By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
LINWOOD – Mainland Regional’s 13-6 home victory over Egg Harbor Township to start the COVID-19-shortened football season last Saturday afternoon could not have been more topsy-turvy given the circumstances both teams – and the rest of squads around the country – are playing under.
Special teams breakdowns, turnovers and misfiring offenses were all par for the game. But that made way for some heroics that allowed the top players for both teams to shine.
The good news for the Mustangs is that they will go into Friday’s game at Absegami with their regular-season winning streak intact at 13 games and counting. Mainland has not lost a regular-season game since falling to Clearview 24-17 on Sep. 28, 2018.
It appears to be the second-longest regular-season winning streak in school history, following the 2007-2009 stretch under former coach Bob Coffey, in which Mainland won 22 consecutive regular-season games. The Mustangs won a state title in 2008.
“Considering the shortened preseason, we always expected it would be a game with a lot of hiccups and mistakes,” Mainland coach Chuck Smith said. “We talked about it before the game – the team that would make the least mistakes would win the game and, thank God, we were the team.”
Mainland needed two defensive touchdowns by Sam Epstein and Dennis Moreno, a touchdown-saving tackle by Ja’Briel Mace after a fourth-quarter interception and a bit of good fortune to get win No. 13.
Egg Harbor Township came into the game with the sole intent of stopping Mace, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards his freshman year and has already attracted NCAA Division I offers. The Eagles’ defense repeatedly turned away Mustang drives deep in EHT territory, especially in the first half when all of Mainland’s drives started on the Eagles’ end of the field.
Smith and the players attributed their struggles to youth and a new offense that was installed this season, and believe it is just a matter of time before it starts paying off.
“It’s new and we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” senior captain Sam Epstein said. “It takes a little time but we’re going to start moving the ball.”
During a scoreless tie in the second quarter, Mainland got the season’s first touchdown on the special teams. With 1:05 left before halftime with the Eagles punting from their own 29, a snap sailed over the head of EHT punter Chris Griffin.
Under the heavy rush, Moreno tackled Griffin, preventing him from picking up the loose ball, leaving Epstein to scoop up the pigskin and run it into the end zone. Brady Panas nailed the extra point, which would loom huge later in the game, to give Mainland a 7-0 lead.
“It’s just as much as Dennis’ touchdown because he tackled the punter,” Epstein said. “That allowed me to get the ball.”
Mainland’s offense continued to sputter, failing to get a first down on its first three drives in the second half.
Egg Harbor Township was able to match the Mustangs’ touchdown with 9:40 left in the fourth quarter as Mainland failed on what appeared to be a fake punt, giving the Eagles the ball at the Mustangs’ 25.
EHT quarterback Christian Rando found wideout Amir Dunn down the left sideline for a 24-yard catch-and-run. Rando finished the drive off with a quarterback sneak. But the Eagles missed the extra-point kick to the left, allowing the Mustangs to maintain the lead 7-6.
After the score, the Mustangs put together their best drive of the game, moving the ball from their own 25 to the Eagles’ 7 on eight plays, helped by a 25-yard pass from freshman quarterback Jake Meyers to sophomore wideout Nick Wagner.
But after the ball was moved back 10 yards for a holding penalty, EHT defensive back Avery McKim stepped in front of a Meyers pass down the right sidelines and appeared to have a straight path for a go-ahead score. However, Mace, arguable the fastest player on the field, ran down McKim at the Mainland 25. It was McKim’s second interception of the game, ending a Mainland drive inside the 20.
“I just wasn’t going to let him score on us,” Mace said of the hustle play that allowed the Mustangs to hold on to the lead.
The Eagles moved the ball to the Mainland 12 before the Mustangs’ defense stiffened and a 28-yard EHT field goal fell a foot short in front of the goal post with about 4:00 left in the game.
Mainland was able to get one first down but was forced to punt, and another poor snap exchange gave the Eagles another chance to win the game with the ball on the Mustangs 14 with less than a minute to play.
Egg Harbor Township opted to run a play, going with a speed option, a play it ran successfully for most of the game. This time, Moreno cut off his rush, stepped in the pitch lane and grabbed Rando’s toss to his running back in midair. He then darted about 80 yards for Mainland’s second touchdown with 25 seconds left.
“My assignment was to go on a full rush,” Moreno said. “Then, I saw it was a speed option and I took my chances and read the pitch, and was able to read it well. At that time we needed a stop. It’s all about contributing.”
It was a stinging defeat for Egg Harbor Township and coach Kevin Stetser, who saw his defense pull off an outstanding performance only to miss out on several chances to win the game late.
“This is a really tough pill to swallow,” Stetser said. “They were in the same COVID-19 situation we were in and they made significantly less mistakes than we did. That really was the difference in the game. Until we get those cleaned up, we’re going to continue to have frustrating Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. With that being said, I believe our kids played a high level of intense football, but we just didn’t get it done when the game was on the line.”
For Smith, he said the Mustangs will need to step up their effort “in every aspect of the game” against Absegami if they want to continue their winning ways. He admitted to going slow with Meyers at quarterback but expects big things out of him as a freshman.
“Sometimes we were probably too cautious because we didn’t want to throw him into the fire,” Smith said. “He’s going to get a lot better sooner. He has a chance to really be something special. Whatever ‘it’ is, he has ‘it.’ He has that potential.” Game time is 6 p.m. Friday at Absegami.
Absegami lost its opener to Ocean City, 49-7.