Sunday, November 11, 2007

By Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer

ORADELL -- Dan Smith knows about playoff success. He was a freshman playing varsity on Queen of Peace’s 2004 championship team and he was a member of the 2005 Q of P team that also went to the postseason.

He is also familiar with postseason failure. Smith transferred to Bergen Catholic near the end of last season, and was sitting out his mandatory 30 days when his new teammates were humiliated by St. Peter’s Prep, 63-14, in last year’s state playoffs.

For 12 months, he waited for his chance to make a positive impact in the postseason, and on Saturday afternoon, he got that chance and didn’t disappoint. Smith contributed on offense, defense and special teams in leading Bergen Catholic to a 43-7 defeat of Red Bank Catholic in the Non-Public Group 4 first round game.

That earned the Crusaders their return engagement with St. Peter’s, which turned a 21-17 halftime deficit into a 59-21 rout of Camden Catholic. The game is set for Cochrane Stadium at Caven Point next Saturday, tentatively at 7:00 p.m.

“We have a tremendous challenge next week,” BC head coach Fred Stengel said. “Things didn’t go very well for us down there last year, and that’s kind of been on our minds.”

Smith figured prominently in getting his team to the semifinals, beginning with a 29-yard field goal to cap Bergen’s first possession that put them in the lead, and he followed that with an interception that kept RBC backed up and eventually led to the Crusaders’ second TD, a 2-yard James Williams run.

“We practiced all week on tempo and swarming the ball,” Smith related, “and that’s what caused the turnovers.”

Those turnovers kept coming, and they were instrumental in Bergen breaking open the game with three touchdowns in a 1:28 span early in the second quarter. Joe Wagner went in from a yard out with 10:02 left in the first half for a 16-0 Crusader lead before Jonathan Becker had back-to-back takeaways. The first came on a fumbled snap, which he recovered at the Casey 31-yard line.

On the next play, QB Rob Eckrote found Smith out of the backfield all alone down the right sideline for a 31-yard touchdown pass.

“I was telling the coaches all week that (play) would be open,” Smith recalled. “I saw the linebacker go towards the numbers, and I knew I’d be all alone.”

“They run a fair amount of cover two,” Stengel added, “so we knew there were going to be some things we needed to do different than what we’ve done recently.”

On Red Bank’s next play, Becker intercepted a tipped pass at the Casey 45, and Eckrote cashed it in on the next snap, hitting Tom Randall on a deep post for his first varsity TD catch. Kevin Condal came on for the extra point to make it 30-0.

“We just had to come out and play football, and that’s what we did,” Becker said.

“No question our defense steadied us,” Stengel acknowledged. “We came out early on and blew some assignments, which doesn’t normally happen to us, but once we settled down and figured out what they were doing, then it was pretty much we could do whatever we wanted to do.”

Jon Sam’s interception made it three straight turnovers an it led to Williams’ second score of the game, a 3-yard run with 2:44 left to go in the half to kick the bulge up to 37-0.

Mike Halligan scored on the second play of the second half, a 12-yard run after he bobbled the ball on a handoff. That close the BC scoring, and the Caseys (6-3) averted the shutout with 5:05 left in the game on a 58-yard TD pass from Connor O’Leary to Peter Batesko and Tucker Hawley’s extra point kick.

The Bergen Catholic defense stifled Red Bank Catholic, allowing only 11 yards and a single first down in the opening half and only three more in the third quarter before taking a seat after RBC’s first series.

“There was every reason for us to be disappointed in ourselves after last week,” Stengel said in reference to last week’s loss to Don Bosco, “but these kids are resilient and I knew they’d come back strong.”

Eckrote was 6 of 10 passing for 131 yards with one interception while playing only the first half. Nick Gerst also sat the entire second half after racking up 130 rushing yards on 14 carries.

Bergen Catholic (8-1) had 452 yards of total offense, and it will need to have another explosion next week against St. Peter’s if they want to get to the championship game and a possible rematch with Don Bosco. They also have some unfinished business from last year.

“I played that whole game, and I remember getting beat on,” Becker said. “We’ll be ready.”

“Standing on the side (lines), knowing I can’t do anything, that was tough,” Smith commented, “but now it inspires me.”

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