By Matt Diano:
#1 Holy Trinity (8-1) vs. #5 St. John the Baptist (4-5)
When: Saturday November 12th, 2016
Where: Holy Trinity Diocesan High School
Time: 1pm
The last time they met:
-Holy Trinity won 32-25 on September 10th (week #1)
-Titans senior QB, Matt Ragno, may not have put up a big number in terms of yards (94 on 9-for-12), put his two TD passes, including the game-winner in the 4th quarter is a big reason why HT went undefeated against CHSFL opponents this season
-HT running back, Will Corchado, only rushed for 16 yards on three carries, but was lethal as a pass catcher, posting a season high with five grabs for 66 yards and both TDs (17-yarder in the 2nd quarter; 25-yard GW in the 4th)…2/3 of his receiving touchdowns this season came in this game
-#1 Titan halfback, Umari Taylor, statistically had his second lowest rushing game of the year (114 yards on 11 carries), but still managed to be the most influential person on the field as he scored a pair of TDs from the backfield and added a third on a 78-yard Kickoff return.
-Holy Trinity senior linebacker, Alexander Parciak, led all defensive players (on both sides) with a season-high 16 total tackles; he also forced a fumble
-Baptist junior field general, Will Shaw IV, notched his only 100-yard+ throwing game, converting on 6 of his 9 attempts for 147 yards and one TD…This was the lone touchdowns pass of 2016 for the 11th grader…Also the team’s PK, he hit a 31-yarder on his only FG attempt and was 2-for-3 in his PAT attempts.
-Playing in a usually run-centered offense, Wide Receiver, Stephen Becker, made the most of his sometimes limited opportunities, tying his season high for grabs with four and emerging with his only 100+ receiving came with 117 (did not have a game higher than 40 the rest of the way); he was on the back end of the Shaw pass, as he hauled in a 52-yard strike for the initial score of the game.
-Outside Linebacker, Alex Greco, had a sack and four tackles for a loss…One of these stops resulted in a safety when he stuffed Taylor in the end zone in the first quarter.
-SJB running back/defensive back, Christian Legagneur recorded a touchdown on each side of the ball, trekking three yards for a third quarter touchdown (finished with 50 yards on 11 carries) after previously recovering a fumble and taking it to the house from 12-yards away in the 2nd quarter.
-Holy Trinity trailed 25-18 at the end of 36 minutes before stealing the game in the final quarter by outscoring the opposing Cougars, 14-0, during the course of the last 12 minutes.
Synopsis:
A war of two teams who are absolutely loaded offensively in the backfield, whether you are a Titan fan or a Cougar loyalist, you have spent the majority of 2016 watching as your respective team marched up and down the field at will….Combining to run for 5,800 yards and 66 touchdowns, both of these programs enter semifinal weekend averaging over 300 per game in ground production….Interestingly though Is the fact that despite their gaudy numbers overall, when they squared off in the opening week of the season, neither broke 200 yards and only a single individual (Taylor) crossed over the 100-yard milestone….Taking nothing away from the defenses, but we are calling for a drastic change In today’s rematch as in our opinion, after weeks of perfecting their craft, both sides are going to do a much better job of executing….The joke that we made if all comes to fruition is that the first team to 500 rushing yards should win automatically.
At the front of the never-ending procession for the top-seeded Titans is Taylor, who we think might be the odds on favorite to be named AA Offensive Player of the Year…An All-Catholic selection in 2015 after tallying 572 yards and six TDs, the Freeport resident has completely obliterated those numbers in his senior campaign, running for 1,758 yards and 22 scores…Just shy of averaging 200ypg, Taylor has exceeded 100 yards in eight of the nine games he has played this season, including last week when the favorited Titans needed every last yard and TD (3) to fend off an upset hungry Kellenberg squad, 36-29.
As exceptional as Taylor has been in 2016, it is unlikely that the Titans would be in the proverbial driver’s seat if not for the incredible two-manned second wave made up of Corchado and fellow senior, Jared Williams…Equally effective at stepping in to relieve Taylor for a series or two, Corchado (who as noted above can also be utilized as a receiver) compiled 548 yards and eight touchdowns on 53 carries; Williams, who gains an average of eight yards every time the ball gets in his hands, was not far behind, piling up 456 yards and seven touchdowns on his 56 handoffs.
The visitors from West Islip counter with their own terrific trio, as Legagneur (second on the team in both rushing yards and ground scores with 728 and eight) is joined by featured back, Sean Cavanagh (1,284 yards, 15 TDs) and Daniel Parker (630 yards and 2 touchdowns) in comprising the yard-for-yard most dominant running attack in all of Catholic football…. Held to only 20 yards when SJB played HT in week #1, Cavanagh has not been below 100-yards since as he is riding an eight game streak of reaching the century mark. In six of these eight contests, he has also scored two or more touchdowns, so the modest beginning has more than awakened the beast within him….Parker, who we admittedly an apologetically overlooked in the quarterfinal preview, has not been as flashy as his two teammates, but when he gets his #4 called, he has responded in a big way, averaging 8.5/carry. Last weekend may have been a defining moment for the junior and heir apparent to the Cougar running tradition, as he went from having 373 yards through eight games to running for 257 yards in one weekend. If he brings this same fire to Hicksville today, then Ralph Carusillo’s team might be unstoppable.
