Laying It On The Line

Howell beat the heat and a hard-hitting Colts Neck defense to get an early leg up in the Constitution Division with a 28-26 win.

Click here for the Howell video player, which includes the interviews as well as the game-sealing onsides kick recovery.

     By - Scott Clayton - Senior Staff Writer

     COLTS NECK - Brutal heat, hostile territory, 10-point early deficit.
     It all adds up to no reason to panic for Howell, which engineered five scores on its final eight drives after falling behind 10-0 on the road to a dangerous Colts Neck team in a 28-26 Shore Conference Constitution Division victory.
    In his first start after the graduation of ShoreConferenceSports.com all-star quarterback Sean O'Reilly, senior Tim Lamirande completed 22 of 31 passes and threw three touchdown passes to lead Howell out of a hole and into a victory. Senior receiver Chance Carrick, an SCS.com all-star in 2006, finished with 103 yards and a touchdown on eight catches.
     "We got off to a rocky start on the first drive and we didn't have great field position," Lamirande said. "After that we settled in and I think our offense kind of got rolling from there."

	After Howell muffed the opening kickoff, Colts Neck got the ball on the Rebels' 16, but had to settle for a 38-yard Eric Spillane field goal after senior Ashton Jackson was stuffed for a 2-yard loss on three carries. The Shore's leading returning rusher from last year, Jackson was limited to 70 yards on 22 carries by a veteran Howell defense that was gashed by the run regularly in 2006. "We really wanted to keep him down," Howell coach Cory Davies said of Jackson. "Their quarterback did some nice things, but we came in knowing that we were going to make somebody else beat us." Jackson scored on a 5-yard touchdown to stake the Cougars to a 10-0 lead, but entering halftime the Colts Neck star had gained just 17 yards on 12 carries. Howell, meanwhile, threw itself out of its hole. A 7-yard pass to Carrick on fourth-and-5 sustained a drive that led to a 33-yard Carrick field goal.
Speedy senior David Hayes added another dimension to Howell's potent offense with 83 yards rushing on 10 carries.

     Lamirande and Carrick hooked up for another big first-half play, this time connecting on a 16-yard pass on third-and-5 from the Colts Neck 17. Carrick appeared to stretch the ball over the goal line, but Lamirande snuck the ball in on a 1-yard keeper on the ensuing play.
     Facing third-and-16 on their own 14-yard line with under a minute to play in the first half, the Cougars called Jackson's number on a halfback pass. Eyeing senior receiver Jeremy Dinkin, the throw was picked off by Howell's Brian Battaglia and returned 24 yards to the Colts Neck 15. Two plays later, Battaglia hauled in a Lamirande pass that gave Howell a 15-10 lead with 26.4 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
     "It was not even my coverage," Battaglia said. "I actually didn't think they were going to run a toss two plays in a row. The receiver on the outside just looked like he wasn't doing anything."
     Colts Neck sophomore quarterback Chris Chiarelli would connect with Sean Smith on a pair of passes that would lead to a 20-yard Spillane field goal at the horn, but the Cougars would never be able to regain the lead.
     On the first play of the fourth quarter after a scoreless third, Lamirande hit slot receiver Jason Amato on a corner route for a 59-yard strike that put the Rebels up 21-13 after the extra point was blocked for the second time in the game. The play sprung forth from the mind of Battaglia, the wideout to the left who saw his hitch route get jumped repeatedly throughout the game.
     "We were talking about it at halftime," Lamirande said. "The corner was coming up on Brian running the hitch."

    Just four plays later, Chiarelli and the Cougars would respond with a big pass of their own, a 66-yard touchdown grab on a post pattern by Kevin Callelo. The two-point conversion attempt failed and left the Cougars trailing 21-19. Chiarelli would finish his first varsity start with 189 yards passing on 9-for-14 accuracy.
     The 90-degree heat played a toll on Colts Neck throughout the game. Linebacker John Weber fell ill to the conditions early, and Jackson was forced to miss a pair of second-half drives with cramping.
     "Our problem is depth," Colts Neck coach Mike McArthur said. "Our second strings along the O and D lines are not that strong and with weather like this it took its toll."
     With 4:39 to play, Lamirande fired a pass through the heart of the Colts Neck defense for a 7-yard touchdown to Carrick that put the Rebels up 28-19.

Ashton Jackson, the Shore's leading returning rusher, was tackled for a loss on six of his 22 carries.

     "The play was very tight," Carrick said. "I wasn't expecting that the ball was going to be able to thread the needle. He got that in perfect timing and I was able to find an opening and it was a perfect play."
     Colts Neck would not go quietly, however. Beginning a drive with 4:39 remaining on the clock, the Cougars went 64 yards in 11 plays, with Jackson plunging in from the 5 with just 27.5 ticks remaining in the game. A last ditch onsides kick attempt was smothered by Lamirande.
     "Actually yesterday in practice we did hands team and I bobbled a couple," Lamirande said. "I was a little nervous before that, but luckily it took a good bounce up to me and I just caught it and fell."
     Not known for its running prowess in the last two seasons, the Rebels showed a different dimension of its offense with senior David Hayes in the backfield. Hayes averaged more than eight yards a clip on his 10 carries.
     "Just his speed creates plays," Davies said. "And he's doing it all. He's picking up blitzes as the fullback."
    Howell's win serves as revenge for the 27-19 victory Colts Neck dialed up in the 2006 home opener.
     "You've got to credit Howell, they were much more physical up front than we were used to," McArthur said. "Hopefully, we can be the team just like they were last year and rebound from it."

BOX SCORE

Howell 28, Colts Neck 26

Score By Quarter
Howell (1-0, 1-0)             3        12        0        13        -        28
Colts Neck (0-1, 0-1)    10        3         0        13        -        26

Scoring Plays
CN - Eric Spillane 38-yd. Field Goal.
CN - Ashton Jackson 5-yd. run (Spillane kick).
H   - Chance Carrick 33-yd. Field Goal.
H   - Tim Lamirande 1-yd. run (kick blocked).
H   - Brian Battaglia 2-yd. pass from Tim Lamirande (run failed).
CN - Eric Spillane 20-yd. Field Goal.
H   - Jason Amato 59-yd. pass from Tim Lamirande (kick blocked).
CN - Kevin Callelo 66-yd. pass from Chris Chiarelli (run failed).
H   - Chance Carrick 7-yd. pass from Tim Lamarande (Carrick kick).
CN - Ashton Jackson 5-yd. run (Spillane kick).

Team Stats
                                                H                      CN
First Downs                            20                      15
Rushes-Yards                       23-83                 35-108
Passing Yards                        217                    189
Passing                                22-31-0               9-15-1
Fumbles-lost                          1-1                     0-0
Penalties                               0-0                     4-24

Individual Stats
Rushing: (H) - David Hayes 10-83, Tim Lamirande 10-(-1), Chance Carrick 2-2, Chris Simmons 1-(-1). (CN) - Ashton Jackson 22-70, Chris Chiarelli 4-7, Alex Muka 3-7, John Weber 3-15, Ryan Moore 3-9.
Passing: (H) - Tim Lamirande 22-31-0 217 yards; (CN) - Chris Chiarelli 9-14-0 189 yards, Ashton Jackson 0-1-1 0 yards.
Receiving: (H) - Chance Carrick 8-103, Jason Amato 3-83, Brian Battaglia 6-37, David Hayes 4-(-17), Adam Feehan 1-11. (CN) - Kevin Callelo 3-88, Jeremy Dinkin 3-26, Sean Smith 2-53, Alex Leroy 1-22.
Interceptions: (H) - Brian Battaglia 1-24.