Jackson Memorial Wins 5th Connor Cup in 31-0 Win Over Liberty

By Dean Pinto
Photos by Phil Stilton

On a cold and blustery day, the two high schools would once again meet for the grid-iron bragging rights of Jackson. In a year of firsts for the Liberty program, their first year making playoffs and having started off the season with the best ever start in that 6 year history, their expectations were high.  The Jaguars came into the day having lost a consolation game and after a posting a losing record this season.  Many felt that this was the year for Liberty to shake the monkey off their back and continue the season of firsts, by getting that elusive win over Memorial.

Memorial would start the game on offense with sophomore #16 Joe Demaio under center and was moving the ball down field until a turnover, fumble recovered by #40 Jeremy Sousa on Liberty’s 36 yard line.  It was senior day at Liberty, and senior quarterback #10 Bob Davies would start the game for the Lions but would have a rough go with two interceptions in the first quarter, the first made by #6 Vinny Celidonio, the second and more costly one by Jags #64 Max Mondello. 

The second interception would lead to a 1 yard Memorial rushing touchdown by Celidonio for the 6 point lead, after the wind would “block” the PAT by freshman kicker Dan Van Klef.  Despite bringing in #5 Matt Castronuova as quarterback, the Lions would go 3 and out on their next and last possession in the first quarter after being physical dominated at the line of scrimmage.

The second quarter would yield no first downs for the Lions on their four offensive possessions and they had a negative rushing total of -15 yards, while the Jaguars would put up another 6 points on a 1^st and goal from just outside the goal line by #20 Ken Bradley on their third possession of the quarter and after a 2 point conversion attempt by Demaio was denied, Memorial had a 12-0 lead.    The Jags offense was powered by their junior running back, #34 Khani Glover who was able to hit the big holes opened up by the physical offensive line of Memorial. The only bright spot for Liberty was the interception of a pass by Castronuova with about 7:40 left in the half.

The 3^rd quarter would see more of the same, with Memorial scoring two more touchdowns, the first on a 20 yard completion from Demaio to #7 Marcus Ademilola and the second on an 8 yard run by Glover.  Van Clef would add the extra point this time and give Memorial the 25-0 lead.

The 4^th quarter would see nothing change as Memorial continued to pound the ball up the middle and after a penalty and a 1^st and goal from the 5, #24 Justin Gullo would score yet another Jaguars touchdown and on the failed 2 point conversion would see their lead increase to 31 points.  This would account for all of the scoring of the day with the final being, Jaguars 31, Liberty 0.

See more photos from the game in our facebook photo gallery.

Posted by Ocean County News on Nov 25 2012. Filed under Headline News, In the News, Jackson, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.