Brearley Downs Dayton for Title

Bears Ride Resende and Federico Led Defense to Complete Incredible Turnaround

SPRINGFIELD, NJ – In a year with numerous upsets around the Big Central Conference, one of the biggest surprises has been the Bears of David Brearley Regional of Kenilworth.  After losing 15 straight games covering portions of three seasons, Brearley completed one of the most incredible turnarounds in recent memory by downing arch-rival, Jonathan Dayton, 10-7.

The victory gave David Brearley a share of the BCC’s Freedom Gold Division title with Spotswood.  The Chargers defeated the Bears by a score of 40-7 in Week 2.  The win also lifted Brearley into the final playoff spot in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2 Group 1 State Tournament.  The eighth-seeded Bears will take on top-seeded and perennial powerhouse Mountain Lakes in the opening round next Friday night.

The Bears, guided by first-year head coach Elliot Platt, used a very simple game plan to gain the hard-fought victory.  First, ride senior running back Matt Resende and the Brearley ground game.  Second, deploy a stout defense, led by Rocco Federico, to put pressure Dayton’s QB, Adrian Bernknopf, and shut down the Bulldogs’ rushing attack spearheaded by junior running back, Tyler Fuscaldo.

Despite a few hiccups along the way, Brearley’s plan worked superbly.  The Bears limited Fuscaldo to just 13 yards on 10 carries while sacking Bernknopf seven times.  Federico led the effort with four and a half of the team’s sacks.  Although they were forced to go to the air for much of its success, Jonathan Dayton battled down to the last play of the game.

After trailing 10-0 at the half, the Bulldogs rallied in the second half.  Highlighted by a diving catch from Aiden Delpeche, Dayton took the second-half kickoff and drove 65 yards for its only score of the game.  Bernknopf hooked up with Delpeche for the pivotal completion that turned around a game that had been thoroughly under Brearley’s control to that point.  The Dayton crowd got back into the game, and from there until the end it was a ball game.

Two plays after Depeche’s clutch reception, Bernknopf connected with Jackson Babiarz in the left corner of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown pass.  Babiarz tacked on the extra point to close the gap to 10-7 with 7:03 remaining in the third.  A little while later, Dayton appeared to have gotten a huge break when Brearley committed a miscue in the form of a bad toss in its backfield.  

Junior defensive lineman Jefferson Murat recovered the fumble, and the Bulldogs were in business at the Brearley 29-yard line with 1:03 to play in the third.  Unfortunately, Dayton was unable to cash in on the golden opportunity.  Instead, the Bulldogs went three and out as the Bears’ defense came up with two sacks.  Brearley was unable to put the game away, though, and it set the stage for a dramatic final drive by Dayton.

After Brearley was forced to punt with 3:34 remaining in regulation, Dayton began a frantic drive down the field.  Bernknopf completed several passes while running for a couple of decent gains.  Bernknopf hooked up with Delpeche, Babiarz, and Chidiogo Iherobiem for completions.  The Bulldogs were also bolstered by a late hit penalty against Brearley.  Fuscaldo then battled for a hard-fought first down run to the Brearley one-yard line with 10.6 seconds remaining.

Following a timeout, Jonathan Dayton decided to go to the ground as Bernknopf kept it and ran to his right behind offensive lineman, Max Manfredi, towards the goal line.  However, Brearley’s Joe Squillaro was there to stop him and managed to stop Bernknopf shy of the end zone as time ran out.  It was a very close play, but the side judge on the Brearley side of the field had a good vantage point on the play and indicated that Bernknopf was down short of the goal line.

Brearley took control of the game right from its opening drive with a steady diet of Resende on the ground.  The senior running back, who has carried much of the offensive load all season for the Bears, did it one more time with 22 carries for 141 yards and Brearley’s only touchdown.  The scoring run was a 68-yard jaunt with 1:21 to play in the first half.  Chris Miserendino opened the scoring with a 38-yard field goal at the 7:11 mark of the second for a 3-0 lead.

With the win, Brearley finished the regular season with a 5-4 overall record, including a 4-3 mark in conference and a 4-1 record in the BCC’s Freedom Gold.  After starting the season at 0-3, David Brearley rallied with victories in 5 of its last 6 games.  Meanwhile, Dayton ended its regular season at 6-2, including a 6-2 conference record and a 3-2 divisional mark.  The loss also knocked the Bulldogs out of a playoff spot in the North Jersey Section 2 Group 2 State Tournament.

Jonathan Dayton, which had its best season since 2010, will finish out its season with an NJSIAA Regional Crossover game against Keyport on Thursday night in Springfield.  Brearley won its first division title since 2022 and third overall in the BCC, while Dayton just missed its first divisional crown since 2009.