Why Toms River North’s football state title is a win for the ages: ‘No one else has done it’
PISCATAWAY – As Toms River North’s Micah Ford pounded away at the Passaic Tech defense Monday night, one spinning, with twisting runs one at a time, the historic nature of the scene transpiring inside SHI Stadium started coming into focus.
The Mariners’ place among the most storied teams ever at the Shore is secure with what this team has accomplished over the past two seasons, remaining the only NJSIAA Group 5 champion the state has ever known with a 23-13 victory over the previously unbeaten Bulldogs – giving them a sweep of Group 5 titles in the two years New Jersey has played down to statewide champs.
But beyond being part of the "greatest ever" conversation, this group also takes its place among the trailblazers of Shore Conference football.
No team has ever played 28 games over two seasons – the NJSIAA added the group final round last year – becoming the first team ever to go 14-0 last season. And with a 26th win over that period – they’re unbeaten against public schools – the Mariners put an exclamation point on a significant period in annals of Jersey Shore high school football.
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“I think that is the cool part," Mariners' head coach Dave Oizerowitz said. "Maybe somebody will do it, maybe nobody will do it, maybe it will take a long time, maybe it will be again next year - but for now we are the first and only two-time state champions in terms of public schools since they went to it. And we beat an unbeaten Passaic Tech team. The schedule we played was second to none.
"It hasn’t really hit me, but I know it’s hard to do. No one else has done it. Especially Group 5, biggest league in the state. It’s something we will look back on years from now and say, ‘Man, that was some ride and very difficult task'.”
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Memorable moments
So when Ford powered his way into the end zone from a yard out for a third-quarter touchdown that pushed the Mariners’ lead to 17-7 – and Anthony Rodriguez returned an interception 43 yards for another score to effectively put the game away in the fourth quarter – they were moments that will be added to the collective memory of local fans, along with so many others that have helped weave the fabric of high school football in the area over the decades.
Think Brick coach Warren Wolf being carried off the field on his player’s shoulders inside Atlantic City’s Convention in 1974 after winning the first-ever NJSIAA sectional title on the field, and Matawan achieving perfection a year later, going 11-0 as the playoffs expanded.
Or the joyous celebration on Warrior Field in 1998 when Manasquan became the first to win 12 games, beginning a Shore record streak of five straight sectional championships. And the 2014 breakthrough win by a Red Bank Catholic team that became the first Shore non-public to win a state title in the era of super-charged private school programs.
Toms River North’s heroics come at a time when it’s never more difficult to connect the dots between different eras of Shore Conference football. With a longer season, going unbeaten is tougher, and strength of program scheduling, in use the last five seasons, means more big games against top programs during the regular season.
They’re part of a lineage of area football pioneers, with two groundbreaking seasons behind Stanford-bound Ford, who ran for 199 yards and threw for 72 yards and another score.
Best-of-the-best?
As to where the Mariners rank among the Shore Conference’s greatest teams ever, let the debate begin. They’re clearly part of the conversation. They set a new standard with 660 points last season, giving up just 115, and this year they topped 500 points, despite Ford missing four games due to injury.
“It’s awesome. I’m just so happy," Ford said. "All the preparation. It just shows that everything pays off no matter what happens. All the adversity we went through, but we just kept fighting, and today, I am just so happy for my guys."
The bar’s set pretty high in these parts. Middletown South went 36-0 with three sectional titles from 2003-05 over Knowshon Moreno’s final three seasons, Manasquan won five straight, Brick won three straight including the unbeaten 1981 team, Jackson Memorial went 24-0 over two seasons (2000-01) and Wall had back-to-back perfect seasons, going 22-0 in 1982-83.
What Toms River North has is a pair of Group 5 championships. And that’s something no other team in New Jersey history can claim.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jersey Shore football: Toms River North secures spot among Shore's greatest
