By MARK TRIBLE

South Jersey Glory Days Senior Football Writer

On X @Mtrible

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP — At halftime of the Group 5 state semifinal here at Tom Brown Field on Friday night, Washington Township quarterback Cole Aquino gave a talking to his fellow upperclassman Jaylen Robinson.

The offensive captain told the defensive captain to tighten up, his team needed him.

Robinson then showed up in a big way — just not on the side of the ball some may have expected as the Minutemen (13-0) punched their ticket to the state championship game with a 35-27 win over Kingsway.

He got inserted into the offensive lineup with the game tied, 14-14, in the third quarter. He broke a 39-yard run with a facemask penalty tacked on. The next play, he bowled his way 12 yards for six.

In the fourth quarter, Township handed him the ball again soon after the Dragons (10-3) scored to trim the lead to 28-20. Robinson rolled 80 yards to paydirt on that touch.

“I think we needed a little spark there,” coach Mike Schatzman said. “He’s got the home run hitter mentality.”

Boy, does he. Robinson finished the game with 135 yards on six carries. Oh, and he also had a sack on Kingsway’s last gasp possession, along with another earlier in the contest.

“You’ve really got to have mental toughness to do that,” Robinson said of his ability to perform on offense with few touches. “Everybody out there wants to be the guy, they want to be the man.

“But when your number’s called and when you’re put in, you’ve got to be ready to perform.”

That speaks to this senior group that anyone within earshot down here will tell you won every trophy and beat every neighboring town on the gridiron since they were young children. The movement to unite the community has paid dividends. This edition of Minutemen has the most successful season in school history as a portrait to hang, point to and prove how well the job’s been done.

Why has it worked so well? Selflessness, shown in Robinson’s joy despite limited touches. He knows Colin Beeler runs the ball great. He knows Andrew Osborn does, too. He is fully aware and confident of the pass game, led by Aquino and distributed to Paris Pratt, Darion Joyner and Jyair Moore.

“Yo, when you score or have a good run, I got your back,” Robinson said of the mindset. “I’ll be the first one to come over to you and dap you up, pat you on the back and say, ‘good run.’

“And everybody does that to each other.”

That equals a whole lot of pats on the back and daps for the club that averages 38.8 points per game.

Next stop, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford at 1 p.m. on Friday to face Passaic Tech (10-3), a 23-14 winner over Bridgewater-Raritan in the other semi.

Friday’s tilt went down to the last minute with a stop on 4th down in the late seconds. It resembled the tight matchup in October, when Township downed Kingsway with a frenetic 12-point comeback in the final five minutes. The Dragons were down stars Cole DeNick and Mason Bryan. Still, they emptied it all out on the turf.

David Oravetz played excellent at quarterback. Christian White and Andrew Wands each were stellar weapons. Jordan Hernandez and Musa Jackson did everything they could.

“I’m proud … I know that defensively we gave up some bigger plays but that’s kind of the way we had to play the game tonight,” coach Mark Hendricks said. “We’re missing some guys back there in the secondary, we’re missing our middle linebacker, so we had to live around the line of scrimmage.”

While Kingsway’s efforts were admirable, there just wasn’t enough wiggle room to edge past the Minutemen. Aquino found Joyner for two scores and Pratt for another. His steady leadership continues to be the presence this bunch gravitates toward.

After all, Aquino’s the one who Robinson thanked for his pep talk after some missed tackles.

“We trusted each other all these four years, we knew the end goal was to eventually win states,” Aquino said. “The fact we have the opportunity to get there is very special, to be honest.

“Going out there every week with my brothers is very special and having one more week to bring home the title for Group 5, it’s a blessing, to be honest.”

Schatzman joked that maybe he could give the ball to Robinson a little more.

There’s only one more game to figure out who gets the touches — a problem any coach in New Jersey would love to have in late November.

Mark Trible is the host of the South Jersey Football Frenzy Show. You can check it out every Wednesday at 7 p.m. at facebook.com/sjglorydays. The show features highlights, analysis, rankings and more from high school football games throughout South Jersey.