November
7, 2004
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| Brad Hartung led the BC offense to 56 points against one of the state's top defenses by completing 11 for 18 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns. | |
ORADELL - Bergen Catholic's Brian Cushing has made a name for himself as the state's top defensive player, but his senior year had not been what he had hoped for. After losses to a pair of state champs, Ridgewood and Don Bosco, to start the season, the buzz around the high school football scene was that Bergen Catholic was on the decline and Cushing heard the talk.
Faced with the daunting task of facing nationally-ranked St. Joseph Regional, the No. 1 team in New Jersey with its bone-crushing defense, all Cushing wanted was to be let loose on offense the same way he has performed on the defensive side of the ball. BC head coach Fred Stengel gave Cushing his wish in the biggest game of the year and he responded with the defining game in his illustrious career.
Down 21-7 in the second quarter, Cushing gave the Crusaders some life with a kickoff return for a touchdown and never looked back. He went over 100 yards in both rushing and receiving and scored five touchdowns to go along with his 11 tackles, as he and Bergen Catholic outlasted St. Joe's in a wild 56-42 donnybrook.
"You
play football and practice as hard as you can to perform in a big game like
this," said Cushing. "All the work in the weight room, all the running, all
of the sweat we have poured out together as a team over the years was thrown
into this game and we executed perfectly on offense. This is definitely the
best game I've ever been involved in and the best game I've ever played personally."
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| Jason McCourty was one of three SJR receivers to catch over 100 yards worth of passes. |
The Green Knights are known not only for their stout defense, but also for thier big-play offensive weapons, headlined by quarterback Brent Weiss and tailback Jason McCourty. Both showcased their skills early and often.
On the second play from scrimmage, McCourty danced through a hole, then cut back against the grain and raced for a 30-yard touchdown to put St. Joe's on the scoreboard first.
The Crusaders answered back with a nine-play, 80-yard drive with Cushing showing early that he would be a force on both sides of the ball. He kept the drive alive with a second-effort on a third-down run. On the next play, he barely held on to the ball and busted through six would-be tacklers for a 23-yard gain. Two plays later, Cushing made a magnificent diving catch on and a Brad Hartung pass for a 34-yard score, which knotted the game at 7.
Just as they did on their first drive, the Green Knights needed just two plays to find the end zone. Weiss had all day to throw and hit McCourty in stride down the middle of the field. The fleet senior blew past the Crusaders for a 79-yard TD.
As the
first quarter came to a close, Devin McCourty also made his presence felt
with an interception of Hartung on the ensuing possession. His 25-yard return
gave St. Joe's the ball at midfield and they marched right down to the two-yard
line. Faced with a fourth-and-goal, Weiss faked a handoff and walked into
the end zone on a bootleg to give the Green Knights a 21-7 lead.
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| BC's Wolver Jean-Pierre had the touchdown that tied the game at 21 late in the second quarter. |
"When we got down, all I wanted was for the ball to be in my hands," said Cushing.
Cushing got the ball, but in the most unlikely of ways, on a kickoff. St. Joe's kicker Andrew Guiliani tried to pooch the kickoff toward the sideline and floated it right to Cushing. He got full head of steam, broke a tackle, then raced 79 yards up the sideline for a touchdown that cut the Green Knights' lead in half.
"That play was one that worked great for us in a win over Don Bosco, but this time it didn't work," said St. Joe's head coach Tony Karcich. "We knew Bergen Catholic was not going to go away and they made huge plays all game just as our kids did. They just made enough of them to win. You knew from that point on that it was going to be a great high school game between two great teams."
Weiss has rarely gotten hit all season behind a massive offensive line, and only did a handful of times in this game, but that is all the Crusaders needed. Brad Dussault sacked Weiss and forced him to fumble and the Crusaders recovered at the Green Knights' 20-yard line. On a fourth-and-goal from the 3, Wolver Jean-Pierre busted up the middle for a touchdown that tied the game at 21.
