Even without coach Tony Napolet, Warren JFK came away with a 41-27 win.

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

CAMPBELL — The Jeff Bayuk era at Campbell Memorial High didn’t start with a win but the Red Devils did show a lot of promise despite losing to the Division V state runner-up Warren JFK Eagles 41-27 Friday night at John Knapick field.

The Eagles, who played without their legendary coach Tony Napolet who was sidelined with an illness, got three touchdown passes from junior quarterback Dominick LaPolla to lead the Eagles to their opening-night win.

New face

Bayuk, who left a successful Hubbard program after 16 years to take over a struggling Campbell Memorial team that was winless in 2006, saw signs that good things are on the horizon for the Devils.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the way we played,” Bayuk said. “We just have to learn how to play the game one step at a time.

“If you would have told me that we would put up 27 points on a team the quality of JFK and come within 14 points of them, I would not have believed it.”

It didn’t look like it would go that way early as the Devils showed plenty of their youth and inexperience in the first 12 minutes of the contest.

On the third play of the game, Campbell quarterback Darrio Bivens floated a pass into the right flat that Jared Province picked off and ran 8 yards for a touchdown.

"Boy we made a lot of mistakes tonight,” Bayuk said. “We had a lot of fundamental breakdowns that we are just going to have to work on.

“I liked the hustle and the hard-nose Campbell mentality that we showed but we have to eliminate the mistakes.”

Blowout slowed

The Eagles scored two more times in the first half as LaPolla tossed scoring strikes of 38 yards to Nick Brown and 8 yards to James Howard and it looked like a blowout was in store for the Devils.

Eagle assistant coach Bob Terlecky said that he was happy that his team was able to get off to a good start.

“We didn’t play all that well,” Terlecky said. “We had a lot of adversity with not having coach here and we did just enough to get out with a win.

“We need to get the offense going better but I think it will come together.”

Campbell started to make a game of it with a spirited and explosive effort in the second half.

The Devils scored on a 24-yard pass from freshman quarterback Lester Hughes to sophomore Alex Lopez in the third quarter.

Campbell also showed big-play ability when senior receiver Antwan Dawson took a reverse and went 75 yards for a touchdown and junior Gerald Banks raced 76 yards moments later.

Red Devils within 13

The Eagles scored on an 88-yard kickoff return by Eric McBride following the Lopez score so Campbell trailed 34-21 early in the fourth quarter.

Warren JFK put the game away after re-inserting their starters and LaPolla threw his third touchdown pass to Howard for a 41-21 lead.

Campbell sophomore David Glenn then picked off a pass late in the game and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown to end the scoring.

Bayuk summed up his coaching debut at Campbell by saying he was looking for a challenge.

“It was different tonight,” Bayuk said. “First I wasn’t used to wearing red but the fight songs are the same [as Hubbard’s] so that helped.

“I always tell the kids I coach to never pass up an opportunity and this is a challenge and opportunity that I wanted to tackle.”