DePaul denies Red Bank Catholic football a chance to make history

EAST RUTHERFORD - The outcome may not have been what anyone associated with the Red Bank Catholic High School football program wanted Friday at MetLife Stadium.

But, despite the Caseys' 19-17 defeat to DePaul in the NJSIAA Non-Public B championship game that prevented them from becoming the first Shore Conference team to win non-public consecutive state championships, this senior class will go down as one of the best in the history of the program.

"Tonight is not an asterisk of what their careers have been,'' Red Bank Catholic coach Mike Lange said. "These seniors have been here the whole time (three years) I've been the head coach. I can't say enough good things about them. I owe them a lot because of how much they've done on and off the field for us.''

Among those seniors whose football career ended Friday was running back/defensive back Sabino Portella. The standout three-year two-way varsity player rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown and had seven tackles.

"He's a legend,'' Lange said. "For what he's at stake (Portella has signed a national letter of intent to wrestle at the University of North Carolina), where he's going, I'm sorry. I don't care. I'm totally biased, but he's the best player in the Shore.''

Portella, who was a state wrestling finalist at 170 pounds in 2021 and is a two-time state top four finisher, will now turn his attention toward becoming Red Bank Catholic's first state wrestling champion since 1974 and just the second in school history. He will also try to become the Caseys' first three-time state medalist.

Red Bank Catholic (10-2), which led 10-0 in the second quarter and then was behind 19-10 after DePaul (7-5) got a safety when Steve Fiorendino blocked a punt out of the end zone, made a late run.

The Caseys pulled within 19-17 on a 10-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback Frankie Williams to senior receiver Robert Stolfa.

Red Bank Catholic then got the ball back at its 29 with 2:53 remaining, but three incomplete passes and a 2-yard sack resulted in a turnover on downs and the end of the Caseys' hopes.

"I'm proud to be these kids football coach,'' Lange said. "They emptied the tank at the end there. That's all you can ask for as a football coach.''

DePaul avenged a 13-8 defeat to Red Bank Catholic in last year's final.

"I'm just really proud of the effort our kids gave,'' DePaul coach Nick Campanile said. "We were down 10-0, and they never blinked, and that's kind of the way our season's been. We've hit adversity every step of the way and these guys just stick together and they fight through it. That's exactly what we did today.''

3 big plays that enabled DePaul

Red Bank Catholic dominated the first 19:50 of the game and built its 10-0 lead by controling the line of scrimmage on both sides.

A Justin Lamorte 21-yard field goal got the Caseys on the board two seconds into the second quarter. Portella's 4-yard TD run made it 10-0 with 4:10 left in the first half.

However, the 10-point lasted only 17 seconds as Spartans' freshman quarterback Derek Zammit hit a wide-open De'zie Jones on a post-pattern for a 60-yard TD. Jones, a sophomore, caught the ball at the 34 and raced in untouched.

"We kind of thought a shot was coming,'' Lange said. "We had a kid slip and that kid (Jones) is a weapon. We knew it was coming. Kudos to them.''

The next key play came late in the third quarter when Zammit's pass over the middle on a third-and-7 from the Caseys' 29, hit a DePaul's lineman helmet and ricocheted back to Zammit, who then ran for 10 yards and a first down.

Three plays later, DePaul, which won its eighth NJSIAA championship, took the lead for good at 17-10 on a 7-yard TD run by senior Anthony Almeida with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

The final key play was the blocked punt with Red Bank Catholic punter Vincent Muscillo's heels backed up to the end line as the Caseys were forced to punt on a fourth-and-9 from the 6.

"They overloaded,'' Lange said. Kudos to them they made one more play than we did.''

In the third quarter, Muscillo made a heroic play when he chased down a snap that went over his head near the goal-line and got off a 22-yard punt.

DePaul 19, Red Bank Catholic 17

DePaul 0 10 7 2 - 19

Red Bank Catholic 0 10 0 7 - 17

SECOND QUARTER

RBC: Justin Lamorte 21 Field Goal.

RBC: Sabino Portella 4 run (Lamorte kick).

DP: De'zie Jones 60 pass from Derek Zammit (Luke Monteyne kick).

DP: Monteyne 29 Field Goal.

THIRD QUARTER

DB: Anthony Almeida 7 run (Monteyne kick).

FOURTH QUARTER

DP: Safety: Steven Fiorendino blocked punt out of end zone.

RBC: Robert Stolfa 10 pass from Frankie Williams (Lamorte kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: DP: Anthony Almeida 17-47, Jadin Johnson 9-11, Derek Zammit 3-1. RBC: Sabino Portella 22-94, Frankie Williams 10-11. Torin Harmon 2-8.

PASSING: DP: Derek Zammit 12-19-0-135. RBC: Frankie Williams 7-17-0-63.

RECEIVING: DP: De'zie Jones 3-56, Keaon Jenkins 3-17, Jadin Johnson 2-25, Jake Kucera 1-13, Zammit 1-10, Zach Pardon 1-8, Blake Thomas 1-6. RBC: Najih Rahman 3-39, Robert Stolfa 3-19, Emmanuel Ross 1-5.