By Matt Diano:
#1 Chaminade (5-3) vs. #4 Fordham Prep (4-4)
When: Saturday November 13th, 2021 @1pm
Where: Gold Star Stadium on the Campus of Chaminade HS (340 Jackson Ave, Mineola, NY 11501)
Previous Meeting: Chaminade 28-0 on October 16th (Week #6)
Synopsis: Because of the one-sidedness of the first meeting, this is a contest that at first glance might not strike you as immensely intriguing. However, due to the nature in which the Rams prevailed (dramatic touchdown run in overtime) in their quarterfinal game, we feel that this is a program that is going to travel to Mineola with a lot of buzz/momentum…Make no mistakes about it, the defending AA-1 titlists, Chaminade are still the odds-on favorites, but we simply will not sell Fordham Prep short as they attempt to return to the ‘ship for the first since 2017 (lost in the finals to Kellenberg)…For the host Flyers, who own a win over the #2 seed in the AAA bracket (Monsignor Farrell), one of the most important elements in play this Saturday is not looking past their opponents from the Bronx. Both having just missing out on being triple-A postseason participants, an underlying belief has formed among the pundits that suggests that a 1 vs. 2 match-up against the Mavericks of Moore Catholic is the inevitable conclusion. The Crimson & Gold must fight the urge to buy into the hype and instead go out on the home soil with a chip on their shoulder and intentions of dominating for 48 minutes to PROVE that their premature crowning was quasi warranted!
Out-scoring the two remaining AA-1 playoff teams they faced this year by a mind-blowing margin of 70-0 (in addition to the “w” over FP, they also defeated St. Francis Prep, 42-0, in week 7), the defending kings from Nassau County have no Achilles’ heals on either side of the ball, aside from a few injuries along the OL. But still, despite for instance, an individual like 11th grader, Mason Dietrich, being asked to occupy three different spots at various parts of the fall, there has been no slowing down the ground attack of Chaminade…Boasting the top man in both yardage (1,180) and TD runs (14) in all of New York State Catholic football (including Monsignor Martin), when the Flyers and Rams met during the regular season, senior RB/future Cornell University lacrosse midfielder, Christian Alacqua, was at his best, setting a personal-high of 203 yards and scoring twice as part of the triumph. Of the eight appearances he has made in his last year in the Chaminade gear, the Manhasset resident has surpassed the century mark on seven different occasions, finding paydirt two or more times in five of eight outings…Under center, Head Coach, Kevin Dolan, has incorporated a two-headed approach, as senior, Thomas Stueber (43-for-80, 535 yards, 2 Touchdown passes) and junior, Matthew Dieguez (22 of 51, 294 yards, 6 TD hurls) have split the QB position in 2021, with each having their fair share of shine moments. Of late, the Fordham bound (baseball) Dieguez seems to be getting the majority of snaps, so evidence suggests that he probably opens up as the starter on November 13th. But alas, no matter who is serving as field general, CH will be in capable hands. The duo combined to connect on 7 of 13 throws (Stueber: 2-for-4, 70 yards, 1TD; Dieguez: 5-for-9, 38 yards; 1 rushing TD) during round 1…The wide-receiving corps of Gavin Creo (20 catches for 286 yards, 4 touchdowns), Michael Miller (17 receptions for 219 yards, 3 scores), and Anthony Koehler (14 grabs for 206 yards) are your main targets should Chaminade choose to put the ball in the air. Creo, who made 13 of his 20 grabs during the last three weeks of the season, had a yearly-best, 6 catches for 103 yards and 1 TD in the win over Fordham Prep; he added 90 yards on the ground (2 carries). Miller had one catch for 14 yards on 10/16. Koehler was kept off the stat sheet in the initial introduction, but enters with some mojo, having posted a career-best 4 receptions for 90 yards in the regular season finale versus Iona Prep…Flipping across the line to the defensive stoppers, it was the likes of Thomas Kemp (72 tackles, 19 TFL, 3 sacks), Charlie Battaglia (72 stops, 12 TFL, 2 sacks), Hagan Wagner (59 tackles, 9 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 INT, 2 pass break-ups), Connor Collett (29 stops, 1 sack, 3 QB hurries), Anthony Scala (64 tackles, 12 TFL, 2 sacks), Bryan Freel (40 stops, 2 INTs), Dean Aquilina (41 tackles, 10 TFL, 4 sacks), Terrell Mompoint (37 stops, 1 INT, 4 PDs), and Angel Jimenez (36 tackles, 3 INTs, 5 pass breaks-up) that were at the heart of the Mid-October shutout. Kemp posted a team-high 10 tackles and added one sack; Battaglia had 8 stops, including a pair for negative results; Wagner made 9 tackles and earned a sack; Mompoint and Jimenez combined for seven tackles and each notched one pick!