A short
punt gave Bergen Catholic great field position and once again they capitalized.
Cushing ran through a gaping hole for a four-yard touchdown to give the Crusaders
a 28-21 lead with 1:55 to go in the first half.
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| SJR's Brent Weiss was unbelievable under center, throwing for a career high 371 yards passing. |
Weiss responded by marching the Green Knights right down the field and then threw a picture-perfect pass for the equalizer. The senior showed fantastic touch by lofting a pass just barely over the outstretched hands of Cushing and Jean-Pierre and into Devin McCourty's hands for a 39-yard touchdown to conclude the wild first half with the score tied at 28.
"Emotionally and physically, I was spent after the first half," said Stengel. "It was a classic shootout between two dynamite teams. We couldn't stop them, they couldn't stop us and that showed on the scoreboard. Brian really showed his leadership today and he did everything and more for us. But this was a total team effort and we just kept the ball rolling in the second half."
Hartung let the team ride on his right arm after Bergen Catholic got the kickoff to open the second half. He marched the team right down the field, hitting Isaiah Williams for a 39-yard strike and a 35-28 lead. The Crusaders took a two-touchdown lead when Hartung hit Cushing in the corner of the end zone on a fade route to make it 42-28.
Weiss got his team back in it, hooking up Devin Wooten for a 70-yard gain down to the Bergen Catholic 15. Three plays later, Andy Romans dove over the pile and into the end zone to trim the lead to 42-35 late in the third quarter.
It seemed
like Bergen Catholic was in trouble its next drive stalled at the St. Joe's
45-yard line, but Stengel had a trick up his sleeve and used it at the perfect
time. Punter Kevin Mollema took the snap and lofted a long pass down the sideline
for Cushing, who was wide open. He made the catch and broke a tackle on his
way for a 45-yard score and a 49-35 lead.
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| BC's Dave Kuncio knocked all eight of his PAT attempts through the uprights. |
The Green Knights refused to go away and got another one-yard plunge from Romans to cut Bergen Catholic's lead to 49-42 with 5:57 to play. The two teams traded three-and-outs before the Crusaders' Joe Dottino came through with the last of a bevy of huge plays.
Dottino nearly blocked a pair of extra-points earlier in the game and he felt his time coming. On a punt attempt with just under four minutes remaining in the game, Dottino raced off the right edge and blocked it. The junior then scooped up the loose ball and brought it down to the St. Joe's 30.
"Special teams always makes a difference in games and we pride ourselves of winning that battle," said Dottino. "They were just letting me come off the corner and I just missed a couple of extra-points. I knew from when the ball was snapped that I was going to get there."
Five plays later, Adam Watson bulled his way over from the five-yard line for the game-clinching touchdown with 1:48 to play.
Weiss finally ran out of gas and his fourth-down pass fell incomplete as Bergen Catholic got a gorilla off of its back and answered the naysayers on whether this group could win a big game with an impressive 56-42 triumph.
Cushing put on one of the most extraordinary individual performances in a game chockfull of fantastic individual efforts. He carried the ball 20 times for 114 yards and a touchdown for Bergen Catholic (6-2). He also caught five balls for 118 yards, finding paydirt on three of those grabs.
Hartung was the steady force behind the offensive line and came through with another solid effort. The senior went 11 for 18 for 170 yards and three touchdowns. Dave Kuncio kicked all eight PAT's successfully.
Weiss was brilliant for St. Joe's (8-1) throughout the contest. He finished 15 of 27 with a career-high 371 yards through the air. He also showed how to spread the wealth as Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, and Wooten all went over 100 yards receiving with 141, 120, and 113, respectively. Andy Romans found the end zone twice and led the team with 10 tackles. Guiliani converted all six of his extra-point tries.
"To be on the winning side of a game like this is the best feeling in the world," added Cushing, who will play in this year's U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio this January. "This has not been a typical year for us and a lot of us have been battling injuries. We're all starting to peek at the right time and I wouldn't want to play us in the states."
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