Football preview: Bishop Gorman vs. Bergen Catholic

When Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) (2-0) hosts Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.) (1-0) on Friday night, the matchup of Top 15 teams could come down to a battle of quarterback play.

Both Bishop Gorman and Bergen Catholic will rely heavily on talented senior quarterbacks in this battle of undefeated, nationally ranked teams.

Four-year starter Anu Solomon pilots the offense for head coach Tony Sanchez's squad. The growth and development of the Arizona commit over the last three seasons has mirrored the rise of the Bishop Gorman program to national prominence.

With Solomon poised for his best season yet, Bishop Gorman sits at No. 10 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings presented by the Army National Guard. Through two games, he's thrown for 494 yards and six touchdowns and has yet to be intercepted.

It's no surprise that Bergen Catholic head coach Nunzio Campanile has zeroed in on slowing down Solomon.

"The hope is to contain him, not let him freelance," Campanile said. "When he gets out to the perimeter, he's a dangerous player. He can run, but he's looking to throw."

Campanile actually coached Solomon for the USA Football U-19 national team, for which Solomon was the first underclassman to play.

"He's a good player and a great kid."

Solomon is helped by a physical offensive line and a talented running back/safety in Nathan Starks, who is already a coveted recruit.

Bergen Catholic signal-caller Jonathan Germano may not have the same acclaim from college scouts as Solomon or Starks, but he's an outstanding football player. As a junior, he threw for 2,359 yards and 31 touchdowns while compiling 402 yards and six scores on the ground.

Sanchez definitely has taken notice.

"The quarterback is a heck of a player," Sanchez said. "He's got the things you want in a quarterback, the intangibles, strong arm. He does a good job of staying in the pocket and is a big, physical kid.

"I could see why coach Nunzio is so fired up about having him."

Despite the loss of his top target (John Tsimis) in the summer due to injury, Germano has several weapons at his disposal, including Kyle Queiro, J.J. Kulcsar and Garrett Dickerson.

Germano and company helped Bergen Catholic post 59 points in a dominant season-opening effort against St. Anthony's (Melville, N.Y.). Bishop Gorman enjoyed a bye week on the heels of a 52-40 victory on the road against St. Louis (Honolulu).

While it seemingly has the makings of a high-scoring affair, Bishop Gorman's defense will do everything in its power to prevent that.

"I'll tell you what, we've taken a defensive mentality here, and we'd be disappointed if that (high-scoring game) is how it turned out," Sanchez said.

Sanchez said that the 40 points his team allowed to St. Louis is not indicative of the type of defense that the team plays, and that they've had two weeks to prepare for Bergen Catholic coming off roughly 12 hours worth of flight to and from Hawaii.

Bergen Catholic will be dealing with its own time zone adjustment, as it will be three hours behind the Eastern Time Zone.

Campanile thinks it may work in his favor.

"We gain three hours, and teenagers are rocking at about 10 p.m.," he said.

The showdown is the MaxPreps Game of the Week. Click here to see predictions for this game and nine other top matchups around the country.