Sunday, September 27, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Kyree-Tyson Jones ran for 109 yards and two scores for St. Mary, which evened its record at 1-1 with a 40-13 win over Lyndhurst.

RUTHERFORD -- There is a new excitement around the Lyndhurst football program. It started when Scott Rubinetti, a Lyndhurst High School graduate, came back to coach his hometown school, it continued right through the first game of the season as the Golden Bears opened with a win and it had reached a fever pitch when Lyndhurst stuffed St. Mary’s vaunted running game on the first two plays of Saturday’s BCSL-National Division matchup.

The fans behind the Lyndhurst bench were pumped, the punt return team was ready to get on the sidelines and St. Mary was forced into an uncomfortable position…third-and-long. The Gaels prefer the run to the pass so much that there is a running play named after them, the Gael Sweep, and if Lyndhurst could have gotten one more stop it could have generated some real momentum.

St. Mary quarterback Mike Santos played right along. He took the third down snap and pivoted as if to throw the pitch left that is the telltale giveaway of his team’s patented running play. But just as the defense sold out against the run, Santos held the ball looked and back to his right where Andrew Spanarkel had one-on-one coverage and had already shaken free. Santos hit Spanarkel in stride up the sideline and instead of three-and-out; St. Mary had a lead courtesy of a 72-yard touchdown pass.

After picking up just 13 yards in the first half, Joel Tejada finished with 123 rushing yards for Lyndhurst.

“We got a little screwed up on the first two plays with our blocking scheme and they stopped us. They came at us hard,” said St. Mary head coach Mike Sheridan. “Teams know we are going to run the football and they are going to put those extra guys in the box like Lyndhurst did on those first two plays and you have to be able pull it out throw it. We did that on that third down, Mike Santos made a great throw and Spanarkel made a play on the ball. The play action is big if you are going to run the ball as much as we do.”

That play changed everything as St. Mary quickly had a confidence boost after its opening week loss to Emerson and Lyndhurst had its first adversity of the season after its opening week win. In the end, St. Mary got back on track with a 40-13 win at Tamblyn Field.

“We feel like we had such great momentum coming into that [Spanarkel touchdown] play. We just got caught up in the play-action and that offense can do that,” said Rubinetti. “It can lull you to sleep and then hit you for a big one. They did that and it changed the game.”

St. Mary returned to its running game after taking the lead, but also showed that it passing game is a legitimate threat. Santos threw the ball eight times in the first half, completed four of them for 135 yards and two scores. Santos’ second TD pass came just 14 seconds before halftime. His pass on fourth-and-goal from the Lyndhurst 10 was tipped near the line of scrimmage but still found its way to junior Brandon Coppola, who hauled in his first varsity reception for his first varsity score that gave St. Mary a 26-0 lead at halftime.

St. Mary's Mike Santos threw for 201 yards and three TDs.

“Everybody knows that we like to run the ball, but we have to be able to throw it, too,” said Santos, who finished 7 of 13 for 201 yards and 3 TDs against one interception that came after it deflected off a receiver. “I would just read the safety and when he was biting we were able to take advantage of some plays.”

It was that one interception that led to Lyndhurst’s first score as sophomore middle linebacker Joseph Catena hauled in the ricochet and one play later Joel Tejada ripped off a 58-yard run over the right side to bring the ball to the St. Mary 8. On the next play fullback David Schneidenback bulled his way in as the Bears cut the lead to 26-6.

St. Mary answered with a signature drive of five straight running plays with the ball carried each time by Kyree Tyson-Jones for a total of 18 yards. Santos hit Jeremy Thomas for 23 yards to convert a third-and-10 and on the next play Tyson-Jones went 19 yards for the score that put the Gaels up 34-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Nick Marino threw for 77 yards and a touchdown for Lyndhurst.

Lyndhurst is a young team and Rubinetti’s post game speech focused on the positives of the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. The Bears drove 59 yards in seven plays for a score as, on a third-and-12 from midfield, junior quarterback Nick Marino floated a ball up the right sideline for Danny Kesack and he outdueled a defender to make the reception and fought his way into the end zone.

The Bears crept within three scores at 34-13 and Luis Tejada then recovered the onside kick. But an interception by Thomas McPherson gave the Gaels the ball back and Santos and Spanarkel finished their productive day with a 32 yard scoring strike on a third-and-23 with just over 4 minutes to play.

“We did some good things and showed that we still wanted to play in the second half. Number 10 [Kesack] is a freshman, No. 50 [Nick Galvez] is a freshman, No. 22 [Marc Carrier], 52 [Catena] and 86 [Thomas Hayes] are sophomores. We are playing with young kids out here and it showed at times today,” said Rubinetti. “The question marks for us were how we were going to deal with adversity when it showed up. I thought we might have started to doubt ourselves a little bit, but the coaches got them back in it in the second half. We have a lot to work with, but we have a lot of work to do with them.”

Andrew Spanarkel hauling in one of his 4 receptions that totalled 157 yards and 2 TDs.

Joel Tejada played especially well after halftime for Lyndhurst (1-1). After being held to just 13 yards on five carries through the first two quarters, he finished with 123 yards on 11 carries for the game. Marino, a first-year starter, completed 6 of 13 passes for 77 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

St. Mary piled up yardage in both phases of the game as both Jones-Tyson (21 carries, 109 yards, 2 TD) and Qadree Hubbard (19 carries, 145 yards, TD) both topped the 100-yard rushing mark and Spanarkel finished with 157 reception yards to go along with two TDs.

“We are run first, so whenever you get an opportunity you have to take advantage of it. We always pound the rock and that sets us up for play action,” said Spanarkel, a senior. “This was a big win for us and we just have to keep working. We are looking for a state title.”

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