Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 65

TR Sooftfe Claims First Championship Section C- Asbury Park Press drained Signorino following a 16-cartwheel performance to match each of the Indians' points. "This is our first state title and it's what we've been working for all year." It was the same story for the Indians as it had been most weeks en route to a 9-2 sea By GARY SCHOENING Press Staff Writer CHERRY HILL TOWNSHIP Ed Grundhauser wanted to be sure to mention some offensive linemen named Matt Walters, Dave Soidivieri, Joe Durney, Dave Durbln and Larry Nemetz. Ron Signorino wanted to be sure that assistant coaches Bill Rankin, Bill Doughert Pete Bush, Sam Elias, Ed Heffernan and Ed Worth received credit. Those names make up the supporting cast without which a football team cannot be successful. But Grundhauser, the quarterback, and Signorino, the coach, are the head-liners of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV-champlons, Toms River High School South.

Toms River yesterday became the champions for the first time In Signorino's 15 year reign by beating Cherry Hill East, 1W. "Of course this is my biggest coaching victory," said an emotionally and physically Indians9 By JOE ADELIZZI Press Staff Writer CHERRY HILL TOWNSHIP It was probably the last organized football game Toms River South's Ed Grundhauser would ever play so the little field general with the master mind left his fans something to remember him by, a South Jersey Group IV championship. And his biggest fan, South coach Ron Signorino, won't ever forget. two weeks ago against Millvill was 13 of 15 with one interception in the first half, good for 144 yards. In the second half, it was the running backs, most notably Carl Morris and Jim Ault, who did the damage.

Morris ran for 107 yards in 23 carries and scored all of Toms River's points, including a 26-yard, game-clinching field goal in the fourth period. Ault contributed 46 yards in 10 carries. And for 60 minutes, the defense did what it was supposed to do shut off the Cougars' running attack. The defense did just that, holding a running team to a minus two yards net rushing. "The War Lord is alive and will always be alive," Signorino said of his defense.

"And when the War Lord is doing his Job, we can all rest easy. The War Lord put another shutout on the board, although it doesn't show It." Cherry Hill's only score came on a rare errant Grundhauser pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Having been blitzed by Grundhauser's arm in the first half, the Cougars returned the favor by blitzing their linebackers at Grundhauser. It was to no avail, though, as the Indians came from the dressing room and uncorked an 18-play, 76-yard drive all on the ground that devoured 9:20 of the clock. "We went in at halftime pretty loose and decided we had to get our running game back together," said Morris, a junior.

'We really started pounding it out against them, didn't we?" Bo Wood, the Cherry Hill coach whose Cougars finished at 8-3, was all too aware of what was going on. QB Leaves Mark tones. Asbury Park Press Toms River South's Mark Troutman (left) breaks away from Jeff Wolley of Cherry Hill East in first half of NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV football championship yesterday in Cherry Hill. The Carl Morris-led Indians won, 16-6. "They put us in a position where we had to pass and this team this year has intercepted more passes than it's completed." Wood had nothing but praise for Grund-See SOUTH Page CIO "Eddie Grundhauser? All you get is one quarterback like him per lifetime," said the Indian coach.

All Grundhauser managed to do for the Indians yesterday was complete 14 of 17 passes, good for 153 yards while manipulating the complex Indian attack against a rugged, highly-regarded Cherry Hill East defense in South's lf4 victory. And he did it with a left hand which until Wednesday night was in a cast. He did it so superbly that few could remember his lone i- Point Pleasant 2nd Straight 1 4, 7 us? VJ ffr V'V By RICK MAKIN Press Staff Writer POINT PLEASANT For Al Saner, the second time was just as exciting as the first. The head coach of the Point Pleasant Boro High School football team started to sniffle back the tears while talking to reporters after his team won its second straight South Jersey Group championship yesterday with a hard-fought 21-16 victory over a physical and stubborn Maple Shade team. "Sure It means as much," Saner said.

"This time it's at home, in front of our own fans. We're very proud. "How did we do it? We have a great staff, and great kids. They have a lot of courage, and they all did a great job. They make a coach look good." Fighting back from a 10-7 third-quarter deficit, the Panthers threatened to break the game open, then hung on to stifle a Wildcat rally.

Several Point Boro players said the the game was physically punishing. The Panther's senior quarterback, Earl Smith, who had 30 yards rushing and three pass completions (or 30 yards, stood with blood gushing from a gash over his nose. "I don't know when I got It or how," he said. "It really doesn't matter, man. It doesn't matter at all." Halfback Dino DcLlsa, the offensive workhorse with 155 yards on 26 carries, complained of pain from a leg bruise, but quickly brushed it aside.

"It feels good," he said of the championship victory. The Panthers turned to DeLisa, as they Asbury Park Press football championship. Some two hours later, Smith and walked off with 21-16 decision, Point Boro's second consecutive sectional football crown. Quarterback Earl Smith (22) shows his eager as Point Pleasant Boro takes the field against Maple Shade yesterday for the NJSIAA South Jersey Group II Recreation Food Sun. Deo.

