Sunday, November 9, 2014

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Senior Dante McCarroll turned half of his six carries into scores for Lodi, which closed its regular season with a 34-12 win over Pompton Lakes on Saturday afternoon.

LODI – As he was being announced for the pre-game Senior Day ceremonies, Lodi’s Dante McCarroll could not help but be overwhelmed by the moment. With a bunch of family members in attendance, many of them having driven up from West Virginia, McCarroll chose to show his gratitude in the best way possible by playing his best game in a Lodi uniform.

McCarroll carried the ball just six times but made the most of them. He found the end zone on half of those carries for a career-high 133 yards, including an 84-yard jaunt that put the finishing touches on Lodi’s fourth straight victory, a 34-12 win over Pompton Lakes on Saturday at Lodi High School.

“To do this on Senior Day in front of basically my whole family made it special,” said McCarroll. “Technically this game didn’t mean anything for our league or power points, but it meant a lot to us, especially our seniors. We’re really excited to see how far we can go in the state tournament.”

The Rams set the tone right from the opening drive with the seniors using the adrenaline rush from playing their final game on their home field. Quarterback John Calabrese hooked up with David Acevedo on a 33-yard completion. Then, on a third-and-3, McCarroll got stuffed on an inside handoff but kept his legs churning to break free. He was able to bounce the play outside to the right and score from nine yards out for a 6-0 lead.

McCarroll found paydirt again midway through the second quarter on a 26-yard run right up the gut that capped an 11-play, 82-yard drive. Jessey Asare ran in the two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

Sal Negiri scored on the first possession of the second half to get Pompton Lakes to within 21-6.

“I just saw the hole open up and I went through it,” added McCarroll. “Jessey (Asare) has been our main guy all year but he’s been a little banged up the past few weeks and other guys have stepped up. We like to keep defenses guessing and with the line that we have and the weapons we have both in the running and the passing game, it gives us a lot of options.”

The Rams showed off their depth in the backfield later in the second quarter. Steven Villa went off tackle along the right side and went untouched up the sideline for a 60-yard TD run and Nick Baya tacked on the PAT to give Lodi a 21-0 halftime lead.

Pompton Lakes got a defensive stop in the red zone to end the first half and carried that momentum over into the second half. On the Cardinals’ first series of the third quarter, Sal Negrini carried two defenders into the end zone for a five-yard touchdown run that got them on the board and cut the lead to 21-6.

That momentum was short-lived as the Rams went 54 yards in just four plays with Calabrese sneaking over from a yard out for a 28-6 lead. On Lodi’s next series, McCarroll busted through a big hole and outraced the Cardinal defense for a career-best 84-yard TD that put the game away.

Lodi had a host of players that went over 100 yards of offense. McCarroll (six carries, 133 yards, 3 TDs), Villa (five carries, 122 yards, one TD) and Asare (25 carries, 105 yards) all crossed the century mark, as did Acevedo, who hauled in six passes for 143 yards.

Jessey Asare was one of three Lodi running backs to top 100 yards rushing.

Sophomore Chris Grecco scored on a highlight-worthy TD run, breaking four tackles on his way to a 21-yard TD run for Pompton Lakes (5-4). The Cardinals will have to go on the road in the first round of the North 1, Group 1 state tournament, against either Cresskill or Verona.

Having an undefeated record going into the state tournament last year, Lodi suffered a blowout loss at the hands of Caldwell. Now an underdog heading into their state tourney showdown at River Dell, the Rams are feeling confident knowing they are peaking at the right time.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to play in the states and we like where we are with four wins in a row going in,” said Lodi head coach Pat Tirico. “River Dell is a very good, very disciplined football team. We think we’re a pretty good football team too. We’re going to bang heads with them and go at ‘em.”

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