Photo by Rich Chrampanis
RED BANK – The heartache on the turf at MetLife Stadium one year ago never went away for Mater Dei Prep’s current seniors and juniors. When the Seraphs fell 14-10 to Red Bank Catholic in the 2018 Non-Public Group 3 state championship, it was RBC basking in the glow of a gutsy defensive performance that ultimately resulted in a state title.
While Friday night’s state semifinal wasn’t a championship bout, it was still especially satisfying for Mater Dei, which outlasted Red Bank Catholic 10-3 to reach the state finals for a fourth consecutive year.
“It was crazy. We were waiting a whole year for this rematch,” senior Clarence Lewis said. “We felt like we could have won last year, but it got away from us.”
It didn’t get away from Mater Dei Friday night and Lewis was a big reason for it. The Notre Dame commit spent most of the game guarding his future Irish teammate Kevin Bauman and his defensive contribution went beyond great coverage in the secondary.
At this time of year, everything gets put under the microscope and you can boil down Mater Dei’s win to three critical plays that ultimately proved to be the difference in another defensive tussle. Early in the second quarter, the Caseys drove the ball into Mater Dei territory before Lewis caused a fumble and recovered the ball at the Seraphs’ 36-yard line. Right after the critical turnover, Malik Ingram busted open a 50-yard run to get the ball to the RBC 14-yard line.
A couple of plays later, Ingram cashed in from 8 yards in what would be the only touchdown of the game. The Caseys had a chance to tie the game late in the second quarter but had to settle for a Michael O’Connor 29-yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game at the half.
After a long drive resulted in a Richie Pekmezian field goal to make it 10-3, the Caseys once again had a chance to get in the end zone. Elijah Jules returned the ensuing kickoff to the Mater Dei 27-yard line, but Mater Dei defensive end Dominick Guidice delivered back-to-back sacks to push the Caseys back and get the Seraphs the ball back. In all, Mater Dei’s defense produced eight sacks, headlined by Guidice, who was credited with three to get to 20 on the season. Seniors Khuramm Simpson and Tajay Passamore also had two-sack games.
“We knew that we had to be more disciplined this year,” Guidice said. “Turnovers hurt us last year and we knew this time we had to create turnovers, not make them. We had to play a really disciplined game and that’s what we fixed from last year.”
Through it all, RBC still had a chance to push the game to overtime in the closing seconds. Using a two-quarterback system the entire game, Ryan Edgerly made three completions to sophomore John Diorio to get into Mater Dei territory with under a minute to go. On a third-down play, Edgerly was sacked by a swarm of Mater Dei defenders. With no timeouts, the Caseys scrambled and Anthony Borriello was able to take the snap before the clock struck zero. Borriello threw a long pass that was caught by Lenny Loria, but his 35-yard leaping catch saw him hit the turf at the 12-yard line on the final play of the game.
And the tables were turned. This time around it was RBC feeling the heartbreak, coming so very close to returning to the state finals.
“It was a great revenge game,” Guidice said. “But like coach Mangiero said when we got in the locker room, we didn’t win anything yet. We just won one game. It was a great game. But we still have a state championship to play.”
Mater Dei Prep will have two weeks to prepare for the Non-Public Group 3 state championship when they will face DePaul Catholic Saturday, Dec. 7 at Rutgers University at 7 p.m. The Seraphs were in the Non-Public Group 2 state finals in 2016 and 2017, winning it all three years ago. Coach Dino Mangiero’s four-year reign at Mater Dei Prep is nothing short of stellar. With four straight trips to the state finals, the Seraphs hope it can be a second state championship in the last four years.
“We just gotta stay level because last year, we got too high and then we lost,” Lewis said. “We just gotta focus, come out next week and try to play as hard as we did this week.”
