The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 30

PAGE C6 Home News THibune SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2001 PLAYOFFS HOQL SOUTH RIVER 12, SHORE REGIONAL 7 nana i 1 1 DD TDBO mm Vj LI vxixi 4tfc 2 -v i i WiWvV'tt'V-': "4 i -ijJi -fe JODY SOUERSStaff photographer South River quarterback Mike Feaster looks for running ror i as he tries to escape the grasp of Shore's John Maisto during yesterday's Central Jersey Group I final. 1 1 1 i 1 1. SIT xlxl Katns aejense aenvers 10 wrap up ma siraigm lj i um Feaster finds other ways to win Shore's 44 yard line. After a four-yard gain by Earvin, Feaster threaded a 39-yard beauty to tight end Rene Ferreira. Ferreira caught the ball over his right shoulder and was pulled down just outside the end zone.

Feaster capped the drive with a 1-yard sneak for a touchdovm and a 12-7 lead. "I told the coach No. 24 is stuck on an island," Ferreira said. "He was either going to cover me or (fullback) Kevin Cole. I was wide open." The Feaster-to-Ferreira connection helped swing the momentum South River's way but the defense wasn't finished.

Down five" points and seeking a dramatic, last-second win, Shore called five straight rushing plays. Blue Devils quarterback Ben Grandinetti hadn't completed a pass all afternoon, but he had no choice but to go to the air as time ticked away. On first down with just over two minutes remaining, Grandinetti threw a deep pass that was tipped by a receiver into Feaster's waiting hands. Game over. "Our defense played superb today," Feaster said.

"We didn't get that from our defense all year." trailing 7-6 with :34 left in the third quarter. Earvin's 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter provided South River (10-0) with a 6-0 halftime cushion, but his costly fumble late in the third gave the Blue Devils a chance to take the lead. Earvin, the Rams' all-time leading rusher, coughed up the ball for the first time all season on the South River 2-yard line. Shore (8-3) fullback Joseph Toccacelli took advantage of the gaffe on the ensuing possession, running for a two-yard score and pushing the Blue Devils ahead 7-6. With momentum moving the Blue Devils' way, the Rams were in very unfamiliar territory.

Feaster, however, never blinked. "We were concerned, but I knew," said Feaster, who completed 5 of 10 passes for 77 yards. "We weren't going to lose. Not my last game." If not for South River's stellar goal-line defense, Feaster never would have had the opportunity to march the Rams to victory. The defense, led by hard-hitting linebackers Greg Mongelli and Brian Korygoski, stopped Shore twice on fourth-and-goal situations in the final 24 minutes.

"It's just heart and tradition," Mongelli said. "That's all we've been talking about all week. We wanted this game so bad we would have done anything to get it." Following the second goal-line stand, Feaster started the game-winning drive at By JOHN AIELLO STAFF WRITER UNION A football program steeped in tradition relied on a rather traditional cliche to capture its 24th state sectional championship. "So much for offense on Championship Saturday," said South River High School's defensive coordinator Jim Mackiewicz. "Defense wins championships and it was true today." The Rams' gritty defense, forgotten for most of the season in the wake of an offensive maelstrom, helped secure their second straight NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I crown yesterday with a 12-7 victory over Shore Regional at Kean University's Alumni Stadium.

It wasn't star running back Zack Ear- vin's 155 yards or quarterback Mike Feaster, who scored the winning touchdown with 8:20 to play in the game, that carried the day for the top-seeded Rams. "We've been saying that defense wins championship games," Rams head coach Rich Marchesi said. "We knew this game was going to go four quarters. It was going to take a defensive effort to get the Attempting to complete the first unde- feated campaign in South River since 1978 (the same year Marchesi defeated Shore in the title game as a South River player), the heavily favored Rams found themselves .1 A SVJ 7 -12 .0 0 7 0 ..0 6 0 6 SHORE REG. (8-3) SOUTH RIVER SCORING SR EaMn 1 run (kick blocked).

SH Toccacelli 2 run (Grandinetti kick). SR Feaster 1 run (pass (ailed) INDIVKHMl STATISTICS RUSHING: SR-Earvin 24-155. Feaster 8-9, Cole 2-5. Madosky 3-(2); SH-Toc-cacetti 14-77. Cardan 19-72, Grandinetti 10-39.

