Saturday was a monumental day in the history of St. Joe's. They have had a lot of tradition over the years but 50 years had also come and passed with one element missing and that was a football team.
Football amongst all American sports may be the one with the biggest cultural impact. Personally, it has surpassed baseball as the biggest American past time. Many other countries play baseball as seen in the Little League World Series, the World Baseball Classic, the Olympics and more, but football has remained a tradition undoubtedly permeated into American blood and theirs alone. Football is a very interesting sport if you are trying to correlate it to Americana. It has elements that define America and others that doesn't. Things such as teamwork, hard work, determination, competitiveness and desire to be the best are things that define football as well as the characteristics that define people living in America. A crucial area that I find football to be greatly contradictory towards Americana is while it is a very competitive sport, football probably more than any other sport relies on teamwork. There are very, very few football teams who have won Super Bowls on the back of one or two players. I don't believe it is like that in other sports. Kobe was by far the best player on the Lakers last year and they won a championship. It usually only takes two good players in the NBA to win a title. Football, it takes the entire team. In the American workplace, from the time we're born pretty much, we're trained to be cutthroat and to be selfish and do things for your own self-interest. It is not like that in football. You cannot put your own self-interest over the teams. If you do, you are doomed to fail.
Football has an ability to connect and unite a community that other sports do not. In the movie Rudy, many people of the Notre Dame community started chanting his name because they knew about his story and all that he had done to get to where he was at Notre Dame. In the book, Friday Night Lights, a team in rural Texas, named the Permian Panthers out of Odessa has their 1988 season chronicled and that book talks about the significance of High School football in their small town. High school football has by far the most players of the 4 major American sports and I think that increases its popularity significantly. I think it is so popular because it has the ability to unite small and large communities. High school football is a very social event as it is a time for parents to meet and talk about different things with other parents as well as root their kids on in a field of play. There is a bunch of other things going on as well--selling school/team merchandise, the cheerleaders/marching band, fundraisers and more that all help the school as well as the town. If one wants to interpret football on a deeper level, one could also see high school football as a game in which boys are coming of age. Parents are seeing their boys become men in the blink of an eye by playing a violent game such as football. Besides something like war, it is one of the most masculine things out there one could possibly participate in, so I think this element of parents watching their kids grow up by playing a game like football is also particularly why the game has had such a big impact in America.
St. Joe's first home game in their history was against Cushing Academy of Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Cushing is a town located in Central Massachusetts in Worcester County, near the Vermont border and have an enrollment of 445 students. They went 3-4 last year and 4-3 the year before and were clearly a step up in competition from St. Joe's previous 2 opponents. Looking at their roster, they had tons of players from outside Massachusetts and they looked to be a pretty good football team. It's also important to mention that Cushing had 12 fifth-year seniors. They will likely be the toughest team St. Joe's play like Athletic Director Jerry Smith said in week 1. St. Joe's remaining 5 games are at Blair Prep, home against Moore Catholic, at Cedar Creek, home against Morristown-Beard and Montclair Kimberley.
It started out to be a game of field position as St. Joe's and Cushing Academy started the game exchanging punts but Cushing in the 2nd quarter wound up taking control of this game. St. Joe's lost this game because they could not hold onto the ball when two of their drives started at the Cushing 9 and 25 or so. St. Joe's was outgained 158-21 in the first half and wound up quickly falling behind 20-0.
Now St. Joe's could have easily packed it in after falling behind so much, but they hung in there keeping the game within 3 touchdowns. Within a few minute span in the 4th quarter, St. Joe's had found themselves down 6 after Albert Myers 55 yard touchdown reception and Matt Greene's 29-yard fumble return for a touchdown. This livened up the crowd and for a moment, it looked like a realistic possibility that St. Joe's might be able to come back and win this game.
Those hopes were quickly put out though when Cushing scored 2 touchdowns in the next 3 minutes to go onto a 34-21 victory. In Greg Tufaro of the Home News Tribune's article, Cushing Academy coach Wayne Clarke said "Their kids worked hard, they were very well-coached and very well-disciplined. They've got a bright future ahead of them. I was very impressed with the team, but the atmosphere was the best part for me. You know, this is high school football. You've got the school backing you, and all these people out here supporting the kids. They did a terrific job today."
