Cartaret, New Jersey, May 1, 2010
Despite being a tier 2 team, the Jersey Justice (3-1) have shown that they are no pushovers. Since joining the IWFL they have been playoff contenders and last year they just missed going to the championship game by 1 point. The Justice are having another good season being undefeated as they hosted the equally undefeated New York Sharks (4-0).
It was a very warm and slightly humid evening in the Garden State. Temperatures were in the low 80's at kick-off time. The Sharks had lost the coin toss and kicked off to the Justice. Last week the Justice used a very strong running attack to victory against the Binghamton Tiger Cats, rushing for over 300 yards. New York was ready for this.
Jersey tried to run the ball on their first drive and were stopped cold by the Sharks defense. Actually the Justice lost yards and were quickly forced to punt.
The Sharks started their first drive of the game with a quick pass from Karen Mulligan to Lauren Pringle. It was good for 10 yards and a first down on the Jersey 43-yard line. New York then showed Jersey what a running attack looks like and after a 21 yard run by Kathy Holloman and then a 22 yard run by Mulligan the Sharks were on the board. Placekicker Kriste McTamaney added the extra point and the Sharks had the lead 7-0 with 11:15 to go in the first quarter.
New York's defense continuted to dominate the Justice and they were forced to punt again after only 3 plays from scrimmage. All night long the Sharks defense proved to much for the Jersey offense. But it was the Jersey defense that provided the scoring firepower for the home team.
After the Justice punted the ball back to the Sharks, Mulligan looked to her right and underthrew to her receiver . Safety Maegan Larsen read the play and jumped in front of intended receiver Lauren Pringle to intercept the ball at the Sharks' 44-yard line. Mulligan tried to catch Larsen but she was too fast as she sprinted into the endzone for a 56 yard interception return. The Justice went for the 2-point conversion and Larsen pitched the ball to Leslie Busch who ran into the endzone for the score. The Justice shocked the Sharks with the score as New York was behind for the first time this season, 8-7 with 9:11 left in the first quarter.
While the Justice touchdown brought the home crowd to their feet, it seemed to wake up the Sharks more. On New York's next possession, they put their trust in Holloman as she rushed 5 times in a row and picked up 65 yards. For the final 10 yards into the endzone, Mulligan threw a bullet to Adrienne Smith at the 10-yard line and she ran into the endzone for the score and the lead. On the extra point attempt the snap bounced to the holder and New York failed to get the extra point. But the Sharks regained the lead 13-8 and never looked back again.
New York kept their foot on the accelerator as Jersey started their next possession on their own 28-yard line. Defensive end Lakisha Grant broke through the line and grabbed quarterback Larsen in the backfield for a 15-yard loss. But while she was falling to the ground, Larsen tried to throw the ball away and the Justice were hit with a grounding penalty. It was now second down and Jersey was back to their own 8-yard line. Larsen faked a handoff and then took a step towards the line of scrimmage. She saw Fatima Carvey shoot through the line and Larsen quickly decided to change direction from the rush. She ran to her right but there were more Sharks chasing her and she was eventually tackled by Keisha Salmon at the Justice 1-yard line. On third down from the shotgun formation, running back Laurie Fitzpatrick was handed the ball but again Carvey smashed through and tackled the runner in the endzone for a safety.
On the ensuing free kick Smith fielded the ball on her own 41-yard line. Running up a huge hole up the middle of the field she ran all the way back to the Jersey 1-yard line. From there Holloman punched the ball into the endzone for the touchdown. The Sharks went for the 2-point conversion and Mulligan lofted the ball into the back of the endzone that was caught by Jen Blum. This made the score 23-8 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same athe defense shut down the Justice offense and the Sharks ran the ball at will. New York scored twice in the second quarter, one on a 20 yard run by Holloman that was set up by a nifty 47 yard run the play before. The other Sharks score came on a 29-yard pass play to Chante Bonds. While Holloman didn't score the touchdown she helped on the drive with 2 runs of 17 and 15 yards and then caught the pass for the 2-point conversion. This made the score at halftime, New York 37- Jersey 8.
In the second half, the New York defense kept up their wall and denied the Justice from ever getting into the red zone. On offense, the Sharks used the big play to score two more times. One score came on a 59-yard run by Holloman for her third touchdown of the game and the other touchdown came on a 63-yard pass from Mulligan to Smith.
The final score was Sharks 50-Justice 8. New York's defense was aggressive all night and prevented Jersey from scoring or even getting close. Except for the one mistake, New York was firing on all cylindars. Holloman being the big offensive star rushing for 268 yards with 3 touchdowns scored. But while the win kept the Sharks record unblemished, they have only a week to get ready for a big game against the divisional rival Pittsburgh Passion. The Passion are only 1 game behind the Sharks in the standings and the Sharks will need a win to help bolster their chances for the playoffs.
The New York Sharks will host the Pittsburgh Passion next Saturday at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn. Kick-off will be at 3:30pm (EDT). If you cannot make it to the game, listen to Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell describe all of the action on WFNradio.
New York Sharks 23-14-13-0: 50
Jersey Justice 8-0-0-0: 8
First Quarter
NY - (11:15) Mulligan 1 yard run (McTamaney kick)
NJ - (09:11) Larsen 56 yard interception return (Busch run)
NY - (04:53) Smith 15 yard pass from Mulligan (Run failed)
NY - (03:42) Safety
NY - (02:53) Holloman 1 yard run (Blum pass from Mulligan)
Second Quarter
NY - (12:28) Holloman 20 yard run (Pass failed)
NY - (02:44) Bonds 29 yard pass from Mulligan (Holloman pass from Mulligan)
Third Quarter
NY - (13:36) Smith 63 yard pass from Mulligan (Kick failed)
NY - (03:58) Holloman 59 yard run (McTamaney kick
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