MAYS LANDING — Zane Forest is just a freshman, but he called his Oakcrest High School football teammates family, especially senior wide receiver Jaden Harvey.
Forest and Harvey have chemistry, and that showed Friday.
Forest threw three touchdown passes to Harvey to lead the Falcons to a 26-14 victory over rival Absegami in a West Jersey Football League Liberty Division game.
The duo connected for scores of 9, 47 and 53 yards.
“The connection has always been there, but we know when we get here, we go together like peanut butter and jelly,” Forest said. “What happened tonight, it’s going to happen throughout the season.”
Forest finished with 203 passing yards with three TDs. Harvey led the Falcons (2-3) with 116 receiving yards and three scores. Donovan Linthicum finished with a team-high 106 rushing yards.
“We had good execution,” Harvey said. “Whenever we (were) down, we were just playmakers. We get the ball, we throw it up.”
Absegami (1-4) led 7-6 at halftime and 14-6 in the third quarter.
Harvey caught the 47-yard TD from Forest with 28 seconds left in the third quarter to cut the Braves’ lead to 14-12. Forest then hit Tank Williams for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-14.
“In the first half, we had a little adversity. We were down, wasn’t playing to our level,” Forest said. “At halftime our coaches told us a few things and got us to where we needed to be. We got there eventually and got the job done.”
Oakcrest’s Jayden Graves then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, leading to Forest’s 53-yard connection to Harvey to extend the lead to 20-14 with 11:07 left in the game.
“We came out at halftime and we had to be more, so we had mental toughness and went out and just did our thing,” Harvey said.
The Falcons and the Braves punted on their first two drives of the game.
The Falcons then put together an 11-play, 75-yard drive, capped by Forest’s 9-yard TD pass to Harvey. The Falcons missed their extra point attempt but still led 6-0 with 8 minutes, 39 seconds left in the second quarter.
Oakcrest converted a fourth-and-2 at the Braves’ 42 on that drive after Forest connected with Devin Fortson for a 19-yard gain. Dashawn Drinkard hauled in a 13-yard pass from Forest to set up Harvey’s TD.
“He’s doing a great job,” Oakcrest coach Mike Forest said of his freshman quarterback. “Him being so young, picking up the way he is picking up.
“For him to keep his composure and be able to deliver the way he has been delivering over these past couple games, we are proud of him. His teammates and the entire staff is proud of him. We are just happy with the way he is doing his job. He is ready.”
Absegami responded with a 12-play, 67-yard drive, capped by Logan Simpson’s 3-yard TD run to give the Braves a 7-6 lead. The Braves then opened the third quarter with a 75-yard scoring drive, capped by an end around TD pass from Jayden Holt to Jackson Ralston to extend their lead to 14-6.
Simpson finished with 118 rushing yards.
“They coached a helluva game,” Mike Forest said of Absegami. “They got us on some stuff. Hats off to them. They did some things that we weren’t prepared for (like the Braves’ fake field goal that turned into a passing TD that was called back due to a penalty).
“The halfback pass was a helluva call. But our guys fought through adversity. We were down and those dudes didn’t give up. For them to come back and battle the way that they did and with some of the injuries that we have had, it was a great win for us as a program.”
Oakcrest’s defense forced three punts and finished with three turnovers, including Jayden Rice’s fumble recovery on a kickoff late in the second quarter.
Oakcrest started 0-3, the worst start since Mike Forest took over the program
“It feels good, man,” he said. “But teams change. Different people come in. We are young. We are just taking it. We are just taking the punches as we take them. We will just get better, better and better.
“But our future is bright. To be able to play in games like this with young freshmen. Zane isn’t the only freshman out there that’s playing. We have sophomores all over the field, juniors and a few seniors sprinkled in to lock it down. But we are a young team and we are excited about our future, for sure.”
Forest said Oakcrest should not have started 0-3, “so now when we can flip the switch, we flipped it and now we are going to try to keep it going the rest of the season.”
Forest and Harvey were pleased with their performances Friday, but they are satisfied.
“We are going to harp on it too much because we got more to do,” Forest said.
Contact Patrick Mulranen: 609-272-7217
PMulranen@pressofac.com
Twitter @ACPressMulranen
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