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By Bob Decker
Straus Newspaper Group
SPARTA --- Yes, all you Pope John football watchers ... Jeff Songile is legit.
Lions coach Vic Paternostro says so and he should know because, not only did he watch Songile rush for a record
356 yards and score four touchdowns in Pope John's 35-27 SCIL victory over Kittatinny Saturday, he got to watch
it again on tape because he wanted to count every single yard.
"Four hours ... we watched that tape for four hours," Paternostro said. "I think he was getting
better the more I watched it, too."
Paternostro wanted to go over the tape carefully because not only was Songile's rushing yardage at Pope John record,
it was also a Sussex County Interscholastic Football League record.
Former Pope John star Hank Trogani's 321 yards had been the previous standard at both Pope John and for the SCIL.
Four hours later, the yardage came out to 356 yards.
"To be honest about it, I was shocked when I was told after the game he had more than 300 yards," continued
Paternostro. "Iknew he was having a good game, but not that good."
Songile (6-0, 172 pounds) scored on runs of 37, 9, 4 and 8 yards and carried the ball 34 times in the game.
"I tried to let him rest on defense and put somebody else in at his safety spot," added Paternostro.
"But Kittatinny came back at us a little bit toward the end of the game and Songile was on my case to put
him back in. He just wants to play."
Songile scored on his 37-yard run to open the scoring and Ryan Newman scored on a 1-yard plunge to give Pope John
a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Songile's 9-yard run made it 20-7 but Kittatinny came back with two
more TDs and took a one-point lead at halftime.
Songile gave the Lions the lead for good with a 4-yard TD run and, after Kittatinny pulled to within one point
again, Songile scored the last TD of the game on an 8-yard run to give the Lions some breathing room. Songile didn't
get much offensive time in last year since he was backing up Zack Ziegler, a two-year starter at tailback. He did,
however, start at safety. Songile had a good summer for Paternostro this season and then followed that up by running
well in scrimmages.
"He's a smart runner ... he won't knock you over over run past you, but he is tough to bring down ... he has
a knack for breaking tackles," concluded Paternostro.
Songile got most of his yardage on sweeps around the right side behind the blocking of guard Steve Oroho, tackle
Eric Vaughn and tight end Jon Wiese. There were times when Daren Perez was in at guard and there were times when
fullbacks John Wesley, Bob Borny and Brandon Perez cleared the way for Songile.
"The game was close throughout, so none of his yardage came against second or third units," pointed out
Paternostro. "It was a legitimate 356 yards."
Gained by a player who is legit, too
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