For the first time since the 2005 state championship game, Ramsey (NJ) Don Bosco Prep lost a football game.
The Ironmen, No. 3 in the RivalsHigh Top 100, fell at No. 24 St. Xavier of Ohio, 17-10, before 5,500 fans Saturday afternoon. The Ironmen had a 24-game winning streak snapped in the RivalsHigh Game of the Week.
On a fourth down late from the St. Xavier 20 in the final quarer, Don Bosco senior quarterback Brett Knief launched a pass down the middle of the field, but Justinian Mason of St. Xavier deflected the ball away from Ryan Cobb.
“We had the ball on their 5 going in and we got a penalty that pushed us back to the 20 and we didn’t get it in,” Bosco offensive coordinator Nunzio Campanile said by phone. “We gave them the ball back with 1:10.”
The defending Ohio Division I state champs improved to 3-1 on the season, while Bosco dropped to 0-1. It was their first lost since falling to St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City in the 2005 Non-Public Group 4 state game.
Knief went 15-for-37 for 145 yards and was sacked five times.
“They were a tremendous defensive team,” Campanile said. “It was a great game, a high-energy game for four quarters and we ended up on the wrong end of it.”
Things won’t get any easier for Bosco, which next week hosts Valley Forge (Pa.) Military Academy and then visits No. 4 De La Salle in an ESPN game on Sept. 27.
“We still have some great big games ahead of us,” Campanile said. “We started slow in the first half, but in the second half we played real well. When push comes to shove, we still gotta go forward.
“All the things we want are still in front of us.”
