Sunday,
September 9, 2007
By
Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD --
It was evident from the moment it entered the Giants Stadium playing
field. The Bergen Catholic football team coming through the tunnel
was different than it had been in a long time.
It wasn’t the
new design of the jerseys, or the infusion of black into the standard
red and gold colors. It was their posture, or more specifically,
their demeanor. This wasn’t a couple of guys with that intensity,
this was a team as fiercely focused as it has been in almost a
decade.
That high level didn’t
fade after the first few minutes, either. It lasted the full game,
and combined with a physical prowess that has also been missing
from the Crusaders, there was little doubt right from the get
go that Bergen was in for a stunning performance.
It took only 13 seconds
to score first, and before the first six minutes elapsed, it was
20-0 on the way to a rousing 48-7 triumph over Phillipsburg that
puts BC right back in the middle of the radar screen after consecutive
6-4 seasons had shoved them to the side.
“For a start,
I’ll take it,” BC head coach Fred Stengel. “Last
year was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing we hadn’t played
our best, and we were determined not to let that happen this year.”
He was referring to
the 28-27 overtime loss to the Stateliners, who this time paid
the price for the Crusaders’ wrath. It began on the first
play from scrimmage, with Lloyd Morrison picking up a fumble and
going 27 yards for a touchdown that took any pressure the Bergen
players were feeling and flushed it away.
“The nose guard
(Mike Ciresi) pushed the center back into the quarterback, and
I just saw the ball rolling by my feet,” Morrison recalled.
“All summer, coach was telling me, scoop and score, scoop
and score. I wasn’t falling on it. As soon as I picked it
up, I saw somebody to my left crack somebody and I knew I was
gone.”
After that, Morrison
took his spot at left guard and played like a man-child, blowing
open holes a truck could drive through. Junior Nick Gerst, in
his first varsity start, took major advantage of those openings
to set a new BC single game rushing record and tie the single
game mark with five rushing touchdowns.
Gerst turned 15 carries
into 302 yards, surpassing Ed Whalen’s old record of 281
yards set on October 11, 1986 against Hackensack. His 20.1 average
per carry also set a single game record, passing Larry Molloy’s
old mark of 17.0 set back in 1968.
“He’s tremendously
explosive and unbelievably fast,” Stengel lauded. “My
only concern is his size and taking a pounding.”
There was no pounding
on this day, as Morrison and his linemates consistently obliterated
the Phillipsburg defensive front. Three times on Gerst touchdowns,
he dove off the left guard-tackle and went untouched straight
ahead to the end zone.
“Don’t forget (left tackle) Chris Symetz, (center)
Steve Spada, (right guard) Jack Holuba and (right tackle) Troy
McKenna,” Stengel remarked. “Veterans who have a chance
to be outstanding, but we’re not there yet.”
“It’s just
great,” Gerst said of the trench warriors. “Once I
got the ball, I could have picked five different places to run.
I credit all my success to them tonight, and I’m taking
them out to lunch tomorrow.”
Bergen Catholic owned
a 20-0 lead after one quarter, courtesy of Morrison’s TD
and 15 and 35 yarders by Gerst. Phillipsburg turned an end zone
interception and a 52-yard halfback option pass completion into
their touchdown, a 14-yard pass from Mike Crossley to Jack Buckley.
Alex Toma kicked the extra point.
When the Crusaders
fumbled it away on the next series (one of six BC turnovers) in
the final minute of the first quarter, it looked like it might
get dicey, but this wasn’t the same old Bergen.
John Saati recovered
a fumble after a 15-yard run by Eric Deery (11 carries, 64 yards)
which, combined with a personal foul penalty, set Bergen Catholic
up at the Stateliner 28-yard line. Four plays later, Gerst zoomed
19 yards to make it 27-7 after freshman David Cordal’s third
of six extra points in seven tries.
“It’s totally
different, a whole different group of kids,” Gerst assessed.
“We’ve come together and we’ve worked hard.
We got on the field and capitalized.”
“Everything from
the last two years has been stripped down,” Morrison said.
“You can see it, even the uniforms. It’s different,
and as seniors, this is our last chance. Every game is a playoff
game to us.”
It was a mater of the
final score from there, with Gerst adding his final two scores
and James Williams getting the final tally. BC QB Rob Eckrote
wasn’t called on to throw it, but he did throw two interceptions
in five passes, completing only a 22-yarder to Jon Rigg. Of course,
when your backs rack up 420 yards, the passing game gets a week
off.
In addition to Gerst,
John Mitchell had 10 carries for 53 yards and Williams was 8-47.
Phillipsburg QBs were a combined 12 of 26 for 164 yards with two
interceptions, by Jeremy Grasso and Bill Schautz. The Crusaders
also had seven sacks, two in the fourth quarter by Doug Rigg.
The next step in Bergen’s
resurgence will play out next Saturday night when they host Maryland’s
Gilman at Overpeck Park in Palisades Park.
“There’s
a team we’re playing next week that’s real good, real
good,” Stengel said of Gilman. “
There’s also
the matter of that lunch, though Morrison made it clear he’s
not going to be a cheap date.
“Steak or ribs,”
he said in reference to the expected menu, and Gerst will be more
than happy to accommodate his bodyguards.
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