2023 NYCHSFL POTW #7

Week #7 (October 20th-22nd, 2023)

Jon Bartolomei (Sr.); QB/DB – St. Dominic’s Bayhawks

Welcome back to the club, Bayhawks!!!  

Earning their first Player of the Week honor since week #7 of the 2017 season (per our records) following a 27-6 conquest over Cardinal Spellman on the afternoon of Saturday October 21st, St. Dom’s Head Coach, Gian Villante, could not have asked for a more comprehensive and utterly outstanding effort than the one he received out his two-way starting senior stud [Bartolomei]!!

Getting the job done on both sides of the ball to deliver the second victory of the fall to the Oyster Bay based program, the 5’7, 155-pound resident of Deer Park went from having accounted for just one touchdown in his previous four appearances (22-yard TD pass in a victory over Yonkers Force in week #0) to striking for THREE in a single afternoon, as he almost single-handedly defeated the visiting Pilots!!

The first of a pair of scores he registered during the opening 12 minutes coming on defense, Bartolomei would propel STD to a 7-0 lead when he scooped up a loose ball and returned it 28 yards to the house…

Later on in the 1st quarter, he’d continue to display his blazing speed; only this time, he did it when his team already had possession, as his 10-yard TD sprint to give his school a 14-0 edge was the highlight moment in what turned out to be a 125-yard effort on the ground for the 12th grader!!

The hat trick was completed in the 2nd quarter as Bartolomei connected with fellow senior, Danny Higgins, on a 38-year completion for their second touchdown exchange of the season!!

No stranger to putting up big numbers, Bartolomei combined for three goals in league and Catholic State title game wins last spring for the lacrosse squad!…However, there is just something that “hits different” when it comes to gridiron greatness!

D’Angelo Cabrera (Sr.); DB – Mt. St. Michael Academy Mountaineers

One repeat choice deserves another as on the heels of Currid’s second selection is coincidentally the same gentlemen that preceded him in order on the week #2 POTW list [Cabrera}!!

Heralded originally for exceptional play on defense (made a stop to create a turnover on downs inside his own red zone) in anchoring a 27-13 victory over Xavier in a rematch of the 2022 AA-2 title game on September 16th, this time around the block, it was his excellence and big-play potential on special teams that acted as the signature and/or game-defining sequence in spearheading the 20-14 “upset” win over a St. Peter’s cohort that many still regarded as AA-1 title threats!!

The Eagles and Mountaineers all squared at 14 apiece as the clock dipped below 1:00 remaining in the 4th quarter, it was Cabrera coming off the edge like he was shot out of a cannon to block a STP punt [recovered by teammate, Zaire Caldwell, on the opposing 5-yard line) to serve as a catalyst to the eventual game-winner (TD run punched in by Carl Shaw) with just :13 showing on the clock!!…

Not lost in the craziness of the conclusion is the fact that it was Cabrera’s QB bag one snap prior to the punt stuff that induced the attempted kick away!!!!

The distinguishable principle for a collective ensemble that was suffocating in all areas on “D”, Cabrera came one stop short of tying his career-high, as he racked up a team-best 7 tackles (6 solo) for a unit that limited a STP ground arsenal to a mere 105 yards (148 less than their seasonal average of 253.2) rushing and kept them out of the end zone for the first time all fall!!

The leading tackler (either tied or outright) on four separate occasions thus far for MSMA this year, it comes as no surprise that heading into the final week of the regular season, Cabrera is well situated atop the totem pole with 30 total stops 

A testament to how good Cabrera and his colleagues have been from start to finish, it needs to be recognized that “The Mount”, who will carry a six-game winning streak into the finale against St. Joseph’s by the Sea on the 27th, presently are sporting the #1 overall defense in the entire NYCHSFL (allowing just 10.1/per)!!!

Will Currid (Sr.); QB – Archbishop Stepinac Crusaders

We’ve reached that point on the calendar where the crème de la crème begins to make their second (and in some cases third) appearances on the POTW scrolls!!  

Now a four-time Player of the Week selection (recently in week #2) over the course of his four-year varsity career as a field general for the Crusaders, Currid continued to add to the immortal legacy he has built at Stepinac by turning in yet another exemplary display in the program’s 42-21 victory at home over the Flyers of Chaminade last Saturday!!!

October 21st serving as a milestone day that commemorated/recognized not just his stellar abilities during a single outing, but equally captured the essence of the totality of his decorated tenure taking the snaps in White Plains, Currid became the sole proprietor of two school records when he connected on 20-of-25 pass attempts for 310 yards and 4 touchdowns….

In doing so, he raised his season stat line to 2,167 yards/21 TD tosses (152-of-223) while skyrocketing his lifetime accumulation to 6,672 yards & 61 touchdown hurls on 480-of-727 (66%)!!!

