NJVarsity.com - Roxbury wins battle of heavyweights

October 12, 2009

Pat PJR Rice
NJVarsity.com Staff Writer

The Game At A Glance: Roxbury won a hard fought game, aided by a blocked punt and an early turnover to beat Delbarton, 21-7. The victory keeps the Gaels undefeated, while for Delbarton it was their second loss of the season.

First Half Highlights: Roxbury received a break by recovering a Delbarton fumble by Robert Rosa on the game's first play at the 28 yard line. They capitalized when Kevin Baker went 23 yards for the score on the wrap around draw play on fourth and 5. Later in the quarter, Roxbury made it happen again when Robert Wallace blocked the punt and Chris Meringolo recovered in the end zone for the score. The extra point failed, but the Gaels still had a 13-0 lead late in the quarter.

Delbarton had a drive to the 15, taking up parts of both quarters, but turned it over on downs when Trevor Bartol blocked a pass on fourth down. Delbarton's next drive was stopped on the first play when nose guard Angelo Mangiro intercepted a ball tipped by Baker on the 32 and returned it to the 29. Roxbury drove as far as the 4-yard line, but Dennis Bencsko intercepted a pass that was blocked by Nick Donatiello and Delbarton took over on its 4.

Second Half Highlights: Delbarton had its break when Roxbury's Eric Guerci fumbled on a reverse and Delbarton recovered on the 22. The Green Wave had first and goal from the 5, but Roxbury held with a goal line stand, taking over on the 1. After a punt, Delbarton had the ball on the Roxbury 21. After getting to the 2, the handoff exchange was fumbled and Bartol recovered for Roxbury on the 5. Delbarton had it back on an interception by Ben Reynolds on the 20. This time, the Green Wave made it count when EJ Schneider found John Wujciak for a score and it was 13-7 with a minute and a half left in the third quarter.

Roxbury answered by going 75 yards on nine plays. Connor Rich put the game away when he scored from three yards out and quarterback Parker Gordon scored on the two point conversion to make it 21-7. Gordon was 5 of 6 passing on the drive, picking up three first downs - the big one being a 26 yarder to Guerci down to the 31 yard line. Delbarton went on a long drive to the 21, but Shaun O'Donnell intercepted and Roxbury had the ball on the 15, effectively killing Delbarton's last chance.

Play Of The Game: The blocked punt by Baker, that Meringolo scored on gave Roxbury the early breathing room it needed.

Game Balls: Wallace played an excellent game at his middle linebacker position and blocked a punt. Mangiro and Bartol had big games in the trenches. Baker made plays on both sides of the ball. Gordon made big passes on their final drive.

Audibles:

Roxbury head coach Cosmo LoRusso - "It was like a playoff atmosphere. It was like an old Ali-Frazier heavyweight battle. Both teams played hard and neither team gave up. On the blocked punt, we worked on that this week and our special teams coach, Frank Misurelli, designed that and we worked on it. The kids executed what we asked them to do and we're real proud of that. Delbarton had three series near the goal line, but we weren't going to give in and showed the will of our team. The drive afterwards was great and our quarterback, Parker Gordon, gives us a dimension we didn't have. Angelo Mangiro was great and our other tackle, Trevor Bartol has become a real good player. Linebacker Robert Wallace and others are real good players. Overall, this is a very good win."

Roxbury lineman Angelo Mangiro - "This win was huge because we were getting a lot of criticism. People were saying we didn't play anybody and we beat a good team. We had two goal line stands and it was awesome. On my interception, it was tipped and I played basketball and jumped up for the rebound. This is a great group of guys to play with. We've been playing together since we were six years old. This is the closest team I've ever played on. I do it for the guy next to me and everybody has the same team mentality. This is satisfying, but Monday we have to get ready for Morristown."

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