Sunday, December 2, 2007

By Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer

Tony Jones had 144 yards rushing and two scores after halftime as Don Bosco Prep turned a game that was tied at the half into a 42-14 romp over St. Peter's Prep in the Non-Public Group 4 state final at Giants Stadium.

EAST RUTHERFORD -- There was little doubt who the best player on the field was. St. Peter’s Prep senior Will Hill spent the first half showing everyone the moves that he will be taking to the University of Florida next year. In fact, as he left Giants Stadium at the end of the game, he was sporting a Gators T-shirt.

He was also sporting a very sore left ankle, an injury that completely changed the complexion of the game just before halftime.

Don Bosco is not a team that St. Peter’s Prep could afford to take such a hit against, and the Ironmen put up a perfect third quarter, in fact they played a near flawless game, in defending their Non-Public Group 4 state championship and No. 1 ranking in New Jersey with a resounding 42-14 victory that extends their winning streak to 24 games.

Hill was a nemesis to Bosco throughout the first half, running 12 times for 102 yards and keeping the Ironmen from exploiting the secondary with the pass. Late in the half, he chased down Dillon Romain after a 36-yard run, pushing him out of bounds. Hill seemed to turn the ankle there, and as he came off for the half, he appeared to be limping a bit.

St. Peter's Prep quarterback Will Hill had 102 yards rushing in the first half before being KO'd by an ankle injury.

It was much more noticeable at the start of the third quarter, and he did not come out to his free safety spot. He could not run on the ankle, and while he did play QB and throw a big touchdown pass, he continued to get worse and with 50 seconds left in the third, he was done for the day.

“He is their guy and with Will out they are a different team, there is no question about that,” said Don Bosco head coach Greg Toal. “With Will out you could just see them drop. Their defense didn’t play as hard, everything fell from that.”

By the time Hill exited the high school stage for good, Don Bosco had already wrested the game away from the Marauders with a scintillating display in all phases of the game. They came out of the locker room and established Tony Jones, who ripped off a 39-yard run.

“We came out in the second half looking to show them what we can do, and that’s what we did,” Jones said.

Bosco moved to the SP 2-yard line, and Jones went off the left side. He fumbled as he reached the goal line, and Logan Siska was able to jump on it for the go-ahead DB touchdown. Patrick Murray kicked the second of his six extra points with 9:29 to go in the period, and it was the beginning of the onslaught.

Dillon Romain rolled up 113 yards on 18 runs, part of Don Bosco’s 324 rushing yards.

The Ironmen pulled out the fake punt on their next series, and it was executed perfectly, as the short snap went to Steve Proscia. He handed off to Jones, who had a huge seam up the middle. He broke past Nyshier Oliver near the 5-yard line and finished off the 41-yard run.

Hill temporarily quieted the Don Bosco faithful, executing an 80-yard pas to Oliver on a post that caught the Ironmen napping. Justin Perez’ second PAT made it 21-14, but it was 28-14 soon after as Jones followed a 49-yard Brett Knief-to-Jimmy Clark completion with a 19-yard sweep of the right side with 2:06 on the clock.

“With Hill out, it allowed us to go down the field more,” Knief said.

With Hill really hobbling, he put up a pass to the sideline, but Steve Proscia stepped in front, picked the ball off and took it 29 yards to paydirt, ending any Marauder hopes with 55 seconds to go in the third and sending Hill on his way to Gainesville.

“It was a post flag,” Proscia recalled, “and I passed the post (receiver) to the safety and went to the flag.”

Nyshier Oliver and St. Peter's Prep finished the season with an 11-1 record.

Dillan Romain finished the scoring with a 1-yard run with nine minutes left, and Bosco was able to run out the clock after a Peter’s three-and-out.

Both teams found the pigskin slippery in the first half, as they each fumbled away their first two possessions. St. Peter’s used eight minutes to open the game, only to have Curt Williams strip it out and Ryan Cobb recover it.

Romain lost a pair of fumbles sandwiched around a great play by Kevin Ferber, who ran down Hill after a 25-yard gain along the left sideline and stripped him of the ball, with Williams making the recovery.

“I knew I had to make open field tackles against a fast team like St. Peter’s,” Berger explained, “and I knew I had to make that tackle. I wasn’t even trying (for the strip), but that’s what happened. That could have been a huge momentum swing.”

After Ken Smith’s fumble recovery, St. Peter’s (11-1) used another 25-yard scamper by Hill to set up his own 7-yard touchdown with two minutes remaining in the half. On the scoring run, Hill broke four tackles while reversing his field.

The Ironmen then got a huge score to even the game heading into the intermission. Romain went for 36 yards around the left side to put Bosco into scoring range, and on third down from the 20 with 13 seconds to go, they sent Murray out for a 37-yard field goal.

Brett Knief completed 4 of 6 passes in an efficient outing in Giants Stadium, a difficult place to throw a football.

St. Peter’s called time out to ice the kicker, but instead, Bosco sent the offense back on the field. Knief then threw a deep out pattern to Proscia, who caught it inside the five and found the end zone inside the pylon.

“We really don’t have a primary (receiver) on that, it depends on the coverage,” Proscia related. “The corner sunk with the post, and I came around underneath.”

“I just read the safety,” Knief continued, “and we felt we could get our corner route, and it worked out.”

“My brother Anthony kept telling me, you have plenty of time,” offensive coordinator Nunzio Campanile recounted. “We were worried that we didn’t have a time out left, and (Toal) didn’t want to move the ball from the middle of the field. We wanted to come out with some points.

“Anthony said you can get them on a corner route, and coach Toal said they have Hill on DiSanzo, so we said we’ll throw to Proscia the other way. It was kind of a weird decision, we just said do it. They gave us time to think about it, and it was the right move with 13 seconds.”

In some ways, that was the turning point as much as Hill’s gimpy ankle.

Jones, after running only 3 times for 10 yards in the first half, finished with 15 carries and 154 yards, while Romain added 113 yards on 18 runs, part of Bosco’s 324 rushing yards. Nick Vetterlein (11 tackles) and Ferber (8) led the Bosco defense, while Anthony Blake made 12 stops for St. Peter’s and Rich Zadroga had 10 tackles.

Knief was 4 of 6 passing for 79 yards and impressed his coach on a bitterly cold day inside a stadium that is notoriously tough on quarterbacks.

“For a quarterback to navigate this place, this is the toughest place in the world to throw a ball. Joe Montana couldn’t navigate it when he was with the 49ers,” said Toal. “It’s a tough venue for a high school quarterback but our kid was superlative. He played great.”

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