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Long: Crusaders D impressive in shutout

With the sweltering heat beating down on the Crusader Stadium turf on Thursday, Bergen Catholic looked as cool as can be and seemingly turned up the heat at will on the visiting Roxbury Gaels in a 49-0 victory to close out their preseason. BC took advantage of three consecutive Roxbury turnovers deep in Gaels territory, and turned the scrimmage into a rout.

Roxbury came into Oradell as a defending sectional champion, but in all honesty, a much different team personnel wise after many key contributors graduated from the program's second-ever championship football team from a season ago. They did return their star player in Angelo Mangiro, a hulking offensive guard who will play for Penn State next fall.

This scrimmage closely resembled a regular season game, except for the fact that each kickoff and punt performed allowed the kicker to strike the ball, but did not allow for returns. Roxbury started with the first possession on offense and converted a long third down pass. After that 15-yard pass completion, the Roxbury offensive drive stalled and the Gaels were forced to punt. BC got their offense on the field for the first time, but that unit quickly exited after a three-and-out. For a change this preseason, the BC defense was the unit that would dominate in the beginning of a scrimmage.

The Crusader defensive line swarmed around the Roxbury quarterback like bees protecting the hive. Routinely Zach Sparber and Anthony Davanzo burst through the line and pressured the quarterback and running backs immediately. Sparber provided a sack, and Roxbury quickly had to punt yet again. This time around, the BC offense would not only see three plays on the field and then immediately find their way to the sidelines.

Tanner McEvoy took control of the ensuing drive, and displayed his jaw dropping abilities on the field with his feet, instead of his arm. On the first quarterback designed run called in by Coach Nunzio Campanile on the afternoon, McEvoy took the snap and followed the superior blocking on his right side by right guard TC Picariello and right tackle Pat DiMase. With a huge hole up the middle of the field, the BC quarterback sprinted free to the far side of the field and broke through the grasp of a couple of would-be tacklers, before jogging in from 20 yards out into the endzone. In a blink of an eye the Crusaders saw a 52-yard rushing touchdown from their star athlete, and the BC offense was unleashed.

It seemed like the BC defensive unit was aware that its counterparts were coming to life, as the defense continued to make the Roxbury offensive line sweat on the hot day with their constant pressure. On a run sweep play to the near sideline, the Roxbury tailback fumbled the ball and was quickly met in the backfield by a host of BC defenders who fell on the ball and created the first turnover for the unit. The BC offense took advantage in Roxbury's side of the field when Spencer Kulcsar, who seemingly makes an outstanding run every game, exploded through the line of scrimmage, was thought to be stopped at the 20-yard line, only to see the senior regain his low center of gravity with his pumping legs, and cut across the field to pay dirt for a 31 yard touchdown run to give BC a 14-0 lead.

Roxbury's next possession resulted in another mistake due to the constant pressure delivered by the BC front line of Sparber, DaVanzo, James Horan, and Hunter Kiselick. With a blind lofted pass across his body, the Roxbury QB was picked off by Kulcsar at his weakside linebacking position. Kulcsar got an outstanding block from teammate Karl Bostick, and sprinted down the far side of the field for a 35-yard touchdown return.

To make matters worse for the visitors, Roxbury saw a third consecutive drive end in a turnover in the first quarter, this time an interception from senior Nick LaTesta. LaTesta's pick eventually set up Karl Bostick's 3-yard touchdown run that ended the first quarter, and left the BC sideline jubilant, and the Roxbury sideline shell-shocked. BC led by 28, and had scored their 4 touchdowns in a 4 minute stretch.

The change of sides on the field did nothing to help the Roxbury offense that had been stymied by the Crusader defense. BC sniffed out interior running plays, and stayed disciplined with their pass coverage assignments, especially against screen plays. Kulcsar, Bostick, and Dickerson were impressive as the starting linebackers, while Shane Drummond didn't miss a beat as the rotational linebacker and made several solid tackles that ended a Gaels drive with a turnover on downs.

BC's next offensive series showcased McEvoy's arm strength and his receiver's innate ability and route-running skills. Pinned deep in their own end, the Crusaders connected on a simple bubble screen pass to Chucky Wingate to the far sideline, but Wingate used his incredible ankle-breaking prowess to fake one defender completely out of the play and onto the turf, and allowed the BC junior to scamper an additional 20 yards down the field. Later in the drive McEvoy found Ryan Kelly on the near side of the field, and the junior ran 28 yards into Roxbury territory. BC finally capped off the drive with an easy 12-yard screen pass to Bostick, who planted his first move to the outside, made a defender freeze for a second, and then cut to the inside of the hash marks and ran untouched into the endzone for a score. It was essentially over at that point.

The second half saw the Bergen Catholic reserves continue the inspired play of the starters, with backup quarterback Anthony LiGregni lofting a beautiful 22-yard touchdown pass to the back corner of the endzone to a wide open Jack Gallagher, and in the closing moments of the scrimmage John Feaster found the endzone as well with a touchdown run after Anthony LoVecchio led an impressive drive down the field with primarily a sophomore unit.

The final score was 49-0 in favor of the Crusaders, and I believe that is more a statement on the Crusaders then on the play of the Roxbury Gaels. BC was the faster, more physical, and better conditioned squad on the day. The Crusaders took advantage of every Roxbury mistake, and the offense will be one of the best units throughout the entire state. It was encouraging to say the least to see the defense consistently turn an opponent over, and then cash those turnovers into points. The stars of the day were the offensive and defensive lines. Pat DiMase, TC Picariello, Martin Scheuring, Ryan Rebasch, and Zach Sparber gave their quarterbacks all day to operate and never allowed a sack and never seemed affected by the hot conditions. Even backups in Michael Radespiel and Al Bruno delivered pancake blocks on their defenders and imposed their will in the second half. The defensive line won the trenches and allowed the linebackers to roam in front of would-be receiving targets.

Sure, Roxbury is not on the same level of opponent as LaSalle, or certainly Bosco or St. Peter's Prep, but as everyone at BC will tell you, they are more concerned with how BC plays and not about others. Coach Campanile challenged his team to perform better than they did last weekend, and to bring an intensity and love of football to the field every time they play. This intensity was on display Thursday, and the coaching staff expects to see the same focus and drive on opening day next Saturday.

NOTES

-This season Bergen Catholic's sideline will be located on the far side of the field, opposite the stands at Crusader Stadium.

-In what has become a head-scratching tradition of sorts, Coach Nunzio Campanile continued to wear his coaching jacket and a long sleeve shirt despite the 90 degree weather on the BC field turf. I guess he just likes showing his team how cool a customer he really can be on the sideline.

-There seemed to be 30 seconds left on the clock in the 2nd quarter when BC had the ball and was deep in Roxbury's end, but was called for a motion penalty. Just as BC was about to call their next play, the entire Roxbury sideline began running towards Oradell Avenue, and forced an end to the half. It had to be a weird reminder to BC fans of the Southington game from two years ago, when their Connecticut opponents ran into the Giants Stadium locker room ending the first half with BC driving and plenty of time left on the clock.

ABOUT DAN LONG

Dan Long graduated from Bergen Catholic in 2003 where he was the Sports Director of BCTV and coined the immortal phrase Crusader Crazies for the raucous BC student section. He is currently the radio voice of the Bergen Catholic football and soccer teams, the founder of DL Sports Media, and a weekly contributor to BergenCatholicFootball.com.