Piners upset TR South to end season on high note Lakewood finishes year at 6-4 after shaky start

Piners upset TR South to end season on high note
Lakewood finishes year at 6-4 after shaky start

It was important to first-year Lakewood High School football coach Dave Ozierowitz that his team finishes the season on a positive note.

He wanted the Piners to close the year by winning five of its last six games. He is hoping the momentum will carry over to the 2002 season.

Ozierowitz got what he wished for on Thanksgiving Day. Lakewood rallied in the final seconds to post a dramatic 21-20 come-from-behind victory over host Toms River South in a Shore Conference Constitution Division game.

With the win, the Piners end the year with a 6-4 mark overall and a 4-3 record in the league. After a season that got off to a shaky start, Ozierowitz and the Piners pulled together to close the year with a respectable finish.

"This was an important victory for us," Ozierowitz said. "We said we wanted to close out the year winning five of the last six, and we accomplished that. This was like our state championship game. We missed the playoffs by a game this season. We’re hoping to be able and continue to turn the Lakewood High School football program around. By finishing as strong as we did certainly sends a positive message to both the kids and the community."

The victory marks the first time Lakewood has won at Toms River South in 16 years. Ozierowitz, who graduated from TRS and played on its last state championship team in the early ’90s, said that is a major accomplishment in itself.

"This is one of the longest standing Thanksgiving Day rivalries, and Toms River South has gotten the better of it through the years," Ozierowitz said. "For us to be able to come here and play as well as we did is a tribute to our kids. They can be very tough to beat in front of a Thanksgiving Day crowd at their home field."

Trailing 20-13 with less than a minute remaining, senior Quadree Swain scored a touchdown and the Piners followed with a two-point conversion to win their sixth game of the season.

Lakewood faced a second-and-15 situation when Swain came up with the football on a fluke play. Piners quarterback Andrew Nelson fired a pass intended for Swain. However, the ball went through Swain’s hands, bounced off the chest of a Toms River South defender, and landed back in Swain’s possession.

The speedy Swain then raced 41 yards, untouched, for a touchdown that left spectators stunned and Lakewood trailing by just a single point 20-19.

The Piners decided to go for the win, and Nelson found senior Terence Bergstrom with a conversion pass to complete a thrilling 21-20 Lakewood triumph.

Playing in his final high school football game, Nelson had a big day. He completed 9 of 18 passes for a total of 175 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 75 yards and scored Lakewood first TD on a four-yard run in the second quarter.

"He really has come on and played well for us in the second part of the season," Ozierowitz said. "We knew coming into the season that he was a talented kid. There’s no doubt he came up with some big plays for us in the last five or six games."

Swain caught four passes for a total of 70 yards and sophomore running back Dwayne Jones collected 125 yards on 18 carries. Jones dazzled fans with an electrifying 67-yard TD run that tied the game at 13-all with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter. Jones also caught three passes for 60 yards.

As it has in the last few weeks, Lakewood’s offense met little resistance in moving the ball. The Piners amassed more than 350 yards of total offense, while holding TRS to just 65 yards rushing the entire game. Toms River South did not collect a rushing yard in the second half.

"Our offense has been hot in the last few weeks," Ozierowitz said.