Saturday, October 20, 2007

By Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer

RAMSEY -- With the heart of their season beginning next week, Don Bosco could be excused for looking ahead to the defining part of their season. Problem is, teams, now matter how good, can never take any game for granted.

It didn’t come back to haunt them, but the Ironmen had to work a lot harder than the 28-0 final score would indicate, thanks to a sloppy first half that saw Bosco commit three turnovers and own only a 7-0 lead despite taking possession three times inside the Ridgewood 38-yard line and get only one score.

“We weren’t happy with the execution, no question about it,” DB head coach Greg Toal related. “They’re high school kids and they’re not going to be on top of their game, and have to continue to get better.”

The fact that Ridgewood could not get its offense untracked allowed Don Bosco (6-0) to be able to negate the giveaways and the abundance of penalties (7 for 53 yards in the first half, 10 for 88 in the game).

The first two Ironmen drives ended with interceptions, by Bob Barthold on an overthrow and Nick Rispoli off a ball tipped by teammate Sam Combs. The third series saw Tony Jones get rocked at the 1-yard line by Doug Christopher, forcing a fumble that went out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.

“You come into a game like this, you hope they’re a little distracted,” Maroon head coach Chuck Johnson said. “You hope you can make something happen. Our kids always play hard, but you’ve got to have a little offense.”

The Maroons could not dent the Bosco defense, though, with three straight three-and-outs. The Ironmen special teams gave Ridgewood fits, as they tipped the first punt, forced a shank on the second and partially blocked the third, with the trio traveling a combined 44 yards.

After the third kick, they were finally able to crack the end zone, as Guy Germinario went the final six yards off left guard to complete a 33-yard drive. Brian Hanly added the first of his four extra points with 9:53 to go in the second quarter.

“We came out hard, we just made too many mistakes,” running back Dillon Romaine admitted. “I just don’t know what happened,” and tight end Alex DeSanzo added, “we shot ourselves in the foot. Not to take anything away from Ridgewood, but we didn’t execute.”

“You play a team like this, and you hope to have a chance, and we had a chance to win,” Johnson said. “You want to get to the second half with a chance to win, and we did that.”

That they did, but that chance was short-lived, thanks to a Don Bosco touchdown on their first series. A 19-yard Brett Knief to Matt Sciancalepore and a 14-yard Tony Jones run got them close, but a holding penalty left with a third and 10 on the Maroon 9. Knief went to DeSanzo on a wide receiver screen, and he broke a tackle on the way to the end zone.

“We drove down the field and we executed perfectly,” DeSanzo noted. “Once everybody realized it wasn’t so hard, it was no problem.”

“No doubt, that’s what we had to do,” Toal commented. “We had to get points, a field goal or a touchdown, we definitely needed to get something going.”

Considering the way the Ridgewood offense was going, a two-score lead seemed huge. Every second half series ended in a punt save for the last one, which ended the game.

“Our motto is don’t give up the big play, and we’ll be fine,” DeSanzo said. “There aren’t too many teams that can go 80 yards on us.”

Romaine got the final two touchdowns, a six-yard run on the last play of the third quarter and a 62-yard zig-zag run with 1:36 left in the game.

“I was proud of the way we came back in the second half,” Toal remarked. “We had opportunities in the first half and we didn’t take advantage, but that’s part of the game.”

Ridgewood (4-2) managed only 80 total yards, with QB Greg Johnson going 7 of 14 passing for 40 yards and topping the team with 16 rushing yards. Rispoli had eight tackles for the Maroons, who recorded three sacks.

Knief was 10 of 14 passing for 166 yards, with DeSanzo grabbing five balls for 67 yards. Romaine (5 carries, 82 yards), Jones (13-70), Knief (6-54) and Germinario (5-35) shared the rushing yards, and Germinario had eight tackles Steve Pedhoretsky had four tackles for losses.

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