St. Joseph seniors get revenge on Red Bank Catholic, cruise to 49-13 playoff win by Jim McConville special to The Record
MONTVALE – Nick Patti and his fellow freshmen vividly remember standing on count Basie Field after Red Bank Catholic had hung a 44-14 pasting St. Joseph. The sight of the senior players crying was a poignant memory.
Now seniors, Patti and the rest of his classmates were getting their first opportunity to repay that loss back to the Caseys and make sure that they would leave Dinallo Stadium smiling.
It was no coincidence that it was Senior Day at St. Joseph, and the Green Knights had plenty of what they called ‘senior-driven’ plays in Saturday’s 49-13 win, starting with Jaden Budka’s 14-yard touchdown two plays in. It was set up by Gavin Sharkey’s 59-yard return of the opening kickoff.
Budka then intercepted a Steve Lubischer pass to set up Patti’s 3-yard scoring run with 7:40 left in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead.
“We got a couple of quick touchdowns and then we kind of got a little off our game,” St. Joseph coach Augie Hoffman. “We went for it a couple of times, had some (pass) protection breakdowns, but we regrouped and got back on track.”
The turning point was a 28-yard touchdown pass from Patti to Fara’ad McCombs on a seam route that made it 21-0 with 9:01 left in the second quarter.
“Another senior play,” Patti said. “I saw they were in cover 1 on the pre-snap read, and I knew we had the chance for a big play. Fara’ad beat him straight up.”
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Patti made it 28-0 with 30 seconds left in the first half, scrambling to his left and finding the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown. He completed his day by drilling a back shoulder throw to Yasir Berry for a 13-yard score, with Berry making the catch just indie the right pylon with two defenders right there.
Red Bank Catholic (8-2) got on the scoreboard with a Lubischer pass to M.J. Wright only to see the St. Joseph second offense and defense pad the margin. Freshman Audric Estime had a 2-yard touchdown run and sophomore Elijuwan Mack had an 18-yard interception return.
What it means: St. Joseph will now head to Sparta next weekend to take on Pope John in the Non-Public Group 3 semifinals. The Spartans dropped a 20-14 decision to SJR on October 14, their first loss after five straight wins.
“This is going to be a real challenge,” Hoffman said. “That’s a very good team and it isn’t easy to beat a team twice in the same season. We’re going to have to play better than we did today.”
Confidence or keep away?: The Green Knights took advantage of their early lead to play riverboat gambler a bit. They went for two fake punts inside their own end of the field (a dropped pass and a penalty after making the first down left them 0 for 2) and a fourth and 1 at their own 27 (Hopkinson got the first down) in the first half and opened the second with a successful onside kick.
Stat line: Patti finished 8 of 16 passing for 130 yards and the 2 touchdowns, overcoming a 1 for 5 start. Isaiah Hopkinson had 69 yards on 12 carries to lead SJR, with Budka adding 59 yards on 6 runs. Berry had 3 catches for 43 yards, part of a 356-yard total offense for St. Joseph. Evan Stewart had 7 tackles, a sack and a pass breakup while Mack had two pass breakups.