Riverside-Brookfield 42, Elmwood Park 0

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It was an air show that is seldom witnessed on the high school football level, but those in attendance at Tiger Stadium Friday night saw a rare feat.

After a pair of close losses, it was literally no contest Friday night as Riverside-Brookfield scored 42 first-half points and handed Elmwood Park its eighth straight defeat on Senior Night.

The Bulldogs (5-3) tallied all of their points in the first half and completely shut down the Tigers' (0-8) offense to win 42-0.

An amazing passing display by Bulldogs’ quarterback Bill VandeMerkt mesmerized not only the crowd, but the Tiger defenders. R-B ran the ball only twice in the first half and one of those came on a 34-yard hook-and-ladder play that included a short pass.

The other rush netted only one yard for the Bulldogs' offense. Riverside-Brookfield’s junior signal-caller was the star of the game from the beginning. VandeMerkt completed his first 16 pass attempts and was 22-for-24 for 283 yards and six touchdowns.

Elmwood Park had trouble doing much of anything against a staunch R-B defense, especially with their running game. But quarterback Chris Santelli was able to complete 9-of-17 passes for 89 yards and 1 interception.

Santelli was removed from the game late in the fourth quarter after injuring an ankle.

The Tigers’ offense also was without running back Mark Marzillo, who had his right hand in a cast. The offensive and defensive standout broke his wrist in a Game 2 weeks ago against Fenton but still played on both sides of the ball the following game against Ridgewood. Coaches noticed that Marzillo was favoring the right arm more against the Rebels and an X-ray later revealed a hairline fracture.

Marzillo still was on the field to play defense in the R-B game. Tigers head coach Luis Arroyo told his team after the loss that they have one more week to “prove they can play football” as it hits the road for its season-ender Friday against Fenton, which Elmwood Park played well against the last time the two squads met.

“You gotta believe,” was the message Arroyo sent to his troops after the loss. “I think we have a great chance to go out with a bang. We’re going to have to be physical against Fenton, but I think we can go out and ‘shock the world.’ I hope we come out and play with confidence and want to be in the fight. A little confidence goes a long way.”

The Tigers’ confidence was deflated early against Riverside-Brookfield, Arroyo acknowledged. Riverside-Brookfield scored early and often, starting with a three-play, 56-yard drive just over three minutes into the game when VandeMerkt hit David Lutz with a 22-yard touchdown pass. Three minutes later he flipped one to Mark McDonagh for a 2-yard score and with 3:02 left in the first quarter VandeMerkt found Lutz again for a 9-yard strike.

VandeMerkt didn’t let up in the second quarter as he threw three more touchdown passes, one to Tyler Wienke (23 yards), another to McDonagh (18 yards) and his sixth of the day to Lutz once again (36 yards).

“Obviously, they are a very good passing team,” Arroyo said. “They have many very good athletes and you can’t compete when you don’t have the athletes to match up with them. I just need the team to believe in each other and come out and do what they do in practice next week. They’ve all stuck together so far. We haven’t had anyone drop out, so I know this team has heart.

“It’s a young team, but I think the future looks bright for us with the juniors we have coming back,” he added. “Still, my heart goes out to the seniors (not having a victory), but they knew from the start it was going to be rough and they’ve played hard and never given up every week.”