Washington Township football remains undefeated fueled by back-to-back late scores

Washington Township's Colin Beeler (6) runs into the endzone against Kingsway in the football game played at Washington Township High School in Sewell, New Jersey on Friday, October 17, 2025. Tommy Maxwell/D2 Sports Network

SEWELL - Facing a 12-point deficit with a little more than six minutes left to play, the Washington Township High School football team's undefeated record seemed to start to fade away. The Minutemen found their resolve and stormed back.

Jyair Moore's heroics proved to be the difference, giving Township a lead it'd never surrender with a minute and some change left as Washington Township added onto its winning ways with a nail-biting 39-36 win over Kingsway in a possible sectional final or state-semifinal preview. One may even argue that the two juggernauts could be the favorites to run the table in the state Group V tournament.

"Championship-level teams have to overcome adversity," Washington Township coach Mike Schatzman said. "We haven't faced much adversity this year, but tonight was a test of how we'd respond. We played a little unlike ourselves with some penalties and execution, but that's credit to Kingsway. Coach Hendricks is always prepared for every little thing possible, but we went into halftime calm and collected and trusted the adjustments we made during the break."

From the gun, both teams traded blows for the first 24 minutes with Kingsway leading 21-17 heading into the halftime intermission.

Mason Bryan opened the second half with an 85-yard kick return touchdown to extend the Dragons' lead.

Slowly but surely, Washington Township clawed back. A 49-yard connection from David Oravetz to Cole DeNick was thought to have taken the wind out of the Minutemen's sails. Schatzman rallied his troops and prepped them for an attempt at redemption.

Township's first response came in the form of Colin Beeler's second rushing touchdown of the game. The next move? A defensive stop, leaving just over three minutes left in regulation and time for their magnum opus to keep the undefeated season alive.

A screen pass from Cole Aquino to Darian Joyner on third down somehow ended up successful after breaking a handful of tackles behind the line of scrimmage and set up fourth and short at midfield. Aquino converted the following play on an impromptu tush push. What came next was straight out of a video game.

"I have faith in all of these guys," Aquino noted. "We have so much talent that it's hard to distribute the ball evenly and get everyone the touches they deserve. I know guys like Jyair (Moore) and Darian (Joyner) have that ability, so when they made those plays, I wasn't worried. I knew they'd make the plays we needed."

Moore took a short pass over the middle of the field, broke a few tackles, made a few players miss, and scrambled into the endzone to put Washington Township ahead for good and saved the zero in the loss column.

In Washington Township's 21-10 victory over Williamstown last year, Moore suffered a nasty knee injury, sidelining him for the rest of the year. He tore his ACL and MCL, and during surgery, the doctors at Rothman had said, "It was one of the worst tears we've seen."

A year later, Moore has been a key part of the Minutemen's success and undefeated season. The senior has a pair of scoop and score touchdowns and an interception on defense. Moore finally found the endzone on offense in the biggest play of the season.

"I wanted to come back as soon as I could," Moore said. "It was one of the hardest things I had to work through, but I didn't want to miss any of my senior season. I told coach, 'I'll play anywhere' because I wanted to help in any way I can. I knew if I put in the work, then eventually my time would come."