An Introduction
On Saturday, December 1, 1990 the Middletown High School South Football team staged the greatest goal line stand in the long tradition of football in Middletown Township. Facing a stronger and larger opponent and leading by a score of 15 to 14 with less than eight minutes to play the Eagles held Trenton Central High School for four downs on the three yard line and went on to win their second consecutive Central Jersey, Group IV State Championship.

On Sunday, December 5, 2004 at Rutgers University Stadium, the Eagles defeated Wall Township 14-0 and won the Central Jersey Group III State Championship for the second consecutive year. The only other Middletown football team to win consecutive state titles was Leonardo High School in 1925 and 1926, when they won the Central Jersey, Class ?B? State Title.

The football tradition in Middletown Township began when Leonardo High School played its first game in 1919 and continued when Leonardo High School became Middletown High School. In 1976 two high schools emerged from Middletown High School, Middletown High School South and Middletown High School North. It was the intention of the Board of Education that both high schools should be equal in every way, and both high schools, being called Middletown, would share the great traditions created by Leonardo and Middletown High Schools.

In the near future we would like to start to enter some of the Football Records kept by Middletown South. Our idea is to publish a book and make it available for the community. This section of the site will act as a showcase for certain records, we will be adding in the not too distant future. We would like to congratulate all of the fine athletes of Middletown Township, past and present, for bringing pride and honor to our community.

Middletown High School South Touchdown Club
C/O Middletown High School South
900 Nutswamp Road
Middletown, New Jersey 07748
www.middletownsoutheagles.com
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MOMENTS TO REMEMBER

FIRST "EAGLES" FOOTBALL GAME: September 25, 1976. South vs. Howell @ Howell. South lost 32-7.

FIRST TOUCHDOWN: Bill Leonard caught a pass from Joe Lenczyk and ran 72 yards for the TD in South's first game against Howell.

FIRST EXTRA POINT: Hugo Pinto kicked the extra point in South's first game against Howell.

FIRST VICTORY: October 30, 1976. South defeated Raritan High School, 9-0 @ Raritan.

FIRST LOSS: September 25th, 1976. South lost 32-7 @ Howell H.S.

FIRST FIELD GOAL: Hugo Pinto kicked a 23 yard field goal on October 30, 1976 vs. Raritan.

FIRST BIG PLAY - PASSING: 72 yard pass for a TD from Joe Lenczyk to Bill Leonard. South vs. Howell, September 25th, 1976.

FIRST BIG PLAY - RUNNING: 69 yards for a TF by Mike Lenczyk, South vs. Raritan, October 30, 1976

FIRST GAME PLAYED AT HOME: September 23, 1978, South vs. Jackson High School. All of Middletown South's home games prior to this date were played at Middletown North because South did not have its own stadium constructed yet.

FIRST VICTORY AT HOME: September 23, 1978, South defeated Jackson High School, 12-6.

FIRST VICTORY OVER MIDDLETOWN NORTH: November 23, 1978. 6-0 @ Middletown North.

FIRST WINNING SEASON: 1981. Record: 8-3

FIRST ALL STAR GAME IN WHICH A SOUTH PLAYER WAS FEATURED: The game was the New Jersey State, "North" Jersey vs. "South" Jersey game which was played at Rutgers University in 1978. The South player was Leif Hartkopf.

FIRST STATE PLAYOFF VICTORY: Saturday, November 21, 1981. South vs. J.P. Stevens High School. The game was played at Giants Stadium. South won in overtime on a 32 yard field goal by Erik Bernstein. The score was 17-14.

FIRST STATE CHAMPIONSHIP LOSS: Saturday, December 5, 1981. South vs. Piscataway High School. The game was played at Red Bank Regional High School and was for the Central Jersey Group IV Title. South lost 20-7, after beating Piscataway in the Regular Season.

FIRST HOME NIGHT GAME: Friday, September 22, 1984. South vs. Jackson High School. South lost 8-7.

FIRST SHORE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP: 1986 Season. South had to defeat Middletown North on Thanksgiving Day to tie Ocean for the "A" Division Crown. South won the game 23-13.

FIRST GAME DELAYED BY LIGHTNING: South vs. Matawan, September 26, 1986. South lost 7-6 after the game was suspended in the 4th quarter due to heavy rain and severe lightning. When the game was resumed, one hour later, South scored but due to the muddy conditions was unable to convert the extra point.

FIRST GAME POSTPONED BECAUSE OF SNOWSTORM: Thanksgiving Day, 1989. It required the entire football team and many volunteers to remove the snow and make the field playable for Saturday. South defeated North 21-0.

FIRST UNDEFEATED SEASON: 1989. Record 11-0

FIRST STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, December 2, 1989. South defeated Madison Central High School 22-3 to win its first Central Jersey Group IV Title.

