September 12, 2010
Relentless Patriots win big
Running back Eddie Delgado rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
Click Here for more photos from Secaucus at Manchester Regional.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
HALEDON – No matter the score or situation, the Secaucus football team knows only one way how to play, and that’s aggressive. Rather than play it safe, the relentless Patriots gambled and were rewarded with a convincing 46-8 victory yesterday over Manchester Regional.
“We’re an aggressive group and we believe in what we can do physically,” Secaucus head coach Charlie Voorhees said. “We’ve always done that. It’s just our philosophy. It’s how we feel about what we do.”
Armed with a 24-8 lead and facing a 4th-and-18 at midfield with 21 seconds left in the second quarter, most teams might have been content with punting and taking the 16-point lead into the half. Voorhees and Secaucus (1-0) had other ideas.
Instead, the Patriots decided to put the ball in the hands of Eddie Delgado. The senior running back responded by stiff-arming away a defender and scampering 42 yards down the left sideline before being brought down at the 3-yard line.
“It was a matter of us not wanting them to get the ball back,” Voorhees said. “We decided to go for it instead of punt. We had cut the time down, we had two timeouts and It was a (heck) of a play. Eddie made a great run, it was great blocking. It just worked.”
“I followed my left tackle (Nick) Gjoni,” Delgado said. “He’s a big boy and if you follow him you can get anywhere.”
Delgado finished what he started by scoring on the next play and then converted the ensuing two-point conversion to give Secaucus a 32-8 advantage with 5.9 seconds left in the half.
The big lead wouldn’t change the Patriots’ aggressive ways in the second half. Rather than let a punt be downed by the opposing Falcons (0-1), Nick Schaffer picked up the bouncing ball and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.
Quarterback Sean Egan capped off the afternoon when he connected with Matt Traynor on an 81-yard touchdown pass. It was the second long scoring play the two would collaborate on as Traynor made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown just 73 seconds into the game.
Traynor finished with 128 yards receiving on three catches and added 61 rushing yards on just five carries. Egan was 4-for-8 for 133 yards and three touchdowns.
Delgado had 10 carries for 104 yards, a touchdown and converted on three two-point conversion. He also picked off a pass to stop a potential game-tying drive by Manchester early in the second quarter. Schaffer added a sack and a fumble recovery on defense as Secaucus withstood the powerful running of the Falcons’ Taques Franklin.
The bruising 6-foot-6, 250-pound Franklin withstood several big hits from the Patriots’ defense and had 170 yards on 26 carries.
“I don’t know how many other teams are going to be able to do what we did (against him) today,” said Voorhees, adding that he was proud of the way his team represented its home town of Secaucus.
Cheyenne Rivera added 63 yards rushing in defeat.
Secaucus will look to continue its winning ways on Friday night when it hosts Harrison.
Matt Traynor had 189 yards of total offense and two touchdowns..
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secaucus Patriots (1-0) | 16 |
16 |
7 |
7 |
46 |
| Manchester Regional Falcons (0-1) | 8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
| Sec: Matt Traynor, 35 pass from Sean Egan (Nick Schaffer pass from Egan) | |||||
| Sec: Matt Roman, 5 pass from Egan (Eddie Delgado run) | |||||
| Man: Clint Apaza, 1 run (Taques Franklin run) | |||||
| Sec: Roman, 1 run (Delgado run) | |||||
| Sec: Delgado, 3 run (Delgado run) | |||||
| Sec: Schaffer, 30 punt return (Anann Shahin kick) | |||||
| Sec: Traynor, 81 pass from Egan (Shahin kick) | |||||