By Bob Badders - Senior Writer
E-mail: badders@digitalsports.com



    FREEHOLD -- Even after a season-opening victory over Middletown South, not to mention that it is the defending Shore Conference Federal Division champion, Freehold felt it still wasn't getting enough respect around the Shore Conference.
    Saturday's game against No. 8 Neptune represented a chance for the No. 5 Colonials to not only take the early lead in the race for the division title, but to prove they have not fallen off since last year's 7-3 campaign. They did more than that against the Scarlet Fliers. They sent a message.
    Junior running back Tezzy Thorpe led a rushing attack that pounded Neptune for 262 yards and his cousin, Rakim Thorpe, spearheaded a defensive effort that contained star running back Michael Peavy and held the Fliers to 169 yards of total offense. It all added up to an impressive 35-14 Federal Division victory that pushed the Colonials to 2-0.
    "It feels really good and I think we'll finally get that respect," said Rakim Thorpe, who had a sack, a fumble recovery and double-digit tackles from his linebacker position. "We just knocked down two big dogs."
    "We can't control the schedule and we can't control what people think of us or if they pick us or not," said Colonials head coach Mark Ciccotelli. "We just have to control the controllables and do what we can to just win games."
    What the Colonials (2-0, 2-0) did on Saturday was control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball for the second consecutive game. Thorpe led all Colonials ball carriers with 150 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries while senior quarterback Nick Tyson added 60 yards and a pair of scores. The running game enjoyed plenty of success, averaging nearly six yards per carry, without the help of a consistent passing game. Tyson was just 2-of-8 for 14 yard through the air and his top receiver, star player Brandon Brown, was limited with an ankle injury. That made what Freehold's backs and offensive line accomplished even more impressive.
    "We try to establish the run because it milks the clock and it gets the other team tired," Tyson said. "We still have Brandon Brown to go to, but they had him on lockdown so we just relied on the running game a little more."
    From a defensive standpoint it has become a given that Peavy is going roll up significant yardage and coaches have learned to accept it if he busts a long touchdown run or two. That speaks to how good Peavy is, because even though he gained 159 yards and ran for two scores, Freehold's defense actually did a great job against him. Over half his yards came on his touchdown runs of 65 and 23 yards, and when the Colonials needed to make sure Peavy didn't burn them they came up with plenty of big stops.
    "The key is wrapping him up," Rakim Thorpe said. "He's a fast kid and and he only needs this much space (spreading his arms about a yard) to be gone. We just had to swarm him."
    "I don't know if you can stop him but you have to slow him," Ciccotelli said. "He'll probably get one or two but if you can hold him to that it's a good day. (Defensive coordinator) Dave Ellis did an outstanding job getting the kids prepared and the whole defense did an unbelievable job."
    If Saturday's win was a statement for Freehold, than its opening drive was an emphatic beginning to the point the Colonials wanted to get across. On third-and-4, Tezzy Thorpe broke free for a 37-yard gain down to the Neptune 27. Three plays later, Thorpe finished off a seven-play, 71-yard drive by taking a handoff and racing around right end for a three-yard touchdown.
    The lead would be short-lived, however, because on Neptune's first offensive play Peavy took a handoff and raced 65 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at seven.
    "We were in the wrong defense and just made a mistake," Rakim Thorpe said. "But we knew once we got it together he wasn't going to do much."
    A bad snap on Freehold's next play resulted in a fumble that gave the Scarlet Fliers (1-1, 0-1) the ball on the Colonials' 41-yard line. Freehold's defense put the clamps down, however, and eventually forced Neptune to attempt a surprise punt on a third-and-25 from the 45. The punt only netted the Fliers nine yards of field position, however, and Freehold would take over with decent field position for its second scoring drive.
    Starting at their own 36, the Colonials again needed just seven plays to retake the lead, 14-7. Thorpe set up the touchdown with another big run, this time a 47-yard burst on third-and-10. On the next play, Tyson plunged in from the two for the first of his two touchdowns.
    Neptune's running game was stuck in neutral thanks to Freehold's defense, but the Scarliet Fliers were doing some work of their own on the defensive end. Thorpe went over 100 yards on his first six carries, but Neptune began to clog the middle and the Colonials' offense started to have trouble moving the ball.
    The Colonials made the adjustment at halftime and came out in the third quarter running the ball much more effectively with Tyson shouldering the load. Neptune received to begin the second half and Peavy had four straight runs totaling 47 yards, but fumbled on a first-down run from the Freehold 20 and it was recovered by Colonials' junior Jared Mostowsky. A personal foul penalty helped Freehold move to midfield, and that's where Tyson and the Colonials' new running strategy took over. The senior ripped off a 23-yard run before finishing off the four-play, 83-yard drive with a 27-yard touchdown run, leaping over a pair of defenders to cross the goal line and give Freehold a 21-7 advantage.
    "(Neptune) got into some different stuff late in the second quarter and we had to make an adjustment," Ciccotelli said. "They were taking some things away up the middle so we decided to put the ball in Nick's hands on the perimeter."
    A blocked punt by Freehold junior Ryan Solley on Neptune's next possession set up the Colonials' fourth touchdown. On a third-and-goal from the five, senior running back Frank Nicosia scored for a 28-7 lead. Neptune responded on the ensuing drive to cut the lead to 28-14. Junior running back David Newbey had a big 31-yard run up the middle on which he broke several tackles and carried a few defenders to the Freehold 23. Three plays later, Peavy broke free for his second score of the game from 23 yards out.
    That was the last significant run Peavy would have on the day, though, as he had just two carries for negative-one yard the rest of the way. Down by two scores, the Scarlet Fliers were forced to take to the air and Freehold's defensive line feasted on quarterback Lem Walker and his offensive line. Walker finished the day 2-of-5 for zero yards and was sacked five times.
    "When they had to throw," Rakim Thorpe said, "That was lunch time for us."
    An eight-yard touchdown run by junior Willie Thomas with 5:25 to go was the exclamation point on a thoroughly impressive and telling win for the Colonials, who have already taken a huge step towards repeating as Federal Division champions.
    "But we still need to get back to work," Tyson cautioned. "It feels great to win two big ones but we have to get ready for Lakewood. We'll enjoy this win today and maybe a little tomorrow, but on Monday it's right back to work."
    "Some nice things have happened so far but if we get lackadaisical we're not a good football team," Ciccotelli said. "Good football teams don't do that. If we go hard every practice and every down, things will take care of themselves."
   
