Lacey's R.J. Roe celebrates his second touchdown catch of the game with Southern offensive lineman Dylan Larson in Monday's North-South All-Star Classic.
Roe was one of Lacey's top all-around players this past season as the Lions reached their third straight South Jersey Group III final.
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PISCATAWAY - While the majority of the Shore Conference contingent played the next-to-last games of their careers in Monday night's North-South All-Star Game, there was no tomorrow for Lacey senior wide receiver
R.J. Roe.
That turned out to be a good thing, as you can't end a career on much more of a high note than hauling in two touchdown passes in the final game of your high school career on a field containing some of New Jersey's top players. His South team may have lost, 31-25, after being down 31-0 to the North, but it didn't dampen the evening for Roe, who had one of the most vocal cheering sections among the crowd at Rutgers Stadium.
It marked the final game of his career, as he will not be participating on the Ocean County side in the Shore Gridiron Classic on July 18 at Brick because he said it's too close to when he has to report to preseason camp at his new home, Marist University. He is part of a 36-player
Red Foxes recruiting class that also includes Manasquan offensive lineman Travis Fink, Howell linebacker Alex Killian, and Middletown South linebacker Dan Miller.
Roe finished Monday night's game with four catches for 77 yards, and his touchdown catches of 16 yards and 38 yards from South offensive Most Valuable Player Taylor Budd of Lindenwold helped the South rally to make it respectable in the fourth quarter. Granted, it didn't hurt that there is a North-South game rule that states when a team is trailing by nine or more points after it scores, it immediately gets the ball back with another chance to chip away at the lead.
"Every one of us wanted to get points on the board,'' he said. "We didn't want to get shut out.''
Still, that rule allowed Roe to turn in one of the more memorable plays of the night when he clamped his hands on a pass that ricocheted off a teammate who was being smothered by a defender, and Roe snatched it in the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown catch that cut the score to 31-25 with nine seconds left in the game.
"I couldn't ask for more,'' Roe said. "I just tried to do my best and get my hands on the ball. I just had to stay with it. It bounced around a couple of times, and it found my hands.''
Roe usually was in the right place at the right time during his career at Lacey, where he helped the Lions reach three straight South Jersey Group III finals, including a 12-0 season in 2006. This past fall, he led the Lions in scoring with six touchdowns, seven field goals and 32 extra points, and had a team-high 23 catches for 364 yards and five touchdowns as a wideout. Defensively, he had 50 tackles, two sacks and two interceptions, as he always seemed to be in the middle of the action.
Now he moves on to Marist after getting an early taste of the college life, as the North-South players stay in the dormitories at Rutgers in the week leading up to the game.
"It was the best time of my life,'' Roe said. "It made me so excited for college that I can't wait.''
His Lacey supporters will certainly be sad to see him go, as he had a cheering section that was still chanting his name more than 15 minutes after the game had ended.
"For my last high school game, this was definitely a great way to end it,'' he said before smiling.