Football: Long Branch completes epic comeback to stun Freehold Borough in OT

Long Branch spent the better part of two hours watching one of the best players in New Jersey history rip through its defense.

Ashante Worthy ran left, he ran right, and he ran up the middle.

But with time running out on a potentially historic season, Long Branch had finally seen enough.

Long Branch coach Dan George took Worthy out of the equation and put his season in the hands of his seniors as he elected to go for the game-deciding two-point conversion in the second half of the first overtime in Saturday night’s Central Jersey, Group 4 sectional final at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway.

The result was well worth it: quarterback Juwan Wilkins connected with Elijah Sherin to deliver one of the biggest wins in Long Branch history.

Long Branch 43, Freehold Borough 42 in an unforgettable sectional final.

It was Long Branch’s first sectional title since 1999.

Worthy racked up 271 yards, scored six touchdowns and accumulated four different records in an unforgettable performance. He added 141 yards in the air.

But Long Branch simply had more.

The Green Wave, after hitting a snide early in the second half, erased a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit win Wilkins connected with Kaymar Mimes for a 12-yard touchdown and Wilkins ran in a 1-yard score with just 1:03 left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

"I give props to Ashante Worthy," Wilkins said. "He's really good, he's really good. It was difficult. We had to keep going and execute every single play. I knew we were the better team. We had to take the ring. It was ours."

Jermaine Corbett, who had his way in the first half, ran for 152 yards on 29 carries, while Wilkins threw for 260 yards and added 43 on the ground.

In overtime, Worthy made quick work of putting Freehold Borough back on top, using just three plays to find the end zone and score his sixth touchdown of the game.

But Long Branch answered just as quickly as Pasa Fields hauled in a swing pass from Wilkins and dove inside the pylon to draw the Green Wave within a point.

It was then that George made the decision to end the game there, one way or another. Wilkins found a wide-open Sherin in the end zone to convert the two-point play and send the Long Branch student section onto the field in a euphoric celebration.

"Our kicker missed a field goal which we made before in practice," George said. "I wanted to make sure I didn't put a tremendous amount of pressure on him. I think if we continue to go to overtimes, teams would continue to score. I put the game in the our best football player's hands. We were either going to win it in the first overtime or the second, so let's do it now."

Long Branch watched Worthy become the first player in state history to run for 2,000 yards and pass for 2,000 yards in the same season, set the single-season state record for touchdowns with 61, break the state record for rushing yards in a single season and set the all-time rushing record in the Shore Conference – vaulting past Manalapan's Naim Mayfield, who had set the mark just hours earlier in the Central Jersey, Group 5 final.

But all those records didn't mean much to Long Branch after the marathon game ended in such a dramatic way.

"We knew from the summer, all the hard practicing, all the times we were throwing up because we were running hard, it all adds up and pays off," Mimes said. "We knew we weren't going to let them take it from us. They're a great team but they weren't worthy."

Freehold Borough led for much of the game and saw Worthy record running TDs of 1, 6, 4, 22, 29 and 6 yards as he accounted for touchdown Nos. 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 and 61 on the season.

With the game tied in the first half, Freehold Borough took advantage of Long Branch's miscues, using the short field to score twice and take a commanding 21-7 lead. Long Branch lost four fumbles on the night.

Long Branch fought back late in the half as Wilkins connected with Matt Clark as time expired to make it a 21-21 game. A Freehold Borough defensive back fell down on the play and left Clark wide open in the end zone to give the Green Wave momentum heading into the break.

But Freehold Borough appeared to be on its way to a win when it opened the second half with a bang, getting two long touchdown runs from Worthy to take a 35-21 lead.

But it was all Long Branch after that.

On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Long Branch cut into the deficit by finishing off a nine-play, 77-yard drive in just 3:13 when Mimes broke through the seam and hauled in a pass from Wilkins.

Worthy and Freehold Borough had a chance to close the game out, but Long Branch's bend-but-don't-break mentality kicked in as it came up with the turnover on downs inside its own territory.

Wilkins then engineered an 11-play, 79-yard drive to tie the game with his 1-yard burst through the middle.

The performance Long Branch used to rally was a far cry from its offense in the beginning of the second half. The Green Wave opened the third quarter with two fumbles and a punt, but recollected itself and found its offense.

"My thing is that we had some great success early running the football and then they took that away," George said. "They were playing back and then they had to come up and stop the run. We threw the football and we made huge plays."

Long Branch had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation after Marc Dennis picked off Worthy, but the 34-yard field goal wide left.

Long Branch took its first lead in the opening stages of the second quarter when Corbett blasted through the middle for a 29-yard score – his second TD of the game – to put the Green Wave on top, 14-7. The run capped off a short four-play, 86-yard drive for Long Branch that was jumpstarted by a long run from Corbett and a pass to Mimes up the seam after a busted Freehold Borough coverage in the secondary.

Freehold Borough opened the scoring in the first quarter when Worthy engineered a 12-play, 67-yard drive that was capped off with his 1-yard touchdown run. The touchdown was set up by a 32-yard scamper by Worthy, who had 55 yards rushing on that drive, on third down after a defensive facemask penalty against Long Branch kept the drive alive.

Long Branch, which went three-and-out on its first drive, answered that touchdown drive with a 12-play drive of its own for 61 yards. Corbett capped it off with a 2-yard run to tie the game with less than a minute left in the first half.

Some two hours and 30 minutes later, after capping off perhaps the biggest play in Long Branch history, Sherin was speechless.

"I'm emotional," he said. "I don't have any words right now."

Brian Deakyne may be reached at bdeakyne@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianDeakyne. Like NJ.com High School Sports on Facebook.