Rumson-Fair Haven football wins: One of Shore's greatest success stories looks for more

RUMSON – As the celebration on the field at Borden Stadium raged on, Rumson-Fair Haven quarterback Owen O’Toole summed up the situation nicely after the Bulldogs’ 35-28 victory over Willingboro in Friday night’s NJSIAA Group 2 semifinal.

“We know we’re a scary team in November. This is what we do at R-FH,” he said.

It certainly is. And with a high-powered opponent standing between the Bulldogs and a second straight trip to the Group 2 final, they got a pair of four quarter touchdowns to go with two turnovers in the final minutes.

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The Bulldogs (8-4) got a touchdown pass and run from O’Toole, and 105 rushing yards on 19 carries from Alastair Orr, whose six-yard TD run gave the Bulldogs a 29-28 lead with 9:46 to play.

But the biggest play of all came from an unlikely source.

After a seven-yard TD run by Kellen Murray gave Rumson a 35-28 lead with 2:47 to play after the extra point was blocked, Willingboro moved deep into Rumson territory.

It all came down to Rumson backup cornerback Danny Cook making a play on Willingboro quarterback Lamar Best’s pass intended for Terrance Knighton in the end zone from the 14-yard-line. Cook not only broke pass up, he made a diving interception with 49 seconds to play, allowing the Bulldogs to run the clock out.

“In the fourth quarter a cornerback goes down and I go out there,” Cook said. “I got hurt a little and coach says come out and I said I was staying in the game.”

“Danny Cook is one of those guys who worked his butt of last offseason to get on the field,” Rumson head coach Jeremy Schulte said. “He’s been in games, a special teams guy. He was cramping at the end and he said he was not coming off. Thankfully he didn’t.”

It all came after the Rumson defense forced Willingboro back Ray-Mir Johnson to fumble after a 25-yard gain, with Wesley Kennedy recovering at the 18-yard-line with 7:48 to play.

The victory came a week after Rumson secured its eighth sectional championship in the past 13 seasons, and against a Willingboro team that won the Central Group 2 title by beating Point Boro, which defeated Rumson in September.

Best ran for 74 yards and a three touchdowns, and threw for 163 yards and another score for the Chimeras (10-3), winners of four sectional titles since 2018.

“We thought we had a heck of a shot coming in there against this team,” said Willingboro head coach Stephen Everette, whose team had won nine straight. “I thought we were well prepared but that was a good, tough football team, and they did things to us that nobody had done to us all year. We weathered the storm and gave ourselves shot to win it at the end. If we scored we were going for two. It was already dialed up.

“So proud of my kids, the way we fought. We’re still young. We have a whole bunch of sophomores.”

What it means

Rumson advances to face Westwood, a 17-0 winner over Bernards in Friday night’s other semifinal. A year ago, it was Rumson falling to unbeaten Caldwell in the championship game, 18-14.

“All of the backscreens on our phones, it’s that scoreboard of the Caldwell game,” O’Toole said. “They held the Group 2 trophy. We’ve been thinking about that all year. It’s great to go back there and have another shot.”

Key plays

It was a lot tougher than last year, when Rumson pounded Willingboro, 42-6, at Willingboro in the Group 2 semifinal.

After Rumson’s Arthur Tambaro returned the opening kickoff to the Willingboro 46, the Bulldogs needed just six plays to reach the end zone. On second down at the 17, O’Toole gave a play-action fake, rolled right and found Jackson Gallagher for a 17-yard TD connection to give the home team a 7-0 lead after less than three minutes.

Willingboro put together a drive of its own when it go the ball for the first time, marching 66 yards in 12 plsy, with a 31-yard pass from Damar Jackson moving the ball to the Rumson 15. Four plays later it was Best firing a perfect back-shoulder pass to Jarelle Taylor in the front of the end zone for a four-year TD pass, cutting Rumson’s lead to 7-6 late in the first quarter after the two-point run was stopped.

After the teams traded second quarter touchdowns, heading to the locker tied at 14-14, Willingboro took  a 22-14 lead early in the third quarter on a 30-yard run by Best, before Rumson tied it up on a one-yard keeper by O’Toole, who then tied the game with a pass to Nick Rigby on the two-point conversion.

They said it

Rumson running back Alastair Orr: “It means everything. This team wants a chance to make history. With such a successful program, we want to make our mark as a class. The Class of 2024, and being able to make history by winning a sectional title on our homefield. And now being able potentially to be the second Group 2 state champion ever. It definitely means the world.”

Rumson-Fair Haven 35, Willingboro 28

Willingboro    6    8    8   6   -   28

Rumson          7    7   8   13   -  35

SCORING

First quarter

R – Jackson Gallagher 17-yard pass from Owen O’Toole (Ryan Child kicks).

W – Lamar Best 3-yard run (run fails).

Second quarter

W – Jarelle Taylor 9-yard pass from Best (Best to Damar Jackson)

Third quarter

W – Best 30-yard run (Best to Terrance Knighton).

R – O’Toole 1-yard run (O’Toole to Rigby).

