A disheartening start to the new season for the Scotch Plains-Fanwood football team delayed the celebrations of head coach Shawn Johnson’s first win for the program, but the Raiders do not have to wait any longer.
Johnson and his team traveled to New Brunswick on Saturday, Sept. 14 and captured a resounding win for their first of the year. This marked the first career win for Johnson as the head coach of the Raiders.
“It’s good to get [a win] under your belt. The first one is always an important one, because you get it and hopefully ride the momentum forward to get more,” Johnson told The Fanscotian.
On Jan. 25, the longtime president of the Police Athletic League (PAL), a retired juvenile detective for 25 years, and an SPF alum was named the next coach of the varsity squad.
Johnson is and has been a true leader in the community, helping create a culture of hard work and grit for all of his teams.
“I want to encourage [the youth program] on and off the field and you get the opportunity to work with the parents as well. I’m trying to utilize the connections and the togetherness that we built down there at the [youth] program and carry it on to high school,” Johnson said.
SPF kicked off the season losing at home against Monroe and on the road against Rahway. They came up just shy of erasing a 12-point deficit late in their home opener, but they fell short 31-30.
Looking to turn around the 0-2 record, the Raiders took care of business against the Zebras.
After a scoreless first quarter, the ground game erupted for three touchdowns including a 50-yard run by senior running back Jayden Richards. He opened the scoring with a 6-yard run, and later in the quarter senior T.J Rasberry also found the back of the end zone.
Coming out of the halftime break with a 21-0 lead, senior John Boyle and Rasberry added two more rushing touchdowns in the third to make it 35-0 and senior Matteo Barcellona scored the sixth touchdown of the afternoon in the fourth quarter to further bolster the win for the Raiders.
SPF moved to 1-2 on the year and will host Hillside on Friday, Sept. 20 at Perry Tyson Field for the first meeting between these two towns since the 2013-2014 season.
“We’re viewing some film on Hillside [to] see what the tendencies are and what we can do to counter the good things that they do. That’s within the opponent, you try to look at film and try to plan against what they do to see if we can have some success with it,” Johnson said.
