Rams glad to be back at .500

The South River High School football team might be 2-2 in the official standings, but coach Rich Marchesi is using his own measure of the Rams’ performance.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s a one-game season so far, and we’re 1-0,” he said.

Some background: South River went into last week’s match with Spotswood after having an anguishing, last-second loss to John. F. Kennedy of Iselin, preceded by a debacle against Carteret, which overwhelmed the Rams by 32 points. But things came together in the Charger game, as quarterback Kevin Feaster and a stingy defense led the club to a 25-0 triumph.

“The defense has been keeping us in games, and they did a nice job against Spotswood,” said Marchesi. “Ron Litz, at middle linebacker, had 11 tackles and has had big hits all season. He’s the heart and soul of the team.”

In shutting down Spotswood, SRHS held the Chargers to 92 offensive yards (a mere 13 in the first half), registered five quarterback sacks and two interceptions

“Our offense is still a little skittish,” Marchesi added. “But Feaster has done a nice job moving the ball and making decisions on the field.”

The senior quarterback was all over the place against Spotswood. He nailed five passes in 10 attempts for 70 yards in the first half, and rushed for another 33 yards on three carries.

But the real eye-catcher was a bit of Marchesi razzle-dazzle: Confounding the Charger defense, Feaster dished the ball off to junior Markeith Dobbins, and then raced to midfield and caught what turned out to be a 46-yard touchdown pass.

“We don’t have any superstars on this team — it’s a real blue-collar group,” Marchesi said. “And we need to be that the rest of the year. We play 4-0 Monroe this weekend at home, and it’ll be like a playoff game for us. We’re honoring our 1995 state championship team, so there will be a lot of good people coming back to see us, and we want to put on a good show.”

— Richard Jerome