October
29, 2006
RAMSEY -- With the beginning of the playoffs a mere two weeks away, it is nearing the time of the season that Don Bosco has been waiting for, the ultimate chance to atone for the misfortunes of the past two seasons and return a state championship to Ramsey.
Save for the opening game of the season, the Ironmen have not been seriously tested in the regular season. They defeated three out of state opponents, then blitzed the middle section of their schedule, defeating three public schools by a combined 144-7.
Saturday night’s game with St. Joseph was supposed to be the first challenge since their come-from-behind win over another St. Joseph, this one from Pennsylvania. Instead, the Dons continued their trend of dominating an opponent in lopsided fashion.
They blitzed the Green Knights by a 43-3 margin, sending SJR to its third consecutive loss and a 4-3 overall record. The last time St. Joseph lost three straight games was in 1984, when they lost their first eight straight before winning their Thanksgiving Day game.
That was the season before Tony Karcich took over at the Montvale school, and for Karcich, it was his first three-game slide since 1976, when he had a four-game skid while coaching Bergen Catholic.
St. Joe’s gave it a run in the first half, keeping within 17-3, but a Matt Sciancalepore punt of 49 yards was downed at the Knight 1-yard line, leaving SJR in a big hole. They could not get the first down, and a short punt was gobbled up by Alex DeSanzo and returned 42 yards for a touchdown.
“That punt to the one yard line and the punt return, that really opened the floodgates,” Karcich acknowledged.
“That just changed the game,” DB head coach Greg Toal agreed. “Three touchdowns are hard to overcome, and we were a bit more comfortable at that point.”
The Green Knights punted on their
first six possessions of the second half (and nine times overall), as they
were held to 136 total yards compared to the 437 Don Bosco racked up.
St. Joseph running back Wayne Drummond was bottled up, gaining only 21 yards
on 12 runs, while quarterback Robert Wilk was 3 of 9 passing for only 8 yards.
Wilk was in for Rob Cervini, who was relegated to playing only defense thanks to a torn tendon in the ring finger of his throwing hand that affects his passing accuracy.
“I really thought about (putting
him in) at halftime, because we were still in the game,” Karcich admitted,
“but I realize we have a lot of season to go. He’s really banged
up, his ankle is bothering him a little bit, and with everything I’m
not sure if he can quarterback anymore (this season). I really hope he can.”
Cervini or not, the Knights could not solve the Ironmen defense, while Bosco
jumped out to an early lead thanks to a 58-yard touchdown pass from Matt Simms
to Steve Proscia three plays into the game.
“He wasn’t the primary receiver,” Simms recounted, “but the safety bit on the cross, and I went to the seam right away. I don’t know if you can play better than he did tonight. In my mind, he was the player of the game.”
They settled for a 28-yard field goal by Brian Hanly on their next series, and when Pat Kivlehan blocked a punt on the opening play of the second quarter, SJR had a shot from the Ironmen 29. They reached the five, but the Ironmen stiffened and Clayton Bridges came on to kick a 22-yard field goal with 9:07 to go in the first half.
“I told my kids, after the two losses, I wanted to see them come out and fight,” Karcich said afterwards. “I know they (Bosco) are the better football team, and for the first half we did.”
Simms hit DeSanzo with a 15-yard TD pass to make it 17-3 heading into halftime, yet they were aware that St. Joseph was still lurking.
“We knew they would come out with intensity, and we had to match that,” DeSanzo said, “and then when they started to slow down, we had to stay there. We knew they would fall off.”
That’s when the Bosco offensive line went to work, setting up touchdown runs of 63 yards by Tony Jones (that included a nifty cutback along the left sideline) and 36 yards by Dillon Romaine.
The final score came on a 28-yard burst by Guy Germinario, which put him over 100 rushing yards in the game (17 carries, 117 yards). Jones (4-102) also cracked the century mark, part of a 328-yard ground game.
“Our offensive line is getting better by the week, I’m getting healthier each week, Tony and Dillon are getting more experience, that all adds up,” Germinario said.
“The offense hasn’t peaked yet, but it’s starting to,” Toal said. “We’ve been in great situations with our defense and kicking game.”
“We’ve had this problem all year,” Karcich said of defending the run. “Ultimately, that’s why we lost to Teaneck and to Paramus Catholic because up front we couldn’t get it done.”
Simms hit 6 of 14 passes for 115 yards with 2 TDs and no interceptions. Nick Mistretta had 10 tackles and Dan Marcoux and Ike Garrow seven each for Bosco, while Ryan Donohue topped St. Joseph with 8 tackles and Cervini and Adam Triglia had seven apiece.
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