   
   
Box Score

No. 5 Freehold 35, No. 8 Neptune 14

                              N             F
First downs            8            13
Rushes-yards     31-169    44-262
Passing               2-5-0       2-8-0
Passing yards         0            14
Penalties              5-48        7-50
Fumbles-lost         2-2          2-1

Neptune (1-1, 0-1)   7 0   7 0 - 14
Freehold (2-0, 2-0) 14 0 14 7 - 35

Scoring summary
F - Tezzy Thorpe 3-yd run (Gerry Plescia kick)
N - Michael Peavy 65-yd run (Rocco Manfre kick)
F - Nick Tyson 2-yd run (Gerry Plescia kick)
F - Nick Tyson 27-yd run (Gerry Plescia kick)
F - Frank Nicosia 5-yd run (Gerry Plescia kick)
N - Michael Peavy 23-yd run (Rocco Manfre kick)
F - Willie Thomas 8-yd run (Gerry Plescia kick)

Individual statistics
Rushing - N: Michael Peavy 20-159, David Newbey 2-33, Fernando Garcia 1-2, Koran McDaniel 1-(-6), Lem Walker 7-(-19); F: Tezzy Thorpe 19-150, Nick Tyson 15-60, Frank Nicosia 7-36, Willie Thomas 2-17, Brandon Brown 1-(-1).
Passing - N: Lem Walker 2-5-0 0; F: Nick Tyson 2-8-0 14.
Receiving - N: Phil Craddock 1-8, Michael Peavy 1-(-8); F: Frank Nicosia 1-8, Tezzy Thorpe 1-6.