By MARK TRIBLE

South Jersey Glory Days Senior Football Writer

On X @Mtrible

WINSLOW TOWNSHIP — Bergen Catholic High’s football team came to South Jersey on Friday night with quite a reputation that proceeded it.

Then proved why.

The Crusaders pummeled Winslow Township with a 35-0 first half lead and a clock that ran after intermission. You name it, Bergen Catholic (3-0) did it well in a 41-14 rout.

With their gold chrome helmets, the behemoths ran the ball right down the field on their first possession for a touchdown. It took 11 plays and roughly four minutes. The drive set the tone on what would be a rough night for the hosts, business-as-usual for the long-distance visitors.

“We were really excited,” Crusaders coach Vito Campanile said. “We really like that. We appreciate that.

“These kids are competitive kids and they were about as fired up as I’ve seen. I’ve always said the best teams I’ve ever been a part of in football as a player and a coach are player-led teams and this is about as good of a player-led team as I’ve been around.”

Amar’e Newell served the part of the player who led things in the affair. He intercepted two passes in the first half, part of a defense that allowed very little against the Eagles (1-2).

“I knew it was going to be a big game on the secondary and I knew they were going to try us all game, so I had to be ready,” the junior cornerback said. “I knew our secondary was going to be ready all game.”

Newell admitted seeing Winslow at the Battle at the Beach play against IMG Academy of Florida provided a taste of what lay ahead.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” he said. “We’ve seen them play and know how good their receivers, so we just prepared all week.”

On the flip side, the Eagles were certainly bested at every level on Friday — but they also repeatedly beat themselves early on. Penalties and self-inflicted wounds hurt in any game, but against one of the nation’s best teams — it’s a death sentence.

“We struggled early on, we started the same way against Highland and the same way against IMG,” coach Bill Belton said. “It’s kind of becoming a theme.

“We’ve got to get out of this rut that we’re in and figure it out.”

The two tall tasks to start the season opened eyes in the area when the matchups were announced. Despite two losses, Belton knows that the competition will only make his club better.

“We could have scheduled whoever and came out here and rolled whoever,” Belton said. “But my biggest thing is to schedule teams that are going to push us to get better, show us what we’re weak at and expose all the things we need to fix.

“I’m happy that it happened tonight, and I’m happy it happened in Week Zero, too.”

Another huge test awaits the team ranked No. 1 in the South Jersey Football Frenzy Show Best 11 rankings. Second-ranked St. Augustine Prep is on the docket for next week in Richland. The Hermits (3-0) flexed their muscles last week with a 26-0 win over Paul VI and again on Friday with a 35-0 shutout of Cherokee.

That’s the story for a week from tonight.

This week’s reiterated what the state’s seen for the past four years.

Bergen Catholic is the gold — and red — standard for high school football in the Garden State.

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 from high school football games throughout South Jersey.