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Streak over: Wall ends Manasquan's
34-game run, wins Liberty title
Published in the Asbury Park Press 11/24/00
By TONY GRAHAM
STAFF WRITER
MANASQUAN -- With his team leading Manasquan by a point at the half
yesterday, Wall High School linebacker Mike Hughes had a game plan.
"(Their) first drive, we stop 'em, we win," Hughes exhorted
several of his teammates.
Sophomore Sam Real had an even better idea.
"If they don't score this half we win," shouted Real.
Manasquan did not score in the second half and Wall did, twice more.
With halfback Mike Lackett rushing for three touchdowns in the game and
cornerback Miles Shanklin spearheading a defense that turned aside all but
one threat by the Warriors, No. 8 Wall ended No. 3 Manasquan's Shore
Conference record-tying 34-game winning streak, 20-6, as the Crimson
Knights (9-2, 7-0) captured the Conference's Liberty Division
championship.
Wall also ended the 19-game Warrior Field winning streak of Manasquan
(10-1, 6-1) and its 38-game Shore Conference divisional winning streak.
"This is what we were hoping for," said
Lackett. "We
were hoping they would go undefeated until we played them so we could
break their streak. This is what football is for, it's so good."
"The best team won the game today, no doubt about it," said
Manasquan coach Vic Kubu. "They took it to us."
The estimated crowd of 7,000 fans who packed both sides of the field on
a cold, clear morning saw Lackett, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound junior, take over
in the second quarter after senior John Colangelo, the Shore's No. 2
rusher (1,251 yards) and scorer (17 TDs) left with a knee injury.
"I knew I was going in, I knew I had to step it up," said
Lackett, a polished reserve who has rushed for seven touchdowns the last
two seasons.
"At halftime I went up to him (Colangelo) and said, 'This game's
for you,' " said Lackett. "He said, 'Step it up, do what you can
do.' That's what I did. I stepped it up and did it for him."
Lackett's biggest steps were made with striking suddenness in the
second quarter. Just 18 seconds after Manasquan took a 6-0 lead on a
three-yard Drew Morgan run, Lackett roared to daylight for a 67-yard
touchdown.
"It was a counter play, there was a huge hole, anyone could have
gone through it," said Lackett. "I made a move and I didn't see
anything except the end zone."
After forcing Manasquan to punt on the opening series of the second
half, Wall drove 62 yards in seven plays to widen its lead.
A 35-yard pass from quarterback Chris Malleo to Tony Amodio moved Wall
to the Manasquan 18. Lackett raced into the end zone on the next play,
dragging a tackler with him for a 14-6 lead with 7:19 left in the quarter.
Five minutes later, Wall's Lawrence Debello stripped the ball from a
Manasquan back at the Warriors' 7 and Lackett immediately blasted up the
middle to make it 20-6.
Manasquan's last shot to get back in the game ended on its next series
when it was stopped on a fourth-and-one at the Knights' 37.
Other Manasquan scoring bids had been stymied in the first half on
Wall's 7- and 14-yard lines.
"They outplayed us up and down the field," said Kubu.
"That's all there is to it."
from the Asbury Park Press
Published on November 24, 2000
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