October
22, 2006
RIDGEWOOD -- Ike Garrow and William Payne have had their fair share of injuries this football season. The Don Bosco duo has dealt with ankle and leg problems for much of the first half of the season.
As the regular season dwindles to the last couple of games and the playoffs appear on the horizon, both Ironmen defensive stalwarts are rounding into their best shape of the season, which can only be more cause for concern for Bosco opponents.
Both made significant contributions early against Ridgewood on Saturday afternoon, shutting down the Maroons’ offense and allowing their own offense to work its way into the game.
The resulting 41-0 victory sends Don Bosco to 6-0 and completes their public school games for the season. They will face St. Joseph, Bergen Catholic and Paramus Catholic in the rest of the regular season.
It also spelled the first shutout of Ridgewood since a 7-0 loss to Teaneck in the second game of the 2001 season, and the 41-point defeat was the largest since a 61-6 pasting at the hands of Montclair back in November of 1997.
This time, it was all about the Ironmen defense, which allowed only 76 yards of total offense to Ridgewood (4-2), with only 26 of those coming after halftime. They set the tome early, thanks to Garrow and Payne.
“All week in practice the coaches were telling us we had to take it to another level against this offense,” Garrow related. “We knew they were going to come out and run the ball, but we out-physicaled them and made plays.”
Garrow was in on all three tackles
on Ridgewood’s opening series, including a solo third down sack. That
set up the offense with only 39 yards to navigate on its first possession,
and the Ironmen got 26 of them on a Matt Simms to Alex DeSanzo pass over the
middle.
Guy Germinario got the touchdown from three yards out on third down to make
it 7-0, and in reality that would be all the defense would need.
“We’re always looking to come out and set the tone for the offense,” Garrow said. “They started off slow, so we just had to step up and bring it harder and we did.”
Two more three-and-outs followed for the Maroons, who did get a turnover when Sam Nuber forced a fumble that Andrew Wohler recovered. Again, there was a sack in each series, with Garrow and Payne sharing the former and Payne and Dan Marcoux sharing the latter.
“Take away the trap, the swing pass, the dives, the jet, all of it,” Payne said. “We played a solid game on defense. We were prepared, they didn’t do anything we didn’t expect, and we executed.”
Aided by a fake punt run for a first down by Dale Fava, Bosco went 13 plays and 75 yards to make it 14-0. Germinario again scored from three yards out with 9:08 to go in the second quarter.
The Ironmen had a chance to really open the game up just before the half. Sitting on their own 12 with 54 seconds to go, the Bosco got a 57-yard bomb from Simms to Orry Michael that got the ball to the Ridgewood 14.
After a holding penalty wiped out a completion, Simms had three straight passes batted down at or behind the line of scrimmage, two by Dan Lenihan and one by Nikola Mrkovic. That forced DB to settle for a 38-yard Brian Hanly field goal on the final play of the half.
The Maroons kept the Ironmen out of the end zone again to start the third quarter, forcing another field goal try. Hanly’s 36-yarder was short, but a running into the kicker penalty gave him a second shot from the 31 and he made it easily.
Things began to unravel after that for Ridgewood, as the Bosco offense was in rhythm. Simms found DeSanzo for a 32-yard TD pass, again over the middle (he had five catches for 117 yards) to make it 27-0 with 4:10 left in the third period.
“I’m very proud of my kids,” Ridgewood head coach Chuck Johnson said. “We played one of the top teams in the Northeast and we played them tough as heck for two and a half quarters. When it gets down to 27-0, it wears you down, and with their talent, depth and speed, it’s tough to keep it up.”
Tony Jones went around the left side for a 21-yard scoring run, and a Steve Proscia interception was converted into a Dillon Romaine 6-yard touchdown.
“This year, we’re working really hard because we don’t want to end up like we did last year,” Garrow said in reference to Bosco’s championship game loss to St. Peter’s. “No one is looking to someone else to make a play, everyone is making plays.”
“It was a team effort,” Payne added. “If it wasn’t for other people getting off blocks and making the quarterback run in my direction I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make the tackle or the sack.”
The Ironmen racked up 450 total yards, with Simms completing 15 of 24 passes for 222 yards and Germinario rushing for 106 yards on 15 carries. Garrow had 8 tackles and Payne 6.
Ridgewood’s Albert Gelbaum, back after missing two games with a hamstring pull, had 41 yards rushing on 8 carries, but with a passing game that went 3 of 12 for 16 yards and gave back 15 of those on three sacks, it was a tough afternoon for the offense. Wohler had 11 tackles to pace the Ridgewood defense.
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