Red Bank Catholic Drills Defending Champs St. Joe's For First Trip To State Final Since 1980

Photo above: Caseys quarterback Eddie Hahn directing offensive attack

RED BANK – Red Bank Catholic advanced to their first state final in 34 years and in the process snapped 3-time defending champion St Joseph’s (Montvale) 10-game postseason winning streak. The second- seeded Caseys thoroughly whooped the third-seeded Green Knights in a stunning 44-14 win Friday night at Count Basie Field in the Non-Public Group III semifinals.

After losing two straight to St. Joe’s (7-3) in the semifinals by a combined score of 70-14, the Caseys (10-1) turned the tables on the State’s No.3 ranked team by scoring 30 unanswered points in the second half and holding them to 29 total yards on 15 plays after intermission.

However, despite the final outcome it didn’t come easy. The opening series of the game had a ‘déjà vu’ feel to it as the Green Knights piled up 173 yards on their first three possessions, and if not for a Nick Lubischer fumble recovery at the Casey 10-yard line that ended a 58-yard opening -game drive for St. Joe’s, the Caseys may have found themselves in a quick 7-0 hole five minutes into the game.

“We were fortunate to make some plays early because they were moving the ball really, really well on us,” Casey head coach Jim Portela said. “When you play a team like St. Joe’s it’s tough; they’re so big, strong, physical and fast. It took us a while to get up to the speed of the game and once our defense settled in we started doing the things we were capable of doing.”

It was the 26th straight home win since 2009 for the Caseys and their first shot at the Green Knights in the friendly confines of Count Basie Field.

“We got our (butts) kicked,” said St. Joseph head coach Augie Hoffman. “That’s it. We just got physically beat.”

The win allowed the Caseys to release years of frustration out on the 17-time state champions after being constantly reminded that they didn’t measure up to the North Jersey Non-Public power schools. And after losing their first Shore Conference game since 2010 to Jackson Memorial two weeks ago, the talk of closing the gap this season disappeared.

“In June when we had our meeting we all wrote down on a sheet that we wanted to win a state championship.” Caseys senior running back Tommy Spernal said. “This games a huge win for us and the program, but the goals in two weeks.”

Red Bank Catholic will play the winner of Saturday’s No.4 seed St. John Vianney at No.1 seed Delbarton semifinal game for the championship at Met Life Stadium on the weekend of Dec. 6-7. The Caseys have now won a school-record 10 games for the fourth straight year and they can become the first 11-win team in Casey history along with winning their first state title since 1976 with a win at Met Life.

St. Joe’s went up 7-0 driving 50 yards in five plays on their second possession of the game. But junior Dylan Murphy’s 47-yard return on the ensuing kickoff gave the Caseys a renewed sense of hope, and they rode that energy into the end zone going 43 yards in five plays with Spernal getting the ball on three straight carries for 36 yards and finishing it off with a 16-yard touchdown scamper to tie the game at seven.

“Getting this win is unbelievable, it’s the best feeling in the world,” Murphy said. “We didn’t say ‘let’s beat St. Joe’s’ it was let’s get into the finals and win a state title.”

The Caseys had to battle back again after St. Joe’s took the wind out of the RBC sails on the first play of their next possession when senior quarterback Jack Walsh hit junior wideout J.T. Giles-Harris - who had gotten behind the defender - with a perfect strike around the 25-yard line and Giles-Harris sprinted untouched into the end zone for what- surprisingly at that point - turned out to be their final points of the game.

Red Bank Catholic then went three-and-out and was forced to punt allowing the Green Knights to advanced as far as the RBC 34-yard line on strength of junior running back Brian Kearns legs, but three penalties put them in a 4th-and-31 hole from the their own 45, dictating a punt.

Kearns, who had a brilliant first half with 134 yards on 15 carries, was a non-factor like the rest of the St. Joe’s offense in the second half as the Caseys defense stuffed him to the tune of 16 yards on six carries after intermission.

Starting at their own 30-yard line following the punt and the score still 14-7, two Spernal runs for 12 yards and a 14-yard keeper by junior quarterback Eddie Hahn - with a 15-yard personal foul for a late hit on Hahn out of bounds tacked on – gave the Caseys a first down at the 30. Hahn then scrambled to his left and found senior wideout Trevor Cowley just in front of the near piling for the tying score.

From that point on it was all Red Bank Catholic the rest of the way, as the defense really began to dominate the line of scrimmage and Walsh began to feel the heat. He threw six straight incompletions on their next three possessions of the half, and gained only 43 yards on those possessions. Senior Nick LaGrippo had four tackles, senior Dan Wilen had a strip sack, and Murphy and Hahn added tackles for a loss in the three series as the half ended 14-14.

The Caseys immediately set the tone for the second half on their first possession when senior running back Nick Cella took the ball up the middle on a counter play for a 54-yard score that opened the second-half flood gates.

LaGrippo, Murphy and Wilen continued to apply relentless pressure with LaGrippo seemingly in Walsh’s face on every play and Murphy and Wilen registering a sack to force a punt on the Green Knights next possession.

Eleven plays and 85 yards later the score was 28-14 as Hahn lobbed a four-yard toss to a waiting Lubischer in the left corner of the end zone for the score.

“I don’t think we ran that play since the Wall game (the first game of the season),” Lubischer said. “Our two other receivers on the play ran slants taking the safety and cornerback with them leaving me wide open; it was a great call.”

On the following kickoff, Jack Agnew was hit by LaGrippo forcing a fumble that was recovered by junior Mike Carfagno giving the Caseys the ball at the 36, but Hahn was sacked for nine yards on the possession and the drive went nowhere.

Hahn then dropped a perfect punt out of bounds at the two-yard line and the defense again forced a three-and-out, as defensive end Doug Zockoll forced an incompletion with a vicious hit on Walsh. Then the ensuing punt from the end zone was snapped over Walsh’s head and out of the end zone for a safety and giving the Caseys two points and the ball.

Four plays later, senior running back Mike Cordova – who was a big-time contributor on defense as well – ripped off a 21-yard touchdown run to make it 37-14 deflating the defending champs even more.

It wasn’t over yet. Senior linebacker and University of Miami commit, Jamie Gordinier, had a three-yard tackle for a loss, Ryan Kroeger added a sack and LaGrippo stopped Kearns for no gain forcing one final punt for the Green Knights.

Spernal added his second touchdown of the night - from three yards out - carrying the ball seven times for 29 yards while eating up five minutes on the clock to put the finishing touches on one of the biggest wins in Red Bank Catholic history.

Spernal finished with 169 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns on the night in probably his biggest game of his career.

“It’s a shame I get all this credit,” Spernal said. “My offensive line was unbelievable and they made my job so much easier so I have to give them all the credit. Whether it’s me, Mike (Cordova) or Eddie (Hahn) it doesn’t matter; they do the job.”

“That’s a great football team over there that we beat, you can’t take anything off of them,” Portela said. “On another night maybe things would be different but we played really well tonight, I’m proud of our kids. The win feels good and I believed we could do it but we have more to do. We weren’t ready for the season to end, we wanted to be together for two more weeks and finish the job.”