Category: Playoffs

THE CATS CONQUER THE COWS!!!….NEXT MAN UP!!!! When the 2023 season started, St. John the Baptist junior quarterback, Maxwell Bowers, was listed no higher than 2nd on the depth chart (likely 3rd)!!! Fast-forward several weeks and today, the 6’1, 180-pounder hailing from Brightwaters finds himself bestowed with unofficial GOAT status following a tremendous individual effort that witnessed him amass 3 total touchdowns (2 passing, 1 running) as part of the second-seeded Cougars 28-14 victory over #1 Moore Catholic in the AA-1 finale on the campus of Fordham University! The win by the West Islip based program marking the fourth straight opportunity where the Double-A-1 hardware is headed back to Long Island (Chaminade in 2019 & 2021, Holy Trinity in 2022), for the Mavericks of MC, it represented yet another promising campaign that ended on a sour note, as they have now dropped the title game in three straight attempts! Rallying

#1 Mount St. Michael Academy (7-2) vs. #2 Xaverian (6-4) When: Saturday November 18th, 2023 @11am Where: Jack Coffey Field on the Campus of Fordham University (441 E Fordham Rd, Bronx, NY 10458) Watch: Youtube (Varsity Media) Previous Meeting: Mount St. Michael, 14-13, on October 7th (Week #5) How They Got Here (MSMA): -Semifinals: 26-12 over #4 Kennedy Catholic How They Got Here (Xaverian): -Semifinals: 21-14 (OT) over #3 Holy Cross Postseason Heroes (MSMA): -Marc Pearson Jr. (QB): Completed 10 of 21 pass attempts for 187 yards and a pair of TD hurls in the semis; added 27 yards on 7 keepers as a ball-carrier -Carl Shaw (RB/DB): Equally impactful on both sides of the ball in the semis, he’d record 2/3s of the school’s touchdowns and add a 2pt conversion on offense, rushing for 72 yards (2TDs) on 13 hand-offs; Defensively was credited with a team-high 8 stops and

#2 Iona Prep (8-3) vs. #5 Cardinal Hayes (9-2) When: Saturday November 18th, 2023 @6pm Where: Jack Coffey Field on the Campus of Fordham University (441 E Fordham Rd, Bronx, NY 10458) Watch: Youtube (Varsity Media) Previous Meeting: Iona Prep, 46-35, on October 14th (Week #6) How They Got Here (Iona Prep): -Quarterfinals: 49-19 over #7 Kellenberg Memorial -Semifinals: 35-13 over #3 Monsignor Farrell How They Got Here (Cardinal Hayes): -Quarterfinals: 42-14 over #4 St. Anthony’s -Semifinals: 29-26 over #1 Archbishop Stepinac Postseason Heroes (Iona Prep): -Joey Gaston (QB): 21-of-27 passing, 267 yards (3 touchdowns); 94 yards (3 touchdowns) on 18 carries -Kyseem Springer (RB): 77 yards and 2 touchdowns (12 hand-offs) -Steven Dowdy Jr. (WR): 9 receptions, 183 yards, 3 touchdown grabs; also has a KOR TD -Dylan Iorgoveanu (WR): 6 catches for 41 yards -Jaden Codrington (CB): 1 INT in the quarterfinals -Terron Johnson (CB): 1 INT in

#1 Mount St. Michael Academy (6-2) vs. #4 Kennedy Catholic (3-6) When: Saturday November 11th, 2023 @1pm Where: Mt. St. Michael Academy Campus (4300 Murdock Ave, Bronx, NY 10466) Watch: Youtube (Mt. St. Michael Academy Page) Previous Meeting: Moore Catholic, 7-0, on October 14th (Week #6) Overview: A barn-burner when the two teams met in Mid-October, the only points of the afternoon came late in the 1st quarter when Carl Shaw was able to punch across the goal line from a short distance away to enable the Mountaineers to escape with a 7-0 victory!! An illustration of why we play games on grass/turf and not on paper, if you were to look at the discrepancy between the two programs in terms of established personnel, you’d instantly expect a much higher margin of triumph for MSMA… But alas, under the tutelage of Dominick Tassone, the Gaels know how to peak for

