By: Joe Haemmerle '86
SEPTEMBER 18 – JERSEY CITY, NJ – The state's #7 ranked Crusaders traveled to Caven Point on Friday night to take on NJ's #2-ranked Marauders of St. Peter's Prep and suffice it to say, the pundits will be singing a different tune on Monday.
Bryan Porter is making a statement about who is the state's top player as he shows his ability to run the football with 154 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown, while still hauling in three receptions for 71 yards as BC took it to SPP 33-16. Coach Campanile chose to kneel on the ball, running out the final minutes of the clock from the St. Peter's 10-yard line, rather than attempt another score.
For Porter, his 225 yards from scrimmage on 19 touches is an impressive 11.8 yards per touch. He added another 15 yards on a kickoff return as well.
Nick Mauro helped pound Prep as well, rushing for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Anthony Willis made three catches including one for a touchdown and the offense welcomed back
Austin Busso who contributed 4 catches for 31 and a pair of first downs.
Trey Tagliaferri just needed to be himself and run the offense. Thirteen for sixteen passing for 134 yards and one touchdown may seem pedestrian in comparison to the numbers he's been putting up, but that's an 81.2% completion rate, a QB Rating of 122.4 and Passing Efficiency of 177.2!
The Marauders drew first blood on a nine-play, 62-yard drive, 7-0. BC was forced to punt for a second-straight possession and needed a stop.
Cruz Araujo made a pair of tackles and after an incomplete pass, the Prep punted to BC, giving the Crusaders the ball at their own 33-yard line.
BC got some strong running from
Anthony Cristiano and
Bryan Porter and their 9-play, 67-yard drive was finished by a 4-yard TD plunge from Nick Mauro.
Brody Carnahan drove the PAT through the uprights and the game was tied.
Awesome defense by the Crusaders allowed a 1-yard gain (tackled by
Darnell Wilson and
Nate Wortley), followed by back-to-back TFLs by
Austin Bryan and
JD Adamek.
After
Anthony Willis made a fair catch on the punt at the SPP 49,
Bryan Porter ripped runs of 11, 5 and 5 before
Austin Busso made an 11-yard reception. Busso caught another pass for a 14-yard gain and Nick Mauro started pounding on the defense once again. The driving was hesitating until
Trey Tagliaferri dropped back on third and goal from the three and hit Willis for touchdown pass in the corner.
Brody Carnahan's kick was up and good and BC led 14-7 with 7:16 remaining in the half.
With 2:05 remaining in the half, the Prep was able to chip away at the BC lead, hitting a field goal and slicing the lead to four. BC continued to focus on one play at a time, driving the ball to field goal range as
Jacob Soltys drove a 42-yard field goal through the uprights as time in the half ran out to give BC a 17-10 lead.
After stopping the first St. Peter's drive of the second half, Prep got a strong dose of Porter and Mauro. Bryan ran three times for 32 yards and Mauro picked up 12 on a pair of carries before the drive sputtered.
Brody Carnahan salvaged it with a 28-yard field goal and BC was up 20-10.
Nate Wortley made a significant tackle for a loss late on the next SPP drive that ultimately resulted in a missed field goal attempt.
And now, for what a strong offensive line and big back can do for you. It is now time for the defense to break and
Bryan Porter was just the guy to do it, ripping off his two longest runs of the evening, one for 37 yards and a second for 52. Moving the ball to the 8-yard line. Fittingly, he imposed his will on consecutive four-yard runs, extending BC's lead to 27-10.
St. Peter's made a desperate try for a comeback and drove the field for a score to close the gap to 27-16, but just as they hoped to gain momentum,
Amar'e Newell burst off the edge and blocked the extra point attempt, keeping the lead at 11.
Bryan Porter rambled off a 33-yard run, and then alternating with Nick Mauro, the two backs drove the ball with Mauro finishing off the drive for a TD.
Amar'e Newell and
Mason Chadwick intercepted SPP passes in the host's final two possessions and Tagliaferri knelt on the ball to run out the clock.
| TEAMS |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
FINAL |
| #7 Bergen Catholic (2-2) |
7 |
10 |
3 |
13 |
33 |
| #2 St. Peter's Prep (3-1) |
7 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
16 |
NOTES:
- NICK MAURO: Nick has been terrorizing offenses, leading the Crusaders in tackles (26) and solo tackles (16). Now that he's doing it on both sides of the ball, who knows what he'll achieve.
- BRYAN PORTER: Bryan Porter is averaging 14.14 yards per play. While a different body type, he is impacting the game in so many ways: receiving, rushing, returning...he starts to remind one of another BC who was great for BC! Porter currently leads BC with 646 yards from scrimmage, 274 return yards and 44 points.
- TREY TAGLIAFERRI: Junior QB Trey Tagliaferri now has thrown for 1,236 yards this season.
- He passes former Crusader QB, Rob Eckrote '09 for 5th on the All-Time Yardage Mark with 3,440 yards.
- Trey now has 32 career touchdown passes tying him at 7th with Brian Saverino '03.
- BC-SPP SERIES: With the victory, BC improved to 19-13 (.594) against St. Peter's Prep including a 6-game winning streak, BC's longest to date against their Hudson County foe.
- PASS TO SCORE, RUN TO WIN: BC has been finding that balance in the past couple of weeks. The victory over SPP was especially satisfying with BC rushing for 269 yards and 13 first downs. They are showing great discipline, yielding zero first downs from penalties.
| GAME STATS |
BC |
SPP |
| 1st Downs |
22 |
15 |
| 1st Downs R / P / Pen |
13 / 8 / 1 |
9 / 6 / 0 |
| Rush Yards |
269 |
129 |
| Pass Comp / Att / Pct. |
13 / 17 / .765 |
12 / 26 / .462 |
| Pass Yards |
134 |
161 |
| Pass TD's / Int |
1 / 0 |
2 / 2 |
| Total Plays |
61 |
53 |
| Total Yardage |
403 |
290 |
| Fumbles / Lost |
0 / 0 |
0 / 0 |
| Defensive Sacks / Yds |
1 / 1 |
2 / 6 |
COMPLETE GAME STATISTICS
SEASON TO-DATE STATISTICS
