Friday Night Football: A Night of Firsts for Young Jackson Liberty Football Program
By Dean Pinto
The Jackson Liberty Lions won their second game of the season Friday night as they faced off against a 1-0 Central Regional team and got to a 2-0 record for the first time in their 6 year history. This was also the first shutout victory for a Lions team and it could not come at a more opportune time as the Liberty offense was only able to muster up 7 points despite having had the ball deep in Central territory throughout the game.
The Lions won the toss and on a 4th and 3 had to punt the ball, which was fumbled by #4 of Central and recovered by the Lions on the Eagles 11 yard line. On 2nd and 7 from the 8 yard line, Wide Receiver #20, Michael Casado made a great diving catch on a pass from QB Bob Davies #10 for the Lions only touchdown, with Kicker Mike Ostrowski #11 kicking the extra point.
The Lions were poised to score more points after Safety Matt Castronuova #5 returned an interception to Central’s 12 yard line, but that drive ended with a missed field goal.
Another opportunity came in the first half when the Lions were 1st and goal from the 9, but a sack, delay of game penalty and incomplete passes resulted in a turnover on downs with 3:30 left in the first half.
For Defensive Coordinator Jim Sharples, the Lions defense, which was loudly supported by a large group of “Red Zone” fans, and helped out by the special teams units in winning the game of field position, it was more of the same in the second half, stopping every Golden Eagles drive and giving Liberty a big win and its best ever start to a season.
With less than a minute remaining in the game, and Central Regional out of time outs, Liberty put the ball in the hands of, #30 Bruce Almodovar and on 4th and 4, he was able to pound the ball off the right side for a Liberty first down and thus seal the win.
Coach Tim Osborn said after the game, “It feels good to start off 2-0 and get a shutout victory, but we have some work to do and need to focus on next week’s game.” He added, “Our special teams and defense played great”.
Liberty will travel to Manchester next week and look to go 2-0 in the B South Conference and 3-0 overall.
Dean Pinto is a JTOWN Correspondent covering Jackson Liberty Football from the sidelines all season long. Want to be a correspondent for your high school sports team? Contact us at news@trmagazine.com to find out how.
Posted by Ocean County News
on Sep 16 2012. Filed under Berkeley, In the News, Jackson, Sports.
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