This is an actual photo from the game.
I didn't take it, but I was there.
I didn't take it, but I was there.
October 27, 1989: A high school football game was played at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick, New Jersey. It shouldn't have mattered much to me. But it did. It mattered. A lot.
From 1963 to 1974, EB went 9-1-2 against Madison Township, before the name of the Township was changed to Old Bridge. From 1975 to 1993, when the opposing school was named Madison Central, they led, 13-8, including Conference title deciders in 1980 (them) and 1987 (us); their ruining EB's 1st-ever home night game in 1986.
In 1987, EB had won the regular-season game between them, but there was a rematch in the Semifinal of the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament. It was a bitterly cold day, and Madison won, 33-0. The next year, in what was set up as a "Game of the Century," with Madison ranked Number 1 in the State and EB ranked Number 2 in the County, Madison won in the most humiliating game in EB history, 55-3, before winning a Playoff rematch, 31-7.
So when the teams -- the East Brunswick Bears, coached by Marcus Borden, in white helmets, green jerseys and white pants, and the Madison Central Spartans, coached by Bob DeMarco, in light blue helmets, white jerseys, and light blue pants with navy blue trim -- took the field against each other in East Brunswick for the regular-season game in 1989, Madison had a 24-game winning streak, and were heavily favored to win.
There was precedent for hope: In 1984 and 1985 EB had lost Central Jersey Group IV Finals to Edison school J.P. Stevens, and won the 1986 regular-season game between them, ending their 22-game winning streak. But there was a significant difference: In '86, EB still had several returning players with Playoff experience; in ''89, they had significant graduation losses. So Madison were heavily favored.
So we were heavy underdogs as we hosted Madison at Doyle Field. And it looked like the same old thing: On the 1st play from scrimmage, EB quarterback Troy White tried a long pass, and it was intercepted and returned deep. Fortunately, we held them to a field goal, and it was only 3-0.
On their next possession, Madison had a 66-yard touchdown pass, but a personal foul after the play led to the extra point attempt being pushed back, and it was wide right. Still, it was the 5:30 mark of the 1st quarter, and Madison already led, 9-0.
But the Spartans did not score again. The Bear defense held them, as they could not in the previous 3 games between the teams. Early in the 2nd quarter, a big gain by Greg Rullo set up a 27-yard field goal by Ian Cairns, to make it 9-3 Madison with 8:12 left in the half. Jimmy Allinder, who wrote a sports column for the weekly local newspaper The Sentinel and was the lead commentator on EB's Channel 3 cable broadcasts, called Rullo, also a fine linebacker, "a man possessed tonight." It was still 9-3 Madison at the half.
In the middle of the 3rd quarter, Madison quarterback and cornerback Brian Donnelly injured his non-throwing shoulder, and missed most of the rest of the game. Shortly thereafter, Pat Casinelli fumbled a punt, and gave the ball back to Madison. But, shortly after that, he forced a fumble to regain possession for EB, shifting the momentum back. At the end of the quarter, it was still 9-3 Madison.
On the 1st play of the 4th quarter, White broke to his left and ran for a 1st down. Rullo bulled his way to a 1st & goal. He was injured on the play, but only missed 2 plays. White ran to his right, surveyed his multiple options, and decided to take it in himself, diving into the end zone. Touchdown, EB.
Color commentator Phil Hill said, "I have never, in all my years at East Brunswick, saw the crowd erupt like they just did, John, when we scored that touchdown. Virtually everyone was on their feet." As one of that crowd, I can vouch for that. Maybe if we had won the Central Jersey Final in 1984... But we didn't win that one.
But now, with 9:24 to play, Cairns kicked the extra point, and it was EB 10, Madison 9. It was the first time, in nearly 6 full games, that Madison had been behind all season. And all of the sadness and anger that Madison had been inflicting on us for 3 years was close to being brushed away.
The Bear defense held the Spartans on their next drive, and from there on in, it was a matter of controlling the clock. Madison got the ball back with 3:20 to go, and Donnelly returned as quarterback. With 1:45 left, they had a 4th & 3 in their own territory. Donnelly tried to pitch to his left, but he got swarmed by green jerseys, led by linebacker Todd Pechar. He didn't really have a chance to check his options out, threw a lateral anyway, and nobody got it: It rolled to the sideline, and the Bears took over on downs.
At this point, the announcers were saying that the officials had a bad game. I didn't notice -- or maybe, because of the result, I simply forgot.
After an EB 3-and-out and a good punt by Drew Stahley, Madison got a last chance, on their 20-yard line, with 43 seconds and 1 timeout to go. Madison coach Bob DeMarco knew he had to gain at least 50 yards to set up a game-winning field goal, so he abandoned the wishbone that had won him 24 straight games, for the shotgun.
Hill told his broadcast colleagues that the game had started with an interception, and he thought it would end with an interception. He was right: Donnelly threw long, and Tom Gehrmann picked him off with under 30 seconds to go. White knelt with the ball once, and it was over: East Brunswick 10, Madison Central 9. It was an upset that felt about as good as any sporting event I've ever been to.
It didn't last. We went up to Bayonne to fulfill a home-and-home series that began with us making our, and ruining their, Playoff chances the season before. Not only did they pound us in their huge (by high school standards) stadium on the shore of a smelly Newark Bay, but they rubbed it in for the previous season's defeat, 42-7, even starting a fight. They won that, too.
A week later, with the Berlin Wall having just fell, Woodbridge coach Mike Cilento left the field at Priscoe Stadium uncovered, so it was a sloppy mess, and we lost by 1 point, costing us a winning season: 4-5. Still, we were a touchdown against Cherokee, and field goals against Perth Amboy and Woodbridge, away from being 7-2. Madison went on to reach their 3rd straight Central Jersey Group IV Final, but lost it to Middletown South.
In 1994, Madison Central and the other school in town, Cedar Ridge, were reconsolidated into a single Old Bridge High School due to declining enrollment. Just EB's luck, ours declined, too, and their started going back up, and they've dominated us in football ever since.
Kicker Ian Cairns, the man who made the difference, would later join the U.S. Army, and do field reporting for the Home News Tribune from Afghanistan. He became a career officer. (UPDATE: He has since retired from the Army, and runs a consulting firm in East Brunswick.)
There have been some good wins for EB football since, including the Central Jersey Group IV Championships won in 2004 and 2009. But the 1989 win over Madison Central/Old Bridge remains the greatest regular-season EB football game I've ever seen -- and the most satisfying. As the old saying goes, Revenge is sweet.
*
October 27, 1989 was a Friday. Game 3 of the World Series, between the 2 teams of the San Francisco Bay Area, delayed after being pre-empted by the Loma Prieta Earthquake 10 days earlier, was played at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants, 13-7. The A's completed the 4-game sweep the next day.
The NBA season started 7 days later. There were 4 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers and the New York Islanders, each other's arch-rivals, played each other to a 5-5 tie at Madison Square Garden. The Isles led 3-0 in the 2nd period, and 5-2 at the start of the 3rd, but blew it, as Miloslav Hořava scored an equalizer with 34 seconds left in regulation. Over 5 minutes of overtime, neither team could find a winner.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat their arch-rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-5 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. The Leafs led 5-1 after 2 periods, but blew it, with the Sabres' Mike Foligno scoring with 59 seconds left in regulation, and Pierre Turgeon scoring the winner with 2:30 left in overtime.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* And the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames played to a tie, 5-5 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
