No. 10 Bergen Catholic (N.J.) outlasts West Boca Raton (Fla.)

Coming off a thrilling win back in the friendly confines of the Garden State, No. 10 Bergen Catholic (N.J.) packed its bags to head down to the Sunshine State and take on upstart West Boca Raton (Fla.).

Though the Bulls gave the Crusaders a scare, New Jersey’s No. 1 ranked team answered the bell and will be returning home with the win. Bergen Catholic relied on a stifling defense and timely offense as they defeated West Boca Raton, 21-14, on Friday night in the Adidas Classic.

Bergen Catholic’s defense plays lights out

Take away the last minute touchdown by West Boca Raton, Bergen Catholic (2-0) has to be pleased all the way around in how the defended one of South Florida’s top offenses. Having the assignment of stopping Miami commit Javian Mallory and crew, the Crusaders were no strangers when it came to playing against a big running back.

Bergen Catholic had just defended against East St. Louis’ Myson Johnson-Cook, one of the top junior running backs in the country. After Mallory’s touchdown, the Crusaders tightened down their defense for the remainder of the evening, making life difficult for quarterback Trey Moran.

That’s back-to-back state championship programs from other states that Bergen Catholic had to beat and the Crusaders passed with flying colors. It’s certainly time to recognize the job this North Jersey team has done in the first couple of weeks.

Not quite time to break into the national ranks for West Boca Raton

Over the off-season, West Boca Raton (1-1) started dreaming big when it came to the 2025 season.

Like really big. Having won the program’s first ever state championship last fall, the Bulls looked to take it to the next level in their development as a program and schedule teams like Chaminade-Madonna in the kickoff classic and Bergen Catholic during the regular season.

These games would help give Bulls head coach Dylan Potts and his staff a good look at where they were in all this. It’s the second time between the Lions and Crusaders that West Boca Raton would come close, but no cigar.

West Boca Raton had lost be eight to Chaminade and seven to Bergen. What that tells you is the Bulls are not far off whatsoever, but it’s just not their time to enter the conversation just yet. They are certainly banging on the proverbial door and maybe 2026 could be when they upend a national opponent.

With the win, Bergen Catholic sets up showdown with Winslow Township next week

The first three games of the 2025 season were always going to make or break Bergen Catholic.

Starting off with East St. Louis and West Boca Raton were certainly challenges, but now the Crusaders will prepare for a North Jersey vs. South Jersey matchup when they take on public school power, Winslow Township.

The Eagles pose a serious challenge to the Crusaders when it comes to Garden State supremacy as Winslow Township came to within 21-14 of IMG Academy at the Battle at the Beach Classic. If you don’t think that this game means more than just a regular season contest, you’d be sadly mistaken.

Bergen versus Winslow could be Game of the Year and Friday night was a nice tuneup before next week’s tilt.

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