R. Brookfield 42
Elmwood Park 0
The Elmwood Park football team played music from the movie Rocky during pre-game warm-ups, but Riverside Brookfield delivered the early TKO-scoring all of its points in the first half-as the Bulldogs rolled to a 42-0 win over the Tigers.
Riverside Brookfield quarterback Billy VandeMerkt authored an almost flawless performance, completing 20-of-22 passes for 282 yards and six touchdowns. Wide receiver David Lutz (5 catches, 113 yards) caught the first of his three touchdown passes on a 22-yard toss from VandeMerkt to put RB up with 8:30 left in the first quarter. A ferocious hit by RB cornerback Joe Swon and a tackle for a loss by Andrew Biggerstaff gave the Bulldogs the football back within two minutes.
VandeMerkt threw a 1-yard scoring pass to Mark McDonagh and added a 9-yard touchdown toss to Lutz, lifting the Bulldogs to a 21-0 cushion at the end of the first quarter.
“Our blocking was the key [tonight],” said Lutz, who played in his second game since returning from a collapsed lung. “We ran a lot of screen plays that we worked on in practice. There’s still room for improvement, but we should be unstoppable by the end of the season.”
In the second quarter, VandeMerkt ensured the Bulldogs (5-3, 5-0 Metro Suburban Conference) maintained peak offensive efficiency with touchdown passes to Tyler Wienke (24 yards), McDonagh (18 yards) and Lutz (36 yards). Jeff Rodriguez (5 catches, 61 yards) and Tony Guzman (5 catches, 41 yards) contributed to the RB aerial show.
Ian Robertson (sack), Billy Vermillion, Matt Regnier, Pete Szumski, Marty Calkins and a host of other ball-hawking Bulldogs kept consistent pressure on Elmwood Park quarterback Chris Santelli (9-for-20, 89 yards passing).
“Everybody is doing their job right now,” Szumski said. “We try to get everybody pumped up and get a shutout every game. There’s still one game left, so we need to focus on that. If we keep this going, I think we can make a deep run in the playoffs.”
With a running clock in the second half, the Tigers’ bid to score fell short when Santelli threw an interception that was picked off by RB linebacker Alex Cebular.
Wienke, who replaced VandeMerkt in the second half, completed 7-of-14 passes for 55 yards. He also hauled in two receptions for 38 yards in the first half.
The Bulldogs wrap-up their regular season against Ridgewood on “Parents Night” Friday (7 p.m.) at Shuey Stadium.