EWING — There was no mistaking one of the biggest reasons the Ewing High football team was able to race past Robbinsville by the score of 41-25 on Friday night.
It’s called pure speed and there was absolutely nothing Robbinsville could do about it.
In a result that left both teams at 2-2 on the season, Ewing torched the Ravens with one big play after another in a game that showed the Blue Devils would have an outstanding 4-by-100 relay team if they can get its backs and receivers to go out for track.
After Ewing ran a Wing-T a year ago, first-year coach Al-Majid Hutchins now has the Blue Devils in a hurry-up spread and it worked to perfection in the first half as senior quarterback Ryan Greig opened the scoring by throwing a 49-yard touchdown pass to Samuel Simpkins and a 76-yard scoring strike to Nahdir Guinyard in the first quarrter.
On both of these plays Robbinsville players were in position to make a tackle, only to be left grasping for air as the Ewing receivers ran through and away from them like they were statues.
Also in the first half, Greig threw a perfectly led 22-yard touchdown pass to Simpkins and Guinyard scored on a 12-yard run.
“We wanted to come out and score a lot of points tonight,” said Greig. “I’m still getting used to throwing the ball (after a run oriented offense a year ago), but we can into this game thinking we could pass on them.”
Greig completed only six passes, but they added up to a whopping 192 yards. He no doubt could have thrown for more, but it wasn’t necessary because his team had a 28-3 lead at the half and the running game was effective with Josh Misssick piling up 112 yards on 21 carries. Missick also scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter after Robbinsville had cut the Ewing lead to 28-10 with a 70-yard drive on 14 plays to start the third quarter.
Ewing’s defense was just as dominant as its offense in the first half, but Robbinsville was able to move the ball once it inserted Will Raftery into the game at quarterback in the second half.
Often operating out of the wildcat formation, Raftery finished with over 110 rushing yards and completed nine of 22 passes for 160 yards. One of those passes was a 15-yard touchdown completion to Cruze Karney. After scoring on a 5-yard keeper in the fourth quarter, Raftery also threw a 42-yard pass TD pass to Alex Giordano, who went over a Ewing defender to grab the ball and cruise into the end zone from there.
Robbinsville’s offense was also helped by the fact it was able to grab two tipped passes and penalties against Ewing. There were several roughing the passer calls as the refs apparently thought this was an NFL game and flagged the Ewing pass rushers anytime they got near the Robbinsville quarterback.
When Robbinsville closed to within 35-2 with 8:30 remaining, it looked like it might be game on. Instead of trying another on-sides kick, however, the Ravens elected to boot the ball down field.
Bad idea.
On the kickoff, D’Jen Carter-Williams caught the ball at the 30 and exploded 70 yards straight down the middle as he ran past a host of frozen Ravens to complete the scoring.
Actually, Ewing would have had another touchdown but a sensational 80-yard interception return by Christian Casey was then called back by a holding call.
Casey had two interception on the night and Dominque Jones had another as the two Robbinsville quarterbacks combined to go 15-for-40 with the three picks.
“I thought our defense played really well in the first half,” said Hutchins. “We do have some speed and the offense looked good too. “We are constantly talking about having the right mentality. I think our players are getting that and are believing in themselves.”
Robbinsville (2-2) 0 3 7 15 — 25
Ewing (2-2) 14 14 7 6 — 41
First Quarter
E-Simpkins 49 pass from Greig (Jones kick)
E-Guinyard 76 pass from Greig (Jones kick)
Second Quarter
E-Simpkins 22 pass from Greig (Jones kick)
E-Guinyard 12 run (Jones kick)
R-Schwartz 28 field goal
Third Quarter
R-Karney 15 pass from Raftery (Schwartz kick)
E-Missick 2 run (Jones kick)
Fourth Quarter
R-Raftery 5 run (Raftery run)
R-Giordano 42 pass from Raftery (Schwartz kick)
E-Carter-Williams 70 kickoff return (kick failed)
