Anthony D’Acunto (Jr.); QB – St. Peter’s Eagles
Over the course of the previous six weeks; the NYCHSFL had been the stage for some utterly spectacular displays among the embarrassment of riches we boast at the quarterback position…
But, very few, if any of those splendid demonstrations could “hold a candle” to what we witnessed at Coffee Field on the night of Friday, October 10th!
Universally supreme with both arm and legs; the 6’0, 185-pound dual-threat standout from Staten Island [D’Acunto} rewrote every page of his individual record book in steering the Eagles to a 42-21 road win over Fordham Prep!!
Generating a staggering 413 yards and four touchdowns of total offensive production; D’Acunto went off for 287 in the air, while chewing up an additional 126 (7 carries) as a runner!
Hitting on 13-of-20 aerial attempts overall; the 11th grader came out of the gates firing; as on his team’s initial drive of the game, he connected on 2-of-4 passes for 44 yards to move the ball inside the Ram 15 as a precursor to Ben Terry’s TD run moments later to make the score 7-0!
The contest now all knotted at 7 apiece after FP marked down the field on their next possession; the deadlock did not last long, as on the first snap of the 2Q, D’Acunto found Victor Baez (3 grabs for 95 yards) over the top for a 45-yard connection for the first of their two TD exchanges to make put SP back in the lead, 13-7…
This on-the-button” missile sparking a streak of 28 unanswered points, D’Acunto and Baez touched base again later in the 2nd quarter when after a 51-yard scamper from the QB advanced the ball across midfield to the FP 32; the ensuing snap was a 32-yard bullet over the middle to the target in the #0 shirt to make it a 21-7 cushion ((2pt conversion pass to Terry)!!
A 5-yard keeper in the 3rd quarter continued to add insult to injury as the separation grew to 28-7!
After the Rams snapped the drought to make the score 35-14; D’Acunto had one final act of score-inducing brilliance as early in the 4Q, he partnered with sophomore, Josiah Jones (4 receptions for 95 yards, 1TD), on a 47-yard bomb to round out the damage!
Now now exceeded the 200-yard throwing milestone in consecutive outings (12-for-17 for 212 in a week #4 victory against Chaminade); D’Acunto has seen his seasonal statistics skyrocket to 1,039 yards and 5 touchdowns tosses on 69-of114 (60.5&)!!!
SP now sitting at an even 3-3 in the standings (the hard part of their schedule in the rear-view mirror); if the now first-time POTW selection stays as red hot as he was last week; there is every reason to believe that they can/will win out and earn a high seed for the AA-1 playoffs!
Dave McCue (Sr.); LB – St. Anthony’s Friars
Headed to Hobart College where he will be an LSM on the lacrosse team; the 5’10, 185-pound Linebacker is a master of defense no matter the particular athletic endeavor….
Stepping into a starting role this fall in his swan song campaign; McCue has enjoyed an immensely consistent season; as he entered week #6 having amassed 27 stops (3 TFLs) and a sack for the Friars….
However, the notion of his last HOCO really brought the best out of the Kings Park resident in STA’s 42-14 triumph at home last Friday night over the Cardinals of Cardinal Hayes!
As if setting a new personal-high with 7 tackles, while tying his TFL (1) and sack (1) records was not sufficient; the gentleman donning the #7 jersey had to go the extra mile and make three spectacular plays that set up eventual STA scores….
The Friars already up 7-0 after cashing in on their first possession of the evening; it was McCue on the next defensive stand that created havoc, as he’d get “helmet to ball” to jar the pigskin loose en route to a Daniel Garcia fumble recovery on the opposing 32-yard line….
Xavier Bala later punched in a 4-yard TD run to increase the cushion to 14-0 with 7:37 remaining in the opening stanza….
The Black and Gold’s advantage having ballooned to 21-0 late in the 2Q; McCue disrupted the first of what would be a pair of punt blocks for the game when he busted off of the edge to blow up the Hayes’ punter to give STA starting field position at the CH 17-yard line with 1:12 before halftime…
Sophomore QB, Anthony DiIeso, called his own number on a 6-yard option a few snaps later to further pad the margin (28-0)!!!
Deja vu materialized for a second straight Hayes’ series, when on 4th down, it was McCue again disrupting a punt when he charged with reckless abandon to deflect the punt and regain control of the ball on the CH 25…
Bala found paydirt from 13 yards away two snaps later for his third touchdown of the night to make the scoreboard read 35-0 with 4:14 left in the 3Q!
20 years from now; there is little doubt that McCue will fondly remember his homecoming heroics!
Jahmai McNeil (Jr.); QB – Archbishop Stepinac Crusaders
“Hold My Gatorade”!!!!
The second different Crusader signal caller in as many weeks to garner Player of the Week distinction; the 5’10, 175-pounder resident of New Windsor just dished out a healthy serving of crow to anyone (us) who suggested that the QB competition in White Plains was settled following teammate, Grayer Hong’s, performance the previous weekend!!
Squaring off against a Xavier squad (entered at 5-1) that have looked the part of AA-1 title contenders throughout the first half of the 2025 season; McNeil knew that attaining victory was going to require an “A” effort; and that was exactly what be provided in leading Stepinac to a 21-14 victory on the road to extend the program’s currenting winning streak to three games!!!
