NEW JERSEY JUSTIFIED
Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) 23, De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 21
Hero: K Patrick Murray, game-winning field goal with 10 seconds left.
Key stat: De La Salle 4 turnovers, Bosco 1.
First-half yards: De La Salle 207, Bosco 86.
Second-half yards: Bosco 176, De La Salle 40.
Key play: 3-yard, fourth-down TD pass from Brett Knief to Ryan Cobb with 10:55 left.
Stat leader: Dillon Romain (DBP) 25 carries, 150 yards, 1 TD; Blake Wayne (DLS) 186 yards passing, 1 TD.
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
CONCORD, Calif. – This time Patrick Murray didn’t miss.
And this time De La Salle couldn’t stop an opponent at the end.
Murray’s 20-yard field goal with 10 seconds to play lifted Don Bosco Prep to the biggest high school football triumph in New Jersey history with a stunning 23-21 victory at the nation’s most storied program.
Following a gutsy 3-yard, fourth-and-goal touchdown pass from senior quarterback Brett Knief to a leaping Ryan Cobb with 10 minutes, 55 seconds left to close to 21-20, Murray looked like the possible goat when his extra point glanced off the left upright no good.
It was the first missed extra-point miss of Murray’s high school career.
“I was very, very disappointed to say the least,” Murray said. “When I went to the sideline everyone said you’re going to get another chance, you’re going to get another chance.”
They were right.
After De La Salle converted an unlikely 3rd-and-16 play from its own 1 on a 32-yard completion from Blake Wayne (186 yards passing, 1 TD) to Jackson Bouza (five catches, 107 yards), then recorded another first down, the Ironmen clamped down and recorded back-to-back sacks by John Templeton and Steele Divitto.
That forced the Spartans to punt and after a short one – 14 yards – Bosco took over at the De La Salle 49 with 3:24 remaining.
The Ironmen rattled off three first downs keyed by intermediate runs from workhorse Dillon Romain (25 carries, 150 yards) and Knief (16-55). On 2nd-and-goal from the 4, Romain dove to the middle of the field to set up a chip shot try for Murray.
This time he split the uprights and Bosco, in the first-ever meeting between New Jersey and California squads, had fought back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to knock off the six-time mythical national champions.
On the Spartans' home field.
Before a national television audience.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” Murray said. “I’ve never felt anything like this.”
Afterward Bosco coach Greg Toal, who has won multiple state titles in New Jersey, said the victory was as good as it gets. The team had lost a tough 17-10 game at St. Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio) two weeks earlier.
“Hey what can I tell you?” he said. “It’s probably the greatest moment of my life and every one of my players. Hey, everyone knows who De La Salle is. They’re a great, great program. They’re a tremendously coached and well drilled football team.”
Any hesitation calling on Murray a second time?
“Not at all, not at all,” Toal said. “He’s a great kicker. We love him. He’s one of ours.”
What did he tell him before the game-winner?
“I said put it down the middle and that’s just what he did,” Toal said.
There was a massive celebration among players, coaches and about 500 Don Bosco fans who made the cross-country trip afterward.
It wasn’t just because the Ironmen (2-1), ranked 78th nationally by MaxPreps, knocked off the 13th-ranked Spartans.
It was because they fought back from what most thought was an insurmountable deficit.
De La Salle (2-1) registered 207 yards in the first half and got touchdown runs of 2 and 8 yards by Terron Williams-Ward and an 11-yard scoring strike from Wayne (12 of 22, 186 yards) to Noah Perio.
But the Spartans managed just 40 after intermission compared to Don Bosco, which recorded 176 of its 262 yards after intermission.
The Ironmen also got a first-half 1-yard TD run from Romain and a 26-yard scoring pass from Knief to T.J. Franzese that culminated a 79-yard drive to start the second half.
De La Salle had escaped with two close victories to start the season – 29-28 over Serra (San Mateo) and 27-21 against Loyola (Los Angeles) — and won the state Division I Bowl game over Centennial (Corona) to end 2007.
All three games the Spartans made clutch defensive stands at the end to prevail.
Not so on Saturday.
“It was the tale of two halves,” De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur said. “What we did to them the first half they did to us the second.”
Toal said the Bosco coaching staff did few adjustments at halftime.
“We weren’t going to change what we were going to do,” he said. “We felt we could knock them off the ball and we just needed to stay with it. I told the guys ‘don’t panic, we’ll be OK. Just stay with the game plan.
“I’m proud of our kids. They came in and played their (butts) off and made plays.”
Look for updates on this story and 10 observations later tonight. E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
Don Bosco Prep 23, De La Salle 21
Don Bosco 0 7 7 9 – 23
De La Salle 7 14 0 0 – 21
First quarter
DLS – Williams-Ward 2 run (Garrett Biel kick), 1:59
Second quarter
DB – Dillon Romain 1 run (Patrick Murray kick), 8:23
DLS – Williams-Ward 8 run (Biel kick), 4:07
DLS – Noah Perio 11 pass from Blake Wayne (Biel kick), :17
Third quarter
DB – T.J. Franzese 26 pass from Brett Knief (Murray kick), 8:31
Fourth quarter
DB – Ryan Cobb 3 pass from Knief (kick failed), 10:55
DB – FG, Murray 20, :10
Team statistics
First downs: DB 15, DLS 12
Rushes-yards: DB 42-208, DLS 32-68
Passing: DB 8-15-1-54, DLS 12-22-2-186.
Total yards: DB 262, DLS 254.
Fumbles/lost: DB 3-0, DLS 2-2.
Turnovers: DB 1, DLS 4
Penalties: DB 1-10, DLS 1-5.
Individual statistics
Rushing
DB, Romain 25-150, Knief 16-55, Chris Burrell 1-3; DLS, Williams-Ward 6-27, Butler 6-18, Wayne 17-12, Durant 2-7, Anderson 1-4.
Passing
DB, Knief 8-14-1-60, Divitto 1-1-0-(-6); DLS, Blake 12-22-2-186.
Receiving
DB, Franzese 2-32, Burrell 2-7, Romain 1-12, McDermott 1-6, Cobb 1-3, Kneif 1-(-6). DLS, Jackson Bouza 5-107, Noah Perio 3-40, Williams-Ward 3-33, Michael Dosen 1-6.
