Hansen: Don't call Prep underdog

For the third time this season, the St. Peter's Prep football team will enter a game seemingly as an underdog taking on a higher ranked opponent.

It's a position the Marauders have performed well in, earning "upset" wins over Bergen Catholic and St. Joseph (Montvale), on their climb to the No. 4 spot in the state rankings.

But on Friday night, St. Peter's will have its toughest test when it travels to Ramsey for a showdown with New Jersey's top-ranked team and the No. 2 team in the country, Don Bosco Prep.

"We're all really excited. We've been pretty much counting down the days since the beginning of the season for this game," said St. Peter's quarterback Raphael Ortiz.

While anticipation and excitement are building in the Prep camp, the one thing missing among the Marauders is intimidation. St. Peter's coach Rich Hansen and his Marauders have little interest in being labeled underdogs.

"If you can find me one person outside of our family that's picking us, that would be very hard to do," said Hansen. "To outsiders we're an underdog. We don't go into any game believing we're underdogs."

There's little doubt that Bosco presents Prep with its most daunting challenge, but Hansen's group rolls into Friday's matchup with a lot of confidence, given its recent 42-19 throttling of then-No. 2-ranked St. Joseph.

"They're obviously a terrific program, but so are we," said Hansen. "We're playing with a lot of confidence, and rightfully so. We have some components to this team that we haven't had in recent years against them."

Ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today, the Ironmen (7-0) started their season with high profile wins over De La Salle (Calif.) and Prattville (Ala.). Speedy running back Tony Jones is the centerpiece of an offensive unit averaging more than 43 points per game, while the defense is yielding 9.2 points per game.

The first regular season meeting between the two programs may very well turn into a blow-for-blow contest between premier running backs. The Bosco defense will be charged with slowing down Prep's Savon Huggins, who has been a workhorse this season, setting the school rushing record with his 307-yard performance against St. Joseph.

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