By Matt Diano: As we approach the start of the AAA playoffs, we do so with several different emerging storylines. At the top of the bracket, you have “the hunted” Archbishop Stepinac, who will be looking to put the finishing touches on yet another perfect season against downstate competition…On the bottom, you have two teams with entirely different histories. Sitting at #2 is the potential breakout stars of the league, Cardinal Hayes; will their ascension to the top happen much sooner than anticipated?…Third-seeded St. Anthony’s is a program that has become accustomed to going all the way. With double-digit championship seasons in the past 15 years under their belt, the Friars will have a chip on their shoulder as they attempt to shake off a 2014 semifinal loss and regain a crown that they feel belongs to them and only them…Could a team like the fourth-seeded Lions Monsignor Farrell, who played both of the top-2 seeds within one score, put on that glass slipper and run with it all the way to Titletown? The first pieces of these puzzles will be put into place as the quarterfinals get underway with the following match-ups on Saturday the 7th and Sunday the 8th:
#1 Archbishop Stepinac vs. Chaminade (Sunday, November 8thth @1pm—Archbishop Stepinac HS)
A rematch of a game that was played nine days prior, déjà vu may be the term that best describes what is likely to happen this weekend when the Crusaders (8-0/7-0) hook-up with the winless Flyers (0-8/0-7)…Scoring 41 uninterrupted points before surrendering a late 4th quarter touchdown, the defending AAA titlists from Westchester had little trouble handling the 2013 champs in the regular season finale on October 31st…With so much pure talent and athleticism comprising Coach Mike O’Donnell’s roster, the current #1 team in New York State has just so many ways that they can beat you. They enter the weekend averaging just under 40 points per game behind 430 yards/game of total offense. If you attempt to stuff the box, the cannon arm of senior QB, Tyquell Fields (124-for-201, 1,541 yards, 14 TD passes) will eat you up. If you drop your linebackers and safeties into pass coverage, the four-headed monster of Antonio Giannico (606 yards, 8 touchdowns), Kobe Miranda (402 yards, 5 TDs), Fields (363 yards, 3 scores) and Malik Crawford (320 yards, 2 touchdowns) will chew you up from the ground…In their first meeting against their foes from Mineola, the attack would come from both directions as Fields threw for 339 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 16-of-28, while also leading the team with 75 of their 209 rushing yards…For visiting Chaminade to make it close, they will need to get the game of his life out of junior QB, Matt Chmil, who since stepping under center, has shown an ability to move the ball with both arm and feet. The key for Chmil on Sunday will be to allow the game to come to him and not force balls into traffic. Interceptions have been an issue for the first-year varsity starter, and the Stephen Boyd guided team cannot afford even a single mistake if they want to make a good showing of themselves.
#2 Cardinals Hayes vs. #7 Holy Cross (Saturday, November 7thth @3pm—Roof Top 161)
Coming into the game fresh off of one of the biggest victories in program history when it earned the #2 seed with a touchdown in the last 1:00 of regulation to defeat St. Anthony’s, the Cardinals of Cardinal Hayes (6-2/5-2) will unquestionably have a little extra giddy-up In their step In the opening round of the playoffs…A program that was so dominant a year ago on the junior varsity level that we knew something great was on the horizon, the CJ O’Neil led squad from the Bronx has progressed even quicker than we imaged as evident by their transformation from a #8 seed (losing in the first round to Stepinac last year) to a #2 seed in less than a year…One of the student-athletes receiving the most credit for this quick turnaround has been junior field general, Christian Anderson, who has thrown for 1,305 yards and 13 touchdowns, while also dashing for an additional 352 and two more scores. In the week #7 clash of these two teams (won 40-12 by Hayes), Anderson would enjoy the finest night of his varsity career, tossing a quartet of TD passes to three different receivers and finishing the game with season highs in every passing category except attempts. If that was not good enough, he would post his second 100-yard rushing game of 2015, finishing with 109 yards on just eight carries…The only question is whether or not Anderson will be 100 percent this weekend after leaving last weekend’s season finale against St. Anthony’s in the first half with what was appeared to be shoulder discomfort…If Anderson is unable to play, it would certainly affect the flow of the Hayes offense, but probably would not be a significant enough blow to put them in jeopardy of being upset…As he demonstrated in week #8, senior QB, Brion Vigo, is a money player who can rise to the occasion. He proved that last weekend with his 12-for-17, 125 yards and two touchdown performance….Senior running back, Justin Covington (940 yards on 104 carries, with 12 touchdowns) will also be a major offensive weapon for the Cardinals…While the odds will be stacked against them, look for the Knights of Holy Cross to lean on seniors, Joseph Fellin (QB) and Aaron Griffin (RB). In the October 24th meeting ,the former was successful in completing 5 of his 11 pass attempts, including two throws that yielded the only scores of the game for the squad from Queens…The latter Aaron Griffin would not find the end zone, but would have a very solid game, rushing for 89 yards on his 19 handoffs (4.7/carry).
