Saturday, November 19, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Vin Acolese III celebrated North Bergen's 10-7 overtime win against Union City and the fulfillment of a promise made to his grandfather, the Bruins' head coach, long ago.

UNION CITY – Vin Ascolese III does not particularly remember what holiday it was or exactly how old he was. But he remembers every detail of being a little boy and the conversation he had with his grandfather, who happens to be the legendary head coach at North Bergen with the same name as his. The younger Ascolese told the elder how his dream was to play for him and lead a Bruins team him to Giants Stadium to play in a state championship game. After three seasons of frustration and with Friday possibly being the last game of the elder Ascolese’s 50-year coaching career, it represented one last opportunity for the younger Ascolese to deliver on a promise he made to his grandpa so many years ago.

Clinging to a three-point lead in overtime against archrival Union City, it was up to the Bruins’ defense to make one final stop. Right on cue, Ascolese made the first hit on a huge sack on third down and Nick Garcia followed with another one to end the game as Ascolese and Co. delivered on its promise and sixth-seeded North Bergen avenged a regular-season defeat and advanced to the North 1, Group 4 final with a hard-fought 10-7 triumph over second-seeded Union City in front of a packed house at Roosevelt Stadium on the roof of Union City High School.

“It’s easy to play hard every play when you’re playing for someone you love,” said Vin Ascolese III, who has five Division 1 scholarship offers, including ones from Illinois and Michigan State. “I love my teammates and the coaches here, but we all wanted this one for pops. We know how much it means for him to go out as a champion and we’re one step closer.”

Union City quarterback Isaiah Moreira scored with 29 seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 7.

In the teams’ regular-season meeting, Union City scored a pair of early defensive TDs and held on for a 14-12 victory. This time, it was the Bruins who got off to the fast start. Eric McMullen busted up the middle, cut back against the grain, and went untouched 67 yards to pay dirt on the second play from scrimmage to give North Bergen a 7-0 lead just 56 seconds into the game.

“I got through to the second level, made a cut and saw nothing but the end zone,” said McMullen, a 6-foot, 215-pound senior. “I just try to hit the hole hard and make big plays every time I touch the ball. My line did all the work and I knew once I made that one cut that I was gone.”

It looked like the score would stay that way until halftime as the teams combined for one first down from that point until Union City’s final drive of the half. The Soaring Eagles got their initial first down of the game with 3:41 left in the second quarter when Steve Le went for 22 yards on a jet sweep. Junior quarterback Isaiah Moreira finished off the drive by rolling to his right and stretching the ball out to reach the pylon on a third-and-goal for a 3-yard TD with 29 seconds left in the half. Kevin Roman tacked on the extra-point to tie the game, 7-7.

Things nearly went from bad to worse for the Bruins as a Sergio Rodriguez pass was intercepted by Union City’s Ralph Colindres. On the ensuing play, the Bruins were hit with both a facemask penalty and a personal foul to give the Soaring Eagles 30 free yards, but there was never any finger pointing or any signs of panic as North Bergen’s lunch pail defense dug in their cleats and forced a punt three plays later.

Eric McMullen scored early to put North Bergen in front.

“That was a really big stop that showed how far we’ve come from this time last year,” said Vin Ascolese, the North Bergen head coach. “That might have been a point in a game last year where we lost focus or allowed a situation like that to get the best of us. We play hard on every play and we play until the end. You can’t worry too much about adversity because there was no tomorrow for us if we lost. We had to leave it all on the field and just get right back to work.”

The remainder of the second half was similar to the first with both defenses dominating this old school, smash-mouth-slugfest. Only one drive by each team went into the opposing team’s territory with the final drive of the half for North Bergen being the only one with a legitimate chance to score. Rodriguez hit Denzell Leitch for a 30-yard gain to get the Bruins within striking distance. They got all the way down to the 13, but time expired and the teams would need overtime to determine a victor.

Union City won the toss and elected to play defense first. The Bruins quickly moved the ball with McMullen doing most of the damage as they got down to the Soaring Eagles’ 3 before being forced to try a field goal from 25 yards out. Muriel is not a natural kicker by any means and looks every bit of being the team’s starting center. True to form, it was not the prettiest of kicks, but it was effective. The kick snuck inside the right upright to put North Bergen ahead, 10-7.

That left game up to the Bruin defense, which had its ears pinned back all night long. On a third-and-seven from the 22, Moreira dropped back to pass only to by met by a crunching hit from Ascolese III. Moreira stumbled and tried to regain his balance before being dropped by Alex Rodriguez for an eight-yard loss. On the Soaring Eagles’ last chance, Moreira was sacked again, this time by Garcia, to touch off a wild, emotional celebration.

Roy Santiago and Union City fell to 8-2 with one regular season game left on the schedule.

“This feels incredible, I don’t know any other words to describe it,” said McMullen. “We put our heart and soul into this game and we won it because we believed in each other. Our team is like one big family on and off the field and that paid off tonight. Even when things weren’t going our way, we kept our motor running and we kept fighting.”

Just as predicted some 10-11 years ago, both Vin Ascolese and Vin Ascolese III will be side-by-side when they walk through the tunnel at Giants (now known as MetLife) Stadium. There they will face the winner of top-seeded Montclair vs. fourth-seeded West Orange.

As the elder Ascolese gave his victory speech, the younger Ascolese could finally let the emotions that he had held inside all game out for everyone to see and hear. From continually telling his grandpa that the team did this for him to hugging what seemed like an endless amount of family members, Ascolese III realized his dream and now wants to take it even a step further by closing out both the family's last run through the state tournament with a title.

“We know a lot of people think we’re not supposed to be here, but we’re here. Now that we’re here, we want it all,” added Ascolese III. “I remember hearing about how all of my uncles won state championships and I wanted to be able to say the same thing. We’re one game away now and there is no better way I can imagine ending grandpa’s 50 years than the way he deserves to go out...as a champion.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.