Jim Rosa | September 27, 2018
When the sun comes out, so do the Panthers. Day games have been very kind to Point Boro Football as they came away with a divisional victory Saturday afternoon at Monmouth Regional. In impressive fashion, the Panthers held the Falcons to just six points in their 16-6 win. Point Boro is now 2-1 on the season earning back to back wins after the Week one loss to Manasquan.
The focus now shifts to Neptune, an athletic team that will be playing for an upset. While the Scarlet Flyers were once a very prominent team in the Shore Conference, the program has faced some obstacles over the last couple of years. Neptune recently picked up their first win of the season as they defeated Colts Neck 20-14. Getting to the .500 mark for the season would be a huge accomplishment for a team that suffered through a 0-10 season a year ago. The Panthers, however, are very much up to the challenge as they look to extend their winning streak to three games.
“The biggest challenge for us will be to try and prevent big plays from happening. We know that Neptune has the capability to make those big plays at any time,” Fullback Booby Cooper explained when asked about facing Neptune. Of course, the Point Boro secondary will be keying in on defending the big pass plays this week. “Our secondary needs to be on their toes at all times, Cooper explained. “ We should expect them to go deep more than once and at any time so it is certainly something we are focused on,” Cooper added.
Point Boro also knows that scoring early and often will be the key to coming away with the victory. “We know that we will have to plan according to the speed of their skill players. Our offense needs to go out and play at our best ability and put up as we did against Colts Neck,” Center Dan Meccia said. Meccia also talked about the difference between playing during the day as opposed to playing at night. “Personally, I like Friday night games in front of our home crowd. However, Saturday games are still fun where we get the opportunity to get a win,” Meccia mentioned.
Paul Franceschini also explained that if everyone trusts each other, the game will go their way. “We know Neptune is a good squad and that anything can happen in this game. We need to complete our assignments and trust the brother to the left and right of ourselves is going to do his part as well.“
“We all have each other's backs and we know that if we play our game we should be fine,” Franceschini said.
Jim Rosa is a 2013 graduate of Point Pleasant Borough High School, and a 2017 graduate of Georgian Court College. He began photographing and covering local high school athletics while he was pursuing a business degree at Georgian Court. Point Pleasant Borough remains a large part of his life, and you can often find him at different sporting events throughout the year … especially the football field.