If you are the visiting Rams, the biggest tool you can carry with you into this rematch is a short
memory. What happened in the past no longer matters…Why not dare to be great and pull the upset? Without question, the manpower is available to be “heroes” this weekend…First and foremost, any talk of a Fordham Prep win will/must commence with a discussion of the skill positions. In the first match-up, Jack Annicelli, was limited to 11-for-30, tossing for only 102 yards and a pair of interceptions. Ever since that off-performance, he seems to have struggled to regain the magic he was showing at the onset of his junior campaign when he was ripping off 180, 200, and 240 yard type games. If he returns to the version that we saw in September/early October, it is absolutely going to be a game-changer for FP… Further intensifying the problem experienced by the Rams on October 16th was that leading rusher, Jack Wolf, had his lowest output of the season, gaining just 19 yards on eight attempts. The good thing for Coach, Pat Deane, is that his star senior tailback [Wolf] is just a week removed from the finest effort of his life, as he trekked for 143-yards and scored the game-tying touchdown that launched his school to a quarterfinal (13-12) victory against St. Peter’s…If Annicelli brings his “A” game to Long Island, then look for the trio of Lewis Moore, Jericho Ancheta, and Thomas Gies, to all enjoy solid afternoons. Moore topped all pass-catchers with four receptions for 22 yards against the Flyers, while Ancheta made three grabs for 40 yards, and Gies contributed a pair of snatches for 26….James Rice (6 tackles), Jaziah Moore (5 tackles, 3 sacks), Charlie English (5 tackles, 1 forced fumble), Luca Greco (5 stops, 1 sack), Vaughan Johnson (5 tackles, 1 sack), Daniel Sheahan (5 stops, 1 sack), and Khaleel Adegoke (5 stops, 1 sack) all played very well in the week #6 loss. Dylan Ortiz is now a name to know after he put forth a 14-tackle display in the quarterfinals!
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#2 Moore Catholic (5-3) vs. #6 St. Francis Prep (2-6)
When: Saturday November 13th, 2021 @1:30pm
Where: Moore Catholic HS (100 Merrill Ave, Staten Island, NY 10314)
Previous Meeting: Moore Catholic 26-6 on October 9th (Week #5)
Synopsis: Out of fear of being redundant and unoriginal, the same sentiments we applied to our first AA-1 semifinal hold just as true for the bottom half of the bracket…On paper, the defending Double-A-2 champs from Staten Island should win this game and they should do so in style… Stripping away losses to AAA opponents (Stepinac, St. Anthony’s, and Kellenberg) you are left with a Moore Catholic squad that has a 5-0 record, is scoring 27.4 points per contest, and surrendered a modest 12.2 (including one goose-egging)…The Terriers, who already pulled one upset this postseason when they knocked off third-seeded St. Joe’s by the Sea (28-27 OT) counter with a point differential of –141 (scored 108; allowed 249). So what makes us think that an SFP finals bid is possible? The respect of a Cinderella story!!! The 1983 NC State basketball team (also seeded 6th) was never expected to win it all… Buster Douglas was supposed to get knocked off in the 1st round of his title fight against Mike Tyson…A bunch of college kids from Massachusetts and Minnesota (and a few other locations) had no business playing the Soviet in Lake Placid…Heck, even the 2021 World Series Champion, Atlanta Braves, had the worst record of any NL team in the playoffs…Short story, long (LOL), the “second season” is unpredictable; anything can and will happen if you show up and empty the tank! And much like Fordham Prep, an overtime win should put some extra pasta in the pot for the Terriers!
