CLARK, NJ- The Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders varsity football team will head back out on the road to take on Roselle-Abraham Clark HS at Rahway River Park tomorrow night, September 21st at 7:00 p.m.
HISTORY:
The two teams have played good games the past three seasons. Johnson won a home matchup in Week 6 of the 2015 season by a final score of 23-14.
In the 2016 Week 3 matchup, Roselle defeated Johnson by a final score of 56-41.
Johnson rallied from behind in the fourth quarter to capture a 23-13 win.
NOTES:
For the third straight season, both Roselle and Johnson come into their meeting in Week 3, but with rough starts to the season.
Johnson comes off their 27-7 Week 2 win at Metuchen HS, where sophomore quarterback Joe Greenbush went 3-for-5 with 122 passing yards and three touchdown passes, two to Max Carmino (19 and 43 yards) and the other one, a 58-yard scoring pass to senior Vito Galluzzo.
Senior Seabastian Iakouchevitch joined in the fray with 78 yards on 13 carries to go with his two-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter. Galluzzo also ran for 90 yards on five carries for Johnson, who captured their first win of the season as they come into Friday night’s game.
In total, the Johnson running game has totaled numbers of 983 yards on 130 carries. Iakouchevitch leads the offense with 407 rushing yards on 59 carries, to go along with three rushing touchdowns.
Greenbush is 9-for-20 with 192 passing yards with four touchdown passes and one interception, to go along with 244 passing yards on 36 carries.
Roselle is coming off a 35-7 Week 2 loss to Hillside HS. They are led by sophomore quarterback Cameron Chatham-Rice, who is filling in the shoes of former QBs Qurran Dixon and Marvens Lormejuste.
Other major talent the Rams lost to graduation last year include WRs Nasir Cherry and Jordan Gray, along with RB Craig McRae.
Chatham-Rice is 15-for-29 on the season with 391 passing yards and four touchdown passes, along with one interception.
Other players on Roselle for Johnson to watch on Friday night include seniors receiver Lamar Moore (has 173 receiving yards on five catches, along with two receiving touchdowns) and Clifton Brutus, who lead the Rams in catches made on the season. More faces to watch out for Johnson Friday night include senior running backs Naseer Page (28 yards on seven carries) and Khair Pendleton (126 yards on 47 carries and one rushing touchdown), who lead the team in rushing yards.
If the Johnson Crusaders continue to play the way they’ve always been playing, hard, fast, physical and going at the football and charging through other team’s defenses on offense and drawing up good game plans, they will compete on Friday night. Roselle has always been a challenging team in the James Williams era. He took over the program in 2013, succeeding Lou Grasso, Jr., the current head football coach at Union High School, who has been there since taking the job in 2013.
Roselle may not be as explosive as last year and we may not see a high-scoring shootout like last year, but only gametime will tell. Their team presents a big group of athletes.
For Johnson, the turnovers cannot be made in a domino effect like they did last year, especially with the lead they had in the second quarter of last year’s matchup.
Keys to the game for Johnson include making the big plays when they have to, pounding the football, maintaining discipline, which was an early negative factor in last week’s win over Metuchen and reading the [lays to slow down the big-name players on Roselle.
Another major factor will be how the Johnson running game can do, especially with fighting to remain on the field by charging Roselle’s defense, to keep their offense off the field and milk time off the clock.
The hands-on style of defense, has worked during the first two games and will be tested. With Roselle’s running game and defense, their passing game has been a major factor towards their success. If the Johnson defense can charge and chase Cameron Chatham-Rice along with slowing down the receivers, it is quite possible that could stand out as a factor as to the outcome of tomorrow night’s game.
Roselle opened up their 2018 season in Week 0, losing to Bishop Ahr by a final score of 22-20 in Edison. They would also lose their Week 1 home opener to South River 33-20 at Rahway River Park.
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