Pope John is back – with a vengeance!

Back from the dead.

Back to the state finals.

The Lions overwhelmed St. John Vianney in the Non-Public B semifinals Saturday, 48-14, and will face mighty DePaul in the state finals at MetLife Black Friday morning at 11.

Coach Dom Gaston’s team – a lowly 1-9 just four years ago, 2-7 when the 2024 state playoffs began – are back in the state finals for the first time since 2013. The Sparta school has 20 state titles overall and will be gunning for its first since Vic Paternostro guided them the Parochial Group 2 crown over Queen of Peace (North Arlington) in 2002. 

Gaston’s team continued their stunning rise in the postseason by dominating Vianney, which came in after having upset Red Bank Catholic.

“We play the best schedule in the state,” said Gaston, the fourth-year coach, who brought the program back from the depths of a dreary 1-9 campaign in his first season. “No one can come close. No one plays teams like this … DePaul, Bergen Catholic, St. Joe’s … we scrimmaged Don Bosco … We played the best of the best. The best of the best prepares you for the state playoffs.”

Pope John was prepared for Vianney, all right.

Where do we start? There were many, many ways to break down Pope John’s win over Vianney. 

To wit:

1. Gaston’s team dominated up front with both lines.

The Lions are now healthy in both lines and performed at peak efficiency against the school from Holmdel. The line of tight end Nick Struble, tackles Dan OLeary and Jarrod Cofrancesco, guards Quinn Muli and Evan Kennedy, and center Vincent Giacchi, simply overpowered St. John Vianney at the point of attack.

Pope John’s front group on defense –  namely, Tyler Houser, Shawn Baumann, Joe Pappa, Sam Conetta, Nick Vannatta and Alex Schreiber – kept Vianney’s highly-touted offense in check.

“We were able to bully them up front,” Cofrancesco said. “During the whole week, that was our gameplan. We wanted to set the line of scrimmage on both sides and we did that. The defense played great. We shut down their offense. We gave up zero points in the second half.”

Said the Wake Forest-bound Houser, whose 34-yard touchdown return of an interception in the second quarter took some steam out of Vianney, “I really liked our second half. The defense flipped the switch and held them to zero points and that was big. We contained their running back (Abdul Taray), who was their best player. We were hyped up before the game. They said he was really good, but we stopped him. We played awesome, physical football up front. Our linemen played fast. Everybody did their job and held them.”

2. The running of Tylik Hill (13 for 234, 3 TDs) was breathtaking. He had TD runs of 54, 36, and 55 yards. Once he broke past the line of scrimmage, it was off to the races. Hill now has 2,150 yards (third in the state) and 24 TDs.

In a showdown against the state’s leading rusher – Turay (33 for 189) – Hill clearly had the better game. 

“Tylik,” Gaston said, “is the best running back in the state.”

3. The emergence of quarterback Luke Irwin (9-for-13, 151 yards, 2 TDs) helped offset Hill’s running with play-action. Irwin had TD passes to Joe Rozynski (54 yards) and Wes Johnston (64 yards). Irwin transferred from DePaul.

“Luke has grown tremendously,” Gaston said. “He was shelved the last two years at DePaul and was not growing. Him coming to us was a blessing. From Week 0 to now, his growth has been phenomenal.”

4. The pregame legwork of Gaston, offensive coordinator Brian Gibbs and defensive coordinator Cole Farrand has helped spur the team’s turnaround.

“Brian Gibbs, my offensive coordinator, had a great game plan for Vianney,” Gaston said. “He saw some things. He called it. He understood their defense and how they line up. He knew guys would be open.

“Our defense has turned it around under Cole Farrand. He got the boys ready. Our last three games … how many points have we given up? (31). We have been lights out. He has been breaking every game down perfectly.”

“The coaches are the reason we are here,” Hill said. “The line and defense were great. We worked for this and turned the season around and nobody expected it. This was the goal since freshman year.”

“We were able to fire on all cylinders,” Cofrancesco added. “The playbook was open. Our OC knew that any running play was 5 yards a pop. We’d always be able to get 5 yards every play. And Tylik was 13 for 234. That’s our bread and butter right there.”

The Lions were no different than the Macy’s window on Fifth Ave.: They put all they had in the display window for the world to see.

“I was happy with how the boys played together offensively and defensively,” Gaston said. “St. John Vianney was good and tough. But we are now healthy as a team. Houser was hurt and he came back. We are now healthy as a team. This playoff run we are on … the pieces have fallen into place.”

And now, it is on to DePaul, which ran over Pope John on Aug. 30, 47-15.

But that seems like a lifetime ago.

This seems like a totally different Pope John team right now.

“They are really good, really talented, one of the best in the state,” Gaston said. “We made a couple of mistakes in the first game. We are a different team and that was a different part of the season. We’ll see what happens.”