By CLYDE HUGHES/Special to the Sentinel
ABSECON – All streaks come to an end eventually and for the Mainland Regional football team, it came on the heels of four costly turnovers and a special teams breakdown this past Friday in a 28-13 road loss to the Absegami Braves.
The loss snapped the Mustangs 13-game regular season winning streak dating back to 2018 when they lost to Clearview on the road. Mainland must quickly pick up the pieces as they prepare to play a much-improved Pleasantville Greyhounds team at home this Friday at 4 p.m.
The game saw sophomore sensation running back Ja’Briel Mace and freshman starting quarterback Jake Meyers go down with injuries in the fourth quarter. Mainland coach Chuck Smith said at the time he did not know how serious either was after the game.
With a young offense learning a new system, Mainland (1-1) continued to struggle despite the unit getting its first two touchdowns of the season.
Two of those turnovers happened on Mainland’s first two offensive plays from scrimmage – an interception and then a fumble – setting the tone for the Mustangs and firing up an Absegami team (1-1) eager to get a win.
“We’re just not good enough yet to overcome those kind of mistakes,” Smith said after the game. “We shot ourselves too many times in the foot, especially to start the game. Then late in the game when we had a chance to get the game within one score we turn the ball over there, too.
“The one thing I can say for these kids is that they never quit. We were in it until the very end. Down two scores with hardly any time left on the clock they could have started hanging their heads but they kept it up. When you have an attitude like that, eventually good things will happen. This a young, growing team. We have some young guys playing some key positions. As time goes and we mature, we’ll be OK.”
While Mainland’s defense held Absegami to 3-and-outs for those first two possessions inside Mustang territory to start the game, they both set up the Braves first score of the contest. Senior running back Sahmir Brown bolted for a 50-yard touchdown run at the 6:40 mark of the first quarter, giving Absegami a 7-0 lead.
The Mustangs answered on a 12-play, 71-yard drive with Meyers throwing his first career touchdown to sophomore Nate Wagner down the left sideline. But Mainland missed the extra point and continued to trail 7-6 as the first quarter ended.
But Absegami, behind junior quarterback Ray Weed, engineered its own 12-play drive to extend the Braves lead. Weed found senior wideout Ryan Wilkins for 9 yards on a fourth-down play to keep the possession alive and then scored three plays later on a 9-yard QB keeper for a 14-6 advantage.
Mainland’s third turnover of the first half, an interception at the Mustangs 20, cost them directly on the scoreboard this time. On the first play, Weed connected down the sideline with Jordan Marcucci, who took it to his house to give his team a 21-6 lead.
The Mustangs would answer right before the half when Mace scored his first touchdown of the season on a 51-yard run, slashing the deficit to 21-13 at halftime.
Mainland’s defense looked up to the task in the second half. The Mustangs forced the Braves into two consecutive 3-and-outs to open the third quarter, giving the squad a chance to tie the game.
The offense, though, failed to sustain drives as well before the backbreaker. Marcucci took a Mustangs punt at the Absegami 30, raced around the initial wall of defenders down the right sideline for a 70-yard touchdown, giving the Braves a 28-13 lead with 2:43 left in the third quarter.
“That punt return really hurt us because our defense played well at times tonight,” Smith said. “They hurt us a little bit with their runs, but we were trying to keep the ball away from [Marcucci] because he’s so electrifying but then he fields a punt and took it all the way back.”
The Mustangs fought to get back into the game with a long 14-play drive that took Mainland from its own 35 to the Absegami 4 in the fourth quarter before a fumble and recovery by the Braves ended the threat. In last week’s win against Egg Harbor Township, Mainland was inside the Eagles 10-yard-line twice on the verge of scoring but turned the ball over both times.
Smith said he still has a tremendous amount of confidence in Meyers and he is just making the adjustment to varsity football.
“The game is very fast for him right now,” Smith said. “Last year he was playing [junior high] football and now he’s playing against kids who are four years older than him. He’s playing against guys who are young men, but he’s going to be fine down the road.
“He’s got the right attitude, the right mentality and tool set. We just want to take our time to make sure he gets there in the right manner,” Smith said.
Smith did not appear to be too heartbroken about the regular-season winning streak being snapped but said his team will be ready to start a new one.
“It is what it is,” he said. “Losses happen and wins happen. We’ll just keep plugging away. We’ll go back and look at the film and then obviously correct the mistakes that we made. We’ve got a young team but we’ve got some experienced guys who have returned. They are good leaders and good mentors to these guys.”
Absegami first-year head coach Chis Sacco said the win for his squad was a game-changer for a young program itself looking for an identity change.
“Mainland is young, but they’re a very good football team,” Sacco said. “They are talented and watching film you can tell where they had great spurts at times. We showed our guys those clips and told them it’s going to be a dogfight. They had a lot of motivation and we hadn’t beaten Mainland in a while.”
Absegami lost at Ocean City in its opener the week before 49-7.
“Yeah, we couldn’t wait to get that sour taste out of our mouths and show people we are coming up as a football team,” Sacco said.