Mater Dei Proves They're For Real, Shuts Out South Jersey Power St. Joe's

Above Photo's: Mater Dei players celebrate with fans, Saturday's captains and Seraphs swarming defense

MIDDLETOWN – The question everyone has been waiting for was answered with a resounding boom Saturday as the second-seeded Seraphs rode its relentless defense and opportunistic offense to a 26-0 shutout win over No. 3 seed St. Joseph of Hammonton in a state Non-Public Group II semifinal.

Undefeated Mater Dei - ranked No.10 in the Shore Conference - finally got the chance to answer all the questions of just how good they really are after fattening up on Shore Conference B Central opponents and inferior non-conference foes all season long.

But in the end, even seven-time defending champions St. Joe’s was no match for the Seraph, who are in the midst of becoming a small school non-public power under the guidance of former Rutgers star and NFL player Dino Mangiero.

“This was a team win,” said Mangiero, the former head coach at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep in his first year at Mater Dei. “Special teams, defense, offense, all did a good job today. The difference was our kids were very well prepared. We were prepared for everything they did. We stayed late a lot of nights this week because we respected them (St. Joe’s).”

The thoroughly prepared Mater Dei defense was the definitely the difference. They were impenetrable, holding the Wildcats to 34 yards rushing on 33 carries and 79 yards of offense and seven first downs. They recorded 11 tackles for loss, five sacks and a fumble recovery.

On nine of St. Joe’s 11 possessions, the Seraphs defense forced punts with the other two possessions resulting in a Seraphs fumble recovery and turnover on downs right before the half.

“They’re very good defensively,” Wildcats head coach Paul Sacco said. “I tell our kids blocking is desire, and we just couldn’t do it. They were just a better football team than us. They a lot better than people give them credit for defensively. They were all over the place.”

Seniors Marvin Pierre (3 TFL and 1.5 sacks, FR), Juwan Mitchell (sack), Justice George (sack), Jonathan Lubintus (3 TFL, sack and FR) and Shane Mastro (3 TFL, 8 T, 2 QB pressures) along with sophomore’s Russell Ferrisi (2 TFL, pass knock down) and Izaiah Henderson (TFL, .5 sack 6 T) all played a big role on defense.

“We knew we had to come out hard on defense,” Mastro said. “We tried to open up the holes that our linebackers could fill and make plays.”

“We basically just focused on ourselves,” Mitchell said. “We came in all week and all we thought about was lining up correctly getting a quick count; it was just about us. We worked hard at taking them out of their game – that’s what we do as a defense. We proved today just how good we are.”

The game was scoreless until the 11:37 mark of the second quarter when junior quarterback George Pearson – who completed 7-of-12 passes for 98 yards – found Pierre down the right sideline for a 48-yard touchdown pass.

Then on its next possession, a 33-yard Pearson pass to junior Kyle Devaney moved the ball to the St. Joe’s 9-yard line before Pierre took a pitch from Pearson and scored from 4-yards out to make in 13-0 at the half.

A 95-yard kickoff return by senior Eddie Lewis put the Seraphs up 19-0 in the third quarter, and a 5-yard touchdown run by Justin McCrae with 4:14 to play made it 26-0.

Mater Dei (11-0) will meet No. 4 seed Holy Spirit (8-2) in the sectional final Saturday, December 3 at Kean University with a 1:00 p.m. kickoff scheduled. Holy Spirit advanced with a 23-6 win over Immaculata on Friday night.

The Seraphs will be playing in only the second state final in program history and first since 1999. They will be attempting to win the school’s first ever sectional championship in football.

“I’m willing to wait till Dec. 3,” said Mangiero, when asked if this win proved anything. “I know we have a good ball club but being my first year in New Jersey I don’t really know how to gauge anybody.”

However, given the fact that they just completely dominated one of the state’s small school powerhouses, a perfect 12-0 season and a state title seems more likely than not for the Seraphs.

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