Adams, Amrhein represent Brunswick area at Snapple Bowl
BY GEORGE ALBANO Staff Writer
The football programs at North and South Brunswick high schools were certainly well represented at last Thursday's 15th annual Snapple Bowl.

JEFF GRANIT staff North Brunswick's Davon Adams tackles Jim Griffith in Snapple Bowl XV at East Brunswick High School on July 17.

Cornerback Davon Adams of North Brunswick and defensive end David Amrhein of South Brunswick were both members of the Middlesex County All-Star team that defeated Union County 14-7 at East Brunswick High School.

The win was the third straight for Middlesex County and gave them an 8-7 lead in the series that features some of the best graduating senior players from the two neighboring counties.

The biggest winners this year, however, were the Lakeview School for Cerebral Palsy in Edison and the Children's Specialized Hospital in Mountainside, the two organizations the game benefited.

"It really is a magnificent event," said North Brunswick head football coach Mark Zielinski. "All the proceeds go to charity, and to date they've raised over $200,000 in 15 years for charities in our area. It's a very worthy cause, and each year it seems to get better and better.

"It's also a good night of football and excellent competition," he added. "It's a little bit of a showcase before many of the players go off to college."

"It's also a chance for kids who have competed against one another in the GMC for four years to play with each other on the same team," South Brunswick football coach Rick Mantz pointed out. "Marcus Borden [the longtime East Brunswick High School coach who founded the game along with the late Lou Rettino of Union High School] does a phenomenal job running the game.

"He puts on a banquet and he's able to secure the jerseys for the players. There are a lot of things the kids bring home," Mantz continued. "He also arranges for the players to visit the hospitals they're playing for. All that is part of the experience."

North Brunswick High School also plays a role in the game.

"We host the press conference every year in May where the players and coaches are introduced and the sponsors speak," Zielinski noted.

Adams and Amrhein were two of the players introduced this year for Middlesex County, and both were part of a defensive unit that allowed Union County to only reach the end zone once all game.

"They rotate everybody so you basically play every other series, and Davon played a very solid game," Zielinski said of the 5- foot-11, 175-pound Adams, who helped the Raiders go 5-5 in his final season. "He had a couple of nice tackles and he played effective pass defense all night.

"He's an excellent man and a solid student who did a very nice job for us. He was really one of the big surprises for us who got better and better as the season went on. It was nice to see him selected for the Snapple Bowl. He makes us proud on and off the field."

Mantz, meanwhile, felt the same way about Amrhein.

"David represented us with pride, and it was nice to see him win his last high school game. We were very proud of him," the Vikings coach said. "David was a two-way starter for us at offensive tackle and defensive end, and he was a tremendous leader for us. He was a three-sport athlete who played football, wrestled, and he also threw the shot put in the spring for the track team.

"His intelligence and maturity helped him greatly on the football field. We were a very small team on the field, but David did a great job by understanding angles and leverage. He took inventory of himself and got the best out of himself. He was a tough, physical kid, but he was only 6 feet, about 210 pounds, so he couldn't go nose to nose with some of the bigger guys. But he was a smart kid and a hard worker, and he understood the little things to be successful. He understood how to get lower and how to use his hands properly.

"His intelligence was essential for us," Mantz added. "He would explain to all the linemen what they had to do to make up for our lack of size. He was like having another coach."

When the Vikings got off to an 0-3 start, Amrhein was one of the senior players who helped turn things around.

"A lot of teams would have spiraled down at that point, but David and Mohamed Sanu, those two kids kept everybody else up and told them we could still win five games and qualify for the state playoffs, and we did. It was the first time a South Brunswick football team qualified for the playoffs in 30 years.

"David was a leader in every aspect. He believed we could be successful."

Amrhein will be attending and playing football at Wesleyan University, a Division III school in Connecticut, while Adams will attend and play at Rutgers as an invited walk-on.

All of which made the 2008 Snapple Bowl a fitting conclusion to their scholastic football careers.