No. 5 Millville rallies in fourth, beats Williamstown in OT in South 5 opener (with PHOTOS)

  • 11/10 - 7:00 PM FootballFinal
    Williamstown 14
    Millville 20
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MILLVILLE – Millville, the defending South Jersey, Group 5 champion, has played its share of close games — and that experience came in handy Friday night.

Clayton Scott scored on a 1-yard plunge in the first overtime to lift third-seeded host Millville to a dramatic 20-14 victory over sixth-seeded Williamstown in the first round of the NJSIAA/Wilson Sporting Goods South Jersey, Group 5 playoffs. The Thunderbolts also defeated the Braves, 28-17, in Week 4.

Millville, 9-0 and ranked No. 5 in the NJ.com Top 20, overcame a 14-6 deficit in the fourth quarter to advance to the sectional semifinals next week at second-seeded Rancocas Valley (8-1 and ranked No. 17), which defeated Eastern, 57-9, Friday night. It is a rematch of last season’s sectional semifinal, which Millville won, 32-15.

“We’ve been (coming back) like this all year long,” Millville coach Dennis Thomas said. “We were down in the fourth quarter to (St. Augustine) with four minutes left and we came back and won (25-23). I knew our guys would fight back. They’re resilient. They have a championship heart. We just had to win it in overtime.”

Millville took four plays to score in overtime, keyed by a 10-yard pass from quarterback Elijah Nichols to Carlton Lawrence and a 14-yard run by Scott down to the 1-yard line. Williamstown turned the ball over on downs to begin overtime, keyed by a fourth-and-3 stop by Millville linebacker Jermer Downing (seven tackles, sack).

The Williamstown defense stymied the Thunderbolts and Scott when it mattered, holding Scott to 63 yards on 14 carries in regulation. Overtime, however, was a different story.

“I said on the sideline that somebody need to step up for the big moment, but I knew inside that it was my moment and that I had to step up,” said Scott, who finished with 78 yards rushing. “We’ve played close games, overtime games, (championship) games, and that experience from the past definitely helped us tonight.”

Williamstown quarterback Jonathan Collins led all rushers with 110 yards on 29 rushes, including an 8-yard scamper early in the fourth quarter to give the Braves a 14-6 lead. Nichols threw for two touchdowns (76 and 37 yards) on 11-of-23 passing. Millville linebacker Jamar Holbrook led the Thunderbolt defense with nine total tackles, a pair of sacks and fumble recovery.

Williamstown drove the ball to the Millville 7-yard line late in the fourth quarter, but Millville blocked a 24-yard field goal attempt to keep the score knotted at 14-14 with 3:40 left. The teams traded possessions in the final minutes, but the defenses held to force overtime.

Williamstown took the lead, 7-6, midway through the third quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Nick DeRosa on third-and-goal. The rush capped an eight-play, 50-yard drive that saw Collins rush for 13 and 19 yards on designed quarterback runs. Following a Millville fumble deep in its own territory on the ensuing possession, Collins punched it in from 8 yards out to put the Braves up, 14-6, just 14 seconds in the fourth quarter.

The Braves defense looked to have held on the Thunderbolts next possession, but a fluky play gave Millville much-needed life. On fourth-and-4 from their own 45, Millville lined up to punt, but a high snap to punter Bruce Williams and pressure from the Williamstown line forced Williams to pull the ball down. He ran for 16 yards and the first down and ignited the Millville offense in the process. Three plays later, Nichols found Marcial Ramos for a 37-yard touchdown pass behind the Williamstown defense. A Scott two-point run tied the game with 9:34 remaining.

In a plodding, mostly defensive first half, the only points came via the big play. After an 11-play Williamstown drive to open the game, Millville’s Nichols found Carlton Lawrence on a bubble screen on the Thunderbolts third play from scrimmage, and the receiver took it 76 yards to the end zone. Millville led, 6-0, after failed conversion attempt.

Each defense delivered key stops in the first half, allowing Millville to take its six-point edge into the locker room.

Twice the Thunderbolt defense forced Williamstown fumbles and gave its offense the ball inside Braves’ territory. Each time the Williamstown defense held, once forcing a turnover on downs on its 24-yard line after a critical Millville holding penalty late in the first quarter. Late in the second quarter, Millville took over at the Williamstown 35 after a Braves fumble, only to go three and out.

Not to be outdone, the Millville defense delivered an even more dramatic hold. A 14-play, 71 yard drive put Williamstown on the Thunderbolts 1-yard line on second-and-goal. Millville defensive lineman Samuel File dropped Williamstown’s Kerwin Smith II in the backfield on second down, and stood up Williamstown quarterback Jonathan Collins on a fourth-and-goal run from inside the 1-yard line. Williamstown chose to run both the second- and fourth-and-goal plays from the shotgun as it had the entire game.

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