Even in Florida, Bergen Catholic football finds family | Cooper
SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. − Bergen Catholic was greeted by sunny skies and blue turf for practice Thursday before their national Top 20 showdown with Chaminade-Madonna in suburban Miami on Friday night.
But at least one Crusader felt right at home. Maybe two.
Bergen Catholic sophomore defensive end/tight end Jermaine Kinsler transferred to Bergen Catholic from Florida this summer, joining his cousin Elijah. At 6-foot-7, Jermaine is already built like a Division I recruit, just raw.
“Jermaine is just scratching the surface,” Bergen Catholic coach Vito Campanile said. “We’re still trying to teach him how to drive off his feet. When he starts to understand the power he has in his hips – I mean, he just turned 16 – he’s going to be a good one.”
Multiple Kinslers played high-level Division I football, and uncle Latish Kinsler bounced around with the Eagles and Jets (and the New Jersey Red Dogs of the old Arena Football League), but the next generation is ready to step in.
Elijah, who has verbally committed to West Virginia, minces no words talking about his cousin.
“He’s going to be the best Kinsler of them all, that’s all I got to say.”
Jermaine said he came to Bergen Catholic to increase his recruiting potential. (He was wearing a U shirt for practice, in case that tells you anything.) A large chunk of the Kinsler family still lives in Florida, and they’re all coming Friday.
“To get a game basically in my home state, it’s all love,” Elijah said. “A lot of Kinslers will be coming down and I love to see my family.”
Jermaine said its been hard to be away from his family, but he said he’s felt welcome and it’s great to have his cousin to lean on.
“He’s like my big brother,” Jermaine said. “We live like five minutes away. I am always at his place.”
How Bergen Catholic stacks up
Chaminade-Madonna is ranked No. 5 in the USA TODAY Super 25 national rankings and are defending 1-M Florida state champs. Bergen Catholic is ranked No. 19 by USA TODAY.
The Crusaders are off to a 2-0 start and are the consensus No. 1 team in New Jersey again, but the Crusaders are a different team than last year.
One advantage may be that this is not the Crusaders' first big out-of-state trip. Last season, they went west to Arizona and pounded Saguaro, 28-7.
“It helps the older guys and veterans on the team who played last year,” Campanile said. “I think they like having this underdog role that they have been hearing all week. We are ready to play, I mean, we’re going to show up.”
Campanile said the first thing that pops on film is the Lions' overall team speed, even up front. The weather will also be a factor. It will be hot at kickoff, and in Florida that means teams will get mandatory water breaks at the six-minute mark of each quarter.
“Our depth is younger than it was last year, but it’s different,” Campanile said. “We were unproven this point at quarterback last year. Quincy Porter had only played about 15 snaps in the first game, now we aren’t as deep as we were a year ago, but those guys will line up and have to play.”
Bergen Catholic will be without standout Chris Mimmo in the secondary. He tore his Achilles tendon against Red Bank Catholic in Week 0, but just about everyone else will be available to play.
The blue turf
The Crusaders had hoped to practice at the Miami Dolphins facility Thursday, where Vito’s younger brother Anthony is an assistant coach, but the logistics didn’t work out. So Bergen Catholic went to Bishop McCarthy High School, home of the Mavericks and sea green/blue turf for a 90-minute workout/walkthrough.
Campanile said he loved the turf, but scoffed at the idea of changing the turf at McGovern Field to red.
“I watch those Eastern Washington games and they give me a headache,” Campanile laughed, referencing the West Coast school with a crimson home field. “So I do not. I think The Jack is looking good.”
The Jack does always look good, but the Crusaders will be a long way from home Friday night. At least, most of them.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Catholic NJ football finds family in Florida
