Undermanned Asbury Park shows grit, determination in return to football field

ASBURY PARK – After Asbury Park was forced to forfeit its season-opening game because it didn’t have enough players, followed by a week of uncertainty, the Blue Bishops, with just 18 in uniform, had a fourth down at the Keyport 28-yard-line with less than two minutes to play Friday night, trailing 30-22.

And while there was no storybook ending, with Jai’sun Brown’s desperation pass falling incomplete, the grit and determination the undermanned squad showed was inspiring.

“To be honest with you, I don’t think our kids get a enough credit, how resilient they are, how tough they are,” said first-year Asbury Park head coach Lamar Davenport, who played on three straight NJSIAA sectional championship teams (2007-09). “It’s been a tough week, more for the kids than anyone else. I’m proud of our guys.’

In the end, it was eight turnovers, including five fumbles, that sank the Blue Bishops, along with a steady diet of Keyport back Nazir Treadwell, with the junior pounding out 118 yards on 18 carries.

“(Asbury Park) is a very good football team,” Keyport (1-1) coach Jason Glezman said. “A lot of noise this week but that is a very talented football team. But we think we are talented, too, and this was a good test for us, a good confidence boost. It’s a huge win for us.”

This game was about so much more than the final score.

More:After season-opening forfeit, Asbury Park to play against Keyport

Prior to kickoff, Asbury Park’s undefeated 1984 team, honored at halftime, gathered behind one end zone, serving as a symbol of the embattled program’s storied past.

“It’s real important for the morale of these kids that they’re playing tonight,” said Leroy Hayes, the head coach of that championship team, who continues to help the current coaching staff. “We were all ready to up to Weequahic (last Friday) and then bam, an hour before we get on the bus we found out. It was tough. But they hung in there. We told them to give it their best effort. We have 18 and we’ll see what we can do.”

While Asbury Park threw everything it had at Keyport in the first half, building a 22-14 lead, the Red Raiders came back with 16 unanswered points in the second half to win the Shore Conference Patriot Division clash.

“I told our guys when we line up we expect to win. I don’t think that’s too much to expect,” Davenport said. “These guys came out and played hard, we just ran out of gas at the end. We will pick up and move on.”

What it means

The fact that this game was played at all mattered. Because when it comes to Jersey Shore sports, the tract of land along Sunset Avenue, between Asbury Park High School and Deal Lake, is the most hallowed ground of all.

It’s where a group of students first gathered back in 1894 to form what is believed to be the school’s first football team, at was then called the Athletic Grounds. And after the high school was built in 1926, it’s where state championships were won, and the likes of Frank Budd, who dubbed the “Fastest Man in the World” when he broke the world record in the 100-yard dash record in 1961, ran track and played football. The New York Yankees even held spring training there in 1943 due to World War II travel restrictions.

So for Asbury Park to not have a season would have been a big loss for Shore sports.

Key play

There were plenty in this one, but none bigger than the safety that pulled Keyport within 22-16 when Asbury Park was called for a personal foul in the end zone late in the third quarter.

After the ensuing kickoff, the Red Raiders drove 44 yards, with quarterback Roman Blanks sneaking it in from a yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter to put Keyport on top, 23-22.

By the numbers

205 – Rushing yards for Keyport, on 39 carries.

5 – The number of fumbles Asbury Park lost, with several coming at critical moments.

79 – Rushing yards for Asbury Park junior receiver RaLee Stephens, who opened the scoring with a 60-yard TD run, one of two TD runs on the game for Stephens.

Unsung heroes

Keyport sophomore receiver Mike Ford had four catches for 60 yards.

Keyport senior Daijon Cross hit all four point-after attempts. And until the Red Raiders final score, it looked like those might be the difference in the game.

Asbury Park junior running back Iquann Crawford scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground.

They said it

“I told our players this was one of the wildest games I have ever been a part of,” Glezman said. “A great group. A resilient group.”

“They were hurt. They put it all out on the field and they were hurt, as expected,” Davenport said of his players afterwards.

What’s next

Keyport looks to go over the .500 mark when it hosts Patriot division foe Point Beach next Saturday in its home opener.

Asbury Park hits the road to take on Lakewood in a Patriot division game.

Keyport 30, Asbury Park 22

Keyport           7    7    2    14  -- 30

Asbury Park    14   8    0    0  -- 22

Scoring

First quarter

AP – Crawford 10 run (McNeil kick).

AP – Stephens 60 run (McNeil kick).

Key – Ford 35 TD from Blanks (Cross kick).

Second quarter

Key – Nichols fumble recover (Cross kick).

AP – Crawford 3 run (Brown run).

Third quarter

Key – safety on Asbury Park penalty in end zone.

Fourth quarter

Key – Blanks 1 run (Cross kick).

Key – Blanks 2 run (Cross kick).

Rushing – Key: Treadwell 18-118, Blanks 15-52, Matthews 3-28, Henderson 2-9; AP: Stephens 4-79, Crawford 11-38, Brown 4-12, Goodman 1-(-5).

Passing – Key: Blanks 4-13 60; AP: Brown 5-11 94.

Receiving – Key: Ford 4-60; AP: Stephens 3-56, Carter 1-20, Goodman 1-18.

Fumbles- Key: 5-4; AP: 5-5.

Interceptions made – Key: 3; AP 0.

Penalties: Key: 7-55; AP: 6-54.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park NJ football returns to play after forfeit