By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
@tortreports on Instagram
MONROE TOWNSHIP — A four-year varsity football player, Kysheem Prunty knows what it’s like to be defeated.
During his first three seasons playing receiver and defensive back for Williamstown High, the program went through two head coaches and compiled a total of just five wins.
As dedicated and committed as they come, he stayed strong through the hard times, and on Friday night his hard work finally paid off.
Prunty recorded arguably the best game of his career in his biggest. The senior rumbled for three touchdowns as fourth-seeded Williamstown defeated No. 5 Freehold Township, 42-26, in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group 5 playoffs.
“Being a starter here for four years and coming into the playoffs for the first time last year and losing, it felt horrible,” said Prunty, recalling the Braves’ 33-point loss to Southern in the first round of states last year. “Coming into a home playoff game, with our environment — we felt good coming into this game and we expected to win.”
After falling behind 6-0 after the first quarter, Prunty scored the Braves’ first touchdown on a 10-yard run early in the second. Standout sophomore halfback Sincere Ebanks also had a career night, recording the first of his two scores with an 11-yard run late in the second quarter. Williamstown took a 14-12 lead into intermission before coming out firing in the second half.
On the Braves’ opening drive of the second half, Prunty notched his second touchdown, then scored his third at the end of the third quarter.
Simply put, the Braves (7-3, 3-2 West Jersey Football League Continental were just too physical for Freehold Township (5-5, 2-3 Shore Conference B-North).
“We take pride in playing with physicality,” said Prunty, who also notched a critical fourth-quarter interception. “(Freehold) from the Shore, we feel like they never played a team with our type of physicality, so we came into this game and tried to make that the main part of our defense.”
It was the first playoff victory at Williamstown for first-year coach Brian Leary, who previously coached at Highland for nine seasons, from 2015 to 2024.
“We knew that they were a good football team. I thought on the offensive side we stayed steady with it,” Leary said. “We put it on our linemen and running game, and we started wearing them down. Once that happened, you saw what Sincere and Kysheem were able to do.
“He’s phenomenal,” he continued, referring to Prunty. “He never ceases to amaze me. He’s just that good of an athlete and does everything for us. We put him in the backfield tonight, calling him Deebo Samuel all week.”
Motioning Prunty into the backfield was key to Williamstown’s offensive success. For context, Prunty only had five total rushing attempts this season prior to the game, and he had three rushing touchdowns on Friday.
“It certainly makes (opposing teams) think about things,” Leary said. “He’s not just going to be out wide on the right. I’m going to move him around. He had a special night tonight.”
Williamstown’s “Chophouse” student section was in full force on Halloween Eve, present for the Braves’ first playoff victory since Nov. 5, 2021.
“The support means a lot,” Ebanks said. “It’s the night before Halloween and everyone’s trying to go out and party. But we had our student section come out and support our first home playoff game in six years.”
Williamstown will now travel to top-seeded Old Bridge — a narrow 20-15 winner over No. 8 Lenape — on Nov. 6. The top seeds all advanced, as the other side of the bracket features No. 3 Sayreville traveling to No. 2 Rancocas Valley in the other sectional semifinal.
“It’s been a great experience for me,” Leary said. “It’s a great place and everyone’s been supportive. Our rallying cry this week is that we didn’t want the seniors to be done and to end this thing, because it’s been so much fun.”
Added Prunty: “Our coaches are amazing. We’re going to go into next week with a great game plan and we’re going to have a great chance going into Old Bridge.”
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 4 Williamstown travels to No. 1 Old Bridge for the Central Jersey Group 5 semifinal on Friday, Nov. 6, time TBD. Freehold Township’s season is complete.
