VIDEO: Pleasantville rallies to stun Middle in penalty-marred title contest

Posted: October 21st 2023

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – The Middle Township High School football team was one half away from securing a division championship and earning the program’s first-ever home game for the start of next weekend’s state playoffs.

The Panthers, however, couldn’t finish the job.

A couple of truly incredible plays by Pleasantville along with a lack of discipline by the Panthers that led to well over 100 yards in penalties led to the Greyhounds rallying from a 14-0 halftime deficit and posting a 21-14 win.

The victory gives Pleasantville (7-1, 4-0 West Jersey Football League Patriot Division) the division title and guarantees the team a home game for the Group II playoffs next week,

Middle (7-2, 3-1) has still qualified for the postseason but will now face a first-round Group II game on the road.

Official playoff pairings are expected to be released Sunday or Monday.

With Middle leading 14-13 midway through the fourth quarter, the game turned in Pleasantville’s favor when the Greyhounds’ Dwayne Carter intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned it to Middle’s 45-yard line. On the next play, Rashad Floyd ran around the right end into the end zone, giving the Greyhounds their first lead.

Middle turned the ball over on downs on its next possession, allowing Pleasantville to seal the win.

The Panthers were penalized 11 times for 132 yards. Seven of the penalties were unsportsmanlike conduct violations. One Middle player was disqualified from the game for picking up two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

“Anytime you lose it’s difficult,” Middle Township coach Frank Riggitano said. “But to lose when we have complete control of the game … It’s unfortunate. We lost our composure multiple times and it affected the outcome of the game.

“It’s difficult because we were every bit as good as they are. We had the game in our grasp to win, along with a division title, and we didn’t get the job done.”

Middle took the lead on its first possession of the game, Mark Oliver running in on a quarterback sneak from a yard out to finish off a nine-play, 67-yard drive that was highlighted by a 27-yard run by Jeremiah Jones after he scooped up a teammate’s fumble.

The Panthers later used trickery to take a 14-0 lead into halftime. Oliver threw a backward pass to Michael Zarfati, who threw downfield to Jones, who broke two tackles on his way to a 60-yard touchdown reception with 1:08 to go in the first half.

Middle was one defensive stop away from taking total control of the game with a little more than four minutes to go in the third quarter. But Pleasantville quarterback Ahmad Jones bought time with his legs before firing to the end zone to Khalil Witherspoon from eight yards out on a fourth-and-goal play.

After Middle went three and out on its next possession, Jones hit Dasan Brown with a short slant pass that Brown turned into a 65-yard scoring play. The extra point missed, keeping Middle in the lead at 14-13.

Middle then went on a long drive that took more than nine minutes of game time. But the 15-play drive ended on Carter’s interception in the end zone and his long return that set up the winning score by the Greyhounds.

Middle junior running back Remi Rodriguez went over 1,000 yards for the second straight season. He rushed 22 times for 78 yards in the loss, bringing his season rushing total to 1,039 yards.

Shaun Watkins ran 16 times for 64 yards for Middle.

Pleasantville’s Floyd ran 20 times for 128 yards. He had 13 carries for 111 yards in the second half after being held to 17 yards on seven carries in the first half.

Pleasantville also had its share of penalties. The Greyhounds were flagged 10 times for 85 yards. But five of those penalties occurred on one drive in the first quarter. Pleasantville was penalized just twice after halftime.

Middle is now left with trying to pick up the pieces from a rather disheartening defeat as it prepares for a state playoff game.

“We’ll find out how we respond,” Riggitano said. “We’ll talk about what happened and try to fix it. We have some injuries that obviously will affect our moving forward in certain spots. We have to try and regroup and get in a situation to try to win a playoff game against whoever that night be.”