Matos’ 6-TD explosion carries Phillipsburg football to rout of St. Joseph-Metuchen

Phillipsburg 49, St. Joseph-Metuchen 14 - Rapid Recap

Felix Matos.

Felix Matos.

Felix Matos.

Felix Matos.

Felix Matos.

Felix Matos.

It was all Felix Matos on Friday night at Maloney Stadium as the senior running back, receiver and safety scored six touchdowns, and Phillipsburg blew out the previously unbeaten Falcons in a Big Central Conference crossover game.

“I never even scored three touchdowns in a game before,” Matos said. “It was special to do it on senior night with my whole family here, and I had a lot of family here. They were giving me a lot of love, so I had to give them a lot of love.”

Matos scored on rushes of 1, 92, 1, 7 and 26 yards, and a 70-yard blocked field goal runback, as the Stateliners (5-1) rolled to a shockingly easy rout of St. Joseph-Metuchen (5-1) in front of a very large and very happy crowd.

Phillipsburg once again showed off a propensity for big plays as several of the scores were set up by long runs and passes, but the Stateliners also were able to drive the ball effectively.

Defensively, St, Joe’s was able to get a little of its passing game going for short stretches as quarterback Justin Scaramuzzo threw for 273 yards, but the Stateliners defense didn’t allow the Falcons the kind of consistency needed to keep up with the Matos machine. St. Joe’s ran for just 47 yards.

“We made (Scaramuzzo) feel uncomfortable all game and kept him moving around,” said Stateliners senior defensive end Khalil Lewis.

Turning point: St. Joe’s appeared to have recovered from a fast Phillipsburg start when its standout punter, Tyler Huseth, pinned the Stateliners back at their 8 with a monster 66-yard effort.

But on the next play, Matos took an inside handoff, broke through the line, made three tacklers miss with elegant, nifty moves, hit the accelerator and roared 92 incredible yards to make it 14-0 Stateliners. St. Joe’s never recovered.

Top performers: Matos finished with 168 yards rushing and five TDs on 12 carries, and four catches for 61 yards.

P’burg senior QB Jett Genovese threw for 111 yards and ran for 83 more.

Jah’quil Dooley blocked the field goal for P’burg.

Stateliners senior linebacker Jayden Lewis made nine tackles to pace the defensive effort.

What it means: The Stateliners gave their playoff seeding a huge boost with the win and should have all kinds of confidence after this win and West Orange last week. P’burg’s ability to produce big plays just puts enormous pressure on the opposition.

St. Joseph falls from the unbeaten ranks but remains a skilled and dangerous team.

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Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@lehighvalleylive.com.