When Staten Island clashed with Queens in week #5, it was the Mavericks completely controlling every aspect of the game, as they amassed 400 yards of total offense on one end, while giving up just 143 on the other…11th grade QB extraordinaire/reigning POTW, John Michalski, turned in a typical (by his high standard) day of dual-threat dominance, hitting on 18 of 27 throws for 248 yards and two scores, while also rushing eight times for 85 yards. And if you think that was great, consider the fact that he will step onto his home field this weekend fresh off of an even better showing (11-for-17, 303 yards, 3 TDs in the air; 76 yards and two more touchdowns on 7 carries) in the quarterfinal conquest of Xavier… Dowan Coachman, complemented his QB on the ground versus the Terriers last month, running for 65 yards on 15 handoffs. If similar to last week, the Moore staff elects not to use Coachman in the backfield, there is no reason to worry, as freshman, RJ Pachecho, demonstrated that he is capable of filling those cleats after a 13-carry, 71-yard, 1-TD effort last week versus the Knights…The vaunted WR cohort of Nick Jordan, Matthias Lighten, and Michael Zeh all registered TD receptions in the first showdown, as the latter of the three [Jordan] lead all pass-catchers with an 8-grab/105-yard effort. Lighten’s six-reception, 90-yard outing was quite impressive; as was the 3-catch, 43-yard outing by Zeh. Jordan (4 for 29) was again the category chart topper for passes hauled in in the quarterfinals, while Lighten and Zeh each made two receptions for totals of 137 and 110 yards respectively…On “D” the gentlemen primarily responsible for the stout and/or shutdown collective exhibit in week #5 were Troy Telesford (9 tackles, .5 sacks, induced a safety), Anthony Martelli (7 tackles, 1 caused fumble), Jusad Timmons (5 stops), Coachman (5 tackles), Arshad Meredith (2 stops, 1.5 sacks), and Jay’len Johnson (2 tackles, 1 pick). Telesford posted a 14-stop/1 sack/1 INT effort in the quarters; Meredith made 5 stops; Johnson (2 tackles) and Lighten (4 stops) also had one pick apiece versus Xavier; Zeh (12 tackles), Coachman (9 stops), and Edouardo Pierre (5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 caused fumble) rounded out the list of studs that shined on defense a week ago!
For St. Francis Prep, the key to avoiding an identical fate from the previous battle is to establish their
running game more effectively than they were able to do last month. In the Terriers’ two triumphs this fall, they have averaged 173 yards per and scored four touchdowns on land (as opposed to the 77 yards they managed when coming up short). In the first meeting, no SFP ball-carrier accumulated more than 15 yards, which has to improve this weekend…With this idea in mind, we are looking to reigning POTW honoree, Jaziyah Welch, to unleash whatever beast was dormant inside of him for much of the year. Carrying the pigskin just 21 times for 130 yards prior to the quarterfinal win over Joe’s by the Sea, the senior was lights out last week (13 handoffs, 141 yards) in serving as a replacement for the team’s usual #1 option out of the backfield (Jaden St. Ford). And considering that St. Ford has been mired in a slump during the latter half of the regular season (15 yards on 10 carries in week 5), perhaps the shift to a new look will yield much more encouraging results…Junior signal caller, Isaiah DeCruz, is never going to be that gunslinger that torches you in the air; but what he does deliver is a steady, balanced arsenal that can be equally efficient/effective. Against Moore earlier in the year, he emerged with his second highest passing game of 2021, as he completed 8 of 15 throws for 101 yards (1 unfortunate INT). We are hoping to see him utilized more on the ground (2 carries for 13 yards on 10/9) because he has shown that when given the freedom to use his legs, he is innovative and can move the chains. In the playoff win over the host Vikings, DeCruz posted a season-high 3 scores (1 passing, 2 rushing) as he tallied 138 yards of work (7-of-11, 98 yards via sky; 40 yards on 8 keeps on the ground)…Mike Solimando, the favorite target for DeCruz was kept off the stat sheet by the Mavs last time. If he breaks out and has a great showing, that too will be invaluable. 7 of his 16 grabs have come in the past two weeks (4 grabs for 44 a week ago), so #11 is asserting himself down the stretch. Ethan Alvia (4 receptions for 49 yards) and Dionis Best (3 for 43) both had season-best showings versus MC and just need to maintain that success. Best had two grabs (46 yards) in the quarterfinals and hauled in the lone aerial TD….On defense, it will be imperative that Sebastian Villavicencio (8 tackles, 2 TFL), Brian Daly (6 stops, 2 TFL, 1 sack), Alvia (6 tackles), Gavin Buchanan (6 tackles, 1 INT), and Michael Modica (5 stops) be as good, if not better in the rematch. Villavicencio, Daly, and Modica combined for 30 tackles and 6 stops for a loss in the 1st round of the playoffs. Jacob Bedoya, who was quiet in week 5 (credited with 1 tackle) was a chaos-creating animal versus SJS last week, making 8 stops (3 TFL) and earning a pair of sacks. Penn State bound, Kaleb Artis, who we proclaimed as a potential game-changer if operating at 100%, was back as the foundation for the DL; he finished the quarterfinals with seven total tackles!
Editor’s Note: Cumulative season stats (when available) for team’s seeded 2nd-7th, can be viewed if you refer to the quarterfinal previews…Because all #1 seeds had byes last week, their statistical totals are referenced in this article