Football: Timber Creek eliminates Mainland Regional from state playoffs in defensive battle

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher SICKLERVILLE — The Mainland Regional football team has prided itself this season on playing tough defense, and the Mustangs played perhaps their best defensive game of the season on Friday night in the opening round of the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs. Unfortunately for the fifth-seeded Mustangs, No. 4 Timber Creek’s defense was just a little bit better. In a game that was dominated by both defenses, one big offensive play in the third quarter lifted the host Chargers to a 10-3 victory and a date in the second round with Hammonton, a team the Chargers took to overtime a week ago before falling 24-17. With Mainland (4-5) and Timber Creek (6-3) knotted at 3-3 late in the third quarter, the Chargers cashed in after an interception by Naijee Jones. On the very next play, quarterback Devin Leary found Noah Ellison over the middle on a seam route and Ellison did the rest, making a couple of Mainland defenders miss on his way to the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown. Dalton Raring and the Mainland defense played an exceptional game on Friday night, but Timber Creek was able to escape with a 10-3 win to advance in the state playoffs. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) Mainland, which struggled all night to get anything going offensively against a stout Timber Creek defense, had two possessions inside Chargers territory in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter, but came up empty each time. The Mustangs were stopped on fourth down at the Timber Creek 40 with 4:30 remaining, but managed to get the ball back as the Chargers misfired on a pair of passing plays. The Mustangs had the ball at their own 42-yard line with 3:20 remaining  and a couple of pass plays from Sam Jackson to Ryan Swenson put them inside Chargers territory. Timber Creek’s Dante Witcher nearly ended things with an interception with the clock winding down under two minutes, but came up big again two plays later when he broke up a pass on fourth down, sealing the win. “Our defense was just tremendous tonight. It was just one play,” said Mainland coach Bob Coffey. “Their defense was just so good, and we knew that coming in. We had our moments, but overall, my hat is off to our defense, they were great tonight. We have one more game ahead of us and we’ll regroup.” Coffey said he went back and forth in his mind trying to decide what plays to call on those final two possessions, because to that point, nothing Mainland tried was really all that effective. “There are some great players on that team. We did the best we could. Their coverage was tremendous and it was tough to run on them,” Coffey said. “It was hard to call plays tonight, it really was. We weren’t really getting much running the ball, so we had to try to open it up a little bit.” After a scoreless first quarter, Timber Creek took a 3-0 lead on a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Coluccio. Mainland had a chance to tie the game just before halftime, but had a field goal blocked. Mike Juliano’s 28-yard field goal in the third allowed Mainland to pull even at 3-3 before Ellison’s play made the difference for Timber Creek. “I’m just so proud of our team, our coaches. It was just a great effort,” Coffey said. “As a coach, when a team plays that hard, it’s very rewarding. Even though we didn’t win, there are lots of wins in life, and this is one of them. I’m really proud of them.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]