A coach’s patience rewarded
Bears give Marcus Borden his first state championship
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above, East Brunswick head coach Marcus Borden celebrates his first state title with his team after the Bears beat Jackson for the Central Jersey Group IV title at Rutgers Stadium on Sunday. At right, running back Nick Dzielak gets away from Jackson’s Tom Hompkins en route to scoring the Bears’ second touchdown, a 39-yard scoring scamper.

PISCATAWAY — It’s been a long time coming, but it was worth the wait for Marcus Borden.

In his 22nd year as the head coach of the East Brunswick High School football team, Borden’s team finally achieved its ultimate goal of winning a state championship, and did so in dramatic fashion, knocking off unbeaten Jackson on Sunday, 17-14, in the Central Jersey Group IV final at Rutgers Stadium.

“Unbelievable — that’s what the ride has been,” Borden said. “When you’re in coaching as long as I’ve been, it really becomes extra special.”

Borden’s Bears last reached a state championship game 19 years ago, and the coach has been chomping at the bit to get back ever since.

“Having been there my first two years at East Brunswick, it’s been a longer road to get back than I thought it would,” he said. “Having been there as a young coach, I know it’s been frustrating at times over the years. But it was well worth the wait. It’s an unbelievable feeling to finally accomplish this.”

And it took a tremendous effort from a resilient Bears team that has been in close games all season. In fact, just getting to the finals was a triumph in adversity, as the Bears knocked off Brick Township by one point before surviving an overtime battle with Hillsborough in the semifinals.

Yet despite their penchant for the dramatic, the Bears were still considered the underdog against a talented Jackson team.

“I told the kids we were going to be prohibitive underdogs,” Borden said. “Coming off a loss to Old Bridge [on Thanksgiving] having not scored any points, I think some people were thinking that was the end of it for us. But we felt as a coaching staff that we had plenty left, and were certainly capable of playing with those guys.”

And the Bears proved their coaches prophetic early on, using a nine-play, 27-yard first-quarter drive to set up a 30-yard Matt Mariano field goal, giving East Brunswick the early 3-0 lead.

Jackson responded with the game’s first touchdown, a 20-yard run from Jon Reggio that capped a seven-play, 58-yard drive, to jump ahead 6-3.

But the Bears came right back with a touchdown of their own when running back Nick Dzielak (13 carries for 77 yards) busted loose with a 39-yard touchdown run. With Mariano’s PAT (point after touchdown) kick, it was 10-6 East Brunswick.

“I thought Nick played very well for us,” Borden said. “The field accentuated his speed, and he made some great moves and cutbacks to really keep their defense off-balance.”

The score remained 10-6 until the third quarter, when Mariano, the undersized Bear quarterback who has shown an uncanny ability to make the big play this year, hit Dan Fessel with a 43-yard scoring strike down the middle of the field on what proved to be the game’s winning play. Mariano, who also tormented the Jaguar defense with his legs, rushing for 125 yards on 25 carries, then kicked the PAT for a 17-6 lead.

Jackson cut the lead to 17-12 on a Mark Schiavone 7-yard scoring run, then had a golden opportunity to take the lead following a poor punt from Bear punter Rafaele Danise with just over three minutes left to play.

With the ball at the East Brunswick 38-yard line, the Jaguars immediately reached the 20 with a 15-yard pass. But that’s when Fessel stepped up to make his second big play of the game, picking off a Bill Fenimore pass, and ending the scoring threat.

But the drama didn’t end there. The Bears failed to get a first down, and with their backs against their own end zone, Borden made the gutsy call of telling Mariano to take an intentional safety, rather than try to punt from their own end zone.

“I’m sure some people didn’t realize what we were doing there, but we wanted a situation where we could kick the ball without them putting any pressure on [Danise],” Borden said. “With a free kick, which can be either a kickoff or a punt, they were 10 yards off him.

“Plus there were only 29 seconds left, and they had no time-outs,” the coach added.

While some may have disagreed with the decision at the time, there was no arguing with the result. Danise redeemed himself for his earlier miscue with a booming free kick that traveled 72 yards (10 yards over the head of the returner’s outstretched hands), putting Jackson on its own 17-yard line as it attempted to put together a game-tying drive.

“He certainly saved his best for last,” Borden said.

The Jaguars nearly pulled the comeback off, using a pass-interference call and a 38-yard completion to reach the Bear 30-yard line with a single second remaining on the clock. But a desperation 47-yard field goal attempt fell 10 yards short of the goalpost, and the Bears were state champions for the first time, while the Jaguars were left wondering how the let this one get away.

“We’re a little disappointed with the outcome,” second-year Jackson coach Mike Smith said. “The kids fought hard all season for a chance to win a state title. We just happened to come up a little short in the end. East Brunswick was a good team. They proved to be the better team on this particular day.”

On the other sideline, Borden had nothing but praise for his team, and in particular, his defense.

“Our defense did an outstanding job,” he said. “Coach Tony Toto did an outstanding job setting up our defensive scheme against a tough team to prepare for. We held them to 14 points, which is the least they’ve scored all year, and we gave them six of those points after fumbling. But we really stifled them, and didn’t allow them to make the big play.”

And part of the credit for that belongs to the Bear offense, which won the time-of-possession battle, 29:50-18:10.

“When you can run the football and control the clock it’s like having a second defense out there,” Borden said. “Both our offensive and defensive lines have been strong for us all season.”

The Bears had a lot of strengths this season, and used them to their fullest capacity on Sunday in giving Borden his long-awaited first state championship.

Marcus Borden earned the respect of his coaching peers, his players, both past and present, and high school football fans long ago. But it wasn’t until Sunday he got the final piece to the puzzle.

The coach called it unbelievable. Perhaps. But certainly well-deserved.