WOODBRIDGE, NJ — There’s no better way to back up your 5-0 record than by going on the road and beating a state-ranked team that is 6-0.
That was the challenge Cranford was faced with as it traveled to Middlesex County for the clash on Friday, Oct. 15 with the undefeated Barrons.
Players such as Shane Van Dam, Colin Murray, Kevin Shriner, Shane Kanterman, Jake Carter, Liam Godwin, Lucca Limeira and Will Gallagher, in addition to many others, played key roles in keeping the number zero in the right side of Cranford’s win–loss ledger.
Cranford began to take control of the contest early, when it went ahead by two touchdowns in the second quarter.
However, host Woodbridge fought hard to even the score with consecutive touchdowns, before Cranford, just prior to intermission, took back the lead for good on the elusive legs of senior quarterback Shane Van Dam.
“We’re hardworking, determined and expect greatness,” Van Dam said.
Senior Colin Murray would score two of his game-high three touchdowns in the second half, his final one on a fourth-quarter play in which his second effort left everyone behind as he raced 57 yards to paydirt.
Using his upper-body strength, Murray could not be brought down 7 yards beyond the line of scrimmage and then raced freely from the 50-yard line all the way by himself into the end zone for his third score, helping put Cranford back up by 10 for the third time in the second half.
Murray, after escaping several tacklers, just left everybody behind and sped forward to finally put the game out of reach once and for all.
“That’s his wrestling mentality,” Cranford head coach Erik Rosenmeier said. “He’s a weight-room warrior. Sometimes in this game you really have to tackle well to bring a guy down, and Woodbridge didn’t there.”
Murray rushed for 191 yards on 25 carries and his three scores, and Cranford as a team rushed for 272 yards on 37 attempts en route to producing a convincing 38-28 win over Woodbridge in the battle for first place in Division 4 of the Big Central Conference.
Woodbridge tied the game for the only time at 14-14 and then got to within 3 points twice in the second half after scoring on its first two possessions following intermission.
“This was high school football at its best — two heavyweights going after each other for 15 rounds,” Cranford head coach Erik Rosenmeier said. “We’re just glad that we had enough stops to win the game.”
Cranford improved to 6-0 overall and is now the only undefeated team in Division 4 and at the top of the standings at 5-0. Woodbridge slipped to 6-1 overall and is now 4-1 in the division.
The Cougars rushed for 134 yards on 18 carries in the first half and 138 on 19 in the second half behind a well-known line led by the likes of Illinois-bound Matthew Fries, Kevin Shriner and Geoffrey Gretta, one taller and bigger then the next.
Woodbridge, led by senior quarterback Matt Stanton, who scored one touchdown and passed to wide receiver Isaiah Allen for two other scores, did get to Van Dam at times, mostly in the first half, behind a strong pass rush led by senior lineman Jayson Bradley.
Coming through with two big sacks to help thwart Woodbridge’s final two drives was Cranford junior linebacker Shane Kanterman, who also happens to be his team’s leading tackler.
“Kevin Shriner put the pressure on both times, and I was left open to go after the quarterback,” Kanterman said.
“Shane played with bruised ribs,” Rosenmeier said. “It happened at the end of our game last week (vs. Colonia). He left in an ambulance and was right back out here. He wanted to show that his teammates could count on him. He gives it his all, just like his older brother, Evan, did.”
Woodbridge connected on a flea flicker pass down the middle of the field, after Stanton handed off to Allen, and then Allen gave him the ball back. Stanton then threw a pass that hit wide receiver A.J. Bosch right in the numbers for a first down at the Cranford 3. Stanton then ran the ball in for his team’s first points.
Stanton threw a pass to Allen that Allen took to the end zone, which covered 35 yards. He then ran in the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14 with 1:13 left in the first half.
Cranford responded after starting at its own 40, in large part to a solid kick return by Jake Carter. On second down, Murray gained 26 yards to the Woodbridge 34. After Van Dam threw incomplete passes on first and second downs, he quickly burst through a hole in the line on third down and raced 34 yards to the end zone to give the Cougars the lead for good at 20-14. The third of Liam Godwin’s five extra-point kicks gave Cranford a 21-14 advantage at the break.
Cranford took the second half kickoff and marched from its own 35 to the Woodbridge 11, with Godwin closing the drive with a 28-yard field goal. He tallied 8 points on the evening with his perfect upright-splitting kicks.
That field goal put Cranford up by two scores again and, later in the second half, was the difference that kept Cranford ahead, after Woodbridge battled back with its final two touchdowns.
“We planned all week and knew what we had to do,” Van Dam said. “We had to establish the run game and we did. We made big plays when we needed to.”
NOTES: Van Dam rushed for 77 yards on nine carries and his one score and completed seven of 14 passes for 98 yards. Carter caught two of them for 25 yards in the first half. Cranford senior running back Lucca Limeira scored the game’s first points on a 3-yard touchdown run. Stanton rushed for 69 yards on 21 carries and his one score, while he completed 14 of 26 passes for 266 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. An interception by Cranford cornerback Will Gallagher on the left side set up Cranford’s first score. It turned out to be the game’s only turnover. Bosch had three catches for 63 yards in the first half and Allen four for 94 and his one score in the second.
Photos by JR Parachini