Football – Historic defensive performance gives St. Joseph’s NPG4 title

Historic defensive performance gives St. Joseph’s NPG4 title by J.J. Conrad of NJ Advance Media for nj.com

The game plan, devised by defensive coordinator Dan Marangi, was altered slightly.

The theme for St. Joseph’s defense?

“Don’t let them breathe,” defensive end Smith Vilbert said.

And on Saturday, on New Jersey high school football’s biggest stage — the NJSIAA/Rothman Orthopaedics Non-Public Group 4 final against reigning champion and No. 1 seed Bergen Catholic on a rainy night at MetLife Stadium — the defense of second-seeded St. Joseph of Montvale was downright smothering.

A historic defensive performance — including four sacks, two interceptions, a few coverage sacks and countless run stuffs and quarterback pressures — led to a 13-0 win for the Green Knights, almost 20 years after St. Joseph coach Augie Hoffmann, as a player, fell to Bergen Catholic in the 1998 state final.

It also marked the first time Bergen Catholic had been shut out in 29 years, when — you guessed it — the Green Knights blanked the Crusaders, 28-0, late in the year in 1989. Since that game nearly three decades ago, BC went an incredible 322 straight games without being shut out.

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“Going into this game, in this league, we’re always trying to keep teams under 14 or less,” said Marangi, longtime defensive coordinator for Don Bosco Prep though jettisoned before the start of last season.

“The mindset is ‘Keep them under 14 and we’ve got a shot.’ We could smell [a shutout] toward the end and we just kept coming, kept coming, kept coming. When they were behind, we were able to tee off.”

And though St. Joseph claimed a state title in 2016 for Hoffmann’s first career state title, that one — though special in its own right — was still of the Group 3 variety.

“This one,” Hoffmann said, “is much sweeter. You’ve got to go through these guys twice. It’s something we’ve talked about… having to do it. But we’ve never done it. Until now. This one is special.”

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MORE COVERAGE: St. Joseph (Mont.) shuts out Bergen Catholic for championship 20 years in the making

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Vilbert, who was one of the many stars with two sacks and five tackles, said ever since St. Joseph’s 24-20 loss to Bergen Catholic on Oct. 6, the Green Knights not only welcomed the rematch, they craved it.

Saturday night, they showed why.

“Oh we wanted Bergen,” said Vilbert, who ended his season with nine sacks. “We lost to them. At home. Letting a lead slip away. We wanted this. We wanted Bergen. We wanted this revenge. And we went after them 100 percent every single play. We did not let them breathe.”

Up until Bergen Catholic’s final offensive series, when the game’s outcome was no longer in no doubt, St. Joseph’s defense had limited Bergen Catholic’s high-powered offense that entered averaging just under 30 points per game to just 152 yards of total offense and eight first downs.

A relentless defensive effort, anchored by a five-man rotation of Vilbert, Howard Cross (two sacks, six tackles), Amin Vanover, Eric Stoeckel and Justin Malvasia, on the defensive line forced seven punt attempts, two turnover on downs and two interceptions on 12 Bergen Catholic possessions (one BC drive ended at half).

“You’ve got a kid like Justin Malvasia, just an undersized guy playing his tail off giving up 100 pounds every game,” said Marangi, who has now been an assistant on 10 Non-Public Group 4 title teams. “You’ve got Eric Stoeckel, who’s just developed into a tremendous, tremendous football player.

“And then obviously, there’s Howard Cross, Smith Vilbert and Amin Vanover. There’s a reason why Howard’s going to Notre Dame. A reason why Smith is going to have his choice. And a reason why next year, Amin, will, too.”

Together, the unit limited Bergen Catholic’s 2,000-yard passer Andrew Boel to just 9-of-30 passing for 167 yards (56 of which came on BC’s final possession) and the Crusaders’ Nebraska-bound 1,200-yard back, Rahmir Johnson, to just 58 yards on 17 carries.

Marangi acknowledged St. Joseph’s goal was to limit Bergen Catholic’s big-play ability, particularly keeping Johnson in check from breaking any long runs. His longest carry was 11 yards, on the first play of the third quarter.

“The kids never quit and we’ve been prepping for this since last December,” Marangi said. “We got things rolling tonight. Kept them off-balance. I think once we got up, 10-0, we took away a little bit of their game plan with the unbalanced running game. The kids just did a great job executing.”

Perhaps SJR’s biggest play came from the secondary, when safety Connor Grieco picked one off on a 1st-and-10 from the SJR 45 with 9:07 left in the second, one play after a 15-yard personal foul moved the ball into Green Knights territory, and St. Joseph leading at the time, 10-0.

The turnover led to a key 14-play drive before halftime, capped by Angelo Guglielmello’s second field goal of the first half to give St. Joseph a 13-0 lead at the break.

The 13-point lead would be more than enough on this night.

Bergen Catholic, which entered on an eight-game winning streak and had scored at least 35 points or more in its previous four games, ran just two plays on the plus-side of the field in the game’s first three quarters.

“The plan was to bring a little more pressure than we have in the past,” said Hoffmann, who had 105 text messages and counting not even 20 minutes after the final whistle.

“We had to bring more pressure because that kid [Boel] picked us apart last time. We couldn’t sit back there and let them take shots. So, we had to heat ’em up. The defensive front played tremendous. Last time, I said we got out-executed. This time, we did the executions.”

Fittingly, an Elijuwan Mack interception on the game’s final play ignited a wild celebration on the field of MetLife, as dozens of Green Knights raced for the stadium wall to celebrate with their fans.

“It’s pretty unbelievable right now,” Marangi said. “I’m so happy for these kids, with what they’ve been through, with what some of the coaches have been through. It was just a tremendous effort and everyone here bought in. At the end of this, we were playing 15, 16 guys out there on defense and they all had an impact. I couldn’t be more proud.”