Hightstown ends season with first winning record since ’06
HIGHTSTOWN » Regardless of the fact it will not be playing deep into November, the Hightstown football team walked off the field Friday on Senior Night with much to be proud of this season.
By beating Ewing at David J. Mcintire Field, 30-15, the Rams put a stamp on a historical year by finishing with a winning record for the first time since 2006. In October, Hightstown (5-4) ended the program’s long winning droughts against Hamilton (1993) and Notre Dame (1977).
The Rams won only one game last year and four combined in their first two seasons under head coach Ethan Jeros. But 2017 proved to be a promising step forward for the program.
“It’s very special,” senior Johnny Andre said. “This year, a lot of people were doubting us, but we just came in, we worked hard and we got the job done. As a team, as a unit we came together and we just started winning games and we believed in ourselves.”
A key element to this season’s turnaround was a single wing offense installed by two new veteran coaches on Jeros’ staff. The system’s deception and diverse angles at the point of attack made Hightstown one of the most lethal rushing attacks in the area.
Andre, a running back and linebacker on the team, was one of the beneficiaries. Andre rushed for more than 100 yards Friday to cap a career season of close to 900 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Junior Michael Quigg also topped the century mark against Ewing (4-5) and rushed for two touchdowns, including a 67-yard burst down the sideline in the first quarter.
“It has been very fun to play in,” Andre said. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, nobody runs the single wing anymore. It’s an old offense.’ But we showed that in our first scrimmage that when we run it, we can make it work. We had to repeat a lot of plays over and over and over. We had to trust the process in practice, and we believed in the coaches and their system.”
It was a bittersweet season for Andre, who finished with five straight 100-yard games (counting a 99-yard performance against Moorestown on Oct. 13) after rehabbing an ankle injury in the preseason.
“When it happened, it caught me off guard because it was my first injury,” Andre said. “I didn’t know how to take it, but my friends helped through it, my teammates helped me, my coach, and thanks to my trainer, Miss Lisa, I got through it and got better. And it helped me throughout the season.”
Hightstown’s special night began with Quigg’s long touchdown on a three-play, 72-yard drive on the Rams’ first series.
Later in the first quarter, the Rams put together a seven-play, 80-yard drive featuring a 28yard pass by Liam Monahan to Justin Dailey. Andre powered in from 1 yard out for the touchdown, and Matt DeCristofaro hauled in a two-point conversion to give Hightstown a 16-8 lead with 3:38 remaining in the period.
Minutes later, Andre had a key pass deflection on 3rdand-12 at Ewing’s 43-yard line to force a Blue Devils punt. Also on defense, Bishop Asamoah had a fumble recovery in the first half and Dailey scooped a pair in the second half.
In the third quarter, Quigg telegraphed a pass while playing outside linebacker and returned an interception 20 yards for a touchdown. He then added a 6-yard rushing touchdown in which he spun around a defender off the edge, earning a Hightstown a two-possession lead down the stretch that it would not relinquish.
Hightstown will come up just short of making the playoffs in the highly competitive Central Jersey Group IV following Middletown South’s 3414 win against Wall on Friday. Middletown South still had a game left for power points and trailed Hightstown by only six points entering the night for the eighth spot in the bracket.
But no matter what, the Rams silenced plenty of naysayers in 2017 and laid building blocks for the future.
“You’ve always got to keep working, because when they doubt you, some people tend to just give up and just go, ‘Oh, they’re doubting me,’” Andre said. “But we just stepped it up, we got better over the summer. Instead of skipping not mandatory summer workouts, we kept on going and we kept on working hard to keep getting wins.”
Ewing (4-5) 8 Hightstown (5-4)16 First Quarter H—
Quigg 67 rush (Felizor pass from Monahan)
Alston 4 rush (Holman rush) Andre 1 rush (DeCristofaro pass from Monahan)
E— H— Third Quarter H— E— H— 0 0 7 14 0 — 0 — 15 30
Quigg 20 interception return (pass failed) Evans 60 kickoff return (Hunkele kick) Quigg 6 rush (Monahan rush)