By MARK TRIBLE
South Jersey Glory Days Senior Football Writer
On X @Mtrible
ABSECON — As Friday night’s Holy War entered the final frame, all that seemed left to do was punch in the final totals.
St. Augustine Prep, ranked No. 2 in the South Jersey Football Frenzy Show Best 11, had pounded and bruised its way to a 10-0 stranglehold on the hosts, No. 4 Holy Spirit.
But what’s a Holy War without some drama?
The Spartans proved yet again that there’s a special type of magic that can exist at Ed Byrnes Stadium in clashes like these. With touchdown drives of 69 and 76 yards, Holy Spirit stunned the Hermits with a 14-10 final.
“This one’s definitely up there for the reason that they don’t give up a lot of points,” coach Andrew DiPasquale said. “So, when you go down 10-0 to a team like that, it’s a tough hill to climb.”
A 2011 grad of the Navy and gold and a longtime assistant coach, DiPasquale has seen his fair share of wild triumphs. Before kickoff, he and some staff members recounted crazy comebacks and miraculous plays that had happened on this sod for the Spartans (5-1).
Perhaps the gorgeous sunset late in the first half tried to foreshadow the brilliant finish. Though at that point, Prep (4-2, 2-1 West Jersey Football League American) had ridden a first-drive field goal from Luke Tanzola and a 4-yard Julian Turney run late in the second frame to a double-digit lead. After a no-score slog in the third, the real action began.
Spirit quarterback Ty Costabile capped a 12-play drive with an 11-yard toss up the seam to Taylor Cartwright with 10 minutes, 15 seconds left.
The Hermits bounced back with two first downs, but stalled out near midfield when Freddy Marczyk’s sack thwarted an attempt on 3rd-and-12. Prior to the play, a costly delay of game penalty caused longer yardage. The Spartans (5-1, 2-0 WJFL Constitution) used the opportunity to employ their trademark pressure.
With 5:38 to play, Spirit started at its 24-yard line. Three snaps later, it was at Prep’s 19, thanks in large part to Emanuel Gerena’s 42-yard run off the right side.
Two plays later, no one covered Gerena prior to a goal-line snap. Costabile refused the called run play and lofted a pass that way.
Touchdown.
“I threw it with I think one finger on the ball,” Costabile said of the lollipop toss. “The touchdown before that we had a run play called as well.
“If they’re going to leave our playmakers in space, I’m going to give it to them.”
Cartwright laughed when he said he was all of “5-foot-somethin” tall after the game, but he came up huge when it mattered most. His interception with1:52 on the clock all but sealed the deal. An Emir Hicks 6-yard run to pick up the final first down did the rest.
“That’s what we’re about, we’re Holy Spirit football,” the 16-year-old Cartwright, who once caught touchdowns from Costabile as a youth on the Absecon Blue Devils, said. “We just play hard. Don’t ever expect us to lose a game like this.”
The visitors’ sideline and bleachers couldn’t believe the result, one that perfectly captured the cliché — the Spartans snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
DiPasquale’s team covered 143 yards in the two touchdown drives and finished with 238 on the game. The Hermits finished with 182.
“It’s tough, there are lessons in everything,” Prep coach Pete Lancetta said. “I don’t exactly know what this lesson is, but you’ve got to play four quarters, right?
“The kids know that. But hey, kudos to Holy Spirit. They did a nice job during that stretch moving the ball and we didn’t sustain anything offensively. That did us in.”
Gerena, a Donovan Catholic transfer who made it a point to mention he’d never lost to the Richland club, watched the tilts from afar when his brother, Isaiah, played for the Spartans.
He relished his role in the rivalry’s latest edition.
“It’s the Holy War, it’s awesome,” said Gerena, who finished with 13 carries and 106 yards and 22 yards on five catches. “It always comes down to the wire.”
There are signs displayed at Ed Byrnes Stadium that show clear priority of this campus in three words: Faith. Family. Football.
You’d have needed a lot of the first term to believe Friday night would provide a Spirit victory.
Add another chapter to the lore.
Mark Trible is the host of the South Jersey Football Frenzy Show. You can check it out every Wednesday at 7 p.m. at facebook.com/sjglorydays. The show features highlights, analysis, rankings and more.
