Down 13-0, Mustangs storm back with late TDs
By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
HAMMONTON – It would have been easy to write off Mainland Regional’s football season after the humbling loss at Millville a week earlier, but the Mustangs saved their best for last in a stunning 14-13 comeback win over the Hammonton Blue Devils last Thursday evening.
The victory was a huge shot in the arm for Mainland as the team returns to the Mustang Corral Friday for its home opener against arch rival and undefeated Ocean City (3-0). Mainland is now 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in the West Jersey Football League’s Royal Division.
Mainland had not played Hammonton in football since 2013 and had not beaten the Blue Devils in the last several contests.
“This was a huge game for us because now we’ve got a leg up on our division,” Mainland coach Chuck Smith said. “We know Hammonton is always a well-coached football team. Even when we were down late in the game, we never gave up.
“We stressed all week about competing. We have a lot of guys who are sophomore, juniors and first-year players and they’re still learning what that means. It’s not all about x’s and o’s but about what’s inside of you – competing, day in and day out,” Smith continued.
While Mainland’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns – one each by Ja’Briel Mace and quarterback Marlon Leslie – along with a two-point conversion, finally gave the Mustangs the edge on the scoreboard, it was a defensive stop just before halftime that saved the game.
Up 13-0 after Hammonton scored on its first two drives of the opening half, it looked like the Blue Devils would go up by three touchdowns when Mainland managed to change the complexion of the game.
Hammonton went on a 12-play drive that took the Blue Devils from their own 18 to the Mustangs 6 with less than a minute before halftime. On a 3rd-and-goal, Mainland junior cornerback Joe Sheeren blanketed a Blue Devils wide receiver in the left corner of the end zone and intercepted a pass from Hammonton’s Andrew Wehner to end the threat.
“They were running the ball up and down on us and we hadn’t stopped them to that point,” said Mace, who played a valuable role as defensive back. “That time, we stopped them when we had to and that was big.”
Smith said Hammonton, with its prodding offense, was taking huge chunks of time off the clock and knew the stop was do-or-die for his squad.
“As coaches, we were talking on the headsets that we couldn’t afford to let them score again because they were getting the ball again coming out of halftime,” Smith said. “We knew with the way they run the ball and chew it up with the ground game, we knew that was huge.”
The Blue Devils had rushed for an impressive 181 yards on the ground in the first half spread out among six runners. The Mustangs, though, forced a punt and then recovered a fourth-down fumble on Hammonton’s first two series of the second half to give them a chance.
Mainland’s first drive of the fourth quarter turned out to be its best, going seven plays, sparked by Leslie’s 16-yard pass to Jamie Tyson to overcome a holding penalty. Mace bolted off right tackle for a 15-yard touchdown with 6:40 left to play in the game, but the extra point missed, leaving the Mustangs behind 13-6.
It was Mace’s best game, statistically, for Mainland this season, rushing for 105 yards on 15 carries.
The Mustangs’ defense then took over, stuffing Hammonton with minus yards on three straight running plays to record their first three-and-out against the Blue Devils, with 4:29 remaining.
Hammonton appeared to have a game plan for Leslie, who had rushed for 187 yards in the season opener against Egg Harbor Township before sitting out the Millville game because of a shoulder injury.
The Mainland signal-caller was held to 5 yards rushing going into the Mustangs’ final series. On a 3rd-and-11 at the Hammonton 36, Leslie found no running room on the right side of the line but shredded a couple of defenders and broke free down the right sideline for a daring touchdown at the 3:26 mark.
“It was a broken play and could have been a tackle for a loss,” Leslie said. “After I broke the first two tackles, I saw a lot of space in front of me and I just took off.”
Smith said he wasn’t surprised by Leslie’s athletic run that left the Hammonton faithful stunned.
“He’s a big kid and a load to tackle,” Smith said of his junior quarterback. “He’s a 210-pound kid who has speed and strength. You can’t just tackle him one-on-one because he’ll just bounce right off of you, which he did several times. It gives us a good dynamic in the backfield.”
Mainland opted for an attempt to take the lead rather than tie with the two-point conversion. Leslie pitched the ball to Mace, who the threw a halfback pass to an open Conner Kallen.
The Mustangs defense, though, had to come up with another stop against Hammonton’s offense to complete the win. The Blue Devils drove to the Mainland 40 before the Mustangs got a tackle for loss, a fumble and two sacks.
The fourth-down sack by J.J. Sinclair on Wehner back at Hammonton’s 31 put an exclamation point on Mainland’s comeback win.
“I don’t think people understand how hard we work,” Mace said after the game. “With Antoine Lewis, our strength and conditioning coach, that’s all we do to prepare for situations like this game tonight. If things aren’t going our way, we know we just have to continue to work. Things weren’t going our way in the first half, but we just kept working.”
The Mustangs will have their work cut out for them once again this week in taking on Ocean City, which has recorded three consecutive shutouts. Mainland has lost their last two contests to the Red Raiders, including a 63-0 loss last year at Carey Stadium.
Mainland carries an 11-game home regular-season win streak into the contest.
