Laws quietly having strong season for Hightstown
LAWRENCE >> Ethan Jeros and his coaching staff preached it all week: the Mayor’s Cup belongs inside Hightstown High School.
The hardware dates back several years to when Jeros, a 1989 Hightstown alum, played for the Rams. Back then, West Windsor-Plainsboro South was the only school serving West Windsor, while Hightstown served East Windsor students.
The two have been rivals over the years, with the winner of their annual football game garnering the trophy. So despite a frustrating 0-6 season up until last Friday for Hightstown, the Rams found extra motivation to not quit on the season.
“We had this mentality of trying to put the 0-6 behind us, and we were looking forward to beating a rival who we beat last year and wanted to keep the trophy at home,” senior Greg Laws said. “We came in with this mentality as if we were starting fresh and instead of becoming 1-6, we wanted to be 1-0.”
Laws was a leader of that movement. As the offensive line’s left tackle, he proved a key cog in the team’s 350 rushing yards as Hightstown won a 36-35 overtime thriller on Homecoming against West Windsor South.
“We knew that if we stuck with our blocks and stuck with our assignments that we’d be able to get some blocksandgetsomemovement,”Jeros said. “We kept it really basic, we didn’t do anything exotic. We just played pretty much ‘come at you’ football. The guys blocked really well.”
Laws stood out the most, literally and figuratively. At 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, he is the 12th Man TD Club Offensive Lineman of the Week. He also returned one kickoff for about 60 yards.
All the more impressive about Laws earning the award is the fact he only just began playing football last year. And as a junior, he only played defensive line. Now, he lines up both ways as a steady rock in the trenches for Hightstown.
“In the offseason, we said to him, ‘You’re going to have to play both sides. There’s no ifs, ands or buts around it,’” Jeros said. “And he’s done superbly. He hasn’t said a word, he’s done whatever we’ve asked and he’s really improved. He’s done a great job. Our of all the guys, he’s been the most consistent.”
Even though he lined up against theoffensivelineinpracticelastyear, Laws admits the transition was not ideal initially. Especially with the nuances of the Rams’ schemes, which entail predominantly zone blocking. The Rams run complex isolation run plays through interior gaps as well as inside/outside zone and toss plays.
“At first, it was a little confusing understanding which way to step and which guy I had to pick up, but as the summer went on and as the weeks went on, playing o-line, I’ve become accustomed to it,” Laws said. “It’s kind of like second nature now. It’s fun. I like it.”
Said Jeros of zone blocking: “The concept is hard for a high school kid to understand. You’re not blocking a man. You’re staying in your zone, and if a man appears, you block him. The guys are slowly but surely starting to pick it up, and that’s encouraging.”
That finally manifested on the field last week. The offensive line played with better communication and fluidity than it had all season. Up until that game, the Rams were averaging only 8.5 points per game through six weeks.
Laws frequently carved a hefty running lane for Johnny Andre or Sergei Felizor.
“If it’s an outside zone play and I have to step to the left, I would have to seal the edge,” Laws said of playing left tackle. “It’s pretty much a big responsibility because some of the time the ball goes that way and it’s pretty much up to me and the guard to stay on our blocks so (the rusher) has that hole to get through to either score or get a first down.”
It wasn’t a role he envisioned fulfilling a year ago, but Laws isn’t complaining about how the cards fell his senior year.
“Whatever benefits the team,” Laws said, “I’m down to do.”