By Matt Diano: Easily the most balanced of our POTW lists this season, week #4 is like your granny’s pocketbook; it has a little something to appease everyone.
Offensively, the two running backs and one quarterback combined for 555 yards of total offense (373 rushing) and nine touchdowns (seven on the ground).
Defensively, the three-headed linebacker corps racked up 33 tackles, four sacks, and notched an interception.
We even found room this week for a kicker/punter who showed the Catholic faithful that special teamers are instrumental to the success of any and every winning program.
Four of our six selections were involved in games featuring undefeated teams, as two were key components in knocking off previously perfect opponents, while the other pair did everything within their power to ensure that their school remained on pace to run the board.
Charles Barsella (Sr.); LB – St. Anthony’s Friars
During the first three weeks of the season, it seemed that nobody would be able to stop the St. Peter’s running attack….Averaging 228.3 yards and four touchdowns a game on the ground, the Eagles had made a habit of dominating the clock and the field…Then they traveled to South Huntington last Friday night and the once invincible suddenly began to look mortal, as the DeCristoforo guided school fell from the ranks of the unbeaten, losing 23-6 to St. Anthony’s.
A big reason why STP’s “O” would go cold last weekend was the outstanding play of the senior linebacker, Barsella, who recorded six solo tackles and assisted on five additional stops to add an 11 spot to his already team-leading total.
A team captain who legendary Friar Head Coach, Rich Reichert, praised as “the leader on and off of the field,” Barsella and the rest of his mates on the defensive front were unrelenting and unapologetic in imposing their will in the trenches, holding the visiting Eagles to only 116 yards on 39 rushing attempts (less than 3.0 yards/carry) and forcing four fumbles, three which of they recovered…The defensive ensemble, anchored by the 6’2, 220-pound Baldwin resident smothered All-State candidate, Bobby Wing, all night, holding him to his first sub-100-yard game of 2016 (86 yards on 28 touches) and keeping him out of the end zone (he entered with 10 rushing TDs) for the first time all year.
As much as he thrives as a run stuffer, if you ask the STA staff, Barsella’s signature moment of the weekend came late in the third quarter, when leading 17-6, he single-handedly halted a drive that would have gotten St. Peter’s back in the game, as he intercepted opposing quarterback, John Martinos pass in the STA zone and returned it back to the opposite 33-yard line “to seal the win” as it was phrased by the Anthony’s bench.
Things will not get any easier for Barsella or the Friars next week as they follow up one victory over a previously unbeaten team by going toe-to-toe with another in the persons of two-time defending AAA League titlists, Archbishop Stepinac.
Liam Dvorak (Sr.); PK/P – Chaminade Flyers
It’s not very often that the sun shines brightest on a special teamer, so when the opportunity arose, we knew that we had to make it count…And we could not be happier with our selection of the 5’8 resident of Bayport.
Dvorak, who is most famous for the work he does on the baseball diamond as a right-handed hurler/outfielder for the Flyers, showed that while it might be his arm that has attracted the attention of the likes of Notre Dame, the U.S. Naval Academy, and Cornell, he is still quite capable with all of his appendages….In the simplest of descriptions, HE WAS the Chaminade offense in the first half of their 24-16 home victory over Monsignor Farrell….Converting on all three of his field goal attempts (22, 20, 42), the National Honor Society member/4.0 student accounted for all nine of his school’s points as they headed into the locker room after 24 minutes holding a 9-3 lead against a streaking Lion foe that entered with an immaculate 3-0 record in 2016.
Successfully tacking on an extra point with just 4:30 remaining in regulation to give Chaminade an eight point lead, Dvorak and his powerful leg were not done yet influencing the outcome of the game…With the win still very much up for grabs in the final 1:10, the senior classman who also handles punting duties, hit a boomer that buried Monsignor Farrell on their own 4-yard line…Forced to go just about the entire length of the field in pursuit of a tying score, the Lions might have been a little too aggressive in the air, resulting in a game-ending interception by senior defensive back, Campbell Goulet to ice the “w”.
