ORADELL – The gap between New Jersey’s No. 1 football team, Bergen Catholic, and the rest of the state may have grown a little wider this month - we’ll find out more in the next two weeks.
Senior quarterback Dominic Campanile, the coach’s savvy son, threw three touchdown passes and the Crusaders’ defense was even more dominant in a 34-0 victory over Paramus Catholic on Saturday in the Super Football Conference.
“These next two weeks are basically going to give you the seeds to the [Non-Public A] playoffs, so we’ve got to come out and play football,” Bergen Catholic coach Vito Campanile said of road games at fellow state powers Delbarton and St. Joseph.
Bergen Catholic, the three-time defending Non-Public A champion, was businesslike Saturday. Campanile was 21-for-25 for 191 yards, three TDs and no interceptions before taking a seat late in the third quarter with Bergen Catholic (5-1) leading 34-0.
Campanile threw a 13-yard TD pass to senior tight end John Morris for a 7-0 lead and tossed scoring passes of 4 and 54 yards to All-State senior receiver Quincy Porter to propel the Crusaders to their 20 th consecutive victory against Garden State foes.
Junior running back Najee Calhoun scored on a 3-yard run in the first quarter to extend the Crusaders’ lead to 13-0, and he scored on a 2-yard run at 6:45 of the third to stretch the lead to 34-0 and trigger the running-clock rule.
Bergen Catholic’s defense did not allow injury-slowed Paramus Catholic (3-3) inside its 40-yard line. Senior defensive back Naiim Parrish created the final TD with an interception and return to set up a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line. Junior linebacker Mason Marck also had a third-quarter interception in Paramus Catholic territory.
“I thought our defense played pretty well. We’ve got to do a little bit better job on third down,” Vito Campanile said. “It’s hard, because you win 34-0 and you’re looking for things to get better at. And I think that’s what it’s really about. It’s just establishing our culture to be the best version of us every time we play. So we’re going to find stuff to progress at, continue to get better at.”
What it means
Bergen Catholic, No. 1 in the USA TODAY New Jersey Super 25 , has the inside track on the No. 1 seed in Non-Public A heading into next Saturday’s showdown against the team it beat in last year’s state final, Delbarton. The following Saturday, the Crusaders play at St. Joseph. The seeding meeting is Nov. 3, and every team wants to be the one to take down the three-time defending champion.
“That’s the target we have on our back,” Dominic Campanile said. “Everybody has something to say about Bergen Catholic, but that’s the noise outside. What really matters is what’s in this locker room, and what these coaches have to say, and they’ve been doing their thing for years, and they know how to win. We know how to win games, and we’re going to do that.”
“We’re trying to be the best team in New Jersey every time we step on the field, and these next two weeks, especially, we’re going to establish who those best teams are, so we’ve got to be ready to go,” said Vito Campanile, a former All-State quarterback at Paramus Catholic.
Paramus Catholic (3-3) entered the weekend No. 15 in the New Jersey Super 25 and should remain in the rankings despite the lop-sided score. The Paladins were again without senior quarterback Crew Colon and also were minus standout senior running back Xavier Williams, a late-week scratch whose injury coach Greg Russo understandably declined to explain.
“We’re hoping to get him back at the end of the year,” Russo said of Williams. “I’m not going to give out his injury and let people target him when he comes back, but he had something, and he couldn’t play, and we found out [Friday]. It is what it is, and it was my decision not to play him, and hopefully we get him back, because he’s been playing outstanding.”
By the numbers
Bergen Catholic had 292 total yards, featuring 225 in the first half to build the 27-0 halftime lead. The Crusaders attacked with runs up the middle to Calhoun and junior running back Dante Kain and passes to the sideline. Campanile found seven different receivers, with Porter making five catches for 81 yards and the two TDs.
Paramus Catholic had 155 total yards. Junior Marco Green, making his second start at quarterback, was 14-for-26 for 128 yards and two interceptions. The Paladins’ longest gain was a 21-yard completion in the fourth from Green to freshman receiver AJ Lopez.
They said it
“It was about getting out today and being super locked in on what we need to do, and being more block-efficient,” said Dominic Campanile, who surpassed 1,000 passing yards for the season. “We threw the ball really well, ran the ball really well, and we kind of got better as a team today.”
“I thought my guys played hard – I don’t think we played well all the time, but we played hard,” said Russo, whose next game is Friday at Red Bank Catholic. “Now we’ve got to start playing well. Now we’ll have a week to figure it out.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Catholic football looks ahead to pivotal matchups after win over Paramus Catholic
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