3, 1B78 son an efficient and balanced attack and a stingy defense that wouldn't quit until the final gun. Riding Grundhauser's arm in the first half, the Indians built a 7-6 lead. Grundhauser, despite playing with a compound dislocation of his left pinky suffered in the vitory mistake, a poorly thrown pass which was intercepted and converted into Cherry Hill East's only points of the day. "I was worried I wouldn't be able to play at all," said Grundhauser. "But once the game started everything was fine." The pinky on his left had had been broken in the final moments of South's 14-12 victory over Millville two weeks ago in the first round of the playoffs.

He hadn't practiced until this past Thursday and even then See INDIANS Page CIO Takes rific kids, they played one hell of a ball game," Saner said. "They never gave up, they were in it right till the end. That's Just the way a championship game should be." "I think both teams did a good job," Ranniello said. In the first half, defense was dominant. Each team limited the other to a single first down, and each punted twice.

In the second period, the Panther offense jelled first, as DeLisa led his mates on a 10- four Hudak passes tor 97 yards on offense and picked off three Bob Cosentino passes galloping 85 yards on one of them for the final touchdown while fulfilling his defensive duties. South River, which trailed 7-0 at halftime on a 77-yard scoring pass from Bob Cosentino to Nick Lubischer, and Jackson finally got untracked In the second half. "That touchdown was a freak," said Koziatek. "They really didn't move the ball In the first half with the exception of that play." On a second-and-13 from his own 23, Cosentino sprinted to his left intending to throw a pass Into the flat. Finding no one open, Cosentino reversed his field and fired a ball toward tight end Vic didn't.

Incomplete pass, compounded by a 15-yard holding penalty on Shore. Twenty seconds now remained. Cosentino cranked up and fired again. The ball was caught by South River's Jackson. Shore Regional would not go for one more touchdown, would not "get one back." The final seconds clicked off, and Cammarano could do nothing beyond letting his pride in this team this team that was predicted by no preseason "expert" to go this far but surely did overpower his emotions.

The traditional midfield handshakes with South River players and staff were performed with the grace, sincerity and mutual respect one unbeaten team can expect from another and then It was time for Cammarano to call his final huddle of the 1978 season. "I want to tell you tight now, all of you, that you're the best team that I've ever been associated with," he said. "You've got a place In my heart, now and always. "You won together and now you've lost together. "But Intercepted passes and those things are not what this Is all about.

"Those things are part of life. "You represented the Shore area well. "Yqu did everything except complete the big play. You gave It your best shot. You Sec SHORE Page C10 South River Wins 2nd Stright Title Shore Handed First Defeat of Season, 21-7 play, 87-yard scoring drive, carrying six times for 63 yards.

Smith completed a 12-yard pass to wing-back Mike Stango for a first down on his own 37-yard line, and two plays later DeLisa crashed over left tackle, cut toward the sideline and raced 41 yards for a first down on the Wildcat 17. Two more DeLisa carries moved the ball to the 10, and Smith then rolled around left end for the touchdown. Bob Taggart kicked Morgano at midfield. Jackson came from his safety position and tipped the bail into the waiting hands of Lubischer who raced the final 50 yards for the initial touchdown with 51 seconds to ga in the first quarter. The second quarter belonged to the defense, especially Shore's which came up with a goal-line stand late In the second quarter and sent the Blue Devils Into the locker room clinging to a 7-0 lead.

Five minutes into the second half that changed. Joe Banaciskl mlsplayed the second half kickoff and the Rams took over on their own nine-yard line. A 14-yard pass from Hudak to Jackson got the Rams out of the hole. Following a "We couldn't get started either way on the ground or through the air," he said. "They didn't do anything we didn't expect.

They really played good outside defense against us and we just got shut off. jj m. the PAT for a 7-0 lead. The score brought the Wildcats to life. Halfback Mike Koehl, the Wildcats' leading rusher with 90 yards in 11 carries, raced 18 yards on the first play from scrimmage, and later scampered 30 yards down the sideline for a first down on the Panther 34.

Gambling in a fourth-and-one situation, halfback Joe Ziccardl gained another key first down, and Koehl cut outside two play! See POINT PLEASANT Page C10 series of of runs by Troy Hill and Dave Schmidt and a couple of first downs, Hudak hit Jackson in the flat on a flanker screen and the 6-0, 175-pounder weaved his way through the Blue Devil defease for a 42-yard gain down to the Shore five. Hill went in off left guard two plays later then booted the extra point to tie the game, 7-7. Shore took the ensuing kickoff and aided by a pass interference call drove to the South River 44. Cosentino was sacked on back-to-back passing attempts and Joe Pmgitore dropped back to punt on fourth down. John Carroll's snap sailed over his head and though he was able to get the ball away.