#3 St. Anthony’s vs. #6 Iona Prep (Saturday, November 7thth @6pm—St. Anthony’s HS)
A rematch of the 2014 AAA semifinal game won by the Gaels, 28-10 (the first time in over a decade that St. Anthony’s had failed to reach the NYCHSFL finals), the Friars (6-2/5-2) will be looking to avenge last season’s heartbreaking loss for a second time this year, having previously defeated Iona Prep (2-6/2-5), 42-20 in a windy week #4 match-up under the South Huntington lights…The Rich Reichert instructed Friars, who at one time led 35-0 before their rivals from New Rochelle cut into the deficit, will again put the ball in the hands of their senior hurler, Tom Walsh, who has lit up opposing defensive backfields in his swan song campaign, throwing for a AAA leading 2,156 yards and 13 touchdowns. Despite the horrendous conditions brought on by the residual effects of Hurricane Joaquin, the 6’2, 210-pounder would complete 63 percent of his passes (17-for-27) for 197 yards and one TD. It is very likely he would post an even bigger number in all major categories had he not been removed in the third quarter with the game already well in hand…Complementing their stud QB, as they always do, will be the senior running back duo of Jordan Williams (643 yards on 77 carries and 15 TDs) and Kwesi Thomas-Henderson (189 rushing yards on 36 carries and 2 touchdowns)…Williams missed last week’s game against Cardinal Hayes. However, assuming he has recovered from whatever was plaguing him, he should prove to be a major factor, as he did on October 3rd when he averaged 6.1 yards per carry to finish the game with 79 yards and a TD run…Thomas-Henderson did not play in the first meeting, but has averaged 5.3 yards a carry in 2015, so you know he will make the most of whatever action he does see this weekend…Looking to be equalizers for Iona Prep will be junior quarterback, Mike Apostolopoulos, junior rung back, Rodney Samson Jr., and senior wide-out, Christian Nigro….When these two teams met early in the season, the first-year starter under center would still be in the midst of finding his groove as the successor to 2014 All-State honoree, Robert Madison. Apostolopoulos’s inexperience would show, as he completed just 13 of his 32 attempts and got picked twice. In the weeks that have followed, the 11th grader from Scarsdale has shown signs of being the next great quarterback in Coach Victor Quirolo’s pass heavy offensive scheme. In back-to-back wins over Holy Cross and Chaminade in weeks #6 and #7, he would throw seven combined touchdown passes and no INTs. Despite those early struggles, he comes into this weekend with a more than respectable stat line that reads as follows: 104-for-206, 1,027 yards, with 15 touchdowns thrown….On the back end of more than half of these pass completions has been Nigro, whose 60+ catch season is a league high in 2015. The 5’11, 180-pounder has caught five or more balls in every game this season and has been the receiver on one-third (5) of his QB’s score yielding tosses. In the initial meeting against the Friars, he would catch nine passes for 99 yards…..The performance of Samson Jr. may very well be the ultimate deciding factor as to whether or not this game is competitive or not entering the final 12 minutes…After being utilized early in the year as a pass catching threat, injuries would force the 6’2, 201-pounder into the offensive backfield where he has flourished, rushing for just under 117 yards per game during the last four weeks of the regular season…Before becoming the primary ball carrier for the Gaels, Samson would only compile 33 yards on seven attempts against the Friars. He will need to tack on at least another c-note, if not more, to keep hope alive for the Gaels.
#4 Monsignor Farrell vs. #5 St. Peter’s Boys (Saturday, November 7thth @6pm—Monsignor Farrell HS)
Last, but in no ways least will be the war for Staten Island bragging rights between two teams who may not like each other, but respect the heck out of one another…Meeting in the #4 vs. #5 game for the second straight season (won in 2014 by St. Peter’s, 28-7), the 2015 Farrell Lions (5-3/4-3) will be hungry to sweep the series this year the way the Eagles (5-3/4-3) did a year ago…With the first meeting (a 33-8 victory for MF) of the 2015 season being hailed as a collision of the top two running backs in S.I., it would be the play of the Monsignor Farrell defense that would be the story during week #6, as they kept the shackles on Peter’s Boys senior star RB, Bobby Wing, holding him to his first sub-100-yard game of the season and keeping him from entering the promised land as he finished with 72 yards on 20 carries….Playing a big role and earning player of the week recognition in this collective effort would be junior free safety, Gavin Monreale, who made 11 hits, had a hand In keeping St. Peter’s QB Joseph Mazziotta to a completion percentage of 41.7 percent (10-for-24 and only 100 yards in the air), and returned an interception nearly 60 yards to the 2-yard-line to set up his team’s first score of the game to get them rolling…Once the visitors from Amboy Road had the Eagles wounded, It be their senior halfback, Stephen Viegas putting the game out of reach as he ran for touchdowns in the 2nd (45 yards) and 3rd (4 yards) quarters to propel the Lions to a 33-0 edge with only one quarter to play. Viegas would finish the game with 166 rushing yards on 19 carries…While the advantage on paper has to go to Farrell for obvious reasons, I am predicting a much more hotly contested game in the rematch….In addition to Wing (1,138 yards and 10 touchdown in 2015) being too good a player to be controlled twice by the same opponent, St. Peter’s and their Head Coach, Mark DeCristoforo, have an unlikely tidbit working in their favor. In NYCHSFL games played on the road this season, the Eagles are a perfect 3-0, outscoring their foes 75-36. Simply put, as peculiar as it may be, they just seem to be flip the switch and become a different team when competing in hostile territory. If there ever was a positive to being the lower seeded team, this would have to be it.