PASSING: SR-Feaster 5-10-2-77; SH-Grandinetti 02. RECEIVING: SR-Feneira 2-50, Earvin 1-15, Cole 1-7. Maclosky 1-5. JODY SOMERSStaff photographer South River's Mike Feaster breaks up a pass intended for Shore's Jesse Leonard. Rams' perfect season a fitting finish for seniors By JOSEPH SKREC STAFF WRITER UNION You know the game was a defensive battle when the top contenders for the winning quarterback's play of the game are a punt and an interception.

Mike Feaster, South River's senior signal-caller, completed four passes, including a 39-yarder to set up the whining touchdown, but the quarterback's most significant contributions to the Rams' 12-7 victory didn't come on offense. Feaster boomed a 59-yard punt in the fourth quarter, a play that pinned Shore inside its 10-yard line and ultimately gave South River field position it turned into the game-winning drive. The QB sealed the Rams' triumph with an interception on his team's 28-yard line with 2:02 left in the fourth quarter. Feaster missed his only PAT attempt and didn't add to his touchdown total (16 passes), but he helped tradition-rich South River gain another piece of hardware for the school's crowded trophy case. Feaster's booming punt, which benefited from a friendly bounce on Kean University's artificial surface, came on the third play of the fourth quarter.

The Rams faced a fourth-and-nine from their 32-yard line, so Feaster lined up inside the 25 to punt. He launched a deep spiral that wasn't downed until it stopped rolling at the Shore 9-yard line. "I think the punt was a big lift for our team," said Feaster, who netted an average of 38 yards on three second-half punts. "I knew I had to get off a good punt at that point. I needed to turn (the ball over) and get a good spiral.

I hit it good and thought it had a chance to go over (the return man's) head." South River's defense forced Shore to punt and the Rams took over on their opponent's 45-yard line. "(Feaster) pinned them deep when we needed it and the defense stepped up big," said South River tight end Rene Ferreira. rvr" rT 7W i i Three plays after South River regained possession and one play after a 39-yard connection between the QB and Ferreira Feaster crossed the goal line on a one-yard plunge and the Rams overcame a 7-6 deficit with 8:20 to play. "Field position was a big part of this game. It is any time you play a tight, defensive battle," said South River coach Rich Marchesi.

"Mike was an All (GMQ-Conference punter last season with something like a 37-yard average. He's a consistent punter who came up with a great kick when we needed it." "He's an all-star," South River RB Zack Earvin said of Feaster. Feaster's interception thwarted a Shore drive that saw the Blue Devils move the ball from their own 22-yard line to the 46. "My job on that play was to drop deep and I was just hoping somebody would top it my way," Feaster said. The pigskin bounced off the hands of a Shore receiver and into Feaster's grasp.

"I think Zack might have tipped it, too," Feaster said. "I knew the was overt when I got the interception." beat Keyport in the 2000 final with four scores and over 200 yards rushing. Against Shore, the senior running back rushed for 155 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown. A RAM AND HIS TRAINER: One of the first celebratory acts for South River senior defensive end and fullback Kevin Cole was a photo with the Rams' trainer, Barbara Bernstein. "I wouldn't have made it here without Miss said Cole, who, despite playing with an injured ankle, was in Shore's backfield most of the afternoon and helped contain QB Ben Grandinetti.

Cole played the entire season with a torn ligament in his left ankle, an injury that will require surgery in the not-too-distant future. Cole also endured an injured leg, but missed only one of the Rams' 10 games this fall. "Winning the championship and finishing undefeated is definitely worth all of the pain and all of the hard work," Cole said. Bernstein later orchestrated a fchoto with all of South River's seniors. By JOHN AIELLO and JOSEPH SKREC STAFF WRITERS UNION The way quarterback Mike Feaster figured, South River was fated to complete it's first undefeated season since 1978.

"It just wouldn't be right if we didn't finish it this way," said Feaster. Coach Rich Marchesi, a member of the Rams' last undefeated squad, tried all year to deflect talk of a perfect season. "It really wasn't talked about all year," Marchesi said. "It was a week to week thing." Although a flawless record wasn't an obessession with South River players, it was never far from their thoughts. "We just wanted to go out that way," said tight end Rene Ferreira.

"They've been stressing that on us for a week and a half." BIG GAME ZACK: Zack Earvin's numbers in the last two CJ Group I championship games are staggering. In back-to-back victories, Earvin ran for five total touchdowns'. He almost single-handedly JODV SOMERSStaH photographer South River's Zack Earvin breaks away from Shore's Michael Snow for some of his 155 rushing yards yesterday..