IMG Academy stays Undefeated in 59-47 Thriller over Bergen Catholic
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
On a perfect Saturday afternoon in New Jersey, two U.S. high school powerhouse schools squared off finishing a thriller in the most likely of ways with IMG Academy (4-0) topping Bergen Catholic 59-47.
The Ascenders will make the trip back to Bradenton, Florida still in the hunt for a national championship thanks to the heavy firepower of their offense. Five-star quarterback Shea Patterson led the barrage getting on the board first with a 3-yard run.
Bergen Catholic (2-1) would respond on the next drive with their own highly rated 4-star quarterback Jarrett Guarantano also taking one in from three yards out.
The back-and-forth offensive play would continue with Patterson finding Kerrick Hahn on a 59-yard pass just before the end of the first quarter. When play resumed in the second, Patterson nailed Emmanuel Green on a 7-yard pass for another score.
Guarantano and the Crusaders would answer on a 29-yard touchdown. Pressing their luck, Bergen attempted an on-side kick but Drake Davis took it back to the house for a 48-yard kick return.
IMG turned the heat up getting a Patterson to Green 70-yard touchdown pass and then the Ascenders returned a fumble 70-yards for a score stopping another Bergen potential scoring drive. At half IMG was up 35-14 with the game in hand.
BC did not wilt, scoring on their opening drive of the third quarter on a Guarantano to Andrew Vito 35-yard pass. Unfortunately for Bergen everything was just flowing IMG’s way. The Ascenders took the kickoff back for another special teams touchdown, this one 68 yards. Closing out the third quarter BC’s Frankie Feaster caught a nine yard pass from Guarantano and IMG countered with a 36-yard Enrique Aguayo field goal.
The back-and-forth fireworks continued into the fourth quarter. A fake IMG punt moved the ball down to the Crusaders’ 9-yard line setting up another touchdown moving the score to 52-33 midway through the quarter.
Guarantano left the game in the third but returned with under 8 minutes to play rallying his team for one last run at IMG. The Crusaders were within five points needing to convert an onside kick but could not come up with the ball to finish the comeback.
IMG capped the final drive off with a Jordan Anthony 1-yard touchdown run for the final score of the game.
The Ascenders are off next week and return to action on Oct. 2 playing hose to St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, NJ). Bergen Catholic goes on the road next week to face St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio.
Photo credit: maxpreps.com; No. 7 Shea Patterson looks for an open receiver downfield against Bergen Catholic.