No. 19 Bergen Catholic jumps out early, wins handily at No. 4 Grayson

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The long trip from New Jersey to Georgia was well worth it for the Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.) Crusaders.

The nation's 19th-ranked team took a quick 13-0 lead, got two touchdown passes from quarterback Andrew Boel and two TDs each from Rahmir Johnson and Amar Gist to record a convincing 34-22 win at fourth-ranked Grayson (Loganville, Ga.) on Friday night.

In the first game of the Gwinnett vs. The World classic, Bergen Catholic (1-0) never trailed after Boel connected on a 29-yard touchdown strike Garrett Cody early in the first quarter.

After Grayson (1-1) went three-and-out, a dropped punt snap was recovered by Gist near the end zone. He took the ball in and midway through the first, the defending New Jersey Non-Public Group IV state champions were up 13-0.

Grayson, coming off a 48-7 win over Tucker, was battling up hill the rest of the way. The deficit grew to 27-3 in the third quarter on a Boel 8-yard TD pass to Gist and a 5-yard touchdown run by Johnson. After a Kenny Edwards pick-six cut the deficit to 27-15, Johnson all but put it away with a 2-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

Grayson quarterback J'kori Jones ran and passed for a touchdown but it wasn't enough.

Both teams sustained horrible injuries going into the game.

Bergen Catholic lost Josh McKenzie, who tore his ACL in their scrimmage last week and will miss his senior campaign. The Rams starting running back, Ronald Thompkins, a 2019 Nebraska commit, suffered the same injury in their win over Tucker.