The high school football season in New Jersey came to a close over the
weekend, but the usual playoff format was replaced in a COVID-shortened season with postseason groupings. Instead of the standard 13 classifications, the four-team pods provided competitive matchups as a way to extend the shortened season.
One team that made the most of the season-ending games was Bergen Catholic (Oradell), which closed the year with a 22-15 victory over St. Peter's Prep.
That victory erased a loss two weeks prior to Don Bosco Prep, helped the Crusaders finish 5-1 and made Bergen Catholic the 2020 MaxPreps Champion for the state of New Jersey.
In the seven-point win over the Mauraders, Bergen Catholic relied on junior bell cow
Ryan Butler to chew up clock and fuel a fourth quarter comeback. Trailing 15-14 with 11 minutes remaining, the junior running back led Bergen Catholic on a nine-minute, 83-yard scoring drive that Butler capped with a 1-yard TD plunge.
Butler finished with 132 yards rushing on 31 carries (15 in the fourth period) and added 104 yard receiving, including a 65-yard scoring strike in the second quarter.
And fittingly, it was Butler who also made the tackle on St. Peter's Prep's last-ditch hook-and-lateral.
"We wanted this game more than anything,"
Butler told NJ. com. "We wanted to
play and we wanted to win. The whole team bought into this goal and this
game."
