Bergen Catholic storms back to beat DePaul Catholic 34-10
Even before kickoff against DePaul Catholic on Friday night at Alumni Field(De Paul Catholic High School), the Bergen Catholic Crusaders were dealing with a couple of off the field issues with start defensive lineman Tywone Malone out with an injury coupled with breaking news of next week’s home game vs. Don Bosco Prep postponed.
Once the game got underway, the Crusaders were quickly behind the eight ball as two early turnovers led to DePaul Catholic talking a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. However, Bergen Catholic relied on a dynamic playmaker in junior running back Ryan Butler. Fresh off a three-touchdown, 108-yard performance a week ago in the home opener against Paramus Catholic at the newly christened “Jack McGovern Field”, Butler put on another spectacular show.
Atoning for an earlier fumble, Butler took a handoff from quarterback Steve Angeli and exploded through the hole for a 76-yard touchdown run that cut the Spartans advantage with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, it appeared as thought Bergen Catholic would be on the verge of taking the lead. Starting out their own 20-yard line with less than 10 minutes, the Crusaders offense went to work with Angeli completing a couple of passes combined with Butler picking up chunks of yardage on the ground. Facing a fourth and 12 at the DePaul Catholic 26-yard line the drive would fizzle out as defense lineman sacked Angeli.
After a rough first quarter defensively allowing a 60-yard touchdown pass from Spartans quarterback Andrew Butler to wide receiver A’Khoury Lyde and Butler to throw for 133 yards , the Bergen Catholic defense locked it down with sophomore defensive DJ Samuels sacking Butler on the ensuing DePaul Catholic offensive possession. Forcing a punt ended up changing the complexion of the game as the ball was muffed by the punter enabling junior linebacker AJ Morris to scoop up a loose ball and return it 35 yards for the score with four and half minutes left on the clock.
Crusaders Head Coach Vito Campanile overcoming the early deficit, “Any championship team you got to come from behind and first time we have been behind all year.” “We got down and I’m really proud of more than anything is the fact that we were able to respond to that.” I think through any season you look to overcome adversity and here tonight there was a lot of emotion.”
“I thought we were focused as I’ve ever seen us in pre-game and obviously with Ty (Malone) being out and emotion of that is and how much he means to our school and team and you just can’t help feel his positivity.”
“I’m so happy for AJ (Morris), we have this accountability matrix and he is just a guy that has done everything right from start to finish and since the day he got here and a great character kid.” “He is a kid that continuously gotten better week to week and so excited for him. He is a great teammate, great basketball player and I tell him you could be a super athlete in college football. I love to say you never know when your time is going to come and to make a play for your team.”
With DePaul Catholic receiving the second half kickoff, Butler quickly moved the offense down the field by completing several passes. A couple of key run plays from running back Jordan Sellers moved the ball inside the Bergen Catholic 10-yard line. Once again the Crusaders defense rose to the occasion forcing a fumble as junior Christian Ross picked up the ball and rumbled 89 yards to the end zone making it a 21-10 contest with less than six minutes left.
Relentless on defense the Bergen Catholic defense forced the Spartans into putting away the ball a couple of times while Samuels registered his second sack of the game. In the fourth quarter it was time for Butler to put on a highlight reel show. Pinned deep inside at the five-yard line the Crusaders offense came up with a critical third down conversion with Angeli hitting wide receiver Santino Correa for 15 yards. Butler did the rest on the ground by running the ball on six consecutive plays including finishing off the drive by muscling into the end zone on a 16-yard run with seven minutes to go.
Finishing the game in grand style, Butler ripped off a 37-yard score with a three and half minutes remaining taking the handoff and barreling down the left sidelines while side stepping defenders to reach the end zone. Butler amassed nearly 250 yards on the ground as Bergen Catholic cruised to the 34-10 victory while improving to 4-0 on the season.
“I really want to do anything for our team to win the game and if that’s up to me out there and get some dominant runs I got to do it for the team,” said Ryan Butler. “I know we had to put this game away, it was going to be running the game and dominating the second half. The offensive line did a great job, I tell them give me a little sliver and I’ll make something happen for you guys. We got down a little bit and picked it right back up. We know that our offense can be as explosive as anyone in the country and that’s what happened and we were able to come out with the win.”
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