By Jeff Moeller
MaxPreps.com
Bosco, St. Peter's, Wayne Hills Proving Their Mettle
Who's quicker and more dangerous? Bosco's Tony Jones or St. Peter's Nyshier Oliver? Who's the better team? Bosco or St. Peter's? Those questions and a few others will certainly continue to circulate around northern New Jersey and across the rest of the state in the season's remaining weeks.
Yet, there have been plenty of whispers around the Garden State about the overall strength of both Don Bosco Prep (5-0) and St. Peter's Prep (5-0), the top two teams in the MaxPreps poll, in comparison to last year's squads.
Neither team has displayed any chinks in their armor thus far.
Don Bosco, behind the running of speedy sophomore Tony Jones, rolled to an easy 55-20 demolition of neighboring Hackensack Friday night. Jones scored on touchdown runs of 3 and 5 yards, and he also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brett Knief, as the Ironmen stormed out to a 48-7 halftime lead. Ironically, Knief is the team's leading rusher.
Dillon Romain, whose workmanlike presence is often overshadowed by Jones and fullback Guy Germinario, scored on touchdown runs of 21 and 25 in the opening half. Knief, who has quietly taken over the reins for the Matt Simms, had another efficient night, completing 7 of 11 passes for 66 yards. Knief also rushed for 70 yards.
Defensively, the Ironmen have allowed 54 points in five games. Germinario, Nick Mistretta, and Nick Vetterlein have been the team's leading tacklers. Mistretta and Vetterlein have also been the team's sack leaders. Steve Prosica has continued his assault in the secondary with four interceptions this season.
St. Peter's Prep also had a busy night, as they mangled Ferris, 48-7, behind Oliver's 211 yards and four touchdowns.
Oliver scored on runs of 51, 32, 44 and 31, and teammate Will "The Thrill" Hill added a 75-yard touchdown run and 101 yards.
St. Peter's received a stellar defensive effort from lineman Dan Hansen, who recorded 11 tackles, a blocked punt and a fumble recovery. Linebacker Kevin Innas had eight tackles and two interceptions.
Aside from Bosco and St. Peter's, No. 6 Wayne Hills hasn't lost any ground either. The Patriots won their 34th consecutive game with a 27-0 blanking of Pascack valley Friday night.
Dan DeCicco, who has the fifth most touchdowns in the state with 14, had scoring runs of 67 and 21 and rushed for 152 yards in the opening half to stake his team to a 20-0 halftime lead. DeCicco finished with 219 yards on the night.
With the win, Wayne Hills has outscored its opponents 218-14 in six games. Along with its offensive fireworks, Wayne Hills's defense has also registering their share of blasts, this time limiting Pascack Valley to 10 yards of total offense and keeping them inside their 50 all night.
"We're playing pretty well on both sides of the ball," said Wayne Hills head coach Chris Ohlsen. "The big picture is that we're 6-0, and we've gone through the meat of our schedule."
Southern Stalwarts
In the South, No. 9 Morrestown (5-0) enjoyed a bye week before its anticipated showdown with undefeated Winslow (5-0), considered by many pundits in the area as the No. 1 team, this Saturday.
One of the main reasons for Morrestown's success has been the play of wide receiver Bryan Burnham, who has truly been a multi-purpose back. Heading into this week's play, Burnham has 17 catches for 351 yards, and has also returned punts, kickoffs and interceptions for touchdowns this season.
Jonathan Grimes of Pope Paul VI has the chance to become the first 2,000-yard rusher in South Jersey in five years. Heading into this week's play, grimes has 762 yards on 69 carries in four games. If he continues at his pace, he should be close to the mark at the end of the regular season, and he should eclipse the plateau if his team makes the postseason.
Tommy Reilly of Holy Cross threw the 50th touchdown pass of his career last weekend. The achievement placed him eighth on the region list. He needs eight more TD tosses to tie the school record of 58 held by Matt Burdalski, and he is 13 shy of the all-time region record of 63 by David Goree of Woodrow Wilson.
No. 4 Holy Spirit continued to assault opponents with its version of thunder and lightning - William Washington and Nick Hall - in a 48-13 demolition of St. Augustine.
Washington rushed for 214 yards on 31 carries and scored on touchdowns runs of 13, 2, 2 and 5 yards, while Hall ran 22 times for 230 yards and scored on runs of 77 and 53 yards.
On the defensive front, Michigan-bound linebacker Marcus Witherspoon had two sacks and spurred his defensive unit that allowed just 23 yards.
Northern Highlights
Mountain Lakes head coach Doug Wilkins celebrated his 300th career win in a 35-0 win over Montclair Kimberley Academy Saturday.
Wilkins (300-104-5 in 42 years) became part of an elite group that includes 300-game winners Warren Wolf of Brick (353-115-11), Pope John's Vic Paternostro (344-63-5), North Bergen's Vin Ascolese (329-110-7) and New Providence's Frank Bottone (304-104-5).
Bizzarro's World
With his team trailing 21-20 at halftime, Whippany Park's Mike Bizzarro literally took the game into his own hands as he lead his team to a 42-35 shootout victory over Morristown Beard Saturday.
Bizzarro, one of the leading rushers in Morris County, carried 19 times for 155 yards and scored three touchdowns in the second half. He missed the previous week's game, a 26-0 loss to Morris Catholic.
