Late score makes difference for New Egypt football

New Egypt High School coach Tom Farrell has been around football a long time. He has witnessed just about every kind of scenario one could imagine in his 20-plus years on the gridiron — except for the one that took place Friday night.

With the Warriors trailing 20- 14 with less than a minute remaining, Maple Shade's kicker whiffed while kicking off. The ball rolled to the 41-yard line and New Egypt took over with great field position.

A few plays later, backup quarterback Brian Hamilton found freshman Jamel Smith for a 35-yard touchdown pass to knot the game at 20-20. Langston Lacroix converted the PAT with 15 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a dramatic 21-20 victory.

"I've never seen a kicker miss on a kickoff, and I thought I had seen just about everything," Farrell said. "He was trying to squib kick it, and he missed it. It came off the tee and we took over on the 40-yard line. It was a lucky break for us."

New Egypt led 14-7 late into the fourth quarter before Maple Shade scored a pair of touchdowns to take the lead. Farrell realizes his squad could have easily lost this game.

"To be honest, we've gotten extremely lucky the past two weeks," Farrell said. "We could very easily be 0-2 in stead of 2-0. But somehow the kids dug down and managed to find a way to win."

Farrell praised the work of Hamilton and Smith, both of whom stepped up in a crucial situation to make a big play happen.

"When you're getting big plays from guys you don't expect to get big plays from, you know that things are going your way," Farrell said. "Brian threw a great pass and Smith did an outstanding job of getting free and hauling it in."

New Egypt is a program that concentrates on the ground game. The Warriors use the pass game sparingly, as a way of keeping teams honest.

"We don't throw the ball very much," Farrell said. "But in this situation we needed to make a big play. It worked in our favor."

New Egypt trailed 7-0 after one quarter. Lacroix connected with Smith on a pass play in the second quarter for a score to knot the score at 7-all. Lacroix,

who finished with 75 yards rushing, electrified the crowd with a dazzling 60-yard TD run before halftime to give New Egypt a 14-7 cushion at intermission.

"He is constantly making things happen for us," Farrell said. "This is nothing new to him. I think he sets an excellent example for the underclassmen. They watch how he responds in pressure situations and they learn form it."

Jackson Memorial loses opener

A turnover late in the game may have led to the Jaguars losing their season opener last week in Manalapan.

JMHS had a 21-17 lead with less than three minutes remaining when Manalapan recovered a Jaguars' fumble in their own territory, and returned it deep into Jackson's end of the field.

A few plays later, Manalapan quarterback Mike Bimonte tossed a 22-yard touchdown strike to Chris Pelicano to give

the Braves a 23-21 comefrom behind victory in a Shore Conference American Division game.

Senior running back Tyler Wilton paced the Jags, rushing for 145 yards and three touchdowns. Wilton scored on runs of 2, 5 and 9 yards.