The St. Joseph Regional Green Knights (Montvale) took down the No.1 ranked and undefeated Don Bosco Prep Ironmen 24-21 in the NJSIAA Non-Public A state championship.
Along with a big help from special teams, the St. Joe’s quarterback and running back duo of Lamar Best and Nate Bailey are ending their high school careers as state champs.
“All our hard work paid off today,” Bailey said. The Harvard commit had 50 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries along with a 20-yard reception in the win. “We’ve been working since the summer and we knew how to show up in big moments and that’s what happened.
You can make a pretty good argument that this game was THE state championship of all of New Jersey high school football. Coming into the game, Don Bosco was the top ranked team in the state with St. Joe’s sitting in second.
The first half was full of both fireworks and chaos. It all started early in the first quarter when the first three drives of the game were all touchdowns. Ironmen quarterback Carson Schoen threw a 50 yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Alvarez. The Green Knights would respond with a touchdown of their own thanks to Best’s 38 yard pass to Stalin Knowlden. Don Bosco wouldn’t back down and scored another touchdown on a Schoen 40 yard pass to Zakai Murphy.
The insanity would carry into the second quarter when St. Joe’s Travon Chardonet blocked John Devir’s punt, leading to a penalty on Devir for an illegal kick. Despite the ball being placed in Bosco’s half, the Ironmen defense stood tall, only allowing a 19 yard field goal from Kyle Salinas to keep their lead with minutes to go till the half.
On the next drive in St. Joe’s territory, Schoen lost the football while being sacked, leading to a Green Knight recovery. Despite the turnover, nothing was done and the Ironmen were going into half-time with a 14-10 lead.
St. Joe’s would come raging back in the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns to take a 24-14 lead. A costly pass interference call on a Don Bosco set up a 35-yard touchdown run from Bailey. On the very next play, the Ironmen muffed the kick and the Green Knights had another fumble recovery. This led to a 10-yard touchdown run by Best. In just 21 seconds, the score went from 14-10 Bosco to 24-14 St. Joe’s.
Bosco would attempt to make a comeback late in the fourth quarter when Dante DeLuca had a three-yard run to the end zone to make it 24-21. Even though they kept the momentum going when they forced St. Joe’s to punt, the pressure was on and it wasn’t enough as a turnover on downs ended the Ironmen’s 12-0 season.
While special teams played a crucial role in the victory, it couldn’t have been done without Lamar Best. Despite throwing for just 88 yards, he made big plays in big moments using his feet rushing for 35 yards. “It’s amazing,” Best said. Playing with a shoulder injury since earlier in the season, he led his team to a state title. “For two years we’ve been putting in the work to try and get to this moment. It feels amazing that I can share this with my brothers.”
Coming into this game, the Green Knights were seen as underdogs. The St Joe’s players saw the predictions and what people thought of them playing against Bosco; keeping it all in the back of their heads. “We got all the screenshots.” Best said. “Only one person picked St. Joe’s to win so we definitely marked that down.”
“These boys did it, we just put them in a position to be successful and they just did it. St. Joe’s head coach Augie Hoffman said. The eight-year Green Knight head coach guided his team to the glory land in underdog fashion. “Everybody said it would take four years [to win a state title]. It doesn’t. Because that’s our culture. We work our ass off and these guys deserve it.”
While they came up short of what would’ve been a historical season for the Ironmen, they shouldn’t keep their heads down. Bosco’s quarterback Carson Schoen is only a sophomore and is racking up D-I offers; ultimately making it a best bet that this program has a bright future ahead.
The Green Knights left MetLife Stadium not only solidifying that they are arguably the best team in the state, but they left with their first state championship since 2018 and their 20th in school history.
