By Matt Diano:
Seth Surrett (Sr.); RB/QB/FS – Kennedy Catholic Gaels
And then there was one!!!! Following a 21-7 victory last Saturday over defending “A” champion, Cardinal Spellman, the Gaels of Kennedy Catholic are now the last remaining unblemished team in their division.
Led by their 5’10, 180-pound “Jack of All Trades” [Surrett] as he was described by Head Coach, Dom Tassone, the Gaels would break a 7-7 deadlock at the half by exploding for a pair of 4th quarter touchdowns en route to posting their first ever NYCHSFL victory over the rival Pilots….The 21 scored by the Somers based program were the first points surrendered this season by Spellman against a Catholic school opponent.
The first POTW repeat selection of 2018, it was just three weeks ago that the Newburgh resident made his debut on this list following a 185-yard rushing, four TD affair in a victory over St. Dominic’s….
He would continue to pad his touchdown total during week #4, as he made the journey to the promised land twice on September 29th, including punching in what would prove to be the game-winner early in the final quarter…The eventual clinching score would not be Surrett’s only contribution during this game-defining drive. Earlier in the series, with the offense “stalled” as it was expressed by Tassone, Surrett would maximize his lone pass attempt of the game, connecting with senior tight end, Eric Volpi, on a 20-yard hook-up for a huge 3rd down conversion to keep the Gaels in control of the pigskin.
Gaining 90 yards on his 12 carries (team-best 7.5 average) to increase his season total to 350 (33 touches), Surrett’s first TD of the contest gave Kennedy Catholic the 7-0 lead when he took it in from 1-yard out.
Playing a role in all three of the KC TDs, a one-handed grab by Surrett (one of two catches he made for 22 yards) during a later series would be a catalyst for teammate, Myles Proctor’s (reigning Player of the Week), short yardage insurance touchdown with 4:20 remaining on the clock.
Never one to feel as if his day has been a true success until he makes his presence known on both sides of the gridiron, Surrett would anchor a secondary that held Spellman quarterback, Aidan Hanley-Piri to a sub-.500 completion percentage (6-for-13) and just 100 yards in the air…He would be credited with three solo tackles and log a pass defense to round out his stellar two-way performance.
Masauri Miller (Sr.); RB/LB – Moore Catholic Mavericks
An established gem at the heart of the Maverick linebacking corps the past three seasons, Miller has never been a stranger when it comes to turning heads as on the defensive side of the ball…The Defensive MVP of the 2016 Single-A title game, as well as an All-State player as a sophomore, it no longer comes as a surprise to see him racking up double digit stops week after week. Rather, hearing his #15 jersey number called regularly by the public address announcer has become more rule than exception.
This past Saturday night, the 5’9, 185-pounder further added to his legacy as one of the most feared stoppers in all of the Evil Empire, recording 15 tackles (10 solo; 1 TFL) as part of a collective effort by the MC defense that yielded a modest 146 yards of total offense in a 38-14 triumph over Xavier….With this victory, the still unblemished Mavs (4-0), have doubled their win total from all of 2017 and remain among front-runners to win the “AA West”.
Miller’s 15 tackles under the lights this past Saturday made it two weekends in a row that he set personal best on the Double-A level. During week #3, he tallied 13 tackles…Respectively, these back-to-back standout showings are conjuring up memories of the aforementioned 2016 campaign that saw him post games of 23, 20, and 17 stops while competing in the “A” division…At present, his overall total of 45 tackles and his per game average of 11.3 rank in the top-10 of both categories among all NYCHSFL student-athletes regardless of division.
Speaking of a blast from the past, weeks 3 and 4 have also witnessed a resurgence of sorts for him as a valuable #2 option out of the offensive backfield for Coach Nick Giannatasio and his staff…Rushing for a total of only 77 yards as a junior last year, Miller surpassed that with an 80-yard (on 5 carries)/1TD display two weeks ago against St. Francis Prep. This past Saturday, his output continued on a northbound trajectory, as he rushed for 101 yards on six carries, highlighted by a 52-yard TD trek. This was just the third 100+ yard game of his career and the first time cracking the 100-yard barrier since October 14th, 2016 (career-high 126 yards versus Xaverian).
