Saint John Vianney's Rout Of Brick Proves Just How Good They Are

Photos above courtesy of Tom Smith: #44 Josiah Walker, #2 Zyaire Sterling, #21 Johnny Buchanan and # 3 Haaziq Daniels

HOLMDEL – Heading into Friday night’s game featuring No. 9 Brick at No. 2 Saint John Vianney the question still lingered, just how good are the Lancers?

Even though they were 3-0 and outscored its opposition by a 155-21 margin, doubt persisted due to the quality of their three wins and the fact that its three opponents went a combined 1-8 through week three.

Well, after Friday night’s 42-0 demolition of previously undefeated Brick that pushed their Shore Conference winning streak to 33 straight games, the question was answered, the Lancers are as good as advertised.

“We’ve got great players,” Saint John Vianney head coach Derek Sininsky said of his team. “People say all of a sudden I became this unbelievable coach but it comes down to having great players. We have great athletes at every position.”

Playing as though they had something to prove, which they did, Saint John Vianney resembled a locomotive barreling down the tracks scattering debris in its path.

After surviving a shaky first half against Red Bank Regional a week ago the Lancers built a 35-0 halftime lead Friday night and played the entire second half with a running clock.

The Lancers (4-0) put up 431 total yards of offense in the game while limiting Brick (3-1) to 12 yards of offense and no first downs in the first half and 109 total yards and two first downs for the game that included a late third quarter 79-yard run by junior tailback Jake Wynkoop.

Adding insult to injury, Wynkoop’s run gave Brick a first-and-goal at the one-yard line down 42-0, but they failed to get it into the end zone on three consecutive running attempts and a six-yard sack of quarterback Anthony Pato by senior linebacker Johnny Buchanan on fourth down. Brick was overmatched against the Lancers physical front seven that completely outmuscled them to preserve the shutout.

“Being physical is always our motivation on defense, senior linebacker Josiah Walker said. “If we’re physical they’re eventually going to quit. We can hit hard, we’ve got some hard hitters. We’re relentless, we don’t stop. We’re like a category four hurricane.”

Saint John Vianney got on the board on the first possession of the game driving 72 yards in eight plays. Senior quarterback Haaziq Daniels hit senior Sam East in the left flats, and the wide receiver cut inside for a seven-yard touchdown. Daniels found junior Nick Degennaro down the right sidelines for 47 yards to the 11-yard line on third-and-8 from their own 42 before East scored two plays later.

“That’s where we need to go more,” Sininsky said. “We need to go vertical a little more than we do. We do have it with Nick, Sam, Zyaire and A.J.”

Following a Brick three-and-out that featured a five-yard tackle for a loss by Buchanan and Walker, the Lancers took over at their own 40 after the punt rolled out of bounds.

On first-and-10 from the 40, Walker took a handoff from Daniels and looked as though he wanted to take it outside but cut inside, ran through some tackles, and sprinted 60-yards for the score. Will Forman’s extra point kick was good and the Lancers led 14-0 a little over four minutes into the game.

“All week, we emphasized to be physical,” Walker said. “The offensive line dominated, they were killing it today. They made all the holes and I made my reads and cuts and just ran to the house.”

On Bricks ensuing possession, Buchanan’s six-yard sack of quarterback Jim Leblo led to another three-and-out before senior Zyaire Sterling took Joey Carchio’s punt 60 yards only to have it called back on block in the back penalty.

Not to be deterred, the Lancers overcame a holding penalty and went 65 yards in eight plays with Walker running it in from six-yards out to push the score to 21-0 at 1:58 of the first quarter. Daniels hit junior tight end Andrew McGimpsey on a crossing pattern for 16 yards to the 14-yard line setting up the score.

“It could be very special,” Sininsky said of his offense’s potential. “But we need everybody to buy in because this is a very humbling offense. We’re not going to have Johnny with 25 carries, it’s going to be eight and seven and four and three for people. And that’s hard for kids this age when they see (Ashante) Worthy running around and getting 300 yards, and here we put up 550 yards of offense just about every game and nobody knows about it because we don’t have that one player who is getting all the carries. But if you look at per carry everyone’s averaging 10-yards per carry and that’s what college coaches are going to look at. So it’s a humbling experience for a teenage kid to play in this offense.”

The Lancers then drove to the Brick 12-yard line on their ensuing possession but Daniels intended pass Sterling in the end zone on fourth down fell incomplete.

Walker and junior defensive tackle Paul Liseno combined to stop Carchio for no gain on third-and-4 from the Brick 18-yard line.That forced Brick to punt for the fourth time on their four possessions of the first half.

Sterling returned the punt to the Brick 40-yard line and then on first down he took a reverse 36 yards to the four-yard line setting up a first-and-goal. Buchanan then punched it in on the next play for a 28-0 lead after Forman’s kick.

Walker stopped Carchio again for no gain on third down and Carchio went back to punt on Bricks fifth straight possession of the half.

Twelve plays and 89 yards later, Sterling ran it in from two-yards out and a 35-0 Lancer lead with 2:01 left in the half. Walker had four consecutive runs for 30 yards on the drive and Buchanan had a big 21-yard first-down run on third-and-11 from the 37 to keep the drive alive.

Saint John Vianney accumulated 313 first-half yards with 242 of them coming on the ground. Walker accounted for 119 of those yards on 10 carries with two TD’s and Buchanan added 46 yards and a touchdown on 10 attempts. Walker also had nine first-half tackles and Buchanan added a TFL and a sack in the half.

With the running clock in motion at the start of the second half, Brick got its first, first down of the game on a penalty, but a four-yard sack by senior linebacker Dylan Stoppiello and a stop by Dominick Spano on third down led to Brick’s sixth punt of the game.

Buchanan then closed out the scoring bolting 50-yards untouched up the gut of Bricks defense for a 42-0 lead with 5:24 left in the third and the clock still running.

Buchanan celebrated his touchdown run by running to the sideline and donning a University of Delaware cap revealing his commitment to the school. He then held up a Delaware shirt to the crowd and ran to the edge of the crowd to find his family and share the moment with them.

“Obviously, I decided to do this before the game and I thought this would be the right game to do it since it was Brick,” said Buchanan, a Brick native who played freshman football there. “I’ve got nothing but respect for Brick. My hats off to them for coming here and playing hard till the end.”

For the game, Walker and Buchannan combined to rush for 222 yards on 23 attempts with Walker running for 125 yards on 12 carries and Buchanan going for 96 yards on 11 touches. Both also ran for two scores. Sterling finished with 62 yards and a touchdown on eight carries as the Lancers steamrolled their way to 363 yards on the ground on 42 attempts on the night.

On defense, Buchanan unofficially finished with nine tackles including two TFL and two sacks while Walker recorded 12 tackles including a TFL.