A Day Later
Score: Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) 23, De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 21
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By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
CONCORD, Calif. — THE AFTERMATH RESEMBLED a religious revival.
Grown men — from machismo ‘Jersey no less – embraced and squeezed in groups. Some players wept. Most screamed or simply fell over.
Don Bosco Prep of Ramsey N.J. had pulled off a remarkable 23-21 victory over nationally renowned and host De La Salle of Concord late Saturday night on a last-second 19-yard field goal by Patrick Murray.
Bosco quarterback Brett Knief called it the biggest game of his team’s life — all of their lives.
“It’s the biggest game in New Jersey history,” he said.
Murray, after having his guts embraced out by every Bosco backer, said watching his field goal split the uprights was quite simply “the best feeling in the world.”
Ironmen coach Greg Toal said the victory could not be surpassed.
“Hey what can I tell you?” he said. “It’s probably the greatest moment of my life and every one of my players.”
Keep in mind Toal has won 10 state titles in New Jersey and owns a career mark of 221-36-2.
Oh, and don’t forget after starring at Virginia Tech as a tailback, he fathered three boys, all Division I players.
To say Toal and the Minutemen were caught up in an emotional cyclone immediately following Saturday’s nationally-televised game is an understatement.
But clearly this was a moment and a game they will and should cherish forever.
They earned it.
First, they made the cross-country commitment, traveling some 3,000 miles early Thursday morning to play in a Saturday game that started on their eastern time clock at 10:40 p.m.
All but a handful had ever been west of Colorado. Flying five dozen teen-age boys across 40 states is no easy feat. In fact, this was the first ever match-up between New Jersey and California squads.
“To reach greatness you have to stretch beyond your means sometimes,” Toal said earlier in the week.
But when they were outgained 207-86 and fell behind 21-7 at halftime the Ironmen’s stretch for greatness seemed just that. A stretch.
The De La Salle coaching staff and players, like they’ve done for the better part of three decades, had exposed every possible weakness: special teams, speed at the edge and lack of lockdown corners.
Quarterback Blake Wayne, not known as a great passer, carved up Bosco's secondary for 133 yards and a touchdown, and shifty utility back Terron Williams-Ward scored on a pair of outside runs and returned a kickoff 50 yards.
“We were kind of having our way with them the first half,” Wayne said.
Said Knief: “We were definitely concerned. We had a lot of mental mistakes. But we also knew we’re a second-half team. We’ve been one since day one.”
That was echoed by MaxPreps National Football Editor Steve Spiewak, a proud native and resident of New Jersey who had seen Bosco’s second-half stampede more than once over the last decade.
Just before the second-half kickoff, Spiewak nudged me and said: “Watch out for Bosco the second half. They always come back strong.”
I had actually eavesdropped on the Ironmen’s locker room throughout intermission. I didn’t listen for strategic adjustments necessarily, but emotional, off-the-charts “win one for the Garden State” pleas.
The ones rants recorded and released on the Internet of Toal exalting his team.
I waited for the thrown clip boards and expletive-laced tirades, but none of it came.
Make no mistake. The Ironmen were charged heading back to the field all right.
Dillon Romain, the team’s bullish 5-foot-10, 210-pound running back who rushed 25 times for 150 yards and a score, literally was hyper-ventilating through his helmet.
One assistant kept slapping helmets and encouraging “this is what we do,” which seemed to be a battle cry for “tough guys always fight back.”
And boy did they.
Against arguably the best coached and drilled team in America, the Ironmen responded in every way the second half. They sprinted to the edges. They covered punts, kickoffs and receivers. They plugged every hole.
The blitzes that were being picked up or sidestepped by the athletic Wayne in the first half worked in the second. When Wayne wasn’t tackled – Bryan Murphy, Steele Divitto and John Templeton recorded sacks – his throws were hurried and off target.
The Spartans would muster no points, 40 yards and just three first downs after intermission.
“We tried to run inside. … nothing,” said De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur, who entered with a gaudy 334-20-3 career mark. “We tried to run outside. … nothing.”
Said Divitto, a 6-3, 215-pound junior: “The coaches (at halftime) just said to stay on them. They said (De La Salle would) break eventually and they did.”
Offensively the Ironmen got things rolling, taking the second half kickoff 79 yards in eight plays, capped by a 26-yard TD pass from Knief to T.J. Franzese on a pretty crossing route.
Offensive coordinator Nunzio Campanile came up with even a better call early in the fourth quarter on a 4th-and-goal call from the 3 when Knief faked an inside handoff, sprinted toward the line like he was going to run, then jumped in the air and lofted a perfectly-placed wobbler in the back of the end zone to a leaping Ryan Cobb, cutting De La Salle’s lead to 21-20.
