CLARK, NJ- The Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders varsity football team will return home to take on Somerville HS tomorrow night, October 20th at 7:00 p.m.
HISTORY:
The two teams have split meetings the past two seasons. Johnson won a road matchup in Week 9 of the 2015 season by a final score of 40-29.
In last year’s Week 7 matchup, Somerville defeated Johnson by a final score of 50-6.
NOTES:
Johnson comes off their bye week and their 22-13 Week 5 win against Hillside HS, where senior fullback and co-captain Joe Turek scored one rushing touchdown, powering the Crusaders, along with 155 rushing yards on 26 carries. Senior kicker Mike Casalino got work on the ground, a five-yard rushing touchdown to open the scoring and a 34-yard field goal, taking advantage of a Hillside facemask penalty to keep a late drive in the second quarter alive, continuing to embrace the role of being a high school kicker.
The win made the Johnson Crusaders the 2017 UNICO Bowl Champions and made them the 2017 Mid-State 38 Valley Division Conference Champions, the first conference championship for Johnson since 2006.
Senior Kevin Metz recorded a fourth quarter interception and rushed for 64 yards on six carries. Senior Brandon Rapp ran for 41 yards on nine carries, including a five-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter that made the score 22-13 Crusaders.
Senior quarterback Mike Bruno also sparked the Crusaders on offense on the ground, running for 72 yards on eight carries, along with a 39-yard rush when a Crusaders drive began at their own six-yard line.
The Johnson defense got into the mix, causing two turnovers in the game last week. The first one was an interception late in the second quarter. Hillside sophomore Nahree Biggins provided a huge 36-yard rush to get the Comets at the Crusaders one-yard line, only to be called back because of a holding penalty. Three plays later, junior Sebastian Iakouchevitch intercepted a pass from Hillside senior quarterback Tajae Irby, a pass that went off a helmet. It occurred in Crusaders territory and Iakouchevitch returned it into Comets territory, setting up Mike Casalino’s 34-yard field goal late in the second quarter. The second turnover was an interception by senior Kevin Metz, as Irby threw a deep pass on the first play of an early fourth quarter drive, only to be read perfectly and picked off by Metz. Johnson milked the clock and used a four-minute drive, ending it with a touchdown from Rapp.
In total, the Johnson running game has totaled numbers of 1,845 yards on 175 carries. Turek leads the offense with 670 rushing yards on 75 carries, to go along with eight rushing touchdowns.
Somerville is coming off a 60-7 Week 6 win over Governor Livingston HS in their Senior Night game. They are led by senior quarterback Ryan Kovacs, who is filling in the shoes of former QB Nick Couzzi, who graduated last year.
Other major talent the Pioneers lost to graduation last year include Chris Ciempola, Nasyr Petties-Jackson, Ahmad Lee, Keyshawn Newton, who powered the Pioneers on the passing game, along with losses on the ground game, including RBs Newton, Couzzi and Petties-Jackson.
Kovacs is 50-for-76 on the season with 700 passing yards and nine touchdown passes, along with one interception.
Other players on Somerville for Johnson to watch on Friday night include receivers Joe Ciempola and Duke McDuffie, who are major targets on the passing game, while McDuffie, Jalahn Dabney, Marcus Burnside and junior Robbie Fiorentino lead the way for Somerville on the rushing game.
Another statistic to watch out for, is Somerville on the two-point conversion attempts. They’ve successfully converted 13 times, five of them by Fiorentino, while two times apiece for Ciempola, McDuffie and Kasi Miller.
If the Johnson Crusaders continue to play the way they’ve always been playing, hard, fast, physical and going at the football and charging through other team’s defenses on offense and drawing up good game plans, they will compete on Friday night.
The way the Johnson defense fought hard against Hillside, playing hard, fast, physical and going at the football and charging through other team’s defenses on offense, limiting all mistakes, playing a clean, physical game and drawing up good game plans, they will compete Friday night.
Another major factor will be how the Johnson running game can do, especially with fighting to remain on the field by charging Hillside’s defense, to keep their offense off the field and milk time off the clock.
Somerville’s defense has been elite all season long. While the offense didn’t really get going in the first half of the games all year long, the defense kept them in the game.
In their home opener against Cranford, it was 8-3 Somerville at halftime, before the offense picked it up. It was 13-13 at halftime against North Plainfield in Week 2. In Week 4, the defense stopped Warren Hills on three fourth-down conversion attempts and kept the game scoreless at halftime before the offense took over in the second half.
Last year’s matchup was over at halftime, Somerville led Johnson 9-0 after the first quarter and led 37-0 at halftime, not allowing the Crusaders to gain one first down in the first half.
Chris Di Nucci’s new defensive system, teaching the players the hands-on style of defense, will face their fourth major test this season. With Somerville’s passing game and defense, their passing game has been a major factor towards their success. If the Johnson defense can charge and chase Ryan Kovacs, slow down Fiorentino, Burnside, McDuffie and Dabney on the rushing game, along with slowing down the receivers, it is quite possible that could stand out as a factor as to the outcome of tomorrow night’s game.
Somerville opened up their 2017 season in their Week 1 home opener, defeating Cranford HS by a final score of 36-16. They defeated North Plainfield HS in Week 2 by a final score of 54-25. They also defeated Voorhees HS in Week 3 by a final score of 34-20, despite trailing 17-6 in the first half.
They defeated Warren Hills in Week 4 by a final score of 26-7, after being scoreless at halftime. They were defeated by Rahway HS in Week 5 by a final score of 27-6, their first regular season loss since 2015.
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