Here's how Point Boro, Matt Oliphant used 'Big boy football' to beat their biggest rival

POINT PLEASANT - The relationship between Matt Oliphant and the offensive system the Point Pleasant Boro High School football team runs looks like a marriage made in heaven.

Oliphant, a junior quarterback, showed off his skills, athleticism and his knowledge of the Panthers' flexbone, triple offense Friday night by racing for 227 yards and four TDs on 18 carries to lead Point Boro to a 39-13 win over Manasquan in a Shore Conference Independence Division game before a standing-room only crowd at Al Saner Field.

"He's the best athlete on the team in terms of size, speed, explosiveness,'' Point Boro head coach Brian Staub said. "To have the best athlete on your team with the ball in his hands on every play, that's all you want.''

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Oliphant, who has 358 yards and seven TDs on 26 carries in the Panthers' first two games, scored on two 1-yard runs, a 67-yard run in the final minute of the first half and a 30-yarder in the fourth quarter.

He had to wait his turn to become the quarterback because Point Boro had Charlie Vitale, a a very good senior and three-year starter last season.

"He's played quarterback his whole life,'' Staub said. "A lot of people thought that he was a slotback last year who transitioned to QB (this season). He's been a quarterback his whole life who transitioned to slotback last year because he needed to get the ball. He was born for this offense. He's confident that he can read it and his teammates block for him.''

'Playing Big Boy football'

Most of the time, flexbone teams like Point Pleasant Boro rely on the triple option and the quarterback's ability to make the correct decision in reading the defense and give the ball to either the "A'' back - the setback behind the quarterback - pitch the ball to one of the two slotbacks or keep the ball himself.

At times in the second half Friday night, Staub and his coaching staff made the decision to forgo the triple option and just have the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Oliphant follow junior "A'' back and Jake Croce and senior center Declan Pratt and run the ball between the tackles.

"There's no mesh, no read. It's QB follow,'' Staub said. "We kind of build a wall with our offensive line, get our halfbacks involved, get the fullback leading and it turns into QB iso (isolation play). We're not leading anyone unblocked. We're base blocking. It's Big Boy football and get north.''

On the Panthers' first possession of the second half, Oliphant ripped off runs of 24, 9 and 14 yards while running QB follow before Croce capped that drive with a 4-yard TD run for the first of his two TDs. That score extended Point Boro's lead to 27-13 with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter.

"We've got some big guys on the offensive line (Point Boro's offensive line is led by 6-foot-5, 305-pound senior right tackle and Temple University recruit Cole Skinner),'' Oliphant said. "We knew we could stuff the ball down their throats right up the middle.''

Point Pleasant Boro ran for 374 yards on 38 attempts for an average of almost 10 yards a carry.

Key Play

It looked like Point Boro (2-0, 1-0), ranked No. 4 in the Asbury Park Press Top 10, was going to go into halftime with a 13-6 lead when Oliphant kept the ball around right end and raced down the Manasquan sideline for a 67-yard TD that made it 20-6 with 48 seconds left in the half.

"It really got everybody settled down going into half,'' Oliphant said.

"If Matt hits that third level, odds are he's going to take it (all the way,'' Staub said.

What it means

Point Boro's first win over Manasquan since 2017 enabled it to avenge a 35-30 defeat last season when it was unbeaten at the time.

It also put it in the pole possession to win the Independence Division championship.

"In the offseason, we had it in the back of our mind that we lost to them by five last year,'' Oliphant said. "We came out here and put on a show (Friday night). ''

"It's not exactly a rivalry if one side keeps winning (Manasquan has dominated the series through the years between the two former Thanksgiving Day rivals),'' Staub said. "To me, it's the best rivalry in the Shore. The atmosphere was unbelievable.''

Point Pleasant Boro 39, Manasquan 13

Manasquan 0 6 7 0 - 13

Point Boro 7 13 13 6 - 39

First Quarter

PBo: Matt Oliphant 1 run (Brayden Forfar kick).

Second Quarter

M: Brett Patten 1 run (kick failed).

PBo: Oliphant 1 run (kick failed).

PBo; Oliphant 68 run (Forfar kick).

Third Quarter

M: Jhamier Howard 38 run (Jack Dettlinger kick).

PBo: Jake Croce 4 run (Forfar kick).

PBo: Croce 35 run (kick failed).

Fourth Quarter

PBo: Oliphant 30 run (kick failed).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: M: Jhamier Howard 12-80, Brett Patten 9-14, Torey Falkinburg 2-2. PBo: Matt Oliphant 18-227, Jake Croce 11-72, Connor Cilento 7-61, Ty Gordon 2-14.

PASSING: M: Patten 8-19-0-113. PBo: Oliphant 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: M: Howard 3-60, Jack Dettlinger 3-46, Cael Driscoll 1-8. Matt O'Donnell 1 (-1),

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Shore Conference Football: Matt Oliphant leads Point Boro to win