Asbury Park football beats Neptune on Thanksgiving amid coaching scandal

ASBURY PARK – Through the first 23 minutes of the game, it appeared Asbury Park was going to be swallowing a bitter pill of defeat before Thanksgiving dinner. Down two touchdowns with just over a minute until halftime, the Blue Bishops were on the ropes against their bitter rivals – Neptune.

But in the matter of seconds, Asbury Park was back in the game, sparking a victory.

Knasir Alston scored twice in the final minute of the first half – one rushing and one defensive – to give Asbury Park a halftime lead, and the Blue Bishops carried that momentum into the second half as they took down Neptune 26-18 on Thanksgiving Day.

It’s the second year in a row Asbury Park (5-5) has taken down Neptune (4-5) after defeating the Scarlet Fliers 26-12 last year, albeit not on Thanksgiving. In the all-time series, Neptune still leads 50-39-4.

“My first two years here, we had two good games, and we lost,” Alston said. “We were just thinking that for these next two years, we were going to go out and get those two wins in a row.”

It was the first career victory for interim head coach Robert Ward, who filled in for former coach Nick Famularo. Famularo has been on administrative leave since an incident at the Asbury Park football stadium earlier this month.

“I’m an alumni from Asbury Park, so this is a big victory for me,” Ward said. “I’m very proud. It’s all about the kids. The kids stepped up. They came in and worked hard these past two and a half weeks, and they did a great job.”

The annual game between the two historic rivals faced some doubt after Asbury Park police found Famularo half-dressed at the football stadium after receiving a call about a possible intruder at 2:30 a.m. on Nov. 6.

Famularo coached the team the following day – a 41-14 loss to Penns Grove in the South Group 1 quarterfinals – before being placed on paid administrative leave on Nov. 8. Assistant coaches Matt Ardizzone and Lamar Davenport and athletic director Mark Gerbino were also placed on leave that day.

Robert Ward was officially appointed interim head coach on Nov. 19.

An investigation into the incident is still ongoing.

Through all the adversity and complications, the Asbury Park players were thrilled to be playing on Thanksgiving and to walk away with the victory for their new coach.

And the crowd was apparently pleased too as a packed house roared all game long and the tradition continued. 

“It felt great,” Asbury Park junior JaShawn Carter said. “He knew we were going to get him this win. That’s why he always believes in us, and that’s why we’ll always love that coach.”

Early on, Asbury Park played like a team in the midst of upheaval. Neptune took a 12-0 lead on touchdown runs by Davon Craft and Ra’Sun Banks.

The Blue Bishops cut their deficit in half on Alston’s one-yard touchdown with less than a minute left in the first half. On Neptune’s first play of the ensuing drive, Alston came flying off the edge, stripped quarterback Davionne Pearson off the ball, recovered it and ran it into the end zone as Asbury Park took a 13-12 lead.

“The only thing that was going through my head was, I’m going to get that ball,” Alston said. “He cocked it back, I smacked it down, picked it up and went to score.”

Neptune retook the lead early in the third quarter on Craft’s second touchdown of the game but on the following Asbury Park drive, Alston raced for a 42-yard touchdown to give the Blue Bishops a 20-18.

A ShaBorn Goodman 30-yard touchdown run gave Asbury Park a further cushion and on Neptune’s final drive, Asbury Park forced and recovered a fumble deep in its own territory with 1:48 left to play to seal the victory.

It's been a tumultuous month at Asbury Park, but the players capped it off with a stellar win.

“There aren’t enough words I can say about them,” Ward said. “They did a great job under the circumstances from the past two and a half weeks. I want to get a nice, positive aspect going on about these kids and Asbury Park.”

Asbury Park 26, Neptune 18

Neptune (4-5) 6 6 6 0 – 18

Asbury Park (5-5) 0 13 7 6 – 26

First quarter

N: Craft 28 run (2-pt conversion no good)

Second quarter

N: Banks 2 run (2-pt conversion no good)

AP: Alston 1 run (2-pt conversion no good)

AP Alston fumble return (Goodman kick)

Third quarter

N: Craft 6 run (2-pt conversion no good)

AP: Alston 42 run (Goodman kick)

Fourth quarter

AP: Goodman 30 run (kick blocked)

Individual statistics

PASSING – AP: J. Brown 7-9-0-89. N: Pearson 3-7-1-35.

RUSHING – AP: Carter 9-72, Alston 8-62, J. Brown 3-25, Goodman 1-30, Ayala 1-2. N: Craft 37-228, Banks 10-20.

RECEIVING – AP: L. Brown 3-32, Stephens 2-28, Carter 1-30, Alston 1--1.

INTERCEPTIONS – AP: L. Brown.

Danny LoGiudice has covered local sports across New Jersey since 2014. Contact him at dlogiudice@gannettnj.com or @danny_logiudice on Twitter.