Much like we did last weekend, when discussing the potency of the Baptist ground arsenal, we must take the time to cite the two foremen of the construction crew, Frank Guidice and Jacob Woods ….As Coach C. and every member of the program will point out, this is a team effort and It all starts with the hard work done in the trenches by the OL.
Similar to our assessment of the Single-A semifinal between Xaverian and Cardinal Spellman, we are anticipating a run-heavy strategy on both sidelines….However, in the case of Holy Trinity, this would be more by choice than necessity…Underrated because of how unbelievable his teammates have been running the ball, Ragno does not get to put the ball in the air as much as he would like, but when the occasion does present itself, he has displayed excellent skills, as confirmed by is seasonal 132.0 quarterback rating….Connecting on 49 of his 83 hurls, the 12th grader under center has accumulated 812 yards and has an immaculate 11 to 0 ratio in terms of TDs to INTs….While his opposing signal caller, Shaw, is capable, we feel that the experience that Ragno gained last year makes him the more polished jewel at the moment….What this means is that if either team is likely to pull out a win with a late passing score, it will be the regular season champion Titans….As far as who may be on the other end of that throw, Corchado (13 catches, 225 yards, 3 TDs) and TE, Matthew McCarthy (team leader with 15 grabs for 402 yards and 3 touchdowns) are the two prime targets.
Acknowledging that their offensive stars seem to naturally get more press than the stalwarts on “D”, we could not do either team justice without recognizing individuals like Parciak (87 tackles, 6 TFL), Jonathan Brown (71 tackles, 15 TFL, 7 sacks), Nick Austin (49 stops, 3 sacks), Brandon McLaren (30 tackles, 5 sacks), and Gabe Gelves (38 tackles, 3 sacks) from Holy Trinity; as well as their counterparts from John the Baptist—Guidice (one of the finest two-way linemen in NYS; 46 tackles, 11 TFL, and 5 sacks), Legagneur (46 stops, 9 TFL, 1 INT, 4 pass break-ups), and Raph Moses (48 tackles, 4 TFL, team leading 6 sacks) among the ones whose names will be heard a lot over the P.A system.
#3 Iona Prep (6-3) vs. #7 Xavier (3-5)
When: Saturday November 12th, 2016
Where: Wellington Mara Field on the Campus of Iona Prep
Time: 1pm
The last time they met:
-Iona Prep won 28-22 on October 22nd
-Gaels senior QB, Michael Apostololoulos connected on 17 of his 28 pass attempts for 194 yards and a 1 TD
-Running back, Rodney Samson Jr. was the leading scorer in the game, account for 12 of IP points with a pair of running TDs; he ended the game with 104 yards on 16 carries…He enters Saturday on a streak of four consecutive multi TD performances.
-Ki’shyne Shipmon, who is fresh off of a CHSFL POTW award following a 3 TD receiving game in the quarterfinal win over Fordham Prep, was the main target on 10/22/16 as well, logging eight catches for 64 yards.
-Johnryan Freeman was also were good out wide, making six snatches of his own to conclude the day with a team-high 98 yards and the program’s only receiving touchdown
-Junior RB/CB Malkelm Morrison was a standout on special teams, returning a kickoff 90 yards for a score.
-Knights’ senior tailback, Jalen Johnson, averaged just under 10 yards per carry (9.7), accumulating 145 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. He also had two successful two-point conversations to rack up 16 of the team’s 22 points…Johnson has run for 125 yards or more and multiple touchdowns in four straight games.
-Xavier QB, Joe Morelli, only threw one pass (incomplete), but made his presence felt the best way he could, using his legs to complement Johnson with a 81 yard, 1 TD game on 18 touches.
-Playing within a Chris Stevens’ defensive scheme that stresses negative yardage plays, senior DE, Malik Fisher, made three stops for losses…He finished the game with seven overall tackles
-Even though they were unable to come all the way back (trailed 21-6 at the half), the defending AA titlists won the second half, 16-7
Synopsis:
The second straight David vs. Goliath-esque match-up that the defending AA champion Knights find themselves playing in, if you to ask 100 pundits who they thought would be playing this weekend, probably only one (and he/she’d he lying) would have suggested anything aside from highly anticipated rematch between the Gaels and Christ the King….However, the chalk was not just tossed out the window, it was shot out of a canon, never to be seen again when the Stevens guided cohort shocked the New York Football world when they forced four turnovers and recorded their second highest point total of the season to upset the host Royals 28-27 to keep their pursuit of a repeat alive….If they hope to extend that hope to championship weekend, they are going to need to be every bit as good on both sides of the ball because in our estimation, Iona Prep (despite being the #3 seed) is the best team remaining in the Double playoff field.
