Over the last 20 seasons, no local football team has produced more 1,000-yard rushing seasons than Bainbridge-Guilford. In senior running back Jake Mazzarella, the Bobcats are on the verge of adding to that total.
Mazzarella will never be one to talk about his accomplishments. He approaches the game much like his teammates: With quiet determination. Yet, inside this young man is a simmering pot of fierce aggression, and he unloads the contents of that pot every weekend.
Mazzarella had his second straight 200-yard rushing performance last weekend against Unadilla Valley. In the face of a tremendous Storm comeback, the Bobcats turned to Mazzarella to settle things down. Mazzarella, as his coach Tim Mattingly said, was the one great equalizer in that contest. The Storm never quite figured out how to slow the 185-pounder down, and Mazzarella’s late touchdown wrapped up B-G’s third straight win.
In addition to rushing for a career-high 265 yards against UV, Mazzarella scored two more touchdowns to give him eight on the season. He is averaging 210 yards rushing per game, and is on pace to set a new single-season school rushing mark. The B-G back is also our first selection this season as Matthews Ford/Planet Preowned Norwich Athlete of the Week.
Mazzarella certainly left an impression on Unadilla Valley head coach Daryl Decker. Decker said that Mazzarella was the likely reason his team was unable to complete the comeback. “We knew that if were able to stop Mazzarella at the end, we had a chance to beat them. We didn’t stop him,” Decker said. “(Mazzarella) plays the game the way it was meant to be played. He is physical on both sides of the ball, and he’s a worker.”
Until the midpoint of last year, Mazzarella, then a junior, did not figure much in B-G’s offensive plans. He wasn’t even mentioned in the team’s 2011 preseason preview, yet by year’s end, he was a pivotal part of the offense. Mazzarella’s two touchdown runs against Seton Catholic Central were critical points in the program’s first-ever Section IV playoff victory.
Now a known commodity entering the 2012 season but with little experience returning in the backfield, Mazzarella was slated to play tailback. Senior Justin Cirigliano, though, joined the football team just over a month ago, and has emerged as a viable starting tailback. Mazzarella was moved to fullback, and has thrived. Better said, he has excelled. “To be honest, Jacob has exceeded our expectations,” Mattingly said. “He runs so physical, and he has that breakaway speed. He’s a kid that never comes off the field, and he puts everything he has into every game, every play. He just runs the ball with reckless abandon, and he has that trait that you just can’t coach. He runs downhill and he finishes runs.”
Mazzarella is among the rushing leaders in Section IV and is well on his way to one of the best seasons in B-G football history. He joins a long line of great backs at B-G over the past 20 years, yet he is the only one of the bunch who, initially, struggled to get time on the field. “To be honest, I did not see this coming from Jacob,” Mattingly said. “Boy, I’m glad he’s here now.”