See SHORE Page C10 first half of a 21 dletown North in Crown Panthers' Gambles Pay Off By bill Mclaughlin Press Staff Writer POINT PLEASANT If ever the great moments of Shore Conference scholastic sports history are compiled in book form, the football Panthers of Point Pleasant Boro will have a chapter to themselves right up front. Coach Al Saner's team won its second striighf NJSIAA South Jersey Group II championship yesterday, flailing into submission its tenth victim of this season. Among other things, the win preserved a Shore Conference record of having won at least one title in each of the five years the sectional crowns have been decided on the gridiron. In doing so, the Panthers had the poise to fight back from a 10-7 third period deficit and drive for two second-half touchdowns, aided by a pair of gutsy calls made by Saner and his staff. Twice the coaching braintrust gambled on fourth down plays with less than a yard to go.

The first eventually resulted in a Dino DeLisa touchdown, and the second kept alive Point Boro's clock-killing final drive. Another difficult decision resulted in a first-and-goal situation after a fourth-and-four keeper by Earl Smith. Where they the toughest decisions of Saner's career? "Well, I guess they were some of the biggest gambles we've made," admitted Saner in a post-game interview. "But we really had no choice about it. We were short on running backs, so we stayed with (Dino) DeLisa and (Earl) Smith at the very end.

They've got good hands, maybe the best on the team." On the first crucial fourth down play, De-Lisa squirted through a hole in the middle of Maple Shade's line and went seven yards for a touchdown. Later, when the Panthers were content to hang on to their 21-16 lead, DeLisa kept the final drive going by carry five consecutive times in a march toward midfield. If you're looking for heroes in one of the biggest games in this school's history, start with DeLisa. The wiry junior halfback carried 26 times for 155 yards, and was en- See PANTHERS Page CIO MTV Ashury Park Press 7 loss to South River yesterday at Mid the Central Jersey Group II finale. JTT." I By BOB FOXWORTH Press Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP Bill Csa-tari, South River High School football coach, stood at mldfield, his eyes appeared glazed, his voice unsteady.

"I'm emotionally drained," he said after the final gun had sounded and his Rams had collected their second consecutive NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II championship with a Ken Jackson-led, come-from-behlnd 21-7 victory over Shore at Middletown High School North yesterday afternoon. "This was a battle of two undefeated teams and they played their hearts out today. They (Shore) got a few breaks In the first half and we got some in the second usually do in a tight spot, in two fourth-down situations in the final period, and the shifty runner came through, once for seven yards and the go-ahead touchdown with 9:12 left in the game, and again for a key first down with 1:40 remaining that allowed Point Pleasant to keep the ball while nursing a five-point lead. Saner complimented Jim Ran niello, the Maple Shade coach, on the Wildcats' effort immediately after the game. "You have ter half." "I think we defended them as well as we could," said first-year Shore coach Nick Cammarano.

"I'm super happy with our performance." "We knew at the beginning of the season that we were the team everyone would be shooting for," said Csatari, whose club has now posted 21 consecutive victories. "We were banged up," said Ram defensive coordinator Walt Koziatek. "Both our linebackers (Troy Hill and Rich Marches!) were hurt in the second half but our other kids came in and did the job. We came up with the big play when we needed it." "We" turned out to be Jackson on most occasions. The junior split end and safety hauled In Tears welled up under the eyelids of Shore players, coaches, cheerleaders and partisans of all categories.

The objects of their mass affection, winners of 10 straight, were about to lose their first game of an autumn that had brought delight after delight after delight. "If you can't hear us, we'll yell a little louder," came the voices from the grandstands at Middletown Township High School North. The yellers, of course, couldn't be prouder. But they couldn't possibly have been prouder than Shore's first-year head coach, Nick Cammarano. And Cammarano's own pride in his players knew no bounds.

"Be proud of yourselves," he told each of his offensive unit players as they trotted to the sideline. "Keep your heads up. "I want your heads up all the time. "Do you hear me?" The heads stayed up but the tears began to emerge. "Go for a touchdown," was junior guard Evan Meyer's encouragement to kickoff returner Mike McGowan.

McGowan didn't, settling for a return to his own 40. Twenty-six seconds now remained. "Get one back," said a voice from a crowd of Shore players gathered on the mid-field sidelines. Quarterback Bob Cosentino cranked up and did all in his power to get one back. He Blue Devils Keep Heads High 'Of I TO.

Ill GESD Mors cecd gSffilKf By ELLIOT OENMAN Press Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP Five hun; drtd and twenty-seven minutes and 16 seconds into the finest football season in the history of Shore Regional High School, the Blue Devil varsity finally faced up to the inevitability of defeat. Ken Jackson, lugging an Intercepted pass, had just turned in one of the swiftest 85-yard dashes ever seen in the NJSIAA football playoffs to give his South River High School team an obviously barring some form of bang-bang double miracle by Shore untoppable 21-7 advantage with Just 44 seconds left in the Central Jersey Group championship final. Inside. Sports Alabama Swt at Sugar C2 Durkin Rtmefflbtrs C3 RufMwrt Ready 'or 'Waif C3 All Shofe fld Hockey C4 AH Short Gymnastics CI 3, 15 Food C23 Vic Morgano (88) and Ray Mancinl (78) hug Nick Lubischer, who scored only Shore Regional touchdown in.