Football: Magliacano's breakout performance sends St. Joseph over Summit
SUMMIT — Christian Magliacano made his debut at running back a memorable one.
The junior tight end, pressed into service in the backfield due to a slew of injuries, caroused 18 times for 179 yards and three first-half touchdowns as St. Joseph-Metuchen dealt Summit a 35-21 setback that did not feel as close as the final margin.
Magliacano did much of his damage before intermission, scoring on runs of 6, 3 and 55 yards finishing with 10 rushes for 127 yards. He opened the scoring with a 30-yard reception on a screen pass from Daniel DeGennaro as his four scores staked the Falcons (4-4) to a 28-0 advantage late in the second quarter.
Summit never really found an answer for Magliacano, and the only thing that slowed the bruising runner were cramps -- perhaps a result of his added workload -- which sent him to the sidelines on several occasions in the second half. Roughly half of the St. Joseph offensive starters were making their debuts at new positions, a fact you would not deduce from the flow of the contest.
DeGennaro was nearly as efficient, completing 9-of-11 passes for 146 yards without a turnover.
Jake Lowry scored on a pair of 1-yard runs for Summit (3-5), which had its other score come on a 30-yard pass from Brian Bauman to Jacob Penner.
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WHAT IT MEANS
St. Joseph, which opened the season with three straight wins, followed by a disheartening four consecutive losses, evened its record at 4-4.
This is the second meeting between the schools since St. Joseph began competing in football in 2013. Summit won the previous encounter, 46-20, in 2018, during a 10-2 campaign in which the Hilltoppers reached the North Group 3 championship game.
KEY PLAYS
St. Joseph’s first possession appeared to stall when facing a 4th-and-6 at the Summit 30. DeGennaro tossed a screen pass to Magliacano, and the fledgling back rumbled down the left sideline for the game’s opening score, setting the tone for the havoc he was about to unleash.
Summit was barely in striking distance, trailing 35-14 and approaching the red zone, midway through the final stanza, when JoJo Huntley’s third interception made the outcome inevitable.
BY THE NUMBERS
St. Joseph’s makeshift offense accumulated a whopping 405 yards of total offense, including 259 on the ground on 47 carries. Summit amassed 240 yards of total offense, including 79 on the ground on 35 tries. That total was padded by the 76 yards the Hilltoppers traversed on their final possession.
The first half statistics were quite revealing as St. Joseph outgained Summit by a 246-67 margin.
Penalties are often a harbinger of the outcome, but not this day. St. Joseph were called for nine penalties totaling 90 yards, but were not flagged over the final 17 minutes. Summit committed four infractions and were penalized 25 yards.
GAME BALLS
Magliacano played his first game at running back and played like Jim Brown.
DeGennaro completed his first seven passes and his second of two incompletions drew an intentional grounding flag.
Huntley grabbed three interceptions to bring his season total to five.
Lowry led Summit with 69 yards on 17 carries, ran for two scores and hauled in a 25-yard pass to help set up the Hilltoppers’ final touchdown.
THEY SAID IT
“This was our first time with me at running back and we had a whole new line today and they did a great job, they got the holes open and I just kept going,” offered Magliacano, who last played running back in seventh and eighth grade. “It feels awesome. It may be a new position for me.”
“We’ve put in a lot of work over the last couple of weeks we’ve been down and out for a while, losing for a month straight,” noted displaced lineman and co-captain Dan Bellavia, another Falcon moved out of his comfort zone in the trenches. “I feel like we all just came together, now. I owe it to my team, man, my team just really stepped up today.”
“I was really happy for our guys because we’ve really had a rough month, a lot of close losses we could have won, a lot of key injuries,” said St. Joseph coach Bill Tracy, whose offense featured first-time starters at both ends, both guards, center and tackle, in addition to running back. “Christian’s a great athlete, he figured it out in a few days. The guys played well, I’m proud of them.”
UP NEXT
Both schools will wait for other results to determine positioning in the playoffs next week. St. Joseph is in Non-Public Group A and has another week of regular-season play. The Falcons will play host to Pope John next weekend, while Summit hopes to join the North Group 3 bracket.
BOX SCORE
ST. JOSEPH (4-4) 7-21-7-0-35
SUMMIT (3-5) 0-7-0-14-21
SCORING SUMMARY
SJ - Magliacano 30 pass from DeGennaro (Huseth kick)
SJ - Magliacano 6 run (Huseth kick)
SJ - Magliacano 3 run (Huseth kick)
SJ - Magliacano 55 run (Huseth kick)
S - Lowry 1 run (Johnson kick)
SJ - DeCaro 8 run (Huseth kick)
S - Penner 30 pass from Bauman (Johnson kick)
S - Lowry 1 run (Johnson kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - SJ: Magliacano 18-179, Ridges 9-65, DeCaro 4-19, Styles 1-0, DeGennaro 5-minus 1, Huntley 10-minus 3; S: Lowry 17-69, Schnall 6-35, Stocks 3-3, Shallcross 4-1, Walsh 1-0, Bauman 4-minus 29.
Passing - SJ: DeGennaro 9-11-0-146; S: Bauman 6-11-3-112, Walsh 1-1-0-23.
Receiving - SJ: DeCaro 4-68, Huntley 4-48, Magliacano 1-3 S: Penner 4-70, Shallcross 2-40, Lowry 1-25.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Big Central Conference NJ football: St. Joseph handles Summit
