Hard work pays off with win for Piners
BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer

LAKEWOOD - The Lakewood High School football team got a huge effort from its defense last Saturday as the Piners blanked visiting Red Bank Regional 9-0 in a Shore Conference nondivisional game.

The LHS defensive line stifled the running attack of Red Bank. The Piners held the Bucs to minus-14 yards rushing for the game en route to registering their first win of the season.

"We did as good a job as you could of containing the run," LHS second-year coach Skip Edwards said. "We never let them get any kind of attack started. We came up with big plays on third down when we needed to."

Of course, the 2006 campaign has been one filled with hard times for Lakewood. After six consecutive losses, the Piners finally put together four straight quarters of solid play on both sides of the ball.

"The kids have kept working despite having a tough year," Edwards said. "The morale is good and they show up every day ready to work. As a coach, that's all you can ask for."

With the score knotted at 0-0 after one quarter, Lakewood scored the only touchdown of the game in the second. The Piners mounted a nine-play drive, culminated by Lenny Thomas scoring on a two-yard run to give LHS the lead.

Quarterback Neil Seda tossed a 15-yard pass to wideout Darnell Norman to keep the scoring drive alive.

"That was a solid series for us," Edwards said. "We had a few key runs, and the completion kept the momentum going."

Thomas gained 80 yards on 18 carries to lead the Piners' offense. Seda completed 5-of-8 passes for 45 yards.

Lakewood squares off against Manchester this week.

"They're a very good club," Edwards said. "We're playing well right now and maybe this win will give us some momentum going in."

Jackson dominates Brick Memorial

Jackson High School continued its quest for an NJSIAA playoff bid last week with a resounding 24-0 shutout against host Brick Memorial in a Shore Conference American Division game.

Mark Schiavone paced the offense, collecting 160 yards on 36 carries, as the Jaguars improved to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the division. Schiavone has now gone over the 1,000-yard mark, making it 11 consecutive seasons a Jackson rusher has surpassed the coveted benchmark.

Quarterback John Cirri completed TD passes of eight and 10 yards as the Jags built a commanding 17-0 lead by the half. Jackson's defense held the Mustangs to less than 150 yards of total offense and intercepted a pair of passes.

Warriors fall to Palmyra

Palmyra scored on a pass play with less than 15 seconds remaining last Sunday to post an 18-12 victory over New Egypt High School.

New Egypt rallied from a 12-0 deficit to take a one-point lead with less than a minute remaining. Facing a fourth-and-15 situation, Warriors quarterback Stephen Panasuk connected with Davion Clanton for a 65-yard scoring play to put New Egypt in the lead with just over two minutes left.

However, Palmyra generated an 88-yard scoring drive of its own to win the game in the closing minutes.

Panasuk threw for more than 200 yards, including two TDs. He tossed a scoring pass to Cody Shields in the third quarter.