Howell scores dramatic playoff win in Sayreville

BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY staff Howell’s Ryan McGuinness breaks away from the Sayreville kicker to return a kickoff for a touchdown during the Rebels’ playoff win in Sayreville on Saturday. Howell will take the same attitude into Friday night’s Central Jersey Group IV playoff game against Brick Memorial that it did at Sayreville Saturday.

“We’re in it to win it,” said coach Corey Davies. “We aren’t just happy to be there. That was the case in ’96 when we made the playoffs. The kids were just happy to be there.”

The 2005 Rebels (7-2) want to be more than in it, and Saturday’s 32-31 overtime thriller against Sayreville was the first step, and it provided them with a little history. It was Howell’s first-ever state playoff win.

Howell received the ball first in the overtime session at Sayreville and scored on a six-yard run by senior Ryan McGuinness. It was a third-down catch by McGuinness from Sean O’Reilly that set up the score. It was a 17-yard reception by McGuinness that put the ball on the Bomber 6.

Chance Carrick made the extra point kick to give Howell at 32-25 lead. The extra point would prove to be decisive.

Sayreville came right back and scored on Rasheem Clarke’s two-yard burst. However, the point-after-touchdown kick was wide right and Howell was moving on.

O’Reilly accounted for 232 total yards from scrimmage, passing for 131 (13-23) and running for 97 more on draw plays. He scored twice on short runs of one and two yards.

The passing success was a product of Sayreville’s defense against Howell’s spread offense.

“They were playing us man-to-man and our receivers were better athletes than their defenders,” he said.

McGuinness pulled down five aerials for a total of 74 yards.

“We’ve been getting Ryan the ball a little more,” said Davies.

In addition to his overtime touchdown run, McGuinness opened the scoring with a three-yard touchdown run and scored in the fourth quarter on an 85-yard kickoff return (a trick play where he took a lateral from Gus Borden).

The quarterback draw has become a big part of the Howell offense. Davies said that sometimes the call for the draw comes directly from the sidelines; other times, he runs on his own. Regardless of where the decision comes from, it has gained big chunks of yardage for Howell.

While Howell had the more balanced attack, 124 yards rushing and 131 passing, Sayreville relied on the run and picked up 278 yards on the ground. Clarke had 121 of them on 21 carries.

Second-seeded Brick Memorial (8-1) is next for Howell. The Mustangs beat Franklin Township, 38-12, in their first-round game.

While many people throughout Central Jersey were shocked by Howell’s win over Sayreville, Brick Memorial head coach Fred Sprengel was not one of them.

“To be quite honest, I expected it to happen,” said Sprengel as Brick Memorial improved to 8-1, its third straight eight-win season, while Howell is 7-2. “Sayreville was coming off a big upset over highly ranked Piscataway, and Howell took them by surprise. Sayreville was ripe for the taking.”

Howell now enters what Mustangs quarterback Chris James and his Brick Memorial teammates call “warlord territory” for their showdown as the Shore Conference semifinals features all Shore Conference teams. Howell already has a 20-17 victory over Brick Township on its résumé.

“I’m a little surprised, but a lot of us [players] went to the game, and they look like a good team,” said Brick Memorial wide receiver Mike Lepore, who had a big touchdown on an end-around against Franklin in the second quarter that spotted the Mustangs to a 21-0 lead.