St. John Vianney upsets RBC in the playoffs behind Abdul Turay, Zach LaBarca
In head coach Bob Acosta’s mind, the rebuilding job at St. John Vianney is already a year ahead of schedule.
The 10th-seeded Lancers took another big step back toward prominence with a 31-27 takedown of defending Non-Public B champion and No. 2 seed Red Bank Catholic (6-4) at Count Basie Field on Friday night in the NJSIAA non-public quarterfinals. It marked St. John Vianney’s first trip to the semifinals and first win over RBC since 2017, and its nine wins are the most since it went 10-1 that same season led by current Arizona Cardinals backup quarterback Anthony Brown.
St. John Vianney only has five seniors, so Acosta sees this as just the beginning. The Lancers (9-3) will now travel to sixth-seeded Pope John XXIII, which upset third-seeded Paramus Catholic 14-10, for the Non-Public B semifinals on Nov. 24.
“I think we’re a year ahead of where I thought we were going to be,” said Acosta, who is in his first season as the Lancers’ head coach. “I’m excited to be in a position to go from 3-7 and changing the program in less than a year.”
A big reason is superstar running back Abdul Turay, who has erupted as a sophomore for a school-record 2,292 yards rushing to lead the Shore Conference.
“The kid calls me up on Saturdays,” Acosta said about Turay. “He watches film, he suggests plays, and I run it, and they’re there. The football IQ in that young man is so high. He ranks up there with the ones I’ve coached at (national power) IMG Academy and elsewhere.”
Turay had 25 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns against RBC, ranked No. 4 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 12, to give the No. 8 Lancers their sixth straight win.
“The offensive line was our biggest concern coming into this season, and we have over 3,000 yards rushing,” Acosta said.
On Friday night, the Lancers broke a 14-14 tie to take a two-score lead thanks to a pair of touchdown passes by junior quarterback Zach LaBarca, who threw for 180 yards and ran for another 28 in the win. LaBarca hit Nicco Aquilone for a 14-yard score and then found Adam Urs for a 48-yard strike to give St. John Vianney a 28-14 lead at the half.
RBC fought back with touchdown runs of 10 and 11 yards by senior quarterback Frankie Williams, but a missed extra point kept St. John Vianney ahead 28-27 in the fourth quarter. The Lancers then pushed the lead to 31-27 on a 30-yard field goal by Brendan Allen before coming up with the game-clinching stop on defense.
“I think what we’re doing here is going to be very attractive to people around the state of New Jersey,” Acosta said. “We have a tough test ahead of us against Pope John, but I think our kids love it. I’m very excited about the challenge.”
Scott Stump is a reporter, newsletter writer and editor who first started covering Shore Conference football in 1999 and has covered basketball, baseball and seemingly every other Shore Conference sport at some point.
Email: [email protected]