An epic trial that pits the #2 rated offense in the league vs. the #2 defense, identical to what we wrote last week (and despite the fact that they demonstrated an ability to score when necessary), we feel that the key to keeping the Cinderella story going is for Xavier to do what Knight teams always do well and try to make this a ball-control, low scoring affair where the outcome is closer to 17-14 than it is to the 28-22 tally that occurred back in week #7….But alas, as the cliché goes, this is a goal that is easier said than done as Iona Prep has only been kept under 20 points once this season and are averaging 40.6 points per game…Even the best defensive personnel under the most ideal conditions would struggle to transform 40 into 14, but that is the cross that Xavier must bear….The good news is that they have already established a precedent for accomplishing this lofty objective when they held now two-time AAA finalist, Cardinal Hayes’s explosive offense to 18 points.
On the frontlines of the D-Unit will be Fisher (45 tackles, leader in TFL and sacks with 9.5 and 5), junior DT, Derek Orbe (43 tackles, 9 TFL), Rory Kinsella (70 stops, 7 tackles for a loss), Ifeanyi Emeh (
64 tackles; 5.5 TFL; seems to elevate his performance for big games, as his two tops performances came against IP and CTK, as he finished with 11 tackles in each), Billy Esposito (33 tackles, 6 TFL), and especially Johnson, who as the team’s #1 defensive back is going to need to concern himself with shutting down any of the three primary WR weapons that he is assigned…Johnson leads the Knights with 79 tackles , four of the school’s nine INTS, and five of their 14 successful pass defenses….Johnson is a reigning Catholic Player of the Week in large part because of the impact that his two interceptions had in helping XR to defy the odds and silence the doubters.
Lining up opposite them is an offensive brigade that no longer needs any introduction because their reputation always precedes them….A unit that can beat you down equally effective by both land and sky, it is no accident or coincidence that Joe Spagnolo’s boys five surpassed 40 points in five of nine games this season and have gone as high as 70 in 2016.
Apostolopoulos, who is ranked in the top-5 in NYS in just about every major passing category, will step onto the field on Saturday having thrown for 2,314 yards and 26 touchdowns while completing 63 percent of his attempts (166-for-264)…The fact that Xavier kept him to under 200 yards in the first meeting is a really good sign for Xavier since it only two other times in 2016.
One All-State player deserves another and for Apostolopoulos, he has found his football soulmate in the person of 11th grader, Michael Degasparis, who is ranked 2nd in the Evil Empire with 66 catches and is 4th in receiving yards with 971 yards…In the first meeting, the 6’2, 185-pounder posted a season low two grabs for only 22 yards…Look for this number to go WAY up now that a trip to ‘ship is at stake.
Now, when faced with having to play against what we consider to be one of the best pitch/catch duos in the northeast, the normal logic says that you need to offer safety help over the top to double Degasparis….This is not possible against Iona Prep, because as we saw in October, keeping him under control usually translates into more opportunities for Freeman and Shipmon, who are all too happy to be the ones to send you home with a frown if you do not give them the respect they have earned by offering proper coverage…The latter [Freeman] is himself a person who belongs in the conversation for All-State honors, as he leads the team in touchdown catches with nine, is second on the team with 718 yards, and is third in overall catches with 49….Shipmon’s 40, 564, and 8 do not do him justice; he plays much bigger than those impressive numbers suggest. He has scored multiple TDs in three games this season, highlighted by last week’s career-high three scores….Shipmon is also the second best running option for the Gaels, as he puts up 11 yards every time you hand the ball off to him. For the season, he has racked up 307 yards on only 28 carries.
Staying on the topic of the IP rushing attack, Samson Jr. is a very safe bet to reach the 1,000 yard plateau this weekend as he comes into semifinal weekend needing only 52 yards, which he can get on a single carry if he is able to get into space…Averaging 105 yards/game and a scorer of 15 rushing TDs in his senior season, just like Johnson for Xavier, Samson is in the midst of a hot streak, having recorded two touchdowns in four consecutive games to give him five multi-TD efforts overall.
While the offense seems to hog the headlines (which we take full blame), it should be pointed out that Iona Prep is currently riding an eight quarter scoreless streak, having shutout St. Francis in the regular season finale and then goose-egging a very strong FP pass attack last week in the quarterfinals…Many of the names cited above (Shipmon, Samson, etc) are significant contributors on defense too, so don’t be shocked if you see a couple of switch hitting (scoring from both sides of the field) performances.
As the last team to reach the end zone, Xavier should be expected to use the formula that has served them well, AKA a heavy dose of Johnson (711 yards, 13 TDs) and Morelli (536 yards, 3 TDs)….Because the passing game is not their strong suit, they need to avoid falling into a big hole the way they did a few weeks ago….Like the classic Big-10 football powerhouses of yesteryear, we want them to POUND, POUND, POUND away and dominate T.O.P.
Good luck to all teams this weekend!