DON BOSCO PREP FOOTBALL STUNS NO. 2 BERGEN CATHOLIC IN RIVALRY WIN FOR THE AGES

New Jersey High School Sports Don Bosco Prep football stuns No. 2 Bergen Catholic in rivalry win for the ages Updated Nov 14, 2020; Posted Nov 14, 2020 36 Bergen Catholic football hosts Don Bosco Prep on Nov. 14, 2020 Facebook Share Twitter Share 162 shares By Patrick Lanni | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com It was almost unimaginable for Don Bosco Prep to win this game. But it happened. Sophomore Ethan Acevedo hauled in a 26-yard touchdown on the final play of the game, and junior Thomas Sawicki hit the game-winning extra point to send the Don Bosco sideline into pandemonium and complete one of the most stunning comebacks of the 2020 season on Saturday in Oradell. Don Bosco, which came into the game with a 1-3 record and ranked No. 20 in the NJ.com Top 20, went 65 yards on its game-winning drive with no timeouts and scored on the final play to stun No. 2 Bergen Catholic, 21-20. “It means that Bosco football is all about being fighters,” Don Bosco coach Dan Sabella said when asked what the win meant for his team, which had to overcome a coronavirus outbreak and some lackluster results this season. “We’re always in it. We never quit. We never give up, and the future is bright. We’ve had some tough roads this season, but this is the rivalry, and this is the win you try to get every year. "This makes a lot of pain the last few weeks feel a lot better.” The game-winning drive, which started with exactly one minute on the clock, put the final touches on a dramatic final five minutes that felt like yet another all-time great finish in a rivalry series that always lives up to the hype. Don Bosco Prep tied the game, 14-14, with 4:12 to play on an 11-yard touchdown catch by Ronnie Heath, but Bergen Catholic instantly stole the momentum by returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Junior Fabian France returned the kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown to suck the life out of Don Bosco after the Ironmen fought back to erase Bergen Catholic’s 14-0 lead at the half. The kickoff return touchdown gave Bergen Catholic the lead, but the Crusaders missed the point after so they led 20-14 with 3:58 to play. Don Bosco turned its next drive over on downs on four plays, and that gave the ball back to Bergen Catholic at the Don Bosco 36-yard line with 1:56 to play. A first down could have ended it, but Don Bosco’s defense kept the game alive. On fourth down, sophomore Chase Bisontis sacked Bergen Catholic quarterback Steve Angeli but was called for a 5-yard facemask penalty. Now facing 4th-and-9, Angeli threw an incompletion to give the ball back to Don Bosco with one minute to go. The biggest play of the game-winning drive came after a Bergen Catholic sack when senior quarterback Jake Robbins hit Acevedo for a 47-yard completion down the sideline. After three straight incompletions, they hooked up again for the game-winning score. “Once it touched my hands, I knew it was the greatest feeling,” said Acevedo about his game-winning catch. “This is exactly how I wanted it to end.” BOX SCORE: Don Bosco 21, Bergen Catholic 20 Acevedo said he knew that he had a shot to win the game when he saw Bergen Catholic lined up in man defense. “I knew I had to get outside of him and make him miss,” Acevedo said. “That’s exactly what I did. Jake let it go, and it was an awesome pass.” The play call was four verticals, Sabella said. “It was nothing out of the ordinary,” he said. “We put in our 6-5 defensive end on the back side, and we thought about throwing him a jump ball, but Jake and Ethan have that chemistry, and wow what a dime he threw.” Robbins threw a pick six in the second quarter that gave Bergen Catholic a 14-0 lead, but like he’s done throughout his career, the senior rallied and gave his team a chance to win at the end. He finished with 251 yards, two touchdowns and an interception while completing 13 of his 31 attempts. Defensively, Don Bosco buckled down in the second half. Junior linebacker Tim Hinspeter had a key sack and anchored a defense that got better as the game went on. And that hasn’t always been the case this season. Don Bosco’s defense wilted in a 34-14 loss to St. Joseph (Mont.) last week. Don Bosco also dropped losses to St. Peter’s Prep and Delbarton before a COVID-19 outbreak shut down the program for two weeks. The Ironmen gave up over 300 yards rushing to St. Joseph’s star tailback Audric Estime in its first game back, and there were a lot of doubters that thought Bergen Catholic would roll over a Don Bosco team that came into Saturday’s game 1-3. Instead, Don Bosco proved that anything’s possible in a rivalry game. “We’ve had a rough couple of weeks,” Sabella said. “We haven’t played up to the way that we know we’re capable of playing. Our whole thing was looking back at a couple of difference-making plays. If you make them, momentum changes and things go a different way.” They went that way Saturday.