Livingston head coach Barry Kostibos and his staff knew that this week’s contest against Seton Hall Prep would show where his 6-0 Lancers stood in Essex County. However, no one in Livingston thought the Pirates would slam Livingston 34-6 in West Orange on Saturday.
Led by senior and Florida State-bound quarterback Sean Maguire and senior running back Rory Merklinger, the Pirates sliced through the Lancer defense.
Seton Hall scored a minute into the contest and had a 7-0 lead. Livingston quarterback Andrew Egner was picked off by Colin Nordstrom and Nordstrom returned it for a touchdown on the Lancer’s first drive.
“It happens,” Livingston running back Zach Wolkstein said. “We figured we would come right back like we have all season.”
Unfortunately, that was not the case for Livingston. The Lancers went three and out on their first drive and punted the ball back to the Pirates.
Maguire and Merklinger led a methodical and balanced first drive for the Pirates. In Livingston’s red zone, Frank Maldonado ran a 15-yard sweep in for the first offensive score of the day for Seton Hall.
Throughout the first half, Livingston’s offense remained stagnant and could not generate either the passing or the running game.
“We came out flat,” Livingston receiver Cooper Weisman said. “We had a great game plan, but didn’t execute.”
Seton Hall increased their lead to 21-0 right before the half as Maguire threw a 22-yard pass to Devlin Formey.
In the second half, the Pirates showed no signs of slowing down. On the first drive of the half, Seton Hall drove 73 yards and Merklinger punched it in from two-yards out increasing Seton Hall’s lead to 28-0.
“Our tackling was not too good today,” Wolkstein continued. “When you don’t tackle, you don’t win.”
The Pirates added one more score as Tom Lynch had a one-yard touchdown run.
Livingston did add a late touchdown as Egner found Wolkstein, but it was too little too late for Livingston.
“All there is to do now is get ready for the biggest game of the season against West Essex,” Wolkstein concluded.
Next Friday, October 28, the Lancers take on the Knights of West Essex at 7:00 in Livingston for the conference championship.
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