So spectacular was Miller’s full body of work during the fourth week of the regular season that he not only caught our attention, he also put himself on the national radar. He was recently nominated by the New York Giants and USA Football for the “Heart of a Giant” Award, which recognizes players from the Tri-State area who “demonstrate unparalleled work ethic on and off the field” as an indicator of a deep passion for the sport.
Shane Greene (Jr.); RB/LB – Xaverian Clippers
Like every homecoming weekend on the campus of any school across the nation, this past Friday night in Brooklyn was about honoring and welcoming back the generations of alumni that once proudly walked the hallways at Xaverian. Nostalgia consumed the fall air and even before a single point was earned, there were already celebrations and ear-to-ear smiles as friends reunited. For most, it was an evening of reminiscing about yesteryear…But for one 5’11, 190-pounder 11th grader, the past ceased to exist and all that mattered was giving those in the crowd a preview and/or foreshadowing of what the present and the future will look like on Flatbush Avenue during the next year and a half.
A gentleman who has been forced to learn the hard way whether or not patience is indeed a virtue, what transpired in the Clippers’ 44-28 victory over Mount St. Michael Academy during week #4 was a moment that Shane Greene has waited a year to see come to fruition…Missing the entire 2017 season after transferring into Xaverian and then sustaining an injury that kept him on the shelf, the hometown kid finally got his opportunity to be a star, and no one would upstage or shine brighter than he.
Gradually shaking off the rust and getting back to top form during the first three weeks of the Catholic football season, Greene stepped onto the field on Friday night having run 14 times for 44 yards and one touchdown….And while others would ohhh and awe about the beauties/studs of the “court”, he would be busy staging a coronation of his own, as the King of the land attack.
Acting as the proverbial workhorse, Greene would take 36 of the team’s 59 hand-offs, rush for 155 of Xaverian’s 234 yards, and score both of their touchdowns on the ground…And, in case that was not enough to impress the home crowd, he would add a third overall touchdown on a 24-yard reception (only his second catch of 2018).
Remarkably, these 18 points would only tell half the story. Because, as the old saying (actually I just made it up) goes, “why score six when you can score eight.” And on four separate occasions, that is precisely what he did, successfully converting 2pt conversions to boost his total point output to 26.
Ok, so surely contributing nearly 60 percent of the points was enough to make him call it a night?…Well, first off, he was not done yet; and second, don’t call him Shirley….Instead of resting on his offensive laurels, Greene would go right back to work on the defense side of the ball, making six tackles (2nd most on the team) from his outside linebacker position.
As a follow-up to his monster demonstration during week #4, look for Greene to have another solid performance on October 5th when Xaverian squares off with a St. Joe’s by the Sea squad that has struggled to defend the run thus far (have allowed over 1,000 yards in four games).
Ryan Razzano (Sr.); QB – Holy Trinity Titans
Remaining on the topic of fresh faces in the NYCHSFL that used the fourth week of the regular season to send out their calling card, like Greene, the senior transfer from McGann-Mercy could not have picked a more perfect time to put forth his finest effort of 2018…Trailing 20-6 at the end of the 1st quarter and 26-18 at intermission, it would be the individual labor of the 5’10, 180-pounder from Manorville during the final 24 minutes of competition that enabled the Green & White to claw their way back to the 40-38 win over Holy Cross last Saturday afternoon.
A consistent presence in the rushing attack during his first three games under center for the Titans, Razzano came in averaging just under 60 yards and 1 TD rushing per game. Hence, the possibility of him exploding for a massive afternoon was never out of the question. However, to say that we could have predicted the magnitude to which he would erupt would be a case of 20/20 hindsight.