#1 Moore Catholic (6-4) vs. #4 Xavier (7-3) When: Saturday November 11th, 2023 @1pm Where: Moore Catholic HS Campus (100 Merrill Ave, Staten Island, NY 10314) Previous Meeting: Moore Catholic, 27-7, on September 30th (Week #4) Overview: Can the Mavericks be denied a third straight trip to the AA-1 finals?  The easy answer is that our magic 8-ball suggests that “Outlook Not so Good”; but if any program was going to be the ones to stop the train in its tracks, our pick would have been Xavier…So this rematch from week #4 actually does have us intrigued! Victors in five of their past six outings (only loss to AAA semifinalist, Iona Prep) after getting off to a 1-3 start to the fall, there was never any real doubt that when November rolled around, we had full expectation that Giannatasio’s herd would very much be in the title picture!! Likely not

#1 Archbishop Stepinac (8-2) vs. #5 Cardinal Hayes (8-2) When: Saturday November 11th, 2023 @1:30pm Where: Archbishop Stepinac HS Campus (950 Mamaroneck Ave, White Plains, NY 10605) Watch: LocalLive (Stepinac Page) Previous Meeting: Cardinal Hayes, 33-28, on October 1st (Week #4) Overview: A back-and-forth game that went down to the wire when the two prestigious programs met in week #4, the top-seeds out of White Plains [Stepinac] were driving late in the contest and had advanced the ball inside the opposing 10-yard line when a 4th down pass attempt into the end zone fell incomplete in the last 24 ticks to spoil the comeback bid! We anticipate the rematch this Saturday to be every bit as good as its predecessor as both the Crusaders and the Cardinals enter the afternoon playing their best football of 2023, as the former [AS] have not tasted defeat since that loss and are riding

#1 Moore Catholic (5-4) vs. #8 St. Francis Prep (2-7) When: Saturday November 4th, 2023 @Noon Where: Moore Catholic HS Campus (100 Merrill Ave, Staten Island, NY 10314) Previous Meeting: “First Meeting of 2023” Overview: Bridesmaids in each of the past two seasons to schools that have since been elevated to the Triple-A division, 2023 is very much shaping up to be the year that the Mavericks claim their fourth Metro Catholic Crown in school history (first since 2019)…. Their win/loss record slightly misleading when you consider that all three blemishes were to either out-of-state foes or NYCHSFL triple-A title contenders (Monsignor Farrell & Iona Prep), the “Merrill Avenue Mafia” is cooking with gasoline on both sides of the ball as become apparent when they strung together four consecutive victories between weeks 4-7 (including back-to-back shutouts over Chaminade and St. John the Baptist)…. Incorporating a very balanced attack on the

#1 Archbishop Stepinac (7-2) vs. #8 Chaminade (1-7) When: Friday November 3rd, 2023 @7pm Where: Archbishop Stepinac HS Campus (950 Mamaroneck Ave, White Plains, NY 10605) Watch: LocalLive (Stepinac page) Previous Meeting: Stepinac 42-21 on October 21st (Week #7) Overview: Semifinalists or better (crowns in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018) in every season since 2013, the top-seeded Crusaders were on fire during the regular season homestretch, winning their final four appearances, including a statement-making 56-35 triumph last weekend over the defending NYCHSFL and Catholic State Champion Friars of St. Anthony’s….Hence, to say that they are primed to make a deep run into the postseason is a major understatement!! With embarrassments of riches on both sides of the ball, it will be a test between the two units to see which side can be the ones to steal the show…. When Stepinac played the visiting Flyers during week #7, it was

Article by Matt Diano WHAT A COMEBACK!!!!  For the first 34:49 of action, a St. Anthony’s offensive attack that averaged in excess of 40 points per game this season just could not get anything going…But in the last 13:11, they refused to be denied as they stormed back from a 20-0 deficit to score 27 unanswered points en route to claiming the program’s first Catholic State crown, 27-20, over the host Red Raiders from St. Francis High School… A Black & Gold juggernaut that had grown accustomed to passing at will on their foes, despite the best efforts of senior field general, Dante Torres, the blistering winds simply prevented the vertical game from ever finding its rhythm, as for the first time all season, the Fordham bound signal caller was held without a passing touchdown (snapped a streak of 20-straight appearances with at least one “6” in the air)…ENTER FRANK