Shore Conference Week 0 Football Player of the Week: Red Bank Catholic’s Gino Tartamella

Every week this season, Shore Conference football fans will have their chance to vote for the Orthopaedic Institute of Central Jersey/Shore Sports Network Football Player of the Week on our website.

The first winner of the 2018 season is Red Bank Catholic senior defensive end Gino Tartamella, who led a Caseys defense that yielded only one touchdown and helped top-ranked RBC defeat No. 2 St. John Vianney, 41-14, to end the Lancers' 38-game Shore Conference winning streak.

Tartamella was active coming off the edge with eight tackles (five solo), one tackle for loss, one sack and two hurries as the Caseys' held St. John Vianney to 200 yards of offense and one offensive touchdown. The Lancers' other touchdown came via a fumble return on defense. Tartamella's sack resulted in a 12-yard loss on third down and stopped a promising SJV drive in the first half, allowing the Caseys to storm to a 20-0 halftime lead.

The Caseys' victory over the Lancers also snapped a three-game losing streak to their rivals.

Red Bank Catholic began the season ranked No. 1 in the Shore Sports Network Top 10 and returns a talented roster that also includes Boston College-bound senior quarterback Steve Lubischer, Notre Dame-bound junior tight end Kevin Bauman, wide receivers/defensives backs Jaden Key and M.J. Wright, linebackers John Columbia, Steve Cmielewski, Charlie Gordinier and Adam Demurjian, two-way lineman Tommy Smith, safety Anthony Romano and kicker/punter Ryan O'Hara.

The Caseys return to action Friday night when they open their Freedom Division schedule against Ocean at Count Basie Field.

Tartamella edged the Brick Memorial sophomore duo of David Szuba and T.J. McArthur in the voting poll by securing 34.26 percent of the votes.

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