Fourth quarter

W – Best 1-yard run (pass fails).

R – Alastair Orr 6-yard-run (Child kicks).

R – Kellen Murray 7-yard run (Kick blocked).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -  W: Ray’Mir Johnson 11-49, Lamar Best 16-74, Mekhi Cottle 13-63; R – Alastair Orr 19-105, Kellen Murray 3-9, Owen O’Toole 3-0, Griffin Kolb 1-19.

Passing – W: Best 16-27 163 yards; R – O’Toole 16-19 151 yards.

Receiving -  W: Jarelle Taylor 5-50, Damar Jackson 4-55, Zahir Bryant 2-9, Terrill Yankson 1-16, Johnson 4-38; R – Jackson Gallagher 3-28, Nick Rigby 5-64, Orr 2-19, Murray 1-4.

Interceptions – R: Danny Cook

Rumson-Fair Haven football: One of Shore's greatest success stories looks for more

RUMSON – The late afternoon sun soaked the field Tuesday as Rumson-Fair Haven prepared to host Friday night’s NJSIAA Group 2 semifinal showdown with Willingboro at Borden Stadium, which is hallowed ground at the Jersey Shore. Right up there with places like Warrior Field and The Swamp.

Because those three venues have been the vortex for the area’s greatest gridiron dynasties since the NJSIAA Playoffs began in 1974, with Rumson having now won eight sectional championships, including last Friday’s 14-7 victory over Haddonfield in the South Group 2 final, and appeared in 12 finals in the 13 postseasons since winning its first in 2010.

It’s the same stratosphere as Manasquan’s nine sectional titles and 12 finals appearances in 16 seasons (1990-2005), and Middletown South’s eight titles over 17 seasons (1990-2006). Manasquan holds the area record with five straight sectional crowns (1998-2002), while Rumson (2013-16) and Middletown South (2003-06) have won four straight.

“I’ve been here since 2006 - quite a few of us have been - and if you told us then that we were going to be compared to Manasquan and Middletown South, I don’t know what we would have said to that,” said Jeremy Schulte, who took over as the Bulldogs’ head coach in 2022, after six seasons as defensive coordinator under his father, Jerry, now his defensive coordinator.

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“I think we knew we were building something, but to even be in the discussion with those teams is incredible.”

The Bulldogs are now part of the pantheon of Jersey Shore high school football, celebrating the greatest stretches of sustained success, including: Keyport’s six sectional titles over 16 seasons (1987-2002); Asbury Park’s five over 10 seasons (2007-16); and Brick's five over 15 seasons (1974-89), as well as a host of sectional championships between 1960 and 1973 that were determined by an NJSIAA rating system.

Now the Bulldogs' program is positioned for another level of success, looking to reach a second straight Group 2 final after the extra round of playoffs was added last season, when Rumson and Toms River North were the only teams to make it to the first-ever group championship games.

Passing the torch

It's a tradition that is being passed from one class to the next, with players having grown up watching the teams over the past decade.

“I was lucky enough to be the water boy and ball boy for a bunch of years, including the 2018 team that won at MetLife,” said senior tight end Jackson Gallagher, who has 23 catches for 428 yards and 8 TDs. “It was such a special experience seeing those guys win it.”

Fittingly, it all began when an upset for the ages provided the program’s first-ever state title in 2010, as the Bulldogs, then coached by Shane Fallon, knocked up off unbeaten, defending champion Matawan. But it picked up steam when the Bulldogs won the first of four straight titles in 2013.

“That was everything when you were a kid,” said senior Caden Winters, a two-way lineman. “Now you cherish the time here at Borden Stadium, and thinking about all the players and now I’m the senior and all these guys are looking up to me. It’s a good feeling to know you’re part of that tradition.”

Unlike most Group 2 programs, Rumson has spent much of its time over the past six regular seasons slugging it out with Group 5 and 4 programs thanks to the Shore Conference’s strength-of-program scheduling. During a four-game skid, Rumson lost to Toms River North, Red Bank Catholic and Donovan Catholic, a trio of the state’s top teams.

“That’s why we never got worried, because we lost to four really good football teams and played well for the most part in those games,” Schulte said. “Red Bank Catholic is playing in the Non-Public B final, Donovan’s got a tough one against Bergen Catholic, and Toms River North has got to be a favorite to win Group 5. So playing against teams like that definitely helped prepare the players and coaches to reach another group semifinal.”

The Bulldogs (7-4) only other loss was a 42-28 setback at Point Boro, which lost in the Central Group 2 final to Willingboro, 26-21. It sets up a rematch of last year’s semifinal, won by Rumson, 42-6.

Willingboro (10-2) is led by sophomore quarterback Lamar Best, who has thrown for 2,425 yards, with 34 TDs, to go with 14 rushing TDs. Senior running back Ray’Mir Johnson and sophomore Terrance Knighton have combined for 1,842 rushing yards and 22 TDs.

“They’re explosive,” Schulte said. “The quarterback is very, very, very good. They have a big offensive line. They’re just an explosive football team.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore football: Rumson beats Willingboro, state title game next