Hilltoppers Beat A L Johnson 49-7

A.L. Johnson’s visit to Metro Homes Field on Saturday was supposed to have answered a couple of questions lingering in everyone’s minds after Summit High raced out to a 2-0 start this season: Are the Hilltoppers  for real, and has third-year coach John Liberato turned the program around?

While those two matters may not yet be entirely settled, the Hilltoppers provided more positive evidence on Saturday with their third consecutive blowout victory – this one a sometimes-sloppy, but mostly dominant 49-7 pasting of the Crusaders.

The reason the questions as to Summit’s legitimacy may persist is that Johnson simply offered little challenge on Saturday, coughing up the ball six times and limping to 130 yards of total offense against a very aggressive Hilltopper defense.

Liberato seemed little concerned over the question of legitimacy shortly after the game.

“I feel great,” said Liberato, who guided the struggling program to 3-7 and 5-6 records in his first two seasons. “Coming out of the blocks 3-0, you feel great. But we’re only going to enjoy it for a short time because we have Sommerville next week.”

While the Summit defense was outstanding, the offense turned in yet another impressive performance. None was better than running back Dwaine Dabney, who piled up 147 yards on just 10 carries. Those included touchdown runs of 54, 11 and three yards as the Hilltoppers amassed 289 yards rushing and added another 132 via the air for 421 total yards.

Through three games, the Hilltoppers have outscored their opponents 139-35.

It didn’t take Summit long to get started on Saturday when Dabney received the opening kickoff and handed it off to Matt Rea, who raced down the left sidelines for a 75-yard touchdown, and the Hilltoppers led 7-0 just 16 seconds into the contest. Quick strikes would become the theme of the day for Summit, which required only eight offensive plays to score its first 35 points.

“Matt Rea taking that TD to the house really set the tone,” Liberato said.

Jake Hall, who had a hand in three Johnson turnovers, recovered a fumble a minute later and though the Hilltoppers would suffer a rare missed opportunity on that possession, they were back in business on their next series after a 10-yard punt set them up at the Johnson 14 midway through the first.

Two plays later, Dabney went in from three yards to make it 14-0 after Alex Melendez’ extra point. Melendez was 6 of 6 on conversions.

With under four minutes remaining in the first period, quarterback Joe Jaskolski hit Marcell Godino in stride across the middle at the 35 and Godino scampered to the Johnson 6, setting up Jaskolsk’s three-yard touchdown run for a 21-0 lead.

But as promising as the beginning was, things suddenly got a bit dicey when Johnson stripped Dabney of the ball after a screen pass and returned it to the Hilltopper 33. Two plays later, it was 21-7 and, on Summit’s next possession, Jaskolski was picked off. Though the defense stiffened, another interception set up the Crusaders at the Summit 25.

But Hall came up with the first of his two picks, this one in the end zone to end the Crusader threat – the last one of the afternoon by Johnson.

“We’ve started fast in every game,” Liberato said. “We needed to have a little bit of adversity and we did that in the second quarter. (Johnson) was fighting. But that was a good character-builder for us. We wanted to keep our composure and for the most part, we did that.”

 The Hilltoppers next score was set up by Pat Birosak’s fumble recovery at the Summit 21. Dabney scampered 25 yards to set up his 54-yard touchdown run to put Summit up 28-7 late in the half.

Dabney, who also had an interception in the contest, came up big on the ensuing Crusader possession when he busted through to block a punt. One play later, Jaskolski found Shawn Hillas wide open on a post route for a 24-yard touchdown strike and a 35-7 halftime lead.

It was a strange first half in which both teams had a whopping 10 possessions apiece, with neither holding the ball for more than five plays or two minutes.

That changed early in the second half after Hall picked off another pass and Summit ran the ball 12 straight times on their way to an 81-yard scoring drive. It was capped off by Dabney’s 11-yard sweep around left end.

The final score came on reserve running back’s Ryan Bringewatt’s 16-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Summit held Johnson to quarterback Richie Mullins to 2-of-10 passing for a mere two yards. They intercepted him three times.

“We have a very fast and physical defense, “Liberato said. “We just hope that some of the mistakes we made offensively and defensively we can improve on. That’s our job to keep better each week. We’ve accomplished that through the first three weeks.”