CLARK, NJ- The Johnson Crusaders varsity football team defeated the Hillside Comets by a final score of 22-13. The game featured major discipline by the Crusaders, a slow-gaining game on the ground, along with a fast and physical defense that really came ready to play, matching the physical Hillside front and defense when the Crusaders were on offense. These elements elements helped Johnson take major control and come through with the win.
Along with the win, the Johnson Crusaders won the 2017 UNICO Bowl and are the 2017 Mid-State 38 Valley Division Conference Champions. It is the first time since 2006 that Johnson won a conference championship.
The offense was fueled by senior fullback and co-captain Joe Turek, who ran for 155 yards on 26 carries, along with an 11-yard rushing touchdown that gave Johnson a 12-7 lead in the second quarter. Senior quarterback Mike Bruno ran for 72 yards on eight carries.
Senior kicker Mike Casalino got in the offensive mix, a five-yard rushing touchdown to open the scoring. Senior Brandon Rapp recorded a five-yard rushing touchdown that sealed the deal with 6:44 left, a drive that lasted a total of 8:08 (began with 2:52 left in the third quarter, ended with 6:44 left in the fourth quarter).
Here Are Three Things We Learned From the Home Win:
1.) The Defense Stopped Hillside in the Dangerous Drives, Crucial Parts of the Game
Overall, the defense in this game, was much improved from last year, when the Comets stormed back in the fourth quarter after trailing 23-7 with nine minutes to go. They went after the Hillside players, who were physical as a whole. The Comets came in only losing to Rahway in their home opener and held off a tough Roselle-Abraham Clark team the week prior.
The Johnson defense has come up big in key situations all year long, most particularly in the closer games, which was the September 22 game against Roselle-Abraham Clark HS. Against Hillside, they came up big, knowing a few major tasks were on hand. The defense needed to battle a physical Comets offensive line to get at players like James Louis, Brian Ugwu and Nahree Biggins, who were dangerous on the ground game.
In the second quarter, right after Joe Turek’s 11-yard rushing touchdown put Johnson ahead 12-7 with 2:34 left, the defense took advantage of an undisciplined Comets offense. After seemingly giving up a huge rush, the Comets were called for holding, backing them up ten extra yards.
A few plays after that, the players needed to be in the attack mode, a pass was thrown and it appeared to tip off a helmet. Junior Sebastian Iakouchevitch turned that into an interception. He got the ball to the Hillside 25-yard line, cancelling out a Hillside scoring opportunity in the final 30 seconds.
The Comets passing game couldn’t get anything majorly completed, as the Crusaders continued to break up everything that came their way. Earlier on in the second quarter, Hillside senior quarterback Tajae Irby tried to go deep for the end zone on a fourth down conversion, but after a tight move at the ball, it was dropped and the Comets turned the ball over on downs. After allowing a touchdown that cut their lead to 15-13, the Crusaders defense bit hard with a jarring hit to keep Hillside out of the end zone to maintain the lead.
The Johnson defense helped to pick up the offense when they couldn’t quite ball movement down the field. In the fourth quarter, as the Comets offense took the field following a Crusaders punt, Irby went deep, but was met by Johnson senior Kevin Metz in the air. He grabbed Irby’s pass and took it back down the field to give the Johnson offense another opportunity to add more points to the board. Irby was 31-for-43 with 755 passing yards, to go along with six touchdown passes and one interception. On the night, he only went 2-for-9 with 25 passing yards and was intercepted twice by the Johnson defense.
The Johnson defense now has seven interceptions on the season, one shy than their 2016 total, which was eight. Metz has two interceptions, while Joe Turek, Sebastian Iakouchevitch, Mike Casalino, Brandon Rapp and Jordan Fedak have hauled in passes from opposing team quarterbacks. The defense stepped up in the major games, like repeated, based on the schedule, started with Roselle-Abraham Clark, then Delaware Valley and now Hillside.
2.) The Running Game, The Offensive Line and Clock Management Go Hand-In-Hand
In one of the biggest games, with the UNICO Bowl, the conference championship and a lot more at stake, the players began practice and continued working hard to bring the UNICO trophy home. The running game came up big in the key drives, although the totals weren’t equivalent of the other games played on the schedule. It was expected they were going to have to fight a physical Hillside defense, which only allowed 19 points during their three-game winning streak.
In the win, Johnson ran the ball for 391 yards on 55 carries. There were no major outbursts on the ground earlier on, as the Crusaders milked portions of the clock to keep the Hillside offense on the sideline and off the field.
