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Germano, BC run past St. Anthony's
Bergen Catholic's Jon Germano (4) waits for the snap against St. Anthony's.
Photo by Bill Mueller
It was the most anticipated football game of the tri-state for the past few months. Bergen Catholic had never played against a Long Island team in its program’s previous 553 games.
The Crusaders made number 554 count in a big way.
Bergen Catholic, MSG Varsity’s No. 2 ranked team in the tri-state, rode the strength of quarterback Jon Germano’s 16-for-20, 297-yard performance in which he threw for four touchdowns in a emphatic 59-21 win over No. 5 St. Anthony’s.
The St. Anthony’s loss put an end to its 29-game winning streak, a run that started back on October 3, 2009.
Germano, the winner of this summer’s MSG Varsity’s Tri-State QB Challenge, put on an offensive exhibition for the Friday Night Football crowd. Along with completing 80 percent of his passes, Germano ran the ball six times for 50 yards and added a rushing touchdown.
“We just want to focus on the task at hand and just want to go 1-0 every week,” Germano said. “We’ve been working hard since January.”
Bergen Catholic Nunzio Campanile had nothing but stellar words for his all-state quarterback.
“I think he’s the best football player in New Jersey. I think I would trust him with anything that you could do,” said Campanile. “He is as mature as a football player that you could find. He’s exactly what a high school football player should be.”
The Crusaders pounced early and often, forcing four Friars turnovers which led to points on the board by the boys from Jersey.
“Our defense created some turnovers early in the game and got in us in great field position and scored us a touchdown,” Campanile said. “I think we put them in a position where they had to play a game that they really didn’t want to play and I think that helped us.”
An unusual position for St. Anthony’s is being behind on the scoreboard. Following a fumble from St. Anthony’s running back Jordan Gowins in the first quarter, the Crusaders attacked with the game’s first score coming on a Germano 64-yard touchdown pass to John Feaster.
Just two possessions later after Bergen Catholic itself fumbled on the Friars two-yard line, JP Garcia forced the loose ball on a pitch to Gowins. Danny Grasso had no problem picking up the rolling pigskin in the endzone to give the Crusaders a 14-0 lead.
Bergen would continue to pounce by scoring the game’s first 24 points and taking a 31-7 lead into the half.
“I don’t know if we made a statement, I think that we proved to ourselves that we are capable of being the team that we could be,” said Campanile. “I think we need to play like that every week, we got a lot of tough games.”
Bergen Catholic wide receiver JJ Kulcsar, who pulled in a 36-yard touchdown pass to end the second quarter, is already looking towards Bergen’s next encounter in Las Vegas against Bishop Gorman.
“It was incredible. We planned this whole season on this one game,” Kulcsar said. “Now that we accomplished it its on to our next goal which is beating Bishop Gorman.”
Campanile also knows of the hard road that stares his team in the face, with opponents like Gorman, St. Joe’s (Mont.) and Don Bosco Prep waiting for them in the next few weeks.
“I think with opponents like that its hard not to be focused,” Campanile said. “We’re pretty aware of the task that we took on.
“We’re ready to get on that plane and go to work.”
Contact Tom Liodice at tliodice@cablevision.com. Follow him on Twitter: @MSGV_TLiodice
