High School Football:
Township's Minutemen Cool Rancocas Valley Red Devils

Friday, November 6, 1998

By Mike Costantino
SJSports Staff Writer

Arguably, in their best overall performance of the season, the Washington Township Minutemen dominated Rancocas Valley on both sides of the ball in a convincing 51-19 romp. After spotting the Red Devils a 7-0 lead on a 13 yard run by Ryan Morrow, Washington Township scored 36 unanswered points, mainly behind the overpowering performance of the offensive line and a balanced running attack, led by quarterback Dave Crockett with the power of fullback Matt Scaravaglione and the slashing runs of Khalid Purnell. It was Purnell's 60 yard kick-off return after Rancocas' touchdown that seemed to spark the Minutemen and put them in excellent field position so that, a few plays later, Dave Dick scored on a 16 yard run. The 2 point conversion gave Washington Township a lead they never relinquished.

On their first play after the kick-off, the Red Devils fumbled. Joe Diamond recovered and Scaravaglione scored the first of his 2 touchdowns to give Washington Township a 15-7 lead after the first quarter. On their next possession, the Minutemen drove 67 yards, with Joe Calacivra getting the last 3 yards for a 22-7 lead. With the Minutemen's swarming defense forcing a three and out on the next possession, Crockett took over from there. Then from the Rancocas forty-four, 2 scrambles and a 23 yard TD pass to Scaravaglione, the Minutemen were up 29-7 at the half.

The second half began with the Minutemen as dominating as they were in the first half, after forcing another 3 and out. Washington Township drove 70 yards with the final 29 yards coming on a pass to Jason Mosely to make it 36-7. Rancocas finally answered with a 70 yard drive of their own with Mike Cutshaw going in from 2 yards out to make it 36-13. But the Minutemen responded with a time consuming drive of 5 1/2 minutes and twice picking up a first down on fourth and one. Mike D'Andrea took it in from 16 yards out with 8 minutes left and iced the game at 43-13. Rancocas scored its final TD on a 73 yard run by Cutshaw, his second of the game and Sean Skelly closed out the scoring for the Minutemen with a 6 yard TD run. With the 51-19 loss, Rancocas falls to 5-3 while the Minutemen evened their record at 4 - 4 for the season.

Photos by Art Redd