September
9, 2006
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| Don Bosco Prep quarterback Matt Simms was 7 of 8 for 124 yards passing in the fourth quarter to help the Ironmen to an opening night win. | |
RAMSEY -- Big players make big plays in big spots in big games. At the most crucial of times, Justin Trattou made a crushing hit that woke up his Don Bosco teammates in the third quarter, and when they needed an encore later in their season opener against St. Joseph of Pennsylvania on Friday night, Trattou did it again.
His sack and forced fumble with 1:40 to go in the fourth quarter set up Brian Hanly’s 18-yard field goal with 8.7 seconds left the capped a wild comeback for the Ironmen, who overcame a 14-point fourth quarter deficit and escaped with a 31-28 win.
The comeback victory, before a crowd of 6,500 at Grantell Stadium, sends Bosco out to Ohio for next Saturday’s game with Centerville, Ohio in the Kirk Herbstreit Classic on a wave of momentum, but with the knowledge that, no matter how good they may be, the Ironmen have to come ready to play every week.
Any way you look at it, Don Bosco (1-0) was ignited by Trattou, the Notre Dame-bound defensive lineman, who registered 2.5 sacks, four tackles for losses and the two smoking second half hits.
“When we’re in a jam, all the guys on our team look to me to make the big play,” Trattou said, “and tonight, all the hard work paid off and I made the plays when it counted.”
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| St. Joseph (PA) quarterback Chris Whitney got off to a quick start, but had two TD passes called back by penalties in the opening half. |
His sack of Hawk QB Chris Whitney came three plays after Bosco had tied the game at 28, and it forced a fumble that William Payne scooped up and refused to let go, even when the official initially came to him after the pile had cleared.
“I just had to do it for all these people out here,” Payne said. “We’ve been at it since July 31, working hard for moments like this. I wasn’t letting it go.”
Dillon Romaine ran for 4 yards, Guy Germinario added 4 and freshman Tony Jones went for 12 on third down to reach the St. Joseph 2-yard line the two with just under 30 seconds to go. The Dons did not use a time out, instead opting to huddle and call a play. Germinario tried the left side, but was stopped by Jeff Battipaglia and Joe D’Orazio.
Bosco called time with 11.7 left and, almost immediately, turned to the field goal unit and Hanly, who set the Bergen County single season kicking points record last year with 84. He calmly split the uprights.
“The ball was down, and all I had to do was kick it. No pressure on me,” Hanly said of his first-ever game-winning field goal. “Matt (Granatell) did a great job. It’s the first time he’s ever held (in a game).”
That Don Bosco was even in a position to win was amazing after a first half that might have had them wishing they weren’t being seem by a national audience on ESPN-U.
It took all of five plays -- including a 34-yard pass and run from Whitney to Steve Schell on the first play from scrimmage -- for the Hawks (1-1) to grab the lead. Whitney had a 30-yard scramble and Jamie Livingston went 19 yards on the next play around the right side for the stunning touchdown. A bad hold foiled the extra point, but SJ had struck first.
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| Bosco freshman Tony Jones had a 12-yard gain on third down to get the Ironmen into position for the game-winning field goal. |
The Ironmen saw their first series last three plays that consisted of a sack, an incomplete pass and a sack, and it was portent of things to come. In fact, they had only six yards in the first quarter compared to 158 for the Hawks.
Bosco quarterback Matt Simms was hurried and harried the entire first half, completing just 1 of 5 passes for 9 yards while being sacked four times. One of those sacks saw him go down hard and come up holding his left shoulder with 5:05 left in the second quarter. He went out for one play, but came back and finished the game, though he was definitely in some discomfort.
Whitney, meanwhile, was showed the national audience his versatility, going 8-for-14 for 145 yards (despite losing 60 more on penalties). The Hawks could easily have blown the game open early, but a clipping penalty negated a 76-yard Whitney-to-Tim Edger touchdown pass and a holding call brought back a Whitney to Livingston 21-yard TD pass on the first play of the second quarter.
“They played a game and we hadn’t,” Trattou explained, “and there’s always that first game rust that you have to play through. After the first half, we got into a groove and started to get going.”
“We needed to come together more as a team,” Payne said, and Dale Fava agreed, saying, “our mindset was totally off the first half. Things had to change. We were arm tackling, and we weren’t playing with any excitement.”
