PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers football hosted its annual Scarlet-White game, presented by PNC, on Friday at SHI Stadium. The Scarlet team defeated the White team by a score of 16-14, with Toms River's Gavin Kane, 11, scoring a touchdown on the final play of the game.
Quarterback
Gavin Wimsatt led Scarlet on offense, going 9-for-16 with 118 passing yards and a touchdown.
Gavin Rupp also threw for 26 yards.
Kyle Monangai led the rushing attack, going for 65 yards on seven carries, while adding a 2-yard touchdown catch.
Parker Day also rushed for 58 yards on eight carries.
Guy Fava booted a 33-yard field goal to round out the scoring.
Sean Ryan (4-48),
Victor Konopka (4-31),
Matt Alaimo (3-23) and
Christian Dremel (2-43) rounded out the receiving production.
For the White, quarterback
Evan Simon went 12-for-19 with 109 yards and
Noah Vedral was 5-for-8 for 80 yards and a touchdown. Vedral also rushed for another 23 yards and a touchdown.
Al-Shadee Salaam carried the ball five times for 71 yards.
Taj Harris had five catches for 49 yards and a touchdown to lead the receivers for the White team.
Shameen Jones (3-67),
Johnny Langan (3-16) and
Joshua Youngblood (2-29) all contributed in the passing game as well.
On the defensive side of the ball,
Desmond Igbinosun and
Henry Hughes Jr. each collected two sacks for the Scarlet team.
Robert Longerbeam also added an interception and
Ifeanyi Maijeh picked up 2.5 tackles-for-loss for Scarlet.
Kessawn Abraham led White with seven tackles, while
Jordan Thompson and
Cam'Ron Stewart each added a sack.
Damon Matthews also intercepted a pass.
Adam Korsak punted for both sides and finished the night with seven punts for 297 yards, good for a 42.4 yard average.
Michael O'Connor also added three punts for 138 yards, a 46 yard average.
The White team got the ball first and got right to work, with
Al-Shadee Salaam breaking free for a 37-yard gain to set up his team in opposing territory.
On the next play,
Noah Vedral found new teammate
Taj Harris on a beautiful back-shoulder throw for a touchdown, giving White a 7-0 lead.
It was an immediate response for the Scarlet team, as quarterback
Gavin Wimsatt led his team right down the field on a touchdown drive.
The drive was highlighted by 26 and 15-yard passes to
Sean Ryan and
Isaiah Washington, as well as a 31-yard run by
Kyle Monangai. Wimsatt punctuated the drive on a 1-yard touchdown pass to Monangai to even the score at 7-7.
Taj Harris continued to make plays in the second quarter, hauling in a 26-yard reception from
Evan Simon early in the second quarter
The rest of the quarter featured a defensive battle, including an interception by
Damon Matthews at the 7:57 mark.
Christian Dremel made a big play early in the third quarter when he hauled in a beautiful 21-yard reception from Wimsatt.
The White defense would half that drive with a fourth down stop and bounce right back. After a 49-yard pass from
Noah Vedral to
Shameen Jones set up White in the red zone, Vedral would scamper into the end zone for the touchdown to give White a 14-7 lead.
The Scarlet team cut into the deficit in the fourth quarter, with a 33-yard field goal by
Guy Fava making it a 14-10 game.
On the final play of the game, Rutgers honored 11-year-old Gavin Kane of Toms River, New Jersey. Gavin suffered a traumatic brain injury at 19 months old in a car accident and has been a patient at Children's Specialized Hospital, an RWJ Barnabas Health facility.
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