Bergen capitalizes on miscues, upends Gorman

Bishop Gorman’s Nathan Starks had done a great job of answering Bergen Catholic’s first two scores Friday night.

But the New Jersey squad made sure Starks wouldn’t be able to answer the third.

The Crusaders’ J.P. Garcia pounced on a short kickoff that landed between a group of Gorman players.

And Bergen capitalized, getting a 15-yard touchdown pass from Jonathan Germano to J.J. Kulcsar with 29 seconds left in the first half to push the lead to two touchdowns on the way to a 42-35 upset of the Gaels at Gorman.

“We felt like we kept giving them the short field,” Gorman coach Tony Sanchez said. “When you play teams like this and you give them an opportunity, they’re going to take advantage of it.”

Bergen’s second TD came courtesy of a Gorman miscue, as an early snap caught quarterback Jarrett Solomon off guard, hitting him in the face mask. Garrett Dickerson recovered for the Crusaders at the Gorman 25-yard line.

That set up a 14-yard TD run by James Dawson that put the Crusaders (2-0) up, 14-7.

“Early in the game, giving them those 30-yard fields, you’re just not going to win that football game,” Sanchez said.

Starks, who returned a kickoff 96 yards for Gorman’s first touchdown, then broke off a 59-yard TD run to tie the game with 5:25 to go in the half.

Starks looked to be stopped for a short gain on the play but emerged from the pile and streaked down the left sideline for the score.

Bergen answered with a 1-yard TD run from Germano before recovering the kickoff to take the momentum.

“Some of the things we did we just couldn’t recover from,” Sanchez said. “We snapped the ball off our quarterback’s face and they recovered. They did a little pooch kick right in front of one of our guys and he doesn’t jump on it and it causes another touchdown.

“We did quite a few things that really hurt us.”

Gorman (2-1), ranked ninth in the nation by Rivals.com, scored on its first drive of the second half when Solomon hit Jamir Tillman with a 15-yard scoring strike to cut the lead to 28-21.

But Bergen got a 1-yard TD run from James Dawson, and Gorman hurt itself on the next possession, when a bad option pitch from Solomon stalled a promising drive.

Sanchez sat the Arizona-bound Solomon and turned to backup quarterback Randall Cunningham late in the third quarter. But he didn’t fare much better, throwing an interception on his second pass attempt.

“I made a decision based on a couple things that had occurred, and I told Jarrett to sit one out,” Sanchez said.

Solomon returned, guiding the Gaels on two late scoring drives, but it was too little, too late.

He had an 11-yard TD pass to Tillman and a 35-yard scoring strike to Ryan Smith with 40 seconds to play.

But the Gaels couldn’t come up with either onside kick attempt, and Bergen was able to run out the clock.

Germano passed for 308 yards, and Dawson rushed for 102 yards.

Gorman has now allowed 82 points in its last six quarters. The Gaels surrendered 459 yards of offense to the Crusaders, who entered the game ranked No. 28 nationally by Rivals.com.

“The defense came out early and did a great job of shutting those guys down,” Sanchez said. “And then all of a sudden we have a turnover, give them the short field, and that was just a bad situation for the defense to get in.”

Starks finished with 147 yards and a TD on 14 carries for Gorman. Solomon completed 14 of 23 passes for 219 yards. Tillman had six catches for 90 yards, and Smith caught five passes for 94 yards.

Defensive end Isaiah Nacua added two sacks for Gorman.

“Obviously myself and the team are very disappointed, but we’re going to get right back up, dust ourselves off and get back to work,” Sanchez said.