Playing only three quarters with the victory well in hand by end of 36 minutes, he did the full extent of his damage in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, as he fired TD passes of 31 (immediately after a STEP interception on defense) and 22 yards to fellow 12th graders—Jahi Gary (3 grabs, 96 yards, 2 TD hauls) and Bryceson Wise (4 receptions for 86 yards) to send AS into the break enjoying a 28-7 lead!!

There was no cooling off #8 after halftime either, as he’d strike for TD #3 of the afternoon on the first drive of 3Q, hitting Troy Worrell (7 catches for 97 yards) over the middle on a 34-yard slant to up the cushion to 35-7 with 9:22 to go in the third stanza!!

He went back to Gary on a 37-yard over-the-shoulder pitch-and-catch a little over four minutes later to close out the scoring for the Crusaders!!

By virtue of the win to improve their 2023 record to improve to 5-1 in league contests (6-2 overall), Stepinac has leaped into the #1 spot in the power rankings and will have the opportunity to lock up the top seed if they can knock off defending NYCHSFL and CHSAA State champs, St. Anthony’s, in the regular season finale!

Jayden Melendez (So.); WR/DB – Moore Catholic Mavericks 

The intention may have been for last Saturday to be “Senior Day” for the 2024 Mavericks…But in reality, the afternoon belonged to the dynamic 5‘10, 175-pound sophomore [Melendez] during Moore Catholic’s 36-0 shutout victory over St. Joe’s by the Sea!!  

Always just a matter of time before he broke out and had himself a banner day, potential met follow-through on October 21st as after weeks of serving as a second or third option in the aerial attack, it was #6’s turn to “grab that baton” and lead the parade for the “Merrill Avenue Mafia”!!!

The primary reason and/or partner in facilitating freshman QB, Thomas Zeh’s first career 300-yard outing (19-of-24 for 303, 2 TDs), Melendez was on the receiving end of seven exchanges for a total of 126 yards!!….

Both tallies representing new single-game personal bests (previous highs being 5 for 43 in a week #0 loss to Trinity of Pennsylvania), Melendez has now registered multi-grab games in 50% of his appearances in 2023, as he also banked a four-snatch game against Xavier (September 30th) and a 2-catch effort versus Monsignor Farrell (September 22nd)!

Nearly a 1/3 of his 2023 production occurring in week #7, his 22 total catches puts him just two behind Boakai Veikai (4 for 89, 2 TDs last week) for second on the team, and only five back of Matthias Lighten (5 grabs for 60) for the top spot on roster!…Hence, an encore performance this coming weekend could springboard him to the top of the leaderboard!!!

Not the least bit one-dimensional in how he can be incorporated/employed, as a complement to his day with his hands, Melendez also gained 8 yards on his lone run attempt and was active on special teams, accruing three tackles to show that he is not shy about mixing it up and laying some smack down!

Winners of four in a row (five of their past six) and having likely already clinched the #1 seed in the AA-1 playoffs, MC will embrace an especially tough test to cap off the regular season portion of the fall when they collide with Iona Prep on the Wagner College campus under the Friday Night lights on the 27th!!

Regarded by pundits as one of the premier in-state wideouts among the Empire class of 2026, a strong effort against the vaunted/touted Gael secondary will provide a boost to Melendez’s established profile/reputation! 

Liam Travis (Sr.); ILB – Xavier Knights

A young man whose growth on the field is the perfect representation/illustration of how the season has gone for the 2022 AA-2 champions in their first season playing up a classification…

Enduring a period of adjustment as he transitioned into a more prominent role as a member of the starting linebacking corps, that initial adversity has been replacement twofold by a pillar of confidence who is now more certain of his responsibilities and thus has developed into an irreplaceable core component of a defense that is peaking at precisely the proper moment!!

Seizing the spoils in for the last three weeks, a “D” that had surrendered 26 or more points in four of their first give outings has suddenly morphed into a great wall that pitched a shutout in week #6 versus Cardinal Spellman and used that mojo/swagger most recently to hold Kennedy Catholic to just 131 yards of total yardage in a 34-7 triumph on the 20th!!

Doing his part and then some in the midst of this rebirth/resurgence, the 5’11, 190-pound ILB out of Staten Island recorded no fewer than four stops in any one of the games during the ongoing streak to increase his fall total to 39 tackles (3rd most on the roster)!

The improvements on run-stuffing being the most noticeable sign of the squad’s gelling, Xavier only allowed 2 yards on land to the host Gaels to bring their total to a modest 98 surrendered during the last 11.5 quarters of play!!

Furthermore, Coach Stevens was quick to laud the #4 jersey for his emergence as an asset in pass coverage, pointing at a particular sequence where Travis wisely identified/read the intended target and made necessary adjustments to be in position to earn a pass break-up!…This single feat on a micro level may seem insignificant, but on the much grander/macro scope, it epitomized a collective execution that yielded a 7-for-21 (2 INT) struggle in the air on the opposing sideline!!

Presently staring a top-4 seed in the playoffs in the face, the Knights could make a heck of an argument to be bumped to #2 if they were to slay expected second-seed, St. John the Baptist, on the road as an ultimate regular season climax!