Ocean Spartans Upset Wall 16-6
By WALTER J. ONEILL JR.
This win belongs to Coach Magnotta and his defense, said Sal Spampanato, head coach of the Ocean Township Spartans. That quote came minutes after his seventh seeded football team defeated the sixth seeded Knights of Wall Township in the semifinals of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III tournament.
Spartan defense ruled the night, here Shane Bigelow (68), Garrett Culloo (75), Mario Smeriglio (6) chase Wall Townships quarterback.
Our defense scored more points tonight than our offense. That is why we won, added Spampanato. What made the Ocean win even more spectular was that several key players were suspended for violating team rules. This was the second game that the players missed as a result of the suspensions.
Last week Ocean traveled to Lawrence and shocked the second seeded squad, knocking them out of the tournament 28-25. With their starting quarterback and his backup on the suspended list, Ocean turned to junior Mike Goodwin to lead the Spartans as the signal caller.
During the opening week of the playoffs, Wall Township had a huge upset victory over the third seeded Green Wave of Long Branch. Hoping to continue with that high energy and level of play the Knights were hoping to slay the Spartans on a bitter cold Friday night.
Ocean proved that they are red hot even in the icy temperatures. Wall took the opening kick off and on their second offensive play found out what Magnotta and his boys had in mind.
Walls quarterback, Chad Tirpack was hit from behind by Oceans Garrett Culloo, forcing a fumble. The ball bounced into the open hands of Cory Giddings who ran 48 yards untouched for the first defensive touchdown scored by the Spartans.
Wall was completely surprised by that lighting quick strike. On their next offensive series they went three downs and were forced to punt. Ocean now sent out Goodwin and the offense.
Goodwin dropped back and his first pass was intercepted. Wall fans and players erupted as the Knights took over on offense.
Several plays later Wall fumbled again and Zak Grandinetti of Ocean recovered the ball. This time Goodwin handed the ball to old reliable, Chris Chittum, who ran 29 yards untouched for the touchdown. That score ended the first quarter with Ocean holding a 14-0 lead over the shocked Knights.
Wall scored a touchdown in the early part of the second quarter, but missed the extra point.
The Spartan defense again stepped up and this time they forced Wall backwards towards their own end zone. The Knights again fumbled, this time out of their own end zone giving Ocean a safety and 2 points.
That was all the scoring both teams would muster, as Ocean took a 16-6 lead into the halftime break. On defense Shane Bigelow, Chris DEsposito, and Alex Levy had tremendous hits and tackles helping the Spartans shutdown Wall.
Our defense did a great job tonight in stopping a quality program like Wall, said Spampanato. We had a hard time getting this going on offense, but we did get the job done.
Wall had ten first downs and Ocean Township had seven. On the ground the Knights ran the ball 36 times for 177 yards, while Ocean had 137 yards on 33 carries. In the air both teams were ineffective with Wall completing 4 of 16 for 35 yards with 2 interceptions and Ocean completing 6 of 9 for 21 yards with 1 interception.
Chittum had 58 yards on 17 carries, teammate Joe Falco ran the ball 8 times for 49 yards, and Alex Levy had 8 yards on 3 rushes. Chittum also had 5 catches for 12 yards.
This feels awesome, back in states again, said Chittum. Now we have to take it home.
Chris Chittum (1) had a tough night gaining yards against the tough Wall Township defense. Chittum ended the game with 58 yards on 17 carries.
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