LINWOOD — Never mind the fact that the Mainland Regional High School football team gave up the most points it has all season in Friday’s 49-20 victory over Clearview Regional High School, the Mustangs said they are taking steps in the right direction as the postseason moves closer.
In all honesty, two of Clearview’s scores came in the fourth quarter against Mainland reserves after the Mustangs cruised to a big enough lead that the referees instituted a running clock for most of the second half.
The Mustangs are 8-0 on the season and can win the West Jersey Football League United Division outright with a victory this Friday at Egg Harbor Township (1-7, 1-3 in United Division). Mainland will then find out its NJSIAA Group IV playoff fate over the weekend when seedings are decided.
Last year, Mainland was moved out to the Central Jersey region where they were seeded No. 3 behind No. 1 Middletown South and No. 2 Pennsauken. Mainland, though, stunned Middletown South on the road in the Group IV Central Jersey finals, advancing to the state semifinals where they lost to eventual state champion Millville 18-14 on the last series of the game.
“I don’t know where we will end up,” head coach Chuck Smith said. “We have one more game to play and then we’ll start to worry about that. There’s still too many moving parts.”
Mainland’s offense, particularly the passing game, continued to improve by leaps and bounds just in time to be tested before the end of the regular season.
Mainland set the tone early on offense and defense last Friday. After holding the Pioneers to a three-and-out to start the game, the Mustangs needed two plays to get the contest’s first touchdown.
Cohen Cook ripped off a 45-yard run from the slot and Stephen Ordille finished the short drive with a 5-yard touchdown run less than 3 minutes into the game.
After an interception by Antonio Tartaglia gave Mainland the ball back on Clearview’s 46 on the next series, sophomore quarterback John Franchini immediately went up top with a perfect strike to senior wide receive Jamie Tyson for a touchdown on the next series and a 14-0 lead.
Mainland drove 73 yards on six plays on its third possession, aided by runs of 18 yards by Ordille and 24 yards by Cook. Ordille finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge, giving the Mustangs a 21-0 lead as the first quarter ended.
“That was our game plan. We told the kids that we’ve got to come out and assert ourselves in all facets of the game early,” Smith said. “So right from the start, we told them we can’t be horsing around.”
Clearview, though, started to take advantage of the superior size in the trenches with running backs O’Brian Brown and Sean Ralph picking up first-down yardage over the next two series.
But defensive back Jake Blum ruined the first of those two Pioneer drives when he intercepted a pass from quarterback Daulton Phalines and raced 61 yards for a touchdown. It was Blum’s second touchdown in consecutive weeks, emerging as a new scoring weapon for Mainland late in the season.
“Jake transferred in late last year from St. Augustine Prep and he was right up there from the get go,” Smith said. “He’s a very good athlete, and I think he’s just starting to come into his own.”
Blum, a sophomore who was inserted into the defensive backfield this week because of an injury, said he wants to contribute however he can.
“You know, back with all my boys who I grew up playing football with when I was young,” Blum said. “It’s been a great blessing and so much fun. It’s just something different out there going on. You can feel that difference. That’s why I came back. It’s been great.”
The Pioneers put together their most impressive drive of the game just before the half, going 82 yards on 12 plays. Phalines found tight end Matt Babcock for a 3-yard touchdown pass with 21.3 seconds left on the clock.
“They’re a well-coached football team and are really big up front,” Smith said. “So they were able to lean on us a little bit tonight. We had to make some adjustments so we could find a way to shut that down and we did until we put the [junior varsity] in there. The main thing is we were able to play a lot of kids who got some good experience at the varsity level.”
It was the first time Mainland’s first unit defense had given up a score in 10 quarters, since the third quarter of the Mustangs’ 14-7 victory over Hammonton on Sept. 23.
But there was enough time for Mainland to put another touchdown on the board. Blum ripped off a long return on the ensuing kickoff down the right sideline, where he was eventually pushed out of bounds at the Clearview 20.
Mainland called a timeout after Franchini was sacked with five seconds left. On the half’s last play, Franchini found Rocco DiBiaso in the middle of the field for a 27-yard catch-and-run touchdown, giving the Mustangs a 35-7 halftime lead.
“I just love getting the opportunities,” the junior slot back and defensive back said. “My coach gives me a chance and I’ll do whatever he asks. Everything starts with the blocking and I feel like if I do my part there and rely on the offensive line, my success will come.”
DiBiaso, another late-emerging threat for Mainland, scored his second receiving touchdown on the Mustangs’ first drive of the third quarter, a 34-yard touchdown catch to push Mainland’s lead to 42-7 and start the running clock.
“One of the things we have the benefit of is that we have a little bit of depth, especially at the skill positions,” Smith said. “Our sophomore class is very deep. They had a great run during junior football, a great run last year as freshmen and some even played for us last year. At this point of the season, that depth is good to have handy.”
Cook opened the Mustangs’ second series of the half with a 36-yard run to set up Mainland deep in Clearview territory once again.
Five plays later, Ordille would score his third touchdown of the game on a 5-yard run just before the end of the third quarter.
The Pioneers would score twice in the fourth quarter on touchdown runs of 47 and 68 yards by Brown, who became the first running back to rush for more than 100 yards against Mainland this season. But the game was well in hand at that time with the Mustangs resting their starters.
