Metuchen football pulls upset in first round of playoffs
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer
When Metuchen High School head football coach Bob Ulmer brings the Bulldogs into Friday night's NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I matchup with Bound Brook, Ulmer will be bringing his troops into familiar territory.

Above: Metuchen High School's Peter Strom (41) tries to stay on his feet to gain a few extra yards against Shore Regional during an NJSIAA Group I playoff game against Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch on Nov. 14. Below: Metuchen quarterback Steven Deinzer (10) is able to scramble away from Shore Regional's Dylan Chase during the game, which was won by Metuchen, 12-10. Metuchen's next opponent will be Bound Brook this weekend.

"I've spent my whole life living in or near Bound Brook," Ulmer said. "My brother is a cop in Bound Brook, and he said I am the talk of the town this week. It's like the local kid made good and now he's back in town."

As if this weekend's playoff game against his hometown will not be weird enough, Ulmer's brother-in-law Dominick Longo will be on the opposing sideline. Longo is currently the defensive coordinator for Bound Brook.

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"It has a family-versus-family feel to it," Ulmer said. "It's great to come back to town with a successful football team, but we definitely want to win the game."

The No. 7 Bulldogs advanced to play No. 3 Bound Brook with a first-round win over No. 2 Shore Regional. Thanks to a stalwart defense and some fortunate breaks, Metuchen upset Shore 12-10.

"A No. 7 beating a No. 2 doesn't happen all that often," Ulmer said. "Our defense really came to play and gave us an amazing effort. We brought a lot of supporters with us, and it was great to play well enough to advance. We did get some breaks offensively and were able to get key first downs to continue drives."

Quarterback Steve Deinzer scored the two Metuchen touchdowns with sneaks of one and two yards. Running back Ray Doherty led the team with 46 yards on 15 carries.

"The playing conditions were tough with the rain and mud," Ulmer said. "Ray ran the ball pretty well, but he also came up with some bombs punting the ball for us. He gave Shore bad field position on a couple of occasions, and that was huge."

Perhaps the player of the game on the Metuchen side was receiver Anthony Terenzi. Terenzi helped set up the Bulldogs' first touchdown with a 36-yard reception and later a 31-yard reception. Terenzi helped set up what would prove to be the game-winning score in the second quarter with a 25-yard catch from Deinzer.

"Anthony came up with some really big grabs," Ulmer said. "He was excellent and really had an impact on the outcome."

Defensively, Metuchen's Quinn Meng was all over the field and seemingly in on every play. He finished with 22 tackles.

"Quinn had something like 17 first hits," Ulmer said. "He had an amazing game. Our entire defense was great. Shore did have some stupid penalties that came back to haunt them, but the game ultimately came down to big plays. We had more big plays than they did."

This week will certainly prove to be another tough challenge for the Dogs, and Ulmer thinks his team will need to play mistake-free football.

"We'll have a good shot if we can eliminate mistakes," he said. "Bound Brook moves the ball all over the field. They have experienced players and great coaches. It will be a tough battle. We're happy with the win over Shore, but we haven't reached our goal yet. We want to keep playing."