WEST PALM BEACH – In the words of Daniel Burack, it was a good game.
The Cardinal Newman head coach is referring to his team’s 28-19 home win this past Friday night (Oct. 2) over Doral Academy, which could have gone either way. It took the Crusaders collective ability to dig deep and display a level of poise to get past the Firebirds.
Cardinal Newman (2-1; No. 2 in latest New Era Prep private school rankings) led for the majority of this one, even though it did not feel that way until the game’s closing minutes.
“We preached that the meanest team would win the game,” Burack said. “Our guys never lost focused, which was a great thing for us.”
As a result of their team effort, the Crusaders have been chosen as our Team of Week 4.
“I feel like we truly deserve this,” said Cardinal Newman junior cornerback and wide receiver Denzel Williams, who had five tackles on defense and a 30-yard reception on offense.
“We’ve been working really hard constantly every week to get better,” Williams continued. “As a team, we all agreed to not let what happened at Calvary Christian (19-0 season-opening road loss; Week 1) ever happen again. I would say it is truly a blessing to be selected Team of the Week, and we give all glory to God and credit to our coaches, who got us to where we are now. We are truly a family at Cardinal Newman.”
Sophomore quarterback Joe Thomas has been filling in nicely for senior quarterback Matthew Shannon, who has been nursing an injury since Week 1 of the regular season. Thomas threw for 125 yards and two touchdowns against Doral Academy (0-1).
“He’s been doing great,” Burack said of Thomas. “He’s really stepping up. He’s our go-to guy right now. Even though Matt has been out, he stepped right into the role of mentoring Joe. I credit both Matt and Joe for what they have done, working together. They have like a big brother, little brother type of relationship with each other.”
Thomas threw one of his two scoring passes to to sophomore athlete Vinkevus Pierre, who caught a 30-yarder to the end zone that gave Cardinal Newman a 7-0 lead in the early going.
Pierre was nominated as our Breakthrough Player of Week 4 for his performance.
“He broke six guys for the score,” Burack said. “Great effort by him on that one.”
The other touchdown pass from Thomas was to senior wide receiver and MVP of Week 4 Jason Lovingshimer, who caught a 48-yarder to the end zone that turned a 9-7 deficit into a 14-9 lead early in the second quarter for Cardinal Newman.
Lovingshimer had three catches for 69 yards and the one touchdown. He also tallied six total tackles in this one.
“Jason is a great kid,” Burack said. “We have been waiting for him to have a breakout game. He has big-play capability all over him. He doesn’t make many mistakes, especially on defense. Overall, he’s a great leader for us and it showed on Friday night.”
Senior linebacker and running back Aaron LaMartiniere had five carries for 37 yards and two rushing touchdowns, one of which propelled Newman to a 21-12 halftime lead. LaMartiniere also had the game-icing score late in the fourth quarter.
But it was LaMartiniere’s defensive effort that mattered the most for the Crusaders, as he helped lead the way with five total tackles (2 tackles for loss).
Other standouts on defense for Cardinal Newman were senior middle linebacker Luigi de Cardenas (four tackles, two tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries), senior defensive end Angelo ‘AJ’ Lista (five total tackles), and senior defensive end Richard Vincent (four total tackles, two tackles for loss).
“Our entire defensive line dominated the game up front,” Burack said. “They’re big guys that deserve to play at the collegiate level. Our guys are at least 6-1 and 250 pounds, and it showed with their play on Friday night.”
Lovingshimer summed up the entire experience from Week 4.
“Honestly we just never stopped fighting,” Lovingshimer said. “Coach [Burack] told us at the beginning of the week to attack first and don’t stop attacking. And we did a great job as a team by playing together and fighting all the way until that last whistle.”
NOTE: The next game for Cardinal Newman is in Week 5 at home against No. 4 St. John Paul II (2-1). The kickoff date and time is set for Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.
PHOTO CREDITS: AA/DM-Panozzo
