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Shore 23 Keyport 13 |
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Shore thwarts Keyport
By MATT MANLEY
STAFF WRITER
Shore Regional coach Mark Costantino described his team as "crushed" following a
12-10 loss to Metuchen in the first round of the NJSIAA Group I playoffs, a
feeling he said carried over into the first day of practice after the loss.
The Blue Devils, however, did not want to feel the same way in their final game
of the season, and they made sure they did not with a 23-13 win over Keyport on
Wednesday in a Shore Conference Patriot Division game.
"They know they should be getting ready for a state championship game,"
Costantino said. "That's tough to take, but they showed what kind of character
they had by picking themselves up and getting ready to play tonight. They didn't
want to go out like that."
Shore running back Chris Remedios rushed for 143 yards on 10 carries and three
touchdowns, including a 47-yard reverse on a fourth-and-3 that sealed the game
with 1:20 left on the clock. Keyport cut the deficit to 16-13 with 3:09 left and
forced Shore (8-2) into a fourth-down decision on the Red Raiders 46-yard line
with just over 1:30 left.
"We knew we couldn't give them the ball back with a chance to win the game,"
Remedios said. "I just knew I had to get to the (first down) marker, and I got
some blocking and saw some daylight and just ran with it."
Keyport (5-5) cut into a 9-0 Shore lead with 5:53 left in the second quarter on
a touchdown pass from quarterback Tim Snyder to wide receiver Jimmy Maguire.
Remedios responded with a 62-yard touchdown run down the left sideline on the
second play of the ensuing drive to send the Blue Devils to the locker room up
16-7.
Remedios opened the scoring with a 4-yard run with 6:49 left in the first
quarter. Shore tacked on two points when a Keyport player touched a Shore punt
and Red Raiders running back Aaron Lee fell on the ball in his own end zone for
a safety.
Snyder ran his team back into the game with a 49-yard punt return down to the
Shore 11 with just over five minutes left. Lee ran the ball down to the 1-yard
line and Snyder punched the ball in with a third-down sneak from a yard out.
While Shore benefited from big plays, it also limited Lee to 81 yards on 17
carries and a long run of 20 yards.
The game was the first Thanksgiving meeting between the two division rivals.
The previous three meetings were decided by one score, with Shore winning two of
them.
"The last three games came down to the last 30 seconds, so it's definitely a
team we get geared up to play," Costantino said. "We love playing each other.
We're two physical, hard-hitting, old school teams and Group I powerhouses so it
makes for a fun game."