ROCKLAND – Two 3-1 teams, homecoming, playoff implications, high-powered offenses, big defensive stoppers

Friday’s LTC Class C game between John Bapst of Bangor and Rockland at Wasgatt Field had all the trappings of a classic, must-see gridiron confrontation.

It turned out to be anything but, thanks to a dominating performance by the interior line on both sides of the ball by John Bapst and a nearly unstoppable ground game. The Crusaders combined both to make a big statement with a 39-0 victory over the Tigers.

“We knew they’d be fired up for homecoming, but we came out and said we could push these guys around and we were successful,” said Bapst two-way lineman Charlie Merritt, who broke through the line and collapsed Rockland’s pocket regularly on one side and helped pave the way for 385 rushing yards on the other.

“We were physical and got the job done.”

Senior tailback Nick Smith led the way offensively for the 4-1 Crusaders with 201 yards and four touchdowns on 20 carries behind the Bapst line of Merritt, Micah Raymond, Colin Gagnon, Steve Kelly, and Taylor Dube, as well as tight end Ryan Moriarty and fullback Chase Huckestein.

“Our line really opened things up for us. Again, Chase Huckestein had a really great game and we saw a lot of daylight,” Smith said.

John Bapst sophomore back Bill Wetherbee carried the ball 18 times for 108 yards and quarterback Kyle Gallant accounted for 95 total yards – 75 through the air.

“We talked about picking up the blitzing linebackers and forming a better pocket and keeping them on the line of scrimmage,” said Gallant, who threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Healey in the second quarter. “I’m not the tallest kid so keeping them back there helped me see the field better.”

The first quarter started off with a missed opportunity for the Crusaders as they drove to the Tigers’ 17-yard line only to stall with a 5-yard penalty, third-down incompletion, and a missed 39-yard field goal attempt that was wide left with 7:20 left in the quarter.

Rockland then drove to the JB-42, but had to punt and Bapst responded with a four-play, 77-yard scoring drive capped by a 52-yard TD run by Smith, who burst through the line off right tackle, cut back to the middle, and then broke to the left and down the home sideline.

After Gallant’s TD pass made it 13-0 with 9:27 left in the half, Smith again capped a drive with a TD run, this one a 1-yard plunge to end a six-play, 80-yard drive. Bapst made it 26-0 at halftime with an 11-yard TD run by Wetherbee on a counter play.

The Tigers fared no better in the second half as Bapst’s control of the line of scrimmage kept star players Andrew Weiss (quarterback) and Samuel Weiss (tailback) bottled up.

“We wanted to limit the Weiss kids defensively and that’s a huge task,” said Crusaders coach Dan O’Connell. “They try to spread you out and run it up inside you, so we kept an extra guy in the box to take away the run first and play man to man on the outside. If they beat us there, we’ll adjust to it, but the ‘D’ line and linebackers played great.”

Rockland was limited to 88 total yards, only 29 of which came on the ground. Andrew Weiss had 42 total yards (33 passing) and Samuel Weiss had 38 yards on 10 carries.

“It was more [pressure] off the edges. They did a nice job of keeping us from getting into a rhythm,” said Tigers coach Woody Moore. “I’d have to say they played a pretty flawless game on both sides of the ball.”

CRUSADERS 39, TIGERS 0

John Bapst (4-1) 7 19 13 0 – 39

Rockland (3-2) 0 0 0 0 – 0

JB – N. Smith 52 run (Gallant kick)

JB – Healey 23 pass from Gallant (kick failed)

JB – N. Smith 1 run (Gallant kick)

JB – Wetherbee 11 run (kick blocked)

JB – N. Smith 52 run (Gallant kick)

JB – N. Smith 2 run (kick failed)

John Bapst Rockland

First downs 19 8

Rushing att.-yards 50-385 23-29

Passing comp.-att. 5-12 6-27

Passing yards 75 59

Total yards 460 88

Punts-avg. 2-33 7-28.6

Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-2

Intercepted by 0 0

Penalties-yards 11-85 5-47

Rushing

John Bapst: N. Smith 20-201, Wetherbee 18-108, D. Smith 2-30, Moriarty 1-20, Gallant 7-20, Huckestein 2-6; Rockland: S. Weiss 10-38, A. Weiss 11-9, Boynton 1-3, D. Meklin 1-minus 21

Passing

John Bapst: Gallant 5-12-0-75; Rockland: A. Weiss 4-17-0-33, D. Meklin 2-10-0-26

Receiving

John Bapst: Healey 2-32, Moriarty 1-21, Hass 1-16, Huckestein 1-6; Rockland: Baudanza 3-29, S. Weiss 1-15, Rossiter 1-11, Bodman 1-4

A- 250 (est.)