Falcons Fire on All Pistons to Defeat Bears

Posted on by Big Central Gridiron
Falcons Fire on All Pistons to Defeat Bears - Julian Hughes
Falcons Fire on All Pistons to Defeat Bears - Xavier Wilson
Falcons Fire on All Pistons to Defeat Bears - Tomasso DeMetrio

The Monroe Falcons were firing on all pistons and in every phase of the game in their 28-0 shutout of East Brunswick at Hugh P. Walsh Field in Monroe on Friday night.

DeMetrio Does It All to Lead Monroe in 28-0 Shutout of EB

View the Photo Gallery from the action in Monroe’s win over East Brunswick.

MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ – The last time the Monroe Falcons crossed paths with East Brunswick a year ago, the Bears had their way en route to a 36-25 victory at Jay Doyle Field.  The two teams met again on Friday night, and the result was much different.

Led by the play of senior wideout, Tomasso DeMetrio, who did it all to earn Big Central Gridiron’s Player of the Game honors, the Monroe Falcons fired on all pistons to defeat East Brunswick with a 28–0 shutout.  The victory provided a huge boost to Monroe’s hopes of a winning season.  The Falcons won their third straight to improve to 3-1.

Watch Big Central Gridiron’s video recap of Monroe’s 28-0 victory over East Brunswick on Friday night.

DeMetrio performed well in all phases of the game for Monroe.  The senior wideout accounted for 22 of Monroe’s 28 points, including 3 TDs and 4 XPs.  DeMetrio rushed five times for 27 yards and 2 touchdowns, and caught two passes for 31 yards and another score on offense.

On defense, DeMetrio also made a significant contribution in Monroe’s dominant performance.  He collected five total tackles, including two solos, two for loss, and a sack.  Moments after his sack, he hauled in his third and final touchdown of the game on a touchdown pass from QB Ghayoor Abbas to put the final touches on the win with 7:02 to play in the fourth.

Watch this highlight reel of Monroe’s Tomasso DeMetrio in action during the Falcons 28-0 win over East Brunswick on Friday night.

DeMetrio made an impact on special teams as well.  He converted four extra points by going a perfect 4 of 4 in his point after attempts, and performed the kicking on kickoffs.  DeMetrio also served as Monroe’s punter, and knocked two of his punts inside East Brunswick’s 20-yard line.  Abbas managed the game well for the Falcons.

Completing 10 of 18 pass attempts for 140 yards and a touchdown, and executing an up-tempo attempt, Abbas and the Falcons put East Brunswick on its heels from the start.  Monroe jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on touchdown runs by Julian Hughes and DeMetrio.  Hughes led the Falcons’ ground attack with 13 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown.

Watch highlights from the action in Monroe’s 28-0 victory over East Brunswick on Friday night.

Xavier Wilson (13 rushes for 52 yards, and 2 catches for 19 yards) chipped in on both drives with several nice gains on the ground and a reception that set up the two scores.  Logan Richter also played a role with several third down receptions.  Richter finished the game as the leading receiver with five catches for 82 yards.  The senior wideout also played a role on defense as well with 6 total tackles, including four solos, two for loss, and a sack.

Monroe’s swarming and stifling defense made life miserable for East Brunswick’s QB Sean Christie and his supporting cast on offense.  The Falcons recorded seven tackles for loss and four sacks.  EB was limited to  78 total yards, including 51 yards on the ground and 27 in the air.  Meanwhile, Monroe’s no huddle offense pushed the pace, and was efficient.  The Falcons tallied up 362 total yards, including 222 on the ground.  

Monroe’s ground attack featured contributions from six different ball carriers, averaged five yards per carry, and accounted for three of the team’s four touchdowns.  The Falcons offense ran 62 total plays versus only 36 for East Brunswick.  The Purple Birds averaged 5.7 yards per play.  The Falcons scored on their first two possessions of the contest.  

Monroe took the opening kickoff, and moved swiftly down the field in 10-play, three minute drive.   Highlighting the scoring march was a fourth down catch by DeMetrio, and a 23-yard run by Hughes to the East Brunswick two-yard line.  On the next play, Hughes took the handoff again, and found a crease on the right side of the line to get into the end zone.  DeMetrio tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 lead with 9:00 to go in the first quarter.

East Brunswick’s first drive of the game started out with decent field position after the kickoff went out of bounds.  The Bears managed to get a first down on the second play of the drive on a pass from Christie to Ezra Franklin.  Unfortunately, EB was unable to sustain the momentum and punted into Monroe’s end zone.

The Falcons swiftly moved down the field again with a 13-play, 80-yard drive.  Highlighting the drive was a third down reception by Richter for about 10 yards to the Monroe 32-yard line, a 22-yard run by Hughes to the EB 25, and a 23 yard reception by Wilson to the Bears two-yard line.  Despite being assessed a penalty, Monroe still managed to find the end zone on a one yard run by DeMetrio with 36 seconds left in the opening quarter.

The score remained that way for the rest of the first half although Monroe did have a couple more chances to score in the second period.  The Falcons faced a 4th and 11 on EB’s 25-yard line, and went for the end zone. The pass was defended by the Bears and the Falcons turned the ball over on downs.  Then, in the closing seconds of the half, Monroe was poised to score again, but EB’s Gabriel Marquez forced a fumble that was recovered by Franklin with 33 seconds remaining before the intermission.

East Brunswick took the second half kickoff, and attempted the get back into the game.  The Bears got a third down conversion on a keeper by Christie, but couldn’t go much further and punted.  Monroe’s defense came up with a huge sack on second down courtesy of Rohit Challa that drew a raucous roar from the Falcons’ student section.

The Monroe Falcons’ first drive of the second half proved to be fruitful.  Monroe embarked on a 13-play, 55 yard march that roughly consumed five minutes.  The drive was highlighted by a first down gain by Wilson, a 12-yard reception for another first down by Richter, a couple nifty runs by Hughes, and two runs by DeMetrio including a 14-yard jaunt for a touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 2:46 remaining in the third quarter.

The victory tripled Monroe’s win total from a year ago.  The Falcons finished 1-8 in 2025, and lost its season opener to Perth Amboy (33-28).  However, the Purple Birds have been on a roll over the last three weeks.  Monroe has outscored its foes by a margin of 98-14.  The Falcons have averaged 32.7 points per contest while giving up just 4.7 per game.  

With the loss, East Brunswick dropped its second straight and fell to 2-2 on the season.  Both teams return to action in Week 4.  Monroe travels to South Brunswick in another BCC National Gold Division match-up on Friday, September 25th at 6:00 PM.  Meanwhile, EB hosts Voorhees in a Big Central Conference crossover next Friday at 6:00 PM.

Team1234Final
Monroe (3-1)1407728
East Brunswick (2-2)00000