Blazing start leads Ewing past WW-PN

PLAINSBORO -- In a season-opening matchup of two teams hungry to rebound after disappointing seasons, one didn't need to wait long to find out whether West Windsor-Plainsboro North or Ewing was further along on the path to contention.

On the first play from scrimmage, Ewing senior quarterback Stephen Shimko connected with junior Kyle McGuire on a 68-yard touchdown catch that sent the Blue Devils on their way to a 40-13 road win.

EWING 40WW-P NORTH 13"It was pretty easy," Stephen Shimko said, "He was wide open. It was a big momentum change for the rest of the game."

But don't give Stephen Shimko and McGuire too much credit for spontaneity.

"Me and Steve talked about it all week in practice," McGuire said. "On the first play, we were going to go up top."

After going 3-7 last season, "up top" is where the rest of the Blue Devils would like to be headed as well, and those on both sides of the ball saw to it that Ewing made at least the first step in that direction.

Ewing's defense picked off WW-P North starting quarterback Rotimi Owoh four times and mid-third quarter replacement Rob White twice. Senior Matt Musick returned one for a touchdown in the second quarter. Football fans are used to hearing the colloquialism "pick six," but not so much "six picks."

The 6-foot-5 Stephen Shimko, who Ewing coach John Bamber said in the preseason had committed to Rutgers, was 9-for-17 passing for 202 yards. It could have been significantly more, but several of Stephen Shimko's passes were dropped despite being on target.

The early fireworks by McGuire were a portend of things to come. Before the game was 15 minutes old, McGuire had run back a punt 65 yards for a score and hauled in a second Stephen Shimko pass for a touchdown.

The third McGuire score and Musick's touchdown opened what had been a 12-7 game after one quarter when Owoh scored on a 2-yard keeper to bring the Knights close.

But that was the last time things were close. Ewing added two more touchdowns in the third quarter on catches by Louis Thomas and Irving Bruno to open a 40-7 lead and threaten to make yesterday's meeting the biggest blowout in the young history of the Ewing-WW-PN series.

Thanks to the Blue Devils going conservative from that point and WW-P North's Ryan Phelan making a touchdown grab on the final play of the third quarter, the 35-point loss to Ewing in WW-P North's first season of 2000 remains the most lopsided game between the two.

Even with the big win, Bamber looked at what Ewing could do better to keep the victories coming.

"One of our biggest weaknesses at Ewing was a lack of tackling," he said. "That's what we focused on."

As if the loss weren't enough on its own, WW-P North was dealt a severe blow on offense when senior rusher Darren Parrott was taken away from the field on a stretcher. Parrott, who had nine carries and four catches before getting hurt with 3:10 to play in the first half, had what coach Art Stubbs speculated was a dislocated ankle, though that had yet to be confirmed. Parrott was seated upright on the stretcher and signaled to the crowd as he was loaded into an ambulance.

"We still had the opportunity to do something," Stubbs said of the early portion of the game, before Parrott, the focus of his offense, was carted away and his quarterback hit the wrong color jerseys too often.

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