The environment was awesome. It was something I would have loved to have played in if they had football when I was a student at St. Joe's. They played the game with the backdrop being a bunch of old evergreen trees and an older group of train tracks. My big complaint would be there was nowhere near enough bleachers to hold everyone, granted since it was the first game, they might have had a lot more people than usual. More than 1,000 people attended the game which was a number bigger than I expected. I felt the atmosphere was kind of like a fairgrounds area--where people were socializing with each other, hamburgers and hotdogs being grilled and the smell of that filling the field and more. I think the backdrop of the game only further helped that comparison. A lot of people seemed to be anticipating this game and I think St. Joe's did a great job of celebrating the event with their cocktail reception and mass after the game, bringing Brother Robert on beforehand to do the cointoss, doing a game program and selling merchandise already, etc. It was a cool environment and like I said, all of this is why high school football is the premier spectator sport amongst all high school sports. School president Larry Walsh said in Greg Tufaro's article, "More than just a football game, it's a celebration. It brings people together, the whole school community."
Cushing's kicker looked great and was clearly division 1 quality. His kicking negated many potential returns and that helped limit the damage St. Joe's could potentially do with Myers and Jimerson being neutralized in that particular area. As seen in games this year, they have been a dangerous duo so by not being able to return kicks because of Dom Kozlowski's strong leg, that really hurt them. Seven of the Falcons last eight possessions started at the 20-yard line because of touchbacks. Jimerson made the final look a little more respectable when he had an 88-yard run with 11 seconds to go in regulation. Cushing also did a great job of stopping St. Joe's running game which played pretty well in the first couple weeks. The Falcons turnovers were a major disservice to the game and wound up costing them here. Had they been able to put in the touchdowns which they started on the 9 and 25 yard lines of Cushing, this could have been a different game.
As it stands, the Falcons are now 2-1 and have outscored their opponents so far 88-56. Their next game should be a fun one as it is their lone night game this year up in Northwestern New Jersey off of Route 80 at Blair Prep. This will be another one of St. Joe's bigger tests so it will be interesting to see if they can bounce back after a loss. The middle stretch of the schedule is the toughest, so if they can get past the first couple weeks of October unscathed, maybe, just maybe, the Falcons can end up with a 7-1 record. We'll see what happens next week.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
St. Joe's-Marlboro Recap/Thoughts
How abruptly summer ended. Just a week ago in Sparta, it still felt like July weather. Sunny, 80 degree weather and no breeze. Today was a different story, however, gone was the warmth of the summer heat and replaced with a crisp fall breeze. Walking towards the field I thought, "Now this is football weather"; weather in the 50's, wind blowing with overcast skies. Now while most people would commonly agree with me that this weather is more like football weather, I'm sure St. Joe's given their inexperience would have much more appreciated last weekend's weather. The weather and rain would be an added test for St. Joe's as they traveled to Marlboro High School to take on the Group IV Mustangs. Marlboro though they have struggled in recent years still is a Group IV school. They won 4 games last year, 0 games the year before and 1 game 3 years ago. Many of their losses were lopsided along the way but have slowly gotten back to respectability. The Home News Tribune picked St. Joe's in a 2 point game and the Star Ledger picked Marlboro in a 2 point game so people expected this to be a very close game coming in.
St. Joe's early on had trouble holding onto the ball resulting in a fumble which allowed Marlboro to start their first drive on the St. Joe's 42 yard line. They soon punted it and St. Joe's did as well. Early on, it looked like this was going to be a low scoring battle and field position was going to be key in deciding the victor. Marlboro then went on a long drive spanning two quarters before coming up empty on the 4th down. After another St. Joe's punt, Josh Hudson ran into the Marlboro return man at the St. Joe's 49 yard line after calling a fair catch. This was an egregious penalty and while it did not cost the Falcons on this drive, it could potentially in another game. This moved them to the 34 yard line but they were stopped on a 4th and 1. St. Joe's got the ball back but on their third play of the drive, perhaps their biggest display of inexperience so far in their first two games was when there was miscommunication between the quarterback and running back and they ran into each other which resulted in a fumble after if ricocheted off a couple other players. Marlboro recovered and had great field position once again and this time, they took advantage. Jason Kaplin wound up running it into the endzone to give Marlboro the 6-0 lead just before halftime. They would convert on the 2 point conversion to make it 8-0. An encouraging sign was when St. Joe's quarterback Ryan Campbell connected on a couple passes to get St. Joe's in field goal range near halftime. Keep in mind, they did not throw one pass last week against Sussex County Vo-Tech so it was good to see the team starting to air it out a little bit and have some success in doing so. St. Joe's kicker Bryan Rafano can be described as a secret weapon. For a first year varsity program, he is a very good kicker. One of the coaches told me he is division I good. Although the kick hit the left upright before halftime, many