Edison’s miracle comeback stuns North Brunswick in Central Jersey, Group 5 semifinal

Oh, the insanity.

Edison recovered two on-sides kicks in the final 2:53, turning one into a touchdown and the other into a game-winning field goal with four seconds left and the Eagles scored an improbable and chaotic, 33-31 victory over North Brunswick Friday night in North Brunswick.

The victory, Edison’s sixth in its last seven games, advanced the Eagles (8-3) to Central Jersey, Group 5 final next week against Lenape (6-4), which rallied for a 21-20 victory over Atlantic City on Friday. The win also avenged the 13-10 loss to North Brunswick on Sept. 9.

It was hard to believe anything could top the craziness that ended the first half. But Edison, somehow, did.

“You never quit, never laid down and never gave in,” Edison head coach Matt Fulham told his team afterward.

North Brunswick (8-2) appeared to put the game away with its second touchdown of the second half — a 14-yard run by Zahmir Dawud and a two-point pass from Frankie Garbolino to his younger brother, Jack. It gave North Brunswick a 31-17 lead with 3:58 left.

If Edison didn’t quit, it certainly came darn close at that point.

“We didn’t quit, but it didn’t look good at that point,” said Edison quarterback Matt Yascko, who ran for 74 yards and passed for 135.

“We picked up a couple of first downs and then we hit that long pass to Rickey (Harvey) and that got us back in it,” Fulham said.

The pass from Yascko to Harvey, down the Edison sideline, covered 36 yards and gave Edison a first down at the North Brunswick 22 yard line. Two players later, Yascko, who started the second half just one-of-six passing, fired an 18-yard strike to Kevin Smith. The PAT kick by eventual hero, Selbin Sabino, made the score 31-24 wi 2:53 left.

On the ensuing kick, Sabino kicked an end-over-end bouncer, which Isaiah Rego recovered an instant after the ball went the required 10 yards.

“It was a special play,” Sabino said. “We made it look like we were going to kick the ball right so it created a hole on the left.”

Starting from the North Brunswick 49, Edison picked up a key first down on a pass interference call. Then, a 17-yard pass from Yascko to Hemza Nasser gave Edison a first down at the North Brunswick 19. Two players later Yaszcko hit Harvey for nine yards and a first-and-goal from the three.

Two plays later, Yascko plowed over left guard for a 2-yard touchdown. Down 31-30 with 39 seconds left, Fulham went for two and the win.

Yascko, under pressure on the RPO call, pushed a pass to Nyekir Eaton, who was stopped inside the one.

Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming. North Brunswick sent out its hands team. Again Fabio’s kick went end-over-end. Edison’s Ah’mer Gibbs came out of the pile with the football giving Edison another chance at the North Brunswick 44 with 37 seconds left.

“I’ve been head coach at Edison for 18 yards and a coach for 30 and I’ve never seen two onsides kicked recovered in a row like that,” Fulham said. “And we recovered it against their hands team.”

The drive began with North Brunswick being flagged for pass interference on consecutive plays, moving the ball to the North Brunswick 19.

Yascko was dropped for a two-yard loss trying to run left. On the next play, Yascko took a couple of choppy steps left. Under pressure, he scrambled. He shook off a tackler and raced all the way to the far sideline where he slid at the North Brunswick 13 yard line with eight seconds left.

“I told Matt if he got in trouble to run and get whatever he could,” Fulham said.

“I never watched him (Sabino) kick in warmups, but I watched him make one from 40 in pregame,” Yascko said.

“He (Sabino) has made kicks from 50,” Fulham said.

This time, however, Sabio needed to convert from 30 yards.

“My teammates believed in me and put me in a spot to win the game,” Sabio said.

The winning kick, a high, majestic boot well above up uprights, came one year to the day Sabio kicked a game-winning field goal against Manalapan.

Sabio also kicked a first-half field goal from 21 yards that gave Edison a 3-0 lead with 8:50 left in the second quarter.

After an exchange of TDs, a short pass from Yascko to Michael Strachan gave Edison a 17-8 lead with 31 seconds left before halftime. But that’s when the mayhem began.

A person foul on Edison, which was penalized 12 times for 102 yards, gave North Brunswick a first down at the Edison 22 with 9/10s of a second left. In less than a second, Edison was called for targeting and had a player ejected for the hit. Edison was then called for pass interference and unsportsmanlike conduct with no time left on the clock. North Brunswick was given an untimed down and scored on a two-yard run by Frankie Garbolino. The successful PAT pulled North Brunswick to within 17-15 at intermission.

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Joe Zedalis covers Shore Conference for football NJ.com. He can be reached at jzedalis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Josephzedalis

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