Calling his own number a season-high 23 times in the win over the visiting Knights, Razzano cracked the 100-yard plateau for the first time as a Titan, accumulating 113 yards and scoring a quartet of touchdowns in delivering HT’s third straight victory of the season (3-1).
Perhaps even more impressive than the stat line itself was the timing of his biggest moments. Recording three of his four touchdowns in the second half, of the 22 points tallied by Holy Trinity after halftime, 18 of them came courtesy of #2.
Complementing his 25-yard, 1st quarter TD run that got the Titans on the board (to make the score 7-6 in favor of Holy Cross), Razzano added journeys of 39 (26-24 HC) and 4 (32-30 HC) yards respectively in the third quarter to put his school in a situation where the comeback hopes remained alive and well…..Following a late 3rd quarter, 32-yard FG by Timothy Kiggins that gave the Titans their first lead of the day, the 12th grade field general would provide some cushion down the stretch when he punched his 4th TD in from the 1-yard line to make the score 40-32.
With his four rushing touchdowns during week #4, Razzano has now tied reigning POTW selection, CJ Riccobono (who himself scored twice), for the team lead with seven TDs on the ground.
Overshadowed by the strength of his running success was the fact that Razzano also enjoyed his best day as a passer last weekend, as he posted season-highs in completions (6 of 8) and aerial yardage (68).
To put one final cherry on top, Razzano was called upon to play key minutes in the defensive backfield and was credited with 1 tackle.
Vincent Wagner (Sr.); RB – Monsignor Farrell Lions
“The journey is never ending. There’s always going be growth, improvement, adversity; you just got to take it all in and do what’s right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.”—Antonio Brown
Never was there a more fitting quote to summarize the senior season of the 6’1, 220-pounder out of Staten Island…Still hampered by an ankle injury (adversity) suffered at the onsets of the 2018 season, when you look at what Wagner has been able to accomplish at less than 100%, it spells doom for the rest of the AAA division.
Making his return to the POTW list for the first time since the opening weekend of the 2017 season, the Honorable Mention All-State selection from a year ago was nothing short of superb in a 26-24 come-from-behind victory over Cardinal Hayes last Friday that raised the Lions record to 4-0.
A fierce runner who never balks when asked to assume a heavy workload and does not dance when he can bulldoze, the fact that Wagner posted his fourth career 200-yard game (26 carries for 201 yards) of his career and has now surpassed the century mark in eight of his last nine appearances (exception being week #2 when the injury limited him to just one carry) Is hardly news anymore. He is such an undeniable force when serving as a ball carrier than no matter what he does, the extraordinary begins to look commonplace…
So, rather than hark on the part of his game that he has already shown to be exceptional, we choose instead to stay true to Mr. Brown’s words and focus on the level of growth/improvement we witnessed in Wagner as a pass receiver during week #4.
A year removed from catching just nine balls for 89 yards and one touchdown as a junior, Wagner would demonstrate that next component required of any full-service tailback last weekend, tying his career-best of three grabs and setting new career-highs for receiving yards and touchdowns with 56 and two respectively in propelling the Lions to their biggest “w” thus far in 2018.
Coming out of the tunnel on fire, Wagner would give the Lions the initial 7-0 lead four minutes into the game when he broke off for three big runs and then completed the drive by catching a 5-yard TD pass from Mike Regan….But, it would be his second touchdown snatch of the night that proved even more pivotal.
Seeing his team trailing 24-13 at the time late in the third quarter (approximately 4:30 remaining), Wagner provided that much needed spark and/or adrenaline boost when he took a simple screen pass 47 yards to the house to bring Farrell within striking distance, 24-19….Farrell would later go on to block a punt and return it for a TD in the last five minutes of the 4th quarter to steal the “w“.
Wagner (564 yards rushing this season) will look to make it three straight 200-yard running outings (also had 211 yards during week #3 against Chaminade) when Farrell plays host to Iona Prep in a war of the immaculate (combined record of 7-0) on October 6th.