Sunday, October 2, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Jabari Garvin scored one of St. Joseph Regional's four second half TDs as the Green Knights improved to 4-0 with a 42-17 win over Paramus.

MONTVALE – Paramus was in the game. The Spartans, looking to spring an upset on the road at undefeated St. Joseph, got 31-yard field goal with six seconds left in the second quarter to draw within four points and head into the locker room with a chance to make adjustments and a real run at one of Bergen County's parochial powerhouses. But any momentum that the Spartans might have brought into the second half quickly switched directions as St. Joseph got the ball to open the third quarter and did not give it back until it put together a signature scoring drive.

Four straight running plays brought the Knights past midfield and then one sweep around the left side by Sherman Alston on which he outran the defense to the edge and then used a downfield block by Michael Osofsky on the final defender to reach the end zone from 45 yards away. After that it was all St. Joseph as it improved to 4-0 on the season with a 42-17 win on Saturday afternoon.

“Our kids need to go through some of this adversity. That is what helps you build some character along the way. These are the kinds of games that we have to go through to see what we are made of individually and as a team,” said SJR head coach Tony Karcich. “We have a lot of youth and you don't know how they are going to respond in any given situation, but this is the kind of result we want to see from a young and improving football team.”

Paramus' Tyler Garguilo about to haul in the TD pass that tied the game at 7.

The teams exchanged touchdown passes to open the scoring as Christian Stapleton caught one from sophomore quarterback Spencer Aukamp to put St. Joseph in front and Paramus answered with a fade pattern from Michael Bussanich to Tyler Garguilo that covered 22 yards and tied the game at 7 with 9:14 left in the opening half. SJR retook the lead on a 29-yard scoring run by Sherman Alston before a 31 yard-field goal with six seconds left in the first half got Paramus back to within 14-10.

But after halftime, St. Joseph started to wear down the Spartans, running right at them on the opening drive of the third quarter that ultimately turned the game in the Green Knights' favor for good. Leading up to Alston's 45-yard score, Joe's three different ball carriers – Alston, Jabari Garvin and Jeff Farina – to get the offense rolling downhill.

“I thought our kids played a helluva first half and we felt real good about things at halftime. But they obviously realized that they needed to come out and play us up to the top of their abilities and they wore us down,” said Paramus head coach Dan Sabella. “We just didn't have enough answers in the second half for some of their speed and some of their depth. We let them get outside us a bunch of times, we missed a ton of tackles, we never got our run game going the way we needed to and it got away from us.”

Mark Cieslak and the SJR defense were dominat in the second half.

Meanwhile, SJR was clicking on both sides of the ball as it held Paramus to a three-and-out on its first second half possession and, after a shanked punt, Garvin broke through the line between the tackle and end and headed into the secondary on the Knights' next play from scrimmage. Garvin cut back to the left, and had a shot at the pylon on the other side of the field before the path was cleared completely by Aukamp, who hustled out in front and took out the last defender. Mark Fossati added the extra point and SJR had some breathing room, ahead 28-10 with 8:09 left to play in the third quarter.

After another three-and-out forced by its defense, Aukamp scored on a six-yard keeper to up the advantage to 35-10 with the Knights third score of the third quarter. St. Joseph scored on four of its five second half possession and only came up empty when a Fossati field goal attempt from 34 yards out sailed just wide of the mark late in the third quarter. Marcus Jemison had the Knights' other touchdown, carrying the ball on every play of a six-play, 59-yard drive that gave St. Joseph a 42-10 lead.

Paramus' lone second half score came after the first-team defense had departed. Bussanich and Garguilo hooked up from 11 yards out with three second remaining in the game, but while SJR's defensive starters were in the game in the second half, they held the Spartans' offense to three punts and a turnover on downs. That is not easy to do against Paramus' diverse passing game. The Spartans use multiple formations and send a lot of receivers into routes and don't give defenses many clean shots as they spread the ball around with the short passing game.

QB Michael Bussanich threw for two scores for Paramus, which fell to 2-1 on the season.

“In the first half we weren't really no what to do on some plays. But we figured it out and in the second half we came out with a whole new mentality and really shut them down,” said SJR middle linebacker Mark Cieslak, who is looking forward to next week's matchup against Ramapo, a team that beat the Knights on their own home field one year ago. “Ramapo beat us last year and we remember that, believe me. We are going to go back to work and practice harder than we have all year for that one. We are definitely looking for some payback.”

St. Joseph will head into that game with a perfect 4-0 record, while Paramus (2-1) will have little time to dwell on its first loss of the season. There can be no tougher five day stretch than playing at St. Joseph on Saturday and then have a short week to prepare for defending North 1, Group 3 state champion Wayne Hills on Thursday night.

“We've got to get our kids heads back in it and we have to get over this one quick. Playing in five days will give us the opportunity to do that and to get back playing the way we did today in the first half for four quarters,” said Sabella. “If we can do that, we have a shot.”

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