It was fueled by senior fullback and co-captain Joe Turek, who ran for 155 yards on 26 carries, along with an 11-yard rushing touchdown. Senior kicker Mike Casalino scored 11 of the team’s 22 on the night, including a five-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter. He also converted on a 34-yard field goal, providing big points and sending Johnson into halftime with a 15-7 lead.
Senior quarterback Mike Bruno ran for 72 yards on eight carries, featuring a crucial 39-yard rush when his team started a drive at their own six-yard line near the end of the third quarter. Bruno has done what he’s done all season long, leading the offense. The Crusaders simply did what they had to do, continuing to run with the ball, to keep the clock running and keep the Comets offense and passing game off the field. Although they punted a number of times on the evening, they got the job done during the drives when it mattered the most.
Following Sebastian Iakouchevitch intercepting Tajae Irby’s pass near the end of the second quarter, the offense saw a chance to cash in, especially with Hillside getting the ball to start the second half. They wasted no time going right to work, including holding their composure on a major facemask penalty that gave Johnson the ball half the distance to the goal line.
Mike Casalino buried a 34-yard field goal that made it 15-7 Johnson at halftime. That would be huge with Hillside scoring a touchdown to start the third quarter. The third quarter featured most of the battle on the defensive side of the ball, but Johnson held down Hillside and kept them at bay. The biggest thing was slowing down Irby and the passing game. Irby only completed two passes for 25 yards and was intercepted twice on the evening.
As the fourth quarter started up, Johnson held on to a 15-13 lead over Hillside and as seen earlier in the game, long drives to burn the clock were crucial in the Week 3 win over Roselle-Abraham Clark HS and it was major to do the same thing here and that’s what Johnson did. It’s also a major credit to the Johnson offensive line, composed of sophomore Patrick Brennan, senior Dan Olenick, junior Luke Giltner, seniors James Greenbush and Eddie Weingartner and junior Rico Veltre, who withstood a physical Hillside defense that’s played more consistent in the season.
After Kevin Metz intercepted Tajae Irby with 10:56 left in the fourth quarter, the Crusaders offense took the field at the Hillside 35-yard line. With several short rushing plays and using the clock and the clock management to their advantage, Johnson worked their way deeper into Hillside territory. Metz provided a 20-yard rush to get the Comets five-yard line and four plays later, senior Brandon Rapp provided a five-yard rushing touchdown to bury Hillside and the PAT made the game 22-13 Johnson with 6:44 to go.
3.) Discipline, Discipline, Discipline
Another thing I had in mind prior to the start of the game was for the Crusaders to be able to stay composed and not commit any penalties that might cause them on the evening. Hillside has the guys who can make the big plays and possibly get frustrated at each other.
The one thing I noticed was that for most of the plays of the drives for Hillside, Tajae Irby would appear to yelling to hike the ball, but try to pull a fake one to draw Johnson offsides, but the Crusaders defense wouldn’t flinch one bit, causing the Hillside offensive players to look back at the coaches for the play.
The next important time to keep your cool was following a rush after Seabastian Iakouchevitch’s interception, when there appeared to be a dirty play that resulted in flags being thrown on the field. Hillside was called for the facemask penalty and Johnson took advantage to get points right before halftime.
Other mistakes the Hillside Comets made include a 35-yard rush by sophomore Nahree Biggins to get to the Johnson one-yard line, but the huge play did not count, getting called back because of a holding penalty. Three plays later, the Comets committed another mistake, an interception.
Long story, Johnson remained disciplined on both sides of the ball and did not make any turnovers that changed the tone of the game. They didn’t convert on one fourth down, but the defense held down the Hillside offense, something that they prepared for all week at practice. For Johnson, in the end, they got the job done and brought the UNICO Bowl trophy back to Crusader Country! Head coach Anthony DelConte said to his team that is not their highlight game either, saying there’s more work to be done.
“The guys took that loss (UNICO Bowl) personal last year,” Johnson head coach Anthony DelConte said. “It was a game where they didn’t get our A-game. We shot ourselves in the foot a lot, the guys made it a point that it wouldn’t happen again this year.”
“It’s a credit to their hard work and the type of young men they are,” he added. “It’s awesome to see them pull together in such tight situations.”
What’s Next?
The Johnson Crusaders (5-0) head into their bye week. They return to action for a home game against Somerville HS on Friday, October 20 at 7:00 p.m.
With the bye week, there will be no “3 Things to Know” post for next week, but stay tuned for a mid-season post that I will be putting together this upcoming week!
A full analysis of Somerville HS will follow once all next week’s games are complete.
