Sunday, October 13, 2013

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Tommy Potoczak was all over the field in all 3 phases of the game for Lodi, which improved to 5-0 with a 34-8 win over Elmwood Park.

LODI – At 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, Lodi’s Tommy Potoczak was not blessed with the type of football body that coaches covet. A player of his size should have been happy to be a starter on defense his junior year for an average Lodi squad. But being content with merely that did not sit well with Potoczak. He always saw himself as not just a defensive back, but also someone who could make plays in all phases of the game. So every day from the time last season ended Potoczak was lifting, running, and knowing the playbook backwards and forwards so that he could be an impact player in his senior season.

While Lodi is filled with aptly-sized and skillful players, it needed a leader with heart. In that regard, Potoczak has shown that he is up to the task. Not only has he grown into a leader, but also someone who has a knack of getting in the end zone in a variety of ways.

In the first quarter alone Potoczak returned a kickoff 91 yards for a score and he ran one in from eight yards out as Lodi led wire-to-wire and stayed unbeaten with a 34-8 triumph over Elmwood Park on Saturday at Lodi High School.

Brandon Velez scored the lone touchdown for Elmwood Park.

“This was a total team effort, but Tommy’s the engine that makes us go,” said Lodi head coach Pat Tirico. “Potoczak is a program kid who worked hard every step of the way and has developed into both quite a leader and a player we can rely on to make a big play.”

Lodi set the tone, needing just three plays to get on the scoreboard. Sophomore quarterback Manny Appiah hit Randol Almonte up the seam for a 53-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead just 93 seconds into the game.

Elmwood Park responded quickly with a 70-yard kick return by Javon Davis that gave the Crusaders great field position. On a third-and-goal from the Lodi 8, Michael Dare rolled out to his right and hit Brandon Velez in the end zone for the touchdown.

Potoczak then showed off his versatility on consecutive plays by blocking the extra-point attempt and, on the ensuing kickoff, hitting a hole and going untouched 91 yards to paydirt to put Lodi in front, 13-6.

“Coach [Tirico] always tells me to spring up the middle and led my blockers open up a hole and that’s what they did,” said Potoczak. “We wanted to keep as much pressure on them as possible. Especially on their quarterback Michael Dare, because he has great vision and a big arm. If he got going, we could have been in trouble.”

Lodi's Keyshawn Fowler had his first ever 100-yard receiving game.

A perfect coffin-corner punt from Elmwood Park’s Richard DeSiervo that went out of bounds inside the Lodi one-yard line led to a safety that sliced the lead to 13-8. The Crusaders were unable to capitalize further as a penalty negated a 20-yard gain and a first down on the next series and they were forced to punt.

“We put ourselves in bad positions with penalties all day. That will always catch up with you,” said Elmwood Park head coach Mike Farrington. “Kickoff coverage has also been a problem for us this year and it hurt us again today. I think in the end we’ll be fine. We have a lot of fight left in us and we still have a good shot at making the states, but against a tough team like Lodi, you can’t have as many mental mistakes as we had today and expect to come out on top.”

On a third-and-goal from the Elmwood Park eight-yard line, Potoczak burst through a huge hole created by Bryan Roth and ran it in for a 20-8 lead. On the Rams’ next series, Appiah came up with the highlight play of the day. After nearly getting sacked on two occasions, he reversed fields and wiggled his way out of a big loss. Then he juked a defender and turned the corner, outracing the entire Crusader defense to the house to put Lodi firmly in control, 27-8, midway through the second quarter.

Michael Dare and Elmwood Park are now 3-2 on the season.

From there, Lodi’s defense was the story. With players like Roth and Rafael Polanco forcing the 6-foot-4 Dare to make quick decisions all game, Elmwood Park was never able to fully get on track as Dare passed for a season-low 87 yards.

Keyshawn Fowler picked us his first career 100-yard receiving game, including a 33-yard TD catch for Lodi, which improved to 5-0 on the season. Appiah had a great day under center, going 7-for-11 for 175 yards and two touchdowns with an interception, along with 132 yards and another score on the ground. Potoczak did it all with 200 total yards, a kickoff return for a touchdown, a blocked PAT, six tackles, and two passes defensed. The Rams defense held the Crusaders to just 122 yards of total offense.

Marcel Cruz had a fine game defensively for Elmwood Park (3-2) with seven tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, and an interception.

With the season past the halfway point, the Lodi players are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. They are hoping to it ends with a victory celebration in MetLife Stadium with a state championship trophy. While it is yet a long ways away, it is a dream that the Rams universally share, one of many dreams Potoczak has had along his journey this past year.

“This was the biggest game of the season until next week when we play Glen Rock. Then that will be our biggest game,” said Potoczak. “Of course we want to be state champs, but we have to focus on who’s in front of us first, can’t look ahead. We’re playing with such confidence now and it makes us want to work even harder to get better every week.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do every since last year. Work on getting better every single day. I’ve worked really hard in the off-season to get stronger and faster. I always saw myself as not just a running back. I feel I am a power back that loved to run between the tackles. It doesn’t matter how big and strong you are, it’s about how hard you work and how much heart you have. I just needed a chance and I’m running with it. When you have an O-line like we have, all I have to do is use my vision and hit the hole.”

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