HOWELL – It was fourth-and-13 late in the second quarter of a scoreless football game when Toms River High School North running back Mordecai Ford flashed a look to his quarterback, TJ Valerio.
It was time for a screen pass.
“We’re on the same page,” Ford said. “He looks my way, I look his way and we scope out the defense together. That’s the chemistry we have.”
Valerio drew a crowd and then lofted the ball to Ford in space, and the speedy senior did the rest, ripping off 21 yards to Howell’s 5-yard line. On the next play Ford raced around left end for the first score of the game.
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Toms River North never looked back, breaking away for a 35-0 victory to improve to 7-0 Thursday night.
“Once the ball’s in his hands, he can make any play,” Valerio said of Ford. “His speed is unreal.”
During his first three years of high school, Mordecai stood in the shadow of older brother Micah Ford, an all-state talent who is now playing football at Stanford University.
“There’s pretty big shoes to fill,” Mordecai said. “That’s what motivates me this season.”
Last spring the younger brother came into his own, starring for the Mariners’ powerhouse track & field team. The confidence he gained carried over to the gridiron this fall, and it was on full display Thursday.
Toms River North can beat you in a lot of ways, but against Howell (3-3) yards were tougher to come by than usual. At the start of the third quarter Valerio and Ford went back the screen pass – this time swinging the ball out into the left flat for a 10-yard score. That made it 14-0 and, the way the Mariners’ defense was clogging up the line, essentially put the game out of reach.
“We’ve been waiting our turn for this,” Valerio said while patting Ford on the shoulder pads afterwards. “We stuck it out together and that’s what made us who we are today.”
They waited behind Micah Ford, who is already seeing the field as freshman at Stanford. So far this season he’s got 230 rushing yards on 47 carries – an impressive 4.9 yards per attempt. Mordecai watches Stanford’s games on ESPN-Plus. And Micah, in turn, texts his younger brother after Toms River North’s games to get the updates and provide encouragement. He’d be happy to know Mordecai turned 10 touches into 78 yards and two touchdowns Thursday, an average of 7.8 yards per play.
And he didn’t come off the field, making his presence felt on both defense and special teams. That’s a heavy load, but this is a guy who was perhaps the most versatile track athlete in the state last spring. Mordecai starred in events ranging from the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches) and long jump (22 feet, 3 inches) to the 110-meter hurdles (15.09 seconds), 400-meter hurdles (52.85 seconds) and even the 800 meters (1:58).
At the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, he placed second in the 400 hurdles and ran on the winning 4×100 (which set a Shore Conference-record of 41.70) and 4×400 (which an Ocean County-record of 3:14.61).
“The track season prepared me to play on both sides,” Mordecai said. “I give credit to my track coaches. I love to run.”
After all that running, taking a screen pass upfield was more like a walk in the park.
Toms River North (7-0) 0-7-21-7—35
Howell (3-3) 0-0-0-0—0
First Quarter
No scores
Second Quarter
TRN: Mordecai Ford 5 run (Yianni Papanikolas kick)
Third Quarter
TRN: Mordecai Ford 10 pass from TJ Valerio (Yianni Papanikolas kick)
TRN: Camryn Thomas 35 pass from TJ Valerio (Yianni Papanikolas kick)
TRN: Mekai Morse 1 run (Yianni Papanikolas kick)
Fourth Quarter
TRN: Cole Garrison 25 run (Yianni Papanikolas kick)
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com
