After facing arguably the best offense in Union County last weekend in Summit, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood football team will go up against one of the stingiest defenses in the county this weekend.
The Raiders are scheduled to play at Rahway Saturday at 1 p.m. at Veterans Field. The home team Indians are 3-3 and on a two-game winning streak that includes consecutive shutouts over Hillside 22-0 at Johnson on Oct. 16 and vs. Plainfield 19-0 at home this past Saturday.
Rahway has won three of four after an uncharacteristic 0-2 start under head coach Gary Mobley — at the helm since 2004. The Indians have given up no more than 14 points in any of their last four games and just 21 total.
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Rahway is led on defense by one of the more menacing players in the county in senior lineman Olsen Pierre (6-4, 265). Pierre is a solid tackle on both offense and defense.
Rahway has yielded just 67 points in six games, with its first two losses coming at Linden (4-2) by the score of 21-12 — which was a game Rahway was winning in the fourth quarter — and at Immaculata (6-1) by the score of 25-0.
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Seeking to make the state playoffs for the sixth straight season — all under Mobley, who took over in 2004 — the Indians last blanked two consecutive opponents in 2005 when they shut out three straight teams in the middle of an 8-3 campaign. In that stretch, Rahway shut out Governor Livingston 14-0, Roselle 22-0 and Newark Central 43-0 - winning all three games on the road.
In last weekend's whitewashing of an 0-6 Plainfield squad, senior fullback Sherwood Wesley scored on a seven-yard run and junior Cary Jones on a 25-yard run to give the Indians a 13-0 lead in the first quarter. Richard Jones, a senior free safety, recovered a fumble in the end zone in the fourth quarter for the game's final points.
After being down 35-0 at the half against Summit last Saturday at home, Scotch Plains junior running back Quintin Blackwell broke free for touchdown runs of 80 yards in the third quarter and 68 in the fourth, with senior Mike Burke adding both extra points in an eventual 42-14 setback to the 6-0 Hilltoppers.
Blackwell, a player Scotch Plains will look forward to having as a senior next season, has scored his team's last three touchdowns, including one in the fourth quarter of the Westfield game.
After its 0-2 start, Mobley moved senior running back Giovanni Smith to quarterback and put senior Visalle Fish at wide receiver.
"Sometimes when you don't have a true quarterback you have to go with your best athlete at the position, so that's why we made the change," Mobley said. "We felt a switch was needed, with that being no knock on Visalle, who gives us an added dimension at wide receiver."
Rahway is in the hunt for a playoff berth in Central Jersey, Group 2 and will probably have to beat Scotch Plains and then win at Governor Livingston (4-2) next weekend to earn enough power points to be one of the eight qualifying teams. The Indians are presently 10th in the section with 52 power points.
Scotch Plains will have two more games after Rahway, the first one at North Hunterdon (2-4) Nov. 6 at 7 p.m.
Warren Hills defeated North Hunterdon 25-20 at home last Friday night.
Scotch Plains could play Belleville (2-4) in a North 2, Group 3 consolation game, with the Raiders seven points ahead of the Buccaneers at present time in the N2, G3 power point standings. If that is the matchup, it would most likely be at Scotch Plains on Nov. 14 at 1 p.m., since Belleville is not playing any home games this year as its Doc Ellis Field is getting ready to receive FieldTurf for next season.
NOTES: Rahway and Scotch Plains last played each other on Oct. 24, 1998, with Rahway winning 21-14 at Scotch Plains. The teams last faced each other in Rahway on Nov. 1, 1997, with Scotch Plains winning 25-0.
SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS (1-6)
Sept. 12 (A) Scotch Plains 26, Cranford 24
Sept. 18 (A) Linden 35, Scotch Plains 0
Sept. 26 (H) Warren Hills 12, Scotch Plains 6
Oct. 2 (A) Immaculata 41, Scotch Plains 0
Oct. 10 (H) Phillipsburg 40, Scotch Plains 0
Oct. 17 (H) Westfield 30, Scotch Plains 6
Oct. 24 (H) Summit 42, Scotch Plains 14
Oct. 31 at Rahway, 1 p.m.
Nov. 6 at North Hunterdon, 7 p.m.
Head coach: Steve Ciccotelli
Section: North 2, Group 3
Record: 1-6
Home: 0-4
Away: 1-2
Points for: 52
Points against: 212
Shutouts: 0
Overtime: 0-0
RAHWAY INDIANS (3-3)
Sept. 11 (A) Linden 21, Rahway 12
Sept. 26 (A) Immaculata 25, Rahway 0
Oct. 3 (H) Rahway 38, Cranford 7
Oct. 9 (A) Somerville 14, Rahway 6
Oct. 17 (A) Rahway 22, Hillside 0 - at Johnson
Oct. 24 (H) Rahway 19, Plainfield 0
Oct. 31 Scotch Plains, 1 p.m.
Nov. 7 at Governor Livingston, 1 p.m.
Nov. 26 Johnson, 10:30 a.m.
Head coach: Gary Mobley
Section: Central Jersey, Group 2
Record: 3-3
Home: 2-0
Away: 1-3
Points for: 97
Points against: 67
Shutouts: 2
Overtime: 0-0
