Saturday, September 22, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Defense ruled the game as seen here with North. Bergen's Justin Pyndhus gets into Ferris' Bryant Worts during NB's 12-10 win on Saturday night.

NORTH BERGEN – For the past three years it has been the same old story for North Bergen. Whenever the Bruins needed a big play on either side of the ball, they looked to one player to make it happen. That player was Evan Rodriguez, now a redshirt freshman at West Virginia University.

Facing a crisis moment down 10 points in the third quarter against a strong Ferris squad on Saturday night at Hudson County Park, the Bruins were in unfamiliar territory. They had to make a comeback and do it quickly without the athletic talent of Rodriguez to fall back on.

With that in mind and his team in trouble of losing in their home opener, North Bergen senior Bernardo Castano saw this as his chance to elevate himself from complementary player to a leader that the rest of his teammates can look up to.

Castano found the end the zone twice, with the latter being the game-winner. On a fourth-and-two, Castano plowed ahead for a three-yard touchdown with 2:40 to play as North Bergen fought back from the double-digit deficit to pull out a 12-10 win.

Ferris' Chris Torres turning the corner during a first half in which the Bulldogs dominated time of possession.

“I thought our guys just kept plugging away and we finally made some things happen,” said North Bergen head coach Vin Ascolese.

Ferris controlled the ball, the clock, and the momentum during the entire first half. The Bulldogs held the ball for nearly 21 out of the 24 minutes. North Bergen ran only 10 offensive plays in the first half and had just one first down and that came on the final play of the half.

The Bruins had just five total yards over the first two periods and they were dominated in every aspect, except the most important one, as the teams went to the locker room with the game still scoreless.

“We got totally outplayed in the first half and we were lucky to be tied,” added Ascolese. “They were controlling the line of scrimmage and they had us on our heels. We knew we had to start making a bigger push at the point of attack on both sides of the ball. This is a blue-collar team and it was time for us to go to work.”

On the third play from scrimmage in the third quarter, the Bulldogs finally got on the scoreboard in an unconventional way. On a third-and-long, North Bergen quarterback Thomas Guaschino was in the shotgun and the ball got snapped over his head. One of the Bruins landed on the ball in the end zone, which resulted in a safety as Ferris grabbed a 2-0 lead.

Eric Salgado's long kickoff return set up North Bergen's first TD.

Later in the period, Shawn Bazemore recovered a fumble deep in Bruin territory to set up the Bulldogs' lone touchdown of the game. Bryant Worts went up the middle for a two-yard touchdown, and Corey Cottle did the same for the two-point conversion as Ferris made it a two-possession game and grabbed a 10-0 lead.

After a long kickoff return by Eric Salgado, the Bruins showed some life and went 58 yards in just four plays. Castano plunged up the middle for a five-yard touchdown to get the Bruins within four, 10-6.

“We had to score on the drive just to give ourselves some confidence,” said Castano. “We knew that if we could score that we would pump up our defense and we would get some stops, just like they did for us in the first half.”

North Bergen got the ball back with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, knowing it was probably their last shot at winning the game. The Bruins put the ball in the hands of their playmakers and trusted their offensive line to create the holes.

Shawn Bazemore ran the Ferris offense and recovered a fumble that set up a TD that gave the Bulldogs at 10-6 lead.

Everything fell into place as the Bruins methodically marched down the field 61 yards on nine plays, all of them coming on the ground. But the Ferris defensive line held them up just enough to where the game would come down to a single play.

Faced with a fourth-and-two from the Bulldogs’ three-yard line, Castano knew he was getting the ball. He knew just what to do with it, running straight ahead behind his line and diving in for the touchdown to put the Bruins ahead.

“I trusted my line and I know that they trusted me,” said Castano. “We worked really hard for those plays late in the fourth quarter. I give all my credit to my line. Without them creating holes, I’m not going anywhere. You work hard throughout the off-season and in practice so that you can win that battle and they won it for us up front.”

Ferris fumbled away its last possession and the Bruins ran out the clock to improve to 2-0, while the Bulldogs dropped to 1-2 with the defeat.

“It’s frustrating because we worked so hard and just didn’t get the end result we were looking for,” said Ferris head coach Wilbur Valdez. “We blew a few opportunities in the first half where we should have been ahead going into the second.”

QB Thomas Guaschino helped North Bergen improve to 2-0 heading into a game against St. Peter's Prep to be televised on ESPNU.

“It just comes down to tradition and the tradition here under Coach Ascolese is winning one. We are used to finding ways to lose games and we have to turn that around. We’ve been improving steadily over the years, but it’s frustrating because we’re still letting games like this one slip away.”

It does not get any easier for the Bruins next week. They will travel to Caven Point in Jersey City to take on nationally-ranked St. Peter’s Prep and its University of Florida-bound standout, Will Hill, in a game that will be televised on ESPNU.

“To play against our biggest rival on ESPN is going to be amazing,” added Castano. “But the bottom line is that we can’t worry too much about Prep, we have to worry more about ourselves first. Against a team like Prep you have to make sure you don’t beat yourself. It’s going to be crazy.”

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