Mausari Miller (So.); RB – Moore Catholic Mavericks
Perhaps the most unlikely of our honored student-athletes this week, the 5’9, 155-pound sophomore who his coach referred to as “the pound-for-pound toughest guy out there” had never run for more than 20 yards in a game during his short varsity career….Third on the depth chart behind the backfield duo of Diamond Massaquoi and Justin Lacks (who have combined to run for 174 yards), it has never been a question of ability for Miller; the only factor that has kept him under the radar Is a lack of carries.
This past Saturday, with Massaquoi on the shelf and Lacks sitting out the first half to nurse his minor injuries, the 11th grader from Irvington, NJ at last was afforded the chance to assume a larger role and capitalized, topping the 100-yard milestone and punching in his first two varsity level touchdowns to aid the Mavericks in their 34-7 victory at home over St. Dominic’s…The win improved Moore Catholic to 3-1, placing them firmly in the #2 position in the “A” standings.
Doing the majority of his damage during the first 24 minutes of play (before Lacks returned in the second half), Miller opened the scoring for MC by finishing off a first quarter drive with a three-yard TD run to give the Staten Island school the early 6-0 lead…This would be the only points of the half that the program could muster as a Bawhawk second-quarter TD resulted in the host school heading into the break down 7-6.
An interception that was returned to the Dom’s 33-yard line to start the third quarter gave Moore Catholic a prime opportunity to regain the lead, which they did (for good), as Miller’s only rushing yards of the second half were big ones, as he found the end zone on a 10-yard run (after Lacks had marched the team into the red zone with six straight carries) to make the score 12-6 in favor of MC….Miller’s second TD of the contest was the ignition point of what would end up being a 28-0 rally that turned a once hotly contested match-up into a comfortable win for the Nick Giannatasio coached squad.
Even though it did not officially add to his incredible stat line (112 yards on 23 carries), Miller did polish his “fantasy” resume by converting back-to-back 2pt conversion runs to conclude the afternoon having personally accounted for 16 of the team’s 34 points (47 percent).
Equally important is that the Garden State’s coming out party means that an already deep Moore Catholic ground attack just proved that it has more artillery than any of us even realized…As we get closer to the end of the season when everyone is less than 100 percent, the luxury of being able to rotate running backs without a loss of quality is a potential difference maker for the Mavericks.
Demetrius Wilson (Jr.); QB – Christ the King Royals
Having returned so many weapons on offense from last year’s AA runners-up, when 2016 commenced, the feeling was that the Royals might serious threats to put up 30-40 points every game of the season regardless of opponent…Blessed with a wealth of speed, athleticism, and skill, endless waves of points seemed more like a destiny than a possibility….However, through three games (note: two of which were non-league games against perennial powerhouses—Poly Prep and St. Anthony’s), CTK had yet to connect all of the dots, averaging a modest (by their golden standard) 18.3 points per game and only exceeding the 20-point mark once after hitting it in all 11 of their games a season ago.
This past Sunday, the “48 minute scoring storm” that the experts were forecasting all along finally reached land, as the #6 ranked team in the New York State Class A polls put on a show for those in attendance, combing for 470 yard between their running and passing attacks en route to a 47-12 win on the road against St. Francis Prep.
A complete team effort that witnessed five different Royal student-athletes reach the end zone, there was no shortage of viable options from which to choose…Ultimately, the committee opted for the junior field general, Wilson, because his role as a dual-threat QB enabled him to have a hand in four of the team’s six total touchdowns…The Cambria Heights product was very balanced in the damage he inflicted, as he threw for two touchdowns and then ran for an additional deuce.
Undeniably the best performance of his still young varsity career, in week #4, Wilson established a career high in passing yards with 182, tied his previous best effort with the aforementioned two TD tosses, posted a 139.2 QBR, and even had a banner afternoon the ground, notching his first career multiple rushing TD game.
All in all, Wilson was directly responsible for over 50 percent of CTK’s total offense, as the 74 yards for which he ran, when added to the 182 he tossed added up to 256 yards…He accomplished all of this gaudy numbers despite only touching the ball 16 times (11 passes; 5 runs) all day.
