The ball continues to roll for the Don Bosco Prep Ironmen as they defeated the Paramus Catholic Paladins 35-9 Friday night in Paramus. The #1 team in the state is now at a comfortable 4-0.
After being placed 25th in MaxPrep’s national football rankings earlier this week, the Ironmen surely will be moving up after a dominating win against a fellow strong Bergen County program.
“Listen, Always feels good to win,” Don Bosco Prep head coach Dan Sabella said. “Our guys had a really good week of preparation. I thought we responded to a little bit of adversity early on, like you said. Defense came up big, held them to three and then as the game started going, we started to start rolling a little bit, and feels good, good team win. Well rounded, complimentary football across the board. Feel good about it.”
You may think this was your typical high school football game, but there was an outside significance to it. Tonight was the mini-Giants bowl as Don Bosco Prep quarterback Carson Schoen, son of general manager Joe Schoen, faced off against Paramus Catholic’s Walker Snee, son of former offensive lineman Chris Snee, and grandson of former head coach Tom Coughlin, who together won Super Bowls 42 and 46. Snee and Coughlin were in attendance as well as fellow two-time SuperBowl champ, legendary G-Men quarterback Phil Simms.
The Paladins struck first on the opening drive of the game. Thanks to the wheels on running back Chukwuma Odoh and quarterback Walker Snee, they managed to get inside the 15 yard line and settle for a field goal. While the end zone was ideal, they needed to get anything they could.
Eventually, the Ironmen would score on their opening as well, but it took some time. Though running back Ca’Si Thomas ran seven yards for the score, it came at the end of a near six and a half minute drive. They were able to hold on despite facing multiple third and fourth down deficits.
Both teams continued to put up a good fight throughout the first half. After the opening scores, they’d each forfeit at least one drive with a punt. The Ironmen could’ve scored on the drive they punted on when the running back Thomas ran 75 yards to the house, but an offensive holding penalty held them back and they couldn’t redeem themselves.
Towards the end of the half they’d get that touchdown score they should’ve gotten earlier, when a 56 yard reception from Carson Schoen to Isaiah Alvarez set up Thomas for his second touchdown. They had a two score lead headed to the locker rooms and when they’d come back out the ball was theirs to start the third.
It was as if they were a completely different team. Right out of the gates on the first play of the second half Thomas scored on a 38 yard run to score his third touchdown of the game. They’d score again on their next drive when Schoen got in on a goal line QB sneak to go up 28-3. Clearly adjustments were made, good enough to get things to start clicking.
While the offense was building a lead, their defense continued to dominate. Following each of the two touchdown drives, they forced a punt at the one yard line after nearly recovering a strip sack fumble in the opposing end zone and forced a turnover on downs inside the 20. Despite giving the Paladins some opportunities in the first half, they had none to offer in the second.
Clearly the run may have been dominant throughout the game for Don Bosco Prep, but they also showed they can do just as much damage when passing. Early in the fourth quarter, quarterback Carson Schoen threw a 19 yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Alvarez. It was now 35-3 and time for the Ironmen to turn on cruise control.
Paramus Catholic finally got in the end zone with a little over six minutes left in the game when Chukwuma Odoh ran it in for the three yard score to make it 35-9. But in the end, a missed extra point and failed on-side kick practically ended it and the Ironmen would go on to win.
“You know, we watched a lot of film on them this week,” Thomas said, talking about his performance. “I just took advantage of how their linebackers play, and my [Offensive] line, they took advantage of how their D-line is. So, the line did an incredible job blocking up front receivers, incredible job blocking the perimeter, you know, that just led me to the promise land and made me do my job.”
This was an all around great win for the Ironmen who were short one of their key players. Notre Dame Commit pass rusher Aidan O’Neil missed tonight’s game with an injury. Evidently it wasn’t costly as the defense was able to hold things down despite his absence. They were led by Texas A&M commit Mikahi Allen who had a sack in the first half.
Next week will be the biggest game of the year for Don Bosco Prep so far this season. As they return home for the first time since August 28, they will host St. Joseph Montvale in a rematch from last year’s Non-Public Group A State Championship. I asked quarterback Carson Schoen what he learned from tonight about his team that could carry on to St. Joe’s:
“Yeah, I mean, the preparation doesn’t change. Like, obviously, we’re playing a really good freaking football team. They got a lot of dudes on defense, and obviously on offense, they got a lot of good players. They got a good freshman quarterback, Willy [Mitchell] but, I mean, obviously, like, the preparation doesn’t change. We just got to, honestly, like, the bigger games, like people think you got to prepare harder and this and that. I mean, it just starts tomorrow, honestly, just watching the film on their defense and getting ready to go.”
