By: Marc Narducci
PISCATAWAY, NJ – He had just knocked one of the all-time St. Joseph Prep quarterbacks down a peg in the record books and junior Samaj Jones was justifiably proud, while not getting too carried away with his accomplishment.
“I think I played really well,” Jones said, before immediately shifting fields and spreading out the praise. “Our guys on every aspect of the offense played really good and the defense kept giving us the ball back to keep scoring more touchdowns.”
And touchdowns they got.
On this record-setting night, it was Jones, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound junior, who clearly played the best, having a hand in all the scores. He threw for a school record seven touchdown passes and scored another on a 7-yard run as St. Joseph Prep rolled over New Jersey power St. Peter’s Prep, 55-20 at Rutgers SHI Stadium.
The event was called the Rumble on the Raritan, part of eight games in three days played at the Big 10 school and Jones clearly filled the role as a player who will be performing in these college stadiums for quite some time.
Marc Narducci catches up with St. Joe’s Prep QB Samaj Jones after his record-setting performance, Hawk’s head coach Tim Roken and junior WR Elijah Jones, who caught 3 TD passes of his own.
Jones finished his evening completing 12 of 14 passes for 421 yards and the seven touchdowns. He also rushed for 39 yards and the aforementioned 7-yard score.
In the first half alone, he threw for 380 yards, breaking the single-game school record of 370 set by Frank Costa in 1989.
Costa, one of the all-time great quarterbacks in Philadelphia Catholic League history, would later play for the University of Miami.
And now Jones has moved past him in the record books. Jones also set a single-game school record with the seven touchdown passes. There could be more records that are announced after a further glance by the school football statistician.
What is a little scary – at least to the upcoming defensive coordinators on the Prep’s schedule - is that Jones considers himself a better runner than passer. And that doesn’t mean he considers himself a bad passer, it’s just that he is so dynamic running the ball.
“I feel I can run the ball better than any quarterback I know,” he said not in a boastful, but matter of fact way.
Who’s to doubt him?
Yet the performance against St. Peter’s Prep showed that Jones, who was a starter on last year’s team that advanced to the PIAA state 6-A final before losing to Mt. Lebanon, 34-17, is coming on strong.
This game should only aid his recruiting, which has already gained a fair amount of steam. He says he has offers so far from Big 10, SEC and ACC schools. The SEC and Big 10 are undeniably the best two conferences in college football and somebody would have a plausible argument for making the ACC third.
The point is, that he has attracted this high-level interest for a reason. Nobody expects him to throw seven touchdowns every game, but at the very least, he is a highly intriguing dual threat.
He also praised his offensive line and receivers and there is great merit to what he says, especially with the receivers.
Leading the way is junior Elijah Jones (no relation). He had three caches for 121 yards and three touchdowns.
SJP junior QB Samaj Jones broke Frank Costa's 1989 single-game passing record of 370 yds in the first half of play in last night's 55-20 victory vs. St. Peter's Prep - PSD Photo by Marc Narducci
Two of Elijah Jones' three touchdown receptions - PSD Video by Marc Narducci
Like Samaj Jones, Elijah is a definite Division I prospect and a big fan of his namesake.
“It’s amazing to have a quarterback that can run and pass,” Elijah Jones said. “It keeps the defense on their toes and keeps them honest.”
It also makes the defense honest to goodness frustrated.
“Sometimes they (the defense) don’t know whether we are going to throw the ball or if he’s going to run the ball,” Elijah Jones said.
Actually, sometimes Samaj Jones doesn’t know what he is going to do himself. As with many dual threats, the decisions are split-second ones.
Fellow quarterbacks likely look at Samaj Jones with envy when they take a glance at the Prep’s receiving corps. Elijah Jones was among five players who caught a TD pass in this game. He is also in the midst of sorting out Division I possibilities.
The others were senior Owen Garwood and juniors Brandon Rehmann, David Washington Jr. and Kahseim Phillips, all quality receivers in their own right.
What makes Samaj Jones’ performance that much more impressive is that it came against one of the best teams in New Jersey.
St. Peter’s Prep entered the game as the No. 3 team in the football-crazed state of New Jersey, according to NJ.com. The previous week, St. Peter’s Prep earned a convincing 41-7 win over one of South Jersey’s top teams, St. Augustine.
With players such as quarterback Champ Long, who is headed to Maryland and safety Jayden Bonsu, an Ohio State commit, St. Peter’s Prep has its share of eye-popping talent.
On the Hawk's first possession, Samaj Jones threw a 72-yd pass to Brandon Rehmann - PSD Video by Marc Narducci
Samaj Jones to Kahseim Phillips for a 15-yard TD - PSD Video by Marc Narducci
And this brings an important point that is brought home any time one of these big-time high school football events takes place – there are a lot of talented teams in this country.
Just a week before, St. Joseph Prep opened its season by traveling to Florida to face St. Thomas Aquinas of Ft. Lauderdale. The home team beat the Prep, 48-37. St. Thomas was ranked No. 4 in the country by Max Preps entering last week for a reason.
That loss dropped St. Joseph Prep to No. 34 in the rankings, which shows how many great teams there are in the U.S. if 33 teams are ranked head of the Hawks.
For good measure, St. Peter’s Prep was ranked 85th.
Talent abounds everywhere.
Even though they lost to a St. Thomas Aquinas team that resembles the Green Bay Packers, the Hawks were stung. This is a program that enters every year thinking state championship or bust. The Hawks have appeared in the last six, 6-A state title games, winning four of them.
So one can guess the answer when St. Joseph Prep coach Tim Roken was asked if the loss in Florida was motivation for their game in New Jersey.
“For sure,” he said.
Teams don’t reach that level without having not only great talent, but pride. Double-digit losses usually aren’t part of the Prep’s DNA.
So the Hawks bounced back in a big way and were led by a quarterback, who had the kind of game that could make careers take off.
St. Joseph's Prep vs. St. Peter's Prep - PSD Photos by Marc Narducci
Samaj Jones doesn’t get too caught up in personal achievement, but even he admitted that the performance was something he will truly cherish.
“It definitely was exciting, I am not going to say it was not,” he said.
But…
There is always a but.
“But it doesn’t mean anything for our goal at the end of the season,” he continued. “We are looking to get a state championship.”
Of course they are, and on a night where the junior quarterback produced one of the top performances in area history, this was a major step toward that always ambitious but clearly attainable team goal.