old Tappan at Rutgers University’s SHI Stadium on Sunday, December 1st at 1:00 PM. Old Tappan rolled past Pascack Valley (43-14) in the other Group 3 state semifinal.
The 2024 Somerville Pioneers’ season concluded at 12-1 overall with a Big Central Conference Liberty Silver Division title and an NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 3 crown. The sectional championship was the first one since 2017 when Somerville defeated Rumson-Fair Haven at Rutgers University for the CJ Group 3 crown.