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| St. Joseph's (PA) Jamie Livingston went 19 yards for a touchdown and the first points of the game. |
“We just weren’t making plays,” head coach Greg Toal commented. “We missed a ton of tackles and give them credit, they took advantage of it. The kid (Whitney) is a great player. I didn’t think he was that fast, but he showed some maneuverabililty that gave us problems.”
Enter Trattou, who made the tackle on a Bosco punt after the opening series of the second half. On SJ’s first play of the third quarter, he caught Whitney square under the chin as he released a pass and sent the quarterback in one direction and his helmet in another.
“That’s what great players do,” Toal said.
It was the spark that woke the sleeping giant, and after a 52-yard punt rolled dead at the DB 7-yard line, the offense went 93 yards to take the lead thanks to a pair of big plays. The first was a third and 7 pass out of his own end zone that Simms sent up the right side. Brandon Boykin dove in behind the defender and made a sliding grab for a 33-yard gain.
Facing a fourth down at the Hawk 45 later in the series, Toal played river boat gambler and called for a fake punt. The snap came short to Steve Proscia, who handed off to Fava going left. He picked up 17 yards and the vital first down.
Bosco got to the 9 and sent Nicholas Mistretta into the fullback spot for the first time. Jones ran right up his back off right guard and found the end zone, and Hanly’s PAT put DB ahead 7-6. With 4:56 to go in the third quarter.
That opened the floodgates, as points suddenly came from every direction. Whitney scrambled out of trouble, got to the Bosco sideline and avoided a number of tackles in going 74 yards to regain the lead for St. Joseph, adding a two-point conversion run for good measure.
After an intentional grounding backed the Dons up inside their own 5-yard line, Simms threw an interception to set up a 6-yard Livingston TD run. Eider’s extra point made it 21-7 with 13 ticks on the third quarter clock.
Two Simms incompletions closed the quarter, but he hit Orry Michael on a slant and Michael turned it into a 54-yard catch and run that reached the Hawk 15. Two plays later, he scored on another slant from 13 yards out.
Fava then tied the game on a 39-yard interception return, as Whitney tried to thread the needle with a cross-field pass in front of his own bench.
“We were in a zone coverage, and I started backing out,” Fava recalled. “I saw the pass coming and I saw the kid break on the ball. I hopped in front of him and picked it off. As soon as I got it, I was thinking, I’m not giving the ball back to our offense, I’m scoring now.”
Undaunted, Whitney (11 of 23, 231 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) found Brian Brinkman over the middle on a post, and the speedy receiver outran the secondary for a 59-yard touchdown to give SJ the lead again with 8:48 remaining.
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| Guy Germinario had 56 rushing yards rushing on 14 carries for Don Bosco Prep (1-0). |
Simms began finding his rhythm, and Michael made another huge play. Toal again rolled the dice on a fourth and 9 at the St. Joseph 45 with 5:55 to go in the game. Simms threw low across the middle, but Michael made the grab for a first down at the 34.
“Orry came up huge for us,” Simms said. “Without him, we don’t win this game. He made a great play, and he came up big when we needed him the most.”
On third down, Boykin hauled in an 11-yard reception for a first down, then made a 14-yard catch on the next play to get to the Hawk 6. Two Germinario carries, the last from a yard away, got the game knotted at 28 with 3:25 to go and set up the Trattou heroics.
Whitney also ran for 104 yards on 6 carries for the Hawks, and Brinkman was the top receiver with 4 grabs for 83 yards. Battipaglia (1.5 sacks, 7 tackles, four for losses), Neil Doogan (7 tackles) and Jim McGoldrick (7 tackles) topped the St. Joe’s defense.
Germinario had 56 rushing yards on 14 carries for Don Bosco, which was outgained 386-276. Simms was 7 of 8 for 124 yards passing in the fourth quarter to bring his numbers to a moderate 9 of 20 for 166 yards with 1 TD and 2 INT. Dan Marcoux’ 6 tackles (including a sack and 3 TFL) led the Ironmen, and Germinario added five stops.
“This means we’re a pretty tough team to beat if we can come back and win a game like this after getting our butts kicked like we did in the first half,” Simms added.
“We came out about as flat as we’ve ever played, and they’re a real tough football team,” Toal assessed. “Hopefully, a lot of our kids grew up today. We had to fight our butts off to come back not once but three times. We had only one scrimmage, and our young kids showed a lot of poise and heart.”
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