Nelson Back in Game After Leg Injury

 Something was missing from the Scotch Plains attack in its first two games.

The Raider football team had to go about their business without standout senior wide receiver Doran Nelson (6-3, 175), who suffered a bone bruise on his left leg during his team’s game-scrimmage at home against Elizabeth on Sept. 4.

There’s no doubt Scotch Plains would have benefited from having the No. 1 lineup on the left side for senior quarterback Gary Binkiewicz to throw to during road games against Cranford and Linden.

Scotch Plains was able to come back and beat Cranford 26-24, but was dominated by Linden 35-0.

 Having Nelson back in the lineup against Warren Hills Saturday in the team’s home-opener gave the Raiders that much better of a chance to compete against a Warren County team that was seeking to improve to 2-1 just like Scotch Plains was.

While the Raiders were defeated 12-6 — giving up the winning touchdown with just 21 seconds left — they were able to get the ball to Nelson, who caught five passes for 56 yards and the team’s only touchdown.

A good sign was that he was back as an impact player at wide receiver.

He will be a performer that Immaculata will have to game-plan for when Scotch Plains visits Somerville to take on the Spartans next Friday night.

“It felt really good to be out here, with the atmosphere and the crowd,” said Nelson, who caught three passes for 31 yards in the first half and two more for 26 in the second, including his touchdown reception of 17 yards.

Nelson is a key returning starter that Scotch Plains needs in the lineup to stretch out defenses. Binkiewicz completed passes of eight, 15 and eight yards to him in the first half.

Nelson’s first two catches gave the Raiders first downs on their second possession of the game.

“We had the mindset that we were going to come out here and try to win,” Nelson said.

Trailing 6-0 as the fourth quarter commenced, Scotch Plains had now gone seven straight quarters without scoring.

A blocked punt by Chris Smith gave the Raiders great field position at the Warren Hills 24 with 11:43 left.

After not gaining a yard on a first down rushing play and then only seven more on second down and third down completions, Scotch Plains was faced with a fourth-and-three at the Blue Streak 17 with 10:30 and counting.

“It was designed to be a hitch, but I made a call to make it a streak and Gary made a nice throw and got it to me,” said Nelson of his face-forward, two-handed diving catch in the left corner of the end zone that resulted in six points.

That play really got the crowd going. Those were the first points Scotch Plains scored since Quinton Blackwell ran for a 29-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter of the Cranford game two Saturday nights ago.

Unfortunately — also on a fourth down play — Scotch Plains yielded a touchdown pass with just 21 seconds to go and fell by a touchdown to the Blue Streaks.

Scotch Plains performed much better than a week ago at Linden and will need to take the momentum it gained from this contest into a very tough place to play next weekend. Immaculata does not lose too many home games.

Nelson’s first catch of the second half went for eight yards.

On the second-to-last play of the game, Binkiewicz — from the Warren Hills 38 after throwing for a first down there — threw the ball into the end zone, with Warren Hills junior defensive back Brandon Frisco preventing Nelson from coming down with a catch and the tying points.

“I got a hand on it, I tipped it,” Nelson said.

Scotch Plains was that close Saturday.

Now it will be back to the drawing board to try to find a better balance offensively. Scotch Plains was not able to run the ball that effectively, especially in the second half.

Defensively, the Raiders played well except for two plays.

“If we keep on practicing hard and have better practices, we’ll do fine,” Nelson said.