Township football qualifies for state playoffs

Warren Wolf shook the hand of each Brick Township football player with a big smile as they left the locker room after a 20-12 victory over Colts Neck, which he has done as their football coach over the years.

ANDREW MILLER staff Left, Colts Neck High School's Sean Smith, left, reels in a reception as Brick Township's Ken Brancaccio looks to make the tackle during the game between the two teams in Brick on Friday night. Right, Brick's Kurt Loftus soars to make a catch over the defense of Colts Neck's Kevin Callelo. Brick won the game 20-12. "This is a typical Brick Township football team," Wolf said aside as the players filed out. "It kind of reminds me of years ago."

Actually, it's more like as recently as three years ago when the Green Dragons last made the NJSIAA playoffs. This year's team sealed a berth with the victory and a 5-3 record at the cutoff for what is expected to be a showdown this weekend at Middlesex County power Sayreville.

It comes in a season where the Brick Township faithful are especially eager to extend their season, with the school and team celebrating the 50th year, all under Wolf, who has an all-time state leading 355 victories.

"It's wonderful," said a broadly smiling Wolf, whose team has won all four of its home games this season. "This team deserves to get into the playoffs. They've lost some tough games. They were blown out only by Howell (33-14)."

The other two losses came to Toms River North, 9-7, and Lacey, 22-16. And the wins were highlighted by this one

over a 5-3 Colts Neck team and a 21-20 overtime thriller over Southern,

both of whom are heading into

the playoffs. Brick Township

has outscored its opponents,

131-99.

With stand-in quarterback

John Applegate throwing two

touchdown passes while replacing injured regular Jordan Roshala, expected back for the state playoff game from a sprained ankle suffered in practice last week, the Green Dragons notched their second straight victory and three of the last four. It's the best surge since last year's season-ending three-game win streak that included an NJSIAA consolation playoff win over Old Bridge.

"We broke the streak - win one, lose one, win one, lose one," said wide receiver Kurt Loftus of the two-game win streak.

"We broke the streak, finally," said defensive end Jeff Melia emphatically.

Loftus's 17-yard touchdown pass reception with 1:30 left sealed the victory after he had caught a 10-yarder early in the game to pull Brick Township to 7-6. And he was part of a defensive surge led by Melia that gave up only a touchdown on Colts Neck's first series and a wind-aided 42-yard field goal midway through the second quarter by Eric Spillane, his longest this year, to pull Colts Neck to 13- 10. Spillane later was wide right on a 45- yard attempt ending the half.

The field goal came after Matt Cuccinello blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone for Brick Township. The defense snuffed the only other threat at the 7- yard line on Colts Neck's opening series of the second half. Colts Neck had only 31 net yards on offense after halftime.

"We stepped up to the challenge when it came to making the big play," said Cuccinello, who also recovered a fumble around midfield early in the fourth quarter.

"I think our defense played well after the first quarter and did a great job," said Wolf. "We couldn't tackle their outstanding runner [Ashton Jackson] early in the game, but as the game wore on, we shut him down," said Wolf.

And he praised Melia on his way out of the locker room for having his "best game" this season. Melia said it was "one of my better games" in a season where he has come on strong after a slow start.

"We knew what they [Colts Neck] would do from what the coaches told us," said Melia. "We played like we knew it was in our hands. Now we hope to win four or five games in a row and win a state championship."