Establishing single-game personal bests for yardage (155) and TD tosses (3) on Saturday night, the #7 jersey fluidly guided the offense with the poise and command of a “John Elway”, “Boomer Esiason” or “Joe Theismann”…
Connecting on 6 of 14 pass attempts (one completion short of tying his career-high); McNeil did not start the evening under center; but when he was inserted on the first series of the 2Q; action instantly picked up, as it was his 31-yard hurl to sophomore WR, Nick Harrison (3 grabs for 41 yards, 2TD receptions) that drew first blood to make the score 7-0 with 5:09 remaining before the break!
After the defense induced a turnover on downs at approximately the opposing 46-yard line; McNeil and Harrison teamed up again on a buzzer beater, as the former scrambled to his left and chucked a 15-yard dart to his diving target in the end zone for the TD (to increase the score to 13-0) with just :01 showing on the clock before the intermission!
Momentum having shifted in favor of the host Knights, as they struck for back-to-back scores in the 4Q to go up, 14-13; the 11th grade field general refused to be shaken by potentially dire circumstances….
Down 1pt with a little over 1:00 to go in regulation; McNeil emerged with one heck of a clutch and gutsy final drive; as it was his perfectly thrown 70-yard homerun TD pass to Jordyn Eaton that acted as the ultimate saving grace/game-stealer in putting Stepinac back on top (21-14; 2pt conversion throw also to Eaton) with :53 left uncontested!
Humbled by the heroics of McNeil; we will not make the same error twice in anointing either of the Stepinac QBs as the prohibitive starter…
Rather, we will just say that the position is well-manned no matter who is on the field at a given moment!
Raising his numbers this year to 534 yards and 7 TD passes (30-of-47; 63.8%) during week #6; today marks McNeil’s POTW debut!
Ian Williams (Sr.); QB/DB – Holy Trinity Titans
Back on the POTW list for the second time in a matter of three weeks (previously named in week #4); the two-way terror hailing from Queens would again showcase why many NYCHSFL pundits regard him as one of the best two-way skill players in the entire league!
Singled-handedly accounting for four of the Titans five touchdowns in a 32-6 conquering of returning AA-2 runners-up, Holy Cross, on October 11th; the 5’11, 185-pounder pulled off the rare feat of registering at least one touchdown on each side of the line of scrimmage!
The bulk of his offensive exploits transpiring as a run-first signal caller; the #15 shirt got the party started early when on the third snap of the afternoon, he paraded 55 yards down the home sideline to give Holy Trinity the quick 6-0 lead less than 2:00 into the opening quarter!!
He’d bank his second QB of the 1Q when he punctuated a second consecutive successful series by sprinting to the house from 10 yards out to increase the advantage to 12-0 (:30 to go)…He had gainers of 15 and 23 yards respectively earlier in the possession to put HT on the doorstep!!!
The Green & White now up 20-6 with 6:38 to go in regulation; Williams would exhibit his ball-hawking abilities from the defensive backfield when he intercepted a pass on his own 19, cut across the field, and then darted untouched to the promised land for the 81-yard pick-6 that for all intends and purposes was the back-breaker (26-6 score)!!
All in all amassing 141 yards on nine carries; Williams added a 6-yard TD run in the last 1:20 of the 4th quarter for his third offensive TD (fourth overall score) to finalize his dominant day!
The INT return for a TD being his calling card on “D”; not to be taken for granted was the 7 stops he made as part of a Titan unit that bent but refused to break during the 48-minute affair!
Victors in their last three outings (after dropping two of their first three appearances); suddenly there is a sense of belief being exuded in the Hicksville hallways!
Michael Zawatsky (Sr.); DE – St. Joe’s by the Sea Vikings
Branded as a “One Man Wrecking Crew” by the Viking Coaching staff; the 5’11, 190-pound hybrid DE/OLB continued to make quite the compelling argument as to why he should be receiving serious “O’Connor Memorial” consideration (Metro Catholic Defensive Player of the Year) following St. Joe’s by the Sea’s 21-7 victory on home soil over St. Francis Prep in a battle of top-tier AA-1 squads!!
Already the leading sack man in Double-A-1 when he stepped onto the field last Friday night (4.5); the Staten Island resident did nothing but swell his seasonal stat line when he exploded for FOUR QB bags in limiting a Terrier nemesis that entered averaging 27ppg against NYCHSFL foes this season to their lowest output of the year thus far!!!
Not only setting a new personal-best; but also taking over ownership of the school record (he previously challenged it with a 3.5 effort vs. Fordham Prep in week #2); the strapping lad in the #15 jersey was uncontainable in flying around the field with causing copious amounts of chaos from opening whistle to final buzzer!
Lauded by the SJBS as a “pure athlete”; the strength and speed of Zawatsky was on full display when on one instance, he chased Terrier QB, Jack Leary, all the way across the field!
A pest who was consistently invading the opposing backfield; even when he did not come away with the sack or the TFL; the mere pressure applied was enough to prevent a very dynamic SFP offense from finding one iota or peace of comfort!
Adding three tackles (2 solo) and a forced fumble to his vitae on October 10th; the elevated contributions of breakout superstars like Zawatsky this season is why there is significant “repeat” chatter on Hylan Blvd!
Victors in two straight games to raise their record to 4-3 (2 of those losses to Triple-A programs); the Vikings will enjoy a mini respite in week #7 (bye) as they gear up for an All-SI war against Monsignor Farrell on the 24th!
With eyes and hearts fully focused on transforming “Penthouse dreams” into realities; “Iron will sharpen iron” no matter the verdict