By Jim Hintelmann
EAST RUTHERFORD – A 38-year state championship football drought for Red Bank Catholic came to a spectacular end at Met Life Stadium Sunday night, and the Caseys did it in the grand manner.
Led by junior quarterback Eddie Hahn and running back Tommy Spernal, along with solid blocking from a hard-charging offensive line, RBC (11-1) rolled to a 45-20 rout of Delbarton to win its first NJSIAA/SportCare Institute Football Finals Non-Public 3 championship since 1976.
RBC did it before a large contingent of RBC students, alumni and former Casey football players, including Lonnie Burgess, who scored four touchdowns in RBC’s last championship game, a 40-6 rout of Notre Dame of Lawrenceville.
“Before the game, I told the team that we are winning the game for the whole community and the kids that played football at RBC before this year,” said RBC coach Jim Portella. “Our game plan was to stop their running game in the beginning,” he said. “We really didn’t do that but Delbarton has a great offense.”
Considering the quality of the opposition and the importance of the game, Hahn played probably his finest game as a varsity player, completing 9 of 10 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown while scoring once himself.
“Our coaches took us to Met Life Stadium Tuesday to look at the place,” said Hahn. “We were a little bit nervous when the game started but once we scored, we relaxed.”
Hahn had two excellent receivers in seniors Nick Lubischer and Trevor Cowley. Lubischer caught four passes for 112 yards and a touchdown while Cowley grabbed three passes for 96 yards, two of which set up RBC touchdowns.
“It was unbelievable looking up in the stands and seeing all the RBC people there,” said Lubischer, whose father, Nick Sr., played at Shore Regional in the late 1970s.
RBC started the game strongly right from the start, scoring the first two touchdowns following Delbarton fumbles. The first fumble came on the opening kickoff and was recovered by RBC at the Delbarton 33.
Spernal, who rushed for 101 yards and scored three touchdowns, on a 5-yard run and a 6-0 lead.
“This was our year,” said Spernal. “It feels awesome. The offensive line opened up some big holes for me.” RBC, which set a school record for wins (11) and points in a season (543), capitalize on another Delbarton fumble in the second quarter when Lubischer recovered the ball at midfield.
Hahn completed passes of 11 and 13 yards to Mike Demonte and Lubischer respectively before scoring the touchdown on a 15-yard run and a 13-0 lead. “This fills us with a great deal of pride,” said Hahn. “I couldn’t find a better team to play with.”
Delbarton (9-2), whose only other loss this year was to Poly Prep of Brooklyn, never quit and cut the lead to 13-7 just before halftime on a 5-yard run by Luca Trio. RBC, though, kept the momentum going in the second half by scoring on its first four possessions.
Spernal got the first touchdown on a 45-yard run and, after Delbarton answered with a 55-yard touchdown run by Anthony Sander to narrow the score to 19-14.
Hahn threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Lubischer to extend the lead to 25-14.
Delbarton still wouldn’t concede, though, and cut the lead to 25-20 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Sander, but the rest of the game belonged to RBC, which scored the final three touchdowns.
Hahn threw a 41-yard pass to Cowley, who was downed on the five, and Spernal took it over on the next play for a 31-20 advantage.
Mike Cordova scored on a 1-yard run and Nick LaGrippo blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone to close out the game.
Portella wasn’t surprised at the success of his team. “We knew in the preseason that we could have a special team,” said Portella. “We had 27 seniors and they all worked as hard as they could.”
A tough schedule also helped as far as Portella was concerned. “We played Manalapan and Jackson Memorial – which handed RBC its lone loss with a 33-27 overtime win – in the regular season,” he said.
“They were great teams, and we also scrimmaged Bergen Catholic, Montclair and Elizabeth in the preseason.Beating St. Joseph’s (Montvale) and Delbarton says a lot about our program. “It was great to see our fans and some of our former players come out and support the team,” he said.
RBC’s talent showed in the its three biggest games of the season when it outscored Manalapan, St. Joseph’s and Delbarton by a combined 124-41 score.
Although losing a great deal from this year’s team by graduation, RBC should still be among the area’s best teams with Hahn, two starters on the offensive line, and players from unbeaten junior varsity and freshman teams ready to fill the gaps.
RBC’s win capped a great weekend for Shore Conference teams with Shore (CJ I) Rumson-Fair Haven (CJ II) Matawan (CJ III,) Jackson Memorial (CJ IV) and Manalapan (CJ V) winning sectional titles.
