Howell Tops Mustangs With Contained Air Attack

It took less than 30 seconds for the Howell Rebels to get on the scoreboard on Saturday night as they beat A North and district rival Marlboro for their second consecutive win. 

When Khalil Blue picked up the opening kick off after it was lost by the Mustang returner, the Rebels found themselves starting the game with posession on the Mustang 19-yard-line. When Ryan Davies connected with Tory Robinson on a 12 yard touchdown pass over the middle it began what ended up being a 34-12 win. 

Coming off of a hard fought win against Freehold Township last week where Davies seemed able to launch the ball down the field at will, the Mustangs did their best and largely succeeded in holding him to shorter passes. Even still, the senior passer showed why he is one of the most highly regarded field generals as he guided his team to victory. 

Davies said that while he enjoys having the ability to throw the ball down the field, whether it is long passes or short ones it is only the end result that matters. "I like throwing deep because it's faster and more effective, but going short has been working well this year. However you move the ball, even if we run the ball, as long as we're winning it doesn't matter."

Despite not having the long throws that he had last week, Davies still was able to put up impressive stats in an offense that still leaned heavily on passing game. Of the 30 passes he attempted, 23 found their targets for 266 yards and five touchdowns.

Coach Cory Davies predicted that Marlboro would be a team that would look to eat up time off the clock and on more than one occasion he was proven correct as the visitors held the score to 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. "We were hoping we could play a little bit better than that, but that's just the way it goes," he said. 

The coach also said that while his team got the early lead with the quick score, it may not have helped them moving forward. "Then your kids get all relaxed and we come down and miss a touchdown on a dropped pass. All of a sudden our guys are floating through the game instead of playing."

The Rebels were able to get on the board on their first possession of the second quarter when Davies connected with Nick Craig on a 23 yard strike ending in the end zone. While the extra point was no good, it still made it a 13 point lead for Howell. 

That score was not the last of the half for the pair as Craig caught a 22 yard pass that included him bouncing off of a Mustang defender before running the rest of the way for the score. Over the course of the game Craig was his favorite target as they connected seven times for 108 yards.

Much like what they had done to start the second quarter, the Rebels struck first in the second half with Davies and Robinson working together again on a short 10 yard dump over the middle to make it a 27 points game. 

The Mustangs did get on the board in the second half as their ground and pound style eventually helped them get into the end zone against a Howell defense that needed and got a well rounded effort. Their efforts were guided by junior quarterback Parker Hoch. Despite showing some signs of being injured he continued to force his way past the Rebel defensive line. 

With less than nine minutes to go in the game Hoch had a two yard carry for his team's first score of the game. Their momentum did not last long as on the very next Howell drive Davies hit Brandon Yaegel on another short touchdown pass to boost his squad's lead. 

Hoch got one more score for his team before the game ended, but it was not enough to overcome the lead the home squad had built from the very beginning of the game. 

After the final whistle sounded, Ryan Davies said between the game being postponed from its original Friday start to the way the contest was played, it was an unusual way of adding a win to their record. "I thought that we should definitely be able to win by a decent amount," he said. "You don't want to go in with that mindset too much," he admitted.

Another advantage to the way Saturday's game went for Davies was the fact that after two games where he took a considerable amount of punishment, he left this week's game largely unscathed. 

The senior will need that rest to get ready for next Saturday's game against Middletown South. The coach said there will need to be a lot of work done in practice to get ready for their next contest. "If we play like we did tonight we're not going to be ready," he said. "We've got to get a lot better than we are if we're going to continue to win games."