De La Salle wasn’t fooled, but the determined Ironmen seemed to live up to their nickname. They're will was iron clad. And they executed.
“We made plays,” Toal said.
But the game’s most surreal play followed when Murray, one of the East Coast’s most consistent and powerful kickers, hit the left upright with his PAT attempt.
The collision of ball to upright made a giant “clank” that set off a resounding “groan” from the 7,500 fans squeezed into De La Salle’s quaint stadium.
The Spartans, who had survived a couple close scores in the first two weeks, looked like it might escape again, leading 21-20 with 10:55 to play.
Murray was set up to be the goat.
“Normally he's automatic,” Toal said. “He’s a great kicker. We just had to get him another shot.”
Said Murray: “My teammates kept saying ‘we’ll get you another shot.’ “
Knief, one of Murray’s best friends, didn’t say a word. For good reason.
“He has an Irish temper so I knew he was boiling,” Knief said. “I just gave him a smile. I knew we were going to drive back down and give him another chance to win it.”
As if Bosco needed any more resolve.
The school that wanted De La Salle a half-decade ago but was shutdown by its own league. The team that was playing for an entire state to give it some much-needed respect, now had a more personal reason to fight back and win.
Win it for Murray.
Can you imagine the cross-country flight home for Murray had the 21-20 score held up?
The Ironmen had to bail out one of their own. Then again, Murray had to bail out his team.
He drilled the game-winner like Tiger Woods buries a 12-footer with a major championship on the line.
“My teammates helped me through the whole last quarter,” Murray said. “That’s what a brotherhood is.”
Divitto, a sure-fire Division I prospect, was quite calm afterward. His words were direct and measured.
“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “We’ve been through so much in this program. To come through like this is unbelievable.”
Asked about Murray’s rise from the ash, Divitto said: “It was definitely clutch. But it seemed like the right place and the right time for everything.”
Even 3,000 miles from home.
10 Takes
1) In terms of class, sportsmanship, and clean and even play, this was as good as it gets. There were just two penalities, one for each team. These national heavyweights from opposite coasts were even right down to the yards (262-254) and score (23-21), both in Bosco’s favor.
2) With that said, Bosco’s travel to an unfamiliar and far away land had to add 10 points to De La Salle. The Ironmen were also without standout elusive running back Tony Jones, out with a shoulder injury endured the previous game.
3) Like most elite teams, Bosco probably isn’t well liked by other schools in New Jersey. But those same ‘Jersey schools owe the Ironmen some Hallmark greetings for helping to put the state on the national map and giving it much-deserved respect. The Ironmen came in ranked 78th nationally according to MaxPreps, yet No. 1 among ‘Jersey teams. California, by contrast, had 12 teams ranked nationally ahead of Bosco.
4) For all that he’s accomplished and experienced, De La Salle coach Bob Ladouceur is still a perfectionist and self critic first and foremost. Thirty minutes after the game he saw Bosco’s second-half comeback much more as a De La Salle collapse. He listed a half-dozen failures by the Spartans in the second half, then said: “We were awful. We choked that game. We can’t put it in any other terms. We just choked. ...I don't want to take anything away from any thing (Bosco) did. They beat us and they did a good job. They did a good job of taking away a lot of things. ... They were good but they were beatable. I just felt we beat ourselves."
5) De La Salle QB Blake Wayne won’t play major college football – as a QB anyway – but he’s athletic, fearless and the best kind of leader. Even in defeat. He completed 12 of 22 for 186 yards, one TD and two interceptions, one a desperation heave on the second-to-last-play. “As the quarterback of this team, this loss is on me. ...We feel like crap right now but hopefully we’ll sit it as a chance to look at ourselves and say maybe we have to practice a little harder or focus on all the little things.”
6) Wayne on Bosco: “They’re definitely a class team. After the game they told us good luck and told us we’re a great team.”
7) Former Bosco and Cal quarterback and now TV analyst Steve Levy told us midweek that the Ironmen coaching staff are each college capable. After watching them maintain their poise and make halftime adjustments against the finest staff I’ve witnessed at the high school level, tells me Levy knows precisely what he speaks. Offensive coordinator Campanile was particularly impressive.
8) Like Wayne, I don’t know if Romain has the size for big-time college ball, but at this level, for what he does, he’s as good as they come.
9) De La Salle’s receiving squad is extremely under-rated. They seem to catch everything, especially Jackson Bouza, who had five catches for 107 yards.
10) Don’t ever be distracted when Williams-Ward gets his hands on the ball. Something exciting is going to happen.
Comments? Disagree? E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
Related video:
15 Don Bosco Prep highlight packages from the past two seasons.
De La Salle highlight page