HISTORIC GOALLINE STAND: South vs. Trenton Central High School. Saturday December 1, 1990. The game was for the Central Jersey Group IV Title and was played at South. South won the game 15-14 after holding Trenton for four downs on the three yardline with less than eight minutes to play.

SECOND STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday December 1, 1990. South defeated Trenton Central 15-14 to win consecutive state titles.

FIRST #1 STATE RANKING: For the first time in school history the Eagles Football team received recognition at the end of the 1990 season as the best team in New Jersey by a coalition of state newspapers.

THIRD STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Saturday, December 5, 1992. South defeated Sayreville High School 34-0 to win its third state title in four years.

2ND #1 STATE RANKING: For the second time the Eagles Football Team ended the season of 1992 as the best in New Jersey.

NATIONAL RANKING: The 1993 season began with the Eagles ranked in the Top Ten High Schools in the country by USA Today.

GREATEST COMEBACK VICTORY: Losing by 11 points with only 3:21 left to play in the game against Manalapan in 1994, South scored a TD, added a 2 point conversation and with an onsides kick was able to recover the ball. On the next series South's Adrian Mendez kick a 27 yard field goal with five seconds remaining in the game.

BEST RUSHING PERFORMANCE: Knowshon Moreno set a single game school record with 420 yards rushing on 24 carries and tied the single game scoring record with seven touchdowns previously set by Stephen M. Pitts in 1989. This achievement, by itself will make 2004 one of the best ever.

DOUBLE OVERTIME WIN: South vs. Bricktown, 1995. The score was 14-14 at the end of the first overtime and under new rules went into overtime. In the second overtime South's Jimmy Lopusznick on a bootleg left ran into the endzone for the TD. The extra point kick was good and the defense held on for the win.

FOURTH STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: On Saturday, December 2, 1995, the Eagles played at Giants Stadium for the second time its history. South defeated Piscataway 28-10 to win the Central Jersey Group IV Title.

COME FROM BEHIND VICTORY (AGAIN): In 1998, South scored 19 points in the final 9 minutes and defeated Toms River North 30-26.

FIRST GAME OF THE NEW Millennium: South defeated Matawan, 20-14

MOST OVERTIME GAMES IN A SEASON: (3) In the 2000 Season South beat Ocean, Raritan, and Manchester.

FIRST STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN GROUP III: On Saturday, December 1, 2001 South defeated Hamilton West 21-14 for the Central Jersey Group III State Championship and their fifth state title.

FIRST 12-0 SEASON: 2001. South is the first Middletown Football team to complete an undefeated 12 game season.

SOUTH'S MIRACLE: November 22, 2002 will always be remembered in South's Football History. Losing by 7 to Ewing in the 2nd Round of the N.J.S.I.A.A. with 1 second remaining in regulation the Eagles tied the game on a hook and lateral play when receiver Bob Ford flipped a lateral to Knowshon Moreno who scored the game tying TD. In overtime, QB Jon Farina scored the winning TD on a 1 yard sneak.

WELCOME TO THE NEW "SWAMP": The Eagles opened the 2004 Season on September 11, 2004 by defeating Long Branch 33-6 on their new state of the art artificial turf field.

THE WALL COMES DOWN: Saturday, October 23, 2004. South vs. Wall. With a crowd of 7,200 watching the "Game of the Year" matching two undefeated teams with a division title on the line and a state ranking at risk, the Eagles came from behind with 56 seconds remaining and tied the score on a TD by Junior running back Knowshon Moreno, and won the game on the extra point by sophomore David Dosil. 28-27 - South.

STATE TITLE AND UNANIMOUS #1 RANKING: 2004 Season. For the second time in the history of Middletown South, the Eagles won "Back to Back" State Championships. It was also the first time in the history of Middletown Township that one school won back to back State Championships twice.

NETWORK TV APPEARANCE: On October 27 2005, the Middletown South Eagles hosted the Wall Crimson Knights in a game broadcast by the MSG Network at the swamp. The game was picked by network excecutives as the game to showcase being that the Wall Knights had played the Eagles fairly closely the previous season on two occasions. South won 27-7. Mark Longo intercepted a pass for a Touchdown in the win.

THREE IN A ROW & 36 AND 0:
For the third consecutive season Middletown South finished the year with 12 wins and 0 losses. In 2005, the Eagles were placed in the North II, Group III playoff bracket. En route to the championship game the Eagles faced Colonia, (52-26) and Warren Hills (56-0)
On Sunday, December 4th 2005, South defeated Malcom X. Shabazz 22-0, for their third straight state championship. They were the unanimous #1 High School Football team in the state of New Jersey. They also finished the season as the #25 best team in the United States. A season to be remembered for generations to come. South entered the 2006 season with 36 consecutive wins dating back to the 2003 season.