November
6, 2005
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| What a difference a year made for Anthony Ferla, who was injured in last year's loss to Bergen Catholic, but ran wild in the rematch, a St. Joseph rout on Saturday afternoon. | |
MONTVALE -- Anthony Ferla has vivid memories of last year’s loss to Bergen Catholic. He watched Brian Cushing take over the game, and he came away with injured ribs for his own troubles. This year, the St. Joseph senior vowed that it was his turn.
Ferla didn’t disappoint. In fact, he gave a solid impression of his own, making his mark on offense, defense and special teams while igniting the Green Knights to a most improbable rout of the Crusaders.
The 42-7 whipping was thorough and decisive, and it sends SJR into the Non-Public Group 3 playoffs with momentum and an 8-1 record. The Knights are the top seed and will host Hudson Catholic in Montvale next Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
Bergen Catholic must now overcome a stunning loss and regroup in time to play host to Seton Hall Prep next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in a battle of 4-5 seeds in the Non-Public Group 4 bracket.
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| With its running game shut down, BC had to turn to the pass trailing 35-0 at halftime. |
“I was very disappointed in our effort,” BC head coach Fred Stengel assessed. “We got outcoached, we got outhustled, we got outplayed, we got out-everything that you can get on a football field.”
The also had no answer for Ferla, who racked up 268 all-purpose yards and was in the middle of every scoring play for the Knights.
“He had an awesome game,” SJR head coach Tony Karcich said of Ferla, who was also victimized by the fake punt pass in last year’s game. “Today I needed our guys with experience to step up, he and Terrence Klein being the two I was referring to, and they stepped up and ignited our team exactly like we asked them to.”
The biggest turning point came at the end of the first half. St. Joseph was already ahead by 21-0, and they forced a punt thanks to a third down sack by William Braaf. Ferla took the kick at his own 47-yard line. He got to the right sideline thanks to a devastating block by Klein, who laid out Jonpaul Sticco to get Ferla around the corner for the 53-yard touchdown return.
“I heard it,” Ferla said of the block, “and I probably got a little glimpse of it. I cut to the left and back to the right and I got the great block and walked right in.”
“I saw three guys and I just picked one,” Klein said of the scoring play with 1:54 to go before halftime.
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| SJR QB Robert Cervini was 7 of 10 for 121 yards and a score. |
Ferla then added insult to injury, as he stepped in front of a Kyle Kahler pass in the flat and went 67 yards with 39 ticks on the clock to make it 35-0 and effectively take any thoughts of a BC comeback and put them to rest.
“I read it the whole way,” Ferla recalled. “To get two scores like that just before the half, that was big.”
Earlier, the Green Knights had built up their lead on the basis of two factors -- they were able to throw the ball and Bergen (6-3) could not run the ball.
Kahler was just 5 of 13 in the first half for a mere 30 yards and the key interception, while SJR QB Robert Cervini was 7 of 10 for 121 yards and a score. Cervini was poised in the pocket, taking three big hits after releasing the ball but still getting the completions, while Kahler was taken off his game by a Knight defensive line that was putting pressure on from the outside.
The first Green Knight score was a 1-yard run by Ferla on the first series, and it was set up by a third-and-11 screen pass from Cervini to Ferla good for 25 yards to the Crusader 8-yard line. Marco Cappozzoli hit the first of his six extra points with 5:29 left in the opening period.
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| St. Joseph rolled up more than 300 yards of total offense. |
Cervini hit Ferla for 18 yards and Klein for 25 yards on the next drive, the latter taking the ball to the 10. Klein then scored on a wing sweep to the left pylon with 33 seconds left in the first quarter.
While the offense was clicking, the SJR defense was stifling the BC running game. They flooded an extra man in the box and basically dared Bergen to throw.
“We left ourselves very vulnerable to the pass,” Karcich said. “We had to stop their running game, and that left Ferla and Suarez on an island out there. That plan worked today.”
Joe Dottino, a 1,000-yard rusher coming in, had only 15 yards on 7 carries and the Crusaders managed only 33 rushing yards in the game despite an offensive line that had a 30-plus pound weight advantage per man.
“Everything went our way today,” Karcich said. “The ball bounced right and our kids played hard.”
The third SJR score came with 3:38 to go in the second on a 17-yard pass from Cervini to Dominic Wright. Cervini had the big play, a 38-yard scramble down the right sideline that was augmented by a late hit penalty on Bergen.
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| Bergen Catholic completed only nine of its 23 passing attempts in its third loss of the season. |
“We’ve been telling him, he’s a good runner, if you don’t see something you like, pull it down and run it. That was a big play in the game,” Karcich said of the scramble.
After a scoreless third quarter, the teams traded fourth quarter touchdowns, with Bergen Catholic getting a 9-yard TD from Jeremy Jovellanos to make it 35-7. That drive was quarterbacked by sophomore Bill Schautz (4 of 10, 52 yards), who relieved Kahler and hit Dan Mulroy with a 25-yard completion to start the march.
Ferla answered back with a 74-yard run for a touchdown off a right tackle dive and a break to the right sideline. It was the majority of his rushing yards (90 on 11 carries), but it was the 43 passing yards, the 68 on punt returns and the 67-yard interception that did in the Crusaders.
Wallace Oldham paced the Knights with 7 tackles, and Dean Scaduto notched 7 stops for BC.
FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GAME OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.
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