The 6’2 junior completed 6 of 11 pass attempts, hooking up with star wide-out, Tosin Oyekanmi (3 catches, 100 yards), on both TD strikes, and ran for an average of 14.8 carry, to rank second on the team in this category.
Wilson and the Royals will look to keep the points train rolling next week when they face Iona Prep in a potential preview of the AA championship game…The visiting Gaels have scored no less than 31 points in each of their four games this season and are averaging 43.5 points/game in their two double-A contests…Hence, if Christ the King intends to maintain their status as the division’s prohibitive favs, it goes without saying that the offense is going to need to be locked and loaded on Sunday the 9th.
Rodney Samson (Sr.); RB/OLB – Iona Prep Gaels
Staying on the topic of the boys from New Rochelle, there was not a finer two-way player during week #4 than the Gaels senior, Samson….A shepherd on both sides of the ball as a running back and a linebacker, the 6’0, 205-pounder is so impactful that at times it seems like there are 11 of him on the field at one time…Such was the case last Friday in Iona Prep’s 56-27 road win over Kellenberg Memorial High School.
The team’s leading rusher in all four games this season, Samson rewrote his personal record book last week, setting new highs in yards in a single game with 187, average yards per carry with 12.5 on 15 attempts, and logging the first three touchdown game of his scholastic career….He was so good against the Firebirds that he doubled his season totals in rushing yards and touchdowns to 367 and six respectively.
The first of Samson’s three ground scores broke the ice in the first quarter, as he powered the ball in from the 2-yard line to give the road warriors the initial 6-0 lead…One quarter later, the senior captain once again used his size and speed in short distance situations to finish off a drive, taking the ball the final yard to increase the edge to 18-0….The resident of Ossining made it three straight quarters with a score when he found space and dashed 33 yards to spark a 21-0 IP streak in the third quarter to blow the game open, 49-14.
Defensively, Samson had a double digit today in tackles, recording 10 stops. His strong defensive showing was complemented by a sack as well….Knowing how incendiary the Royal offense is capable of being when at its best, it might be on “D” where Samson will need to shine next Sunday.
Jonathan Brown (Sr.); LB – Holy Trinity Titans
Billed as a shootout between the top-2 offensive teams in the AA division, the Titan defense, led by the senior, Brown, held a Viking team that entered the contest averaging 39 points in their two double-A games, to a respectable total of 22, allowing the Hicksville based squad to runaway (literally and figuratively) with a 55-22 victory to stay among the four unbeatens in the Catholic League.
Providing the same caliber of leadership, poise, and intensity as his fellow senior and week #4 honoree, Barsella, Brown and the Titan “D-unit” held a St. Joe’s by the Sea team that had averages of 237.7 and 133.3 yards a game passing and throwing after three games to season lows in both categories with respective outputs of 114 and 89….The previously cited 22 points was SJS’s second lowest total, with the 12 points they scored in week #1 against AAA division member, St. Peter’s, being the only occasion where the Staten Island school produced an inferior quantity.
Second on the team in total tackles after week #3, Brown inched closer to team leader, Alexander Parciak, by making seven solo stops and lending a helping hand on five additional tackles to end the day with 12 (not including the three tackles he made on special teams)…The 12 halts (including one that induced a fumble) he made on October 1st represented the first double digit tackle game of the season for him in his last year wearing the Green & White.
Brown’s skillset did not just manifest itself in stuffing the run. Instead, he also demonstrated an immense ability to be a disruptive force as a pass rusher, bagging opposing QB, Francis Perry, on three different occasions to increase his team-leading sum to six in 2016.
Head Coach, Tony Mascia, will need for his defensive front to be just as steady next weekend when HT plays host to Poly Prep in a non-league contest…The visiting Blue Devils feature Isaiah Wilson, who some recruiting pundits have pegged as the #1 overall OT in the nation…Thus, with this 350+ pound mountain throwing blocks, all of the Holy Trinity defenders are going to need to fight on every snap if they hope to stretch their winning streak to five games.