October 10, 2009
Patriots run over Panthers
Guard Mike Landi and the Patriots had more than 500 yards of total offense.
Click Here for more photos from Wallington at Secaucus.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
SECAUCUS – At Secaucus, head coach Charlie Voorhees has stressed the importance of being a football program. It’s a program that has stressed a diversified offensive attack by committee along with offensive and defensive philosophies that reach from the varsity team all the way to the peewee level.
Last night’s performance was a testament to that program as the Patriots overcame injury to dominate in all aspects of the game in a 57-9 victory over Wallington. It was a performance that Voorhees called “the most complete game” they’ve played all season.
“They played like old-school Secaucus,” Voorhees said on a night when they wore blue throwback jerseys for the first time. “Just nasty football, I think they represented them very nicely today.”
Midway through the second quarter Secaucus (4-0) starting quarterback Niko Petruzzella went down with a left knee injury when he was sacked in the end zone. For most teams, losing your starting signal caller would bring an offense to a stand still. Instead, with sophomore Sean Egan at quarterback, the Patriot offense hardly missed a beat.
It took just two plays for Secaucus to find the end zone with Egan in the game thanks to a 63-yard touchdown from Joe Impreveduto to make it a 21-2 game.
Impreveduto and fellow running back Eddie Delgado ran wild in the first half. The duo combined for 281 yards and four touchdowns in the game’s first 24 minutes.
After riding Delgado and Impreveduto early on, Voorhees put his faith on Egan’s arm. Showing the poise and strength of a veteran, Egan threw touchdowns of 63, 64 and 73 yards on three consecutive passes in the third quarter to put the game well out of reach. He may have been a sophomore, but running the same offense he has since in the recreation leagues, Egan showed an experience well beyond his class year.
“He’s not a sophomore in this program,” Voorhees said. “He’s (like) a junior or a senior in this program since he’s run this (offense) since he’s a little kid. He’s been running this stuff a long time.”
“The strength is the kids running that program,” offensive coordinator Bruce Naszimento added. “They run it from third grade. You can say a play and they’ll know it.”
In four attempts, Egan completed three of them, all for scores and had 200 yards. Matt Traynor caught two of them for 137 yards and Angelo Abdellatif hauled in a 63-yard touchdown for his lone catch. Traynor also added an interception on defense.
Impreveduto had 174 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries. His partner-in-crime Delgado had 15 carries for 117 yards and a score.
In total, the Patriots offense gashed Wallington (2-2) for 505 yards in total offense behind a dominant performance by their line. A group led by Betim Bujari, Nick Gjoni and Mike Landi opened up massive holes in the running game and kept Egan upright.
That physical play carried over to the defensive side as that trio along with Carlos Quinones and a host of others led a front seven that delivered crunching hits, while forcing a pair of turnovers and limiting the Wallington offense to less than 200 yards.
“On both sides of the ball, they just dominated and took over physically,” Voorhees said about his line. “I think our kids are as tough as anybody. They’re nasty guys out there.”
With the victory, Secaucus extended their BCSL National winning streak to 38 games and have now won 21 straight regular season games. Next week the Patriots go out of division when they face Bogota of the BCSL Olympic division.
Matt Traynor had an interception and caught two touchdowns in a win.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wallington (2-2) | 0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
9
|
| Secaucus (4-0) | 6 |
24 |
19 |
8 |
57
|
| S: Eddie Delgado, 63 run (pass failed) | |||||
| S: Joe Impreveduto, 5 run (Impreveduto run) | |||||
| W: Safety | |||||
| S: Impreveduto, 70 run (Impreveduto pass from Sean Egan) | |||||
| S: Impreveduto, 2 run (Delgado run) | |||||
| S: Matt Traynor, 64 pass from Egan (run failed) | |||||
| W: Rick Zaccone, 8 pass from Charlie Vellis (Zaccone kick) | |||||
| S: Angelo Abdellatif, 63 pass from Egan (kick failed) | |||||
| S: Traynor, 73 pass from Egan (Anann Shahin kick) | |||||
| S: Rich Rivera, 50 fumble return (Casey Quinones run) | |||||