Saint John Vianney Dominates Middletown South In Season Opener

Photos above: No. 9 C.J. Duell and No. 52 Gage Moellman

HOLMDEL – What a difference a year makes.

Last season at this time Saint John Vianney quarterback C.J. Duell was sitting out the first four games of the season after transferring from St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia and the Lancers were blown out 41-14 by Red Bank Catholic in the season opener for both teams.

The Lancers were 2-2 after four games and finished at 5-5 with Duell learning the system on the fly and struggling at times to find his footing.

“Last year was a learning experience for me. This year I’m just slowing down the game and having fun,” said Duell. “I didn’t have much fun last year. Everyone was worried about our record and what people were thinking about us. We know what we can do in this program and know what we’re capable of and I’m just trying to have fun doing it. We’re not worried about rankings; we know what’s happening on the field and we know what we got.”

In Friday night’s season opening 35-7 win over Middletown South, Duell looked like a different person – or I should say quarterback. He displayed the poise, confidence, athletic ability and the leadership skills that has him projected as one of the top quarterback prospects coming out of New Jersey’s 2020 recruiting class.

“Tonight was a special night, everyone was on the same page and we’re just full go right now,” said Duell. “Last year was tough, I couldn’t play the first four games but we’ve got a lot of weapons this year and we’re pretty dangerous.”

Excluding an ill-advised throw he’d like to have back on the Lancers first possession of the game that was picked off by the Eagles Matt Krelin after he had manufactured an impressive drive down to the Middletown South nine-yard line, Duell’s performance was flawless.

The 6-foot-3, 190 pound senior signal caller was 15-of-20 for 174 yards passing and a touchdown. He also rushed for 33 yards on six attempts with a touchdown demonstrating a keen awareness of what was going on around him in the run-pass option (RPO) offense as well as in the pocket.

“C.J. is an outstanding athlete,” said Saint John Vianney head coach Joe Martucci. “He can throw the ball; he can run it and he usually makes pretty good decisions. He got caught on that one interception with the safety coming down and didn’t see it but that happens some time. That’s a learning experience and after that he was on time with everything.”

He has a group a very talented skill players to work with, including senior running back Kavon Chambers and wide receivers Jayden Bellamy and Josh East – just to name a few - which makes his job a little easier but it all starts under center and as the quarterback goes, so goes the offense.

Saint John Vianney racked up 389 yards of total offense, including 150 yards on the ground and 239 yards through the air.

Chambers – an All-Shore selection last season – rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts and caught three passes for 63 yards, including receptions of 33 and 22 yards on the Lancers second scoring drive.

Bellamy, who burst on the scene as a freshman last season, had a game-high 124-yards receiving, including a 24-yard touchdown on a slant in the end zone to give the Lancers a 7-0 lead on their first drive of the second quarter. He also was a force in the secondary recording his first interception of the year while East caught five passes for 52 yards and a touchdown while chipping in with stellar play in the defensive backfield.

The defense, led by senior Gage Moellman, held the Eagles to 71 yards (32 rush, 39 pass) in the first half and 205 total yards in the game. They were flirting with a shutout until South’s senior running back Chris Lottito burst through the line for a spectacular 34-yard touchdown run with 5:46 left in the game.

“There was no doubt the defense wanted that shutout,” said Martucci. “I think they thought the whistle blew but the kid kept churning his feet and that’s what you do in football. It was a great play by their kid (Lottito). But anytime you can hold a team like Middletown South to seven points it’s a feather in the cap of our defense.”

“Our defense played lights out,” said Duell. “Gage is my best friend and nobody knows just how good he is. He has a high football IQ and is so strong – he doesn’t even know how strong he is. He was awesome tonight.”

The 6-foot-1, 230 pound Moellman, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, was a constant presence in the Middletown South backfield. He recorded double-digit tackles, including a sack, three tackles for loss and numerous quarterback pressures.

“Gage Moellman is an outstanding football player,” said Martucci. “He’s quick, he’s strong and we missed him last year being injured, but he’s back full speed healthy and that’s a big plus for us.”

“We showed everybody what we could do out here tonight,” said Moelman. “They’re worried about us now. I tore my ACL last year so I was focused on getting better and better and motivating my team to get better and showing everybody what we can do this season. Our defense is amazing, everyone’s to the ball on every play.”

Junior linebackers Julian Young (sack) and Rob Lambe (2 TFL), senior defensive end John DeFelice (3 TFL), sophomore linebacker Corey Pitts, senior safety Anthony Brett and senior linebacker Naron Alston (INT) all had standout performances Friday night.

After a scoreless first half, the Lancers went 68 yards in 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead on the Duell to East touchdown pass. Anthony Brasco, who was 5-for-5 on extra point kicks, booted the extra point.

On South’s ensuing possession, Moellman’s eight-yard sack on third down forced an Eagle punt and South then marched 72 yards in 10 plays with Duell capping off the drive by diving over the pile for the touchdown on a one-yard quarterback sneak.

The half ended with the Lancer leading 14-0.

On the Lancers first possession of the second half a bit of trickery played out well for them in the form of a flea-flicker.

Duell took the snap from center, pitched to backup quarterback, freshman Antonio Rosato, who spotted a wide open Bellamy and tossed a perfect 56-yard scoring strike to him to push the lead to 21-0.

Bellamy set up the Lancers next score with an acrobatic one-handed grab of a Duell pass at the one-yard line and Chambers took it in from a yard out for a 28-0 lead with 4:28 left in the third quarter.

South then put together its best drive of the night reaching the Lancer seven-yard line, but a Moellman tackle for loss on the quarterback and holding call pushed them back to the 20-yard line. Then on fourth-and-goal from the 18-yard line DeFelice stopped South quarterback Vinny Bonavita after a five-yard pickup.

After South scored to make the score 28-7 the Lancers went three-and-out and following the punt - on first down - Bellamy came up with the interception and Rosato capped the Eagles scoring with a nifty 38-yard touchdown run to make the final score 35-7.

“After last year I feel like we have something to prove to ourselves not to anyone outside this program,” said Duell. “We’re not worried about what people think about us. We know what we did and we worked hard in the off-season and we’re ready to show what we did.”

“These kids worked very hard in the offseason between the weight room, our conditioning program and the seven-on-seven’s over the summer,” added Martucci. “So it’s a tribute to them tonight as to the way they came out and played.”

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