FREEHOLD SHOCKS LANCERS BEHIND MATT KRAUSS’ HERCULEAN PERFORMANCE By Mike Ready

FREEHOLD – Senior quarterback Matt Krauss wanted the ball in his hands.

Saint John Vianney had just marched 79 yards to pull within five points of the Colonials, 17-12, with 5:42 left to play in the game.

Krauss had already carried the offense on his shoulders the entire game but his battered and bruised body was begging for more.

“I was asking for the ball,” said Krauss, who carried the ball 10 straight times for 39 yards and three first downs to run out the clock. “I told them (the coaches) to keep running the ball. I wanted the ball in my hands at the end of the game and I knew the line would block it up for me and we would get it done.”

On the final play of the game, Krauss took a knee and let out a huge sigh of relief knowing he just led his team to one of the biggest upset wins in program history.

“We knew we’ve been doubted this year and we knew this was our game to prove that we’re not a bad team, we’re a good team,” Krauss said. “We’re going to make a push into the playoffs this year and try to win another state championship.”

Freehold trailed at the half, 6-0, and on their first play of the second half, Krauss was hit hard by Lancers linebacker Julian Young and fumbled the ball away with defensive back Warren Griffith recovering at the 50-yard line.

On first down, Colonials defensive lineman Jake Larsen dumped All-Shore running back Kavon Chambers for a three-yard loss and three plays later on fourth-and-8 from the 48-yard line the Lancers elected to punt.

That was a huge stop for the Freehold defense that played with a sense of urgency and gave the Lancers offense fits all day. They bottled up Chamber holding him to 65-yards rushing on 16 attempts, but 46 of those yards came on his second-quarter touchdown run that put SJV up, 6-0, with 7:12 left in the half.

Anthony Brett’s punt rolled to the 33-yard line where Freehold took over with a first down at their own 33-yard line.

After reaching the 45-yard line, a holding penalty left the Colonials with a first-and-25 at their own 30. Krauss then went to the air on first down and senior wide receiver Andre Kelly made a diving catch of Krauss’ pass for 45 yards for another first down at the SJV 25-yard line.

Three plays later, facing a third-and-5 from the 20, Sha’Kim Shuler was stopped short of the first down after picking up one yard and Freehold elected to go for a field goal. Jake Hurler then booted a no-doubt 36-yarder to pull the Colonials to within 6-3 with 6:47 left in the third quarter.

Hurler’s kickoff then sailed into the end zone for a touchback and SJV took over at their own 20.

On first down, Freehold linebacker Zach Neely blitzed and sacked SJV quarterback C.J. Duell forcing a fumble and recovering the ball at the SJV five-yard line – all in the same play.  

“Listen I’ll take these guys anywhere,” said Freehold head coach Dave Ellis. “We may be small, we might not be the fastest, but a guy like Zach Neely, he came off the edge and did a great job. These guys played great defense today. Even though they’re bigger and faster, our guys played hard, rallied to the football, and I couldn’t be more proud of our defense.”

Two plays later, Krauss took it in standing up and with Hurler’s extra point, Freehold now led, 10-6, with 6:03 remaining in the third.

“That was a moment that changed the whole game,” said Krauss of Neely’s sack. “Zack went in there and made a great hit, recovered the ball and we knew we had to punch it in and go up by two scores.”

A penalty on the ensuing kickoff pushed the Lancers back to the 14-yard line and three plays netted six yards setting up a fourth-and-4 from the 20.

Griffith then shanked his punt out of bounds and the Colonials took over in excellent field positon at the Lancers 29-yard line.

A sack and a holding penalty pushed Freehold back to the 33-yard line but on second-and-31 from the 33-yard line, Krauss broke loose for 14 yards before going in from 19 yards out on third down to increase their lead to 17-6, following the extra point with 39 seconds left in the third quarter.

Krauss finished with 269 yards rushing on 38 attempts and two touchdowns, including 165 first-half yards on 18 carries and 67 yards passing on three completions.

“Matt had great practices the last two weeks and I’m just so happy that it showed today,” said Ellis of his star quarterback’s play. “I told him to just block everything out and just lock in today and he did that and you saw the results.”

Saint John Vianney took over at 21-yard line facing an uphill battle to get back into the game which they did by marching 79 yards in 13 plays with Duell finishing off the drive with a five-yard strike to Nasiyah Nix. Now down by five, the Lancers went for a two-point conversion but Duell’s pass was dropped in the end zone leaving the score 17-12.

The Lancers’ drive took over six minutes off the clock and following the kickoff, Freehold took over at the SJV 25-yard line with 5:41 left in the game. Krauss then did his superman impersonation to run out the clock.

“Our offensive line, they took it personal,” said Ellis. “At the end of the game, they made sure we were going to get that first down.”

“It all starts up front,” said Krauss. “We had a great week of practice. We knew they were a very good team coming into this week, and we knew we just had to work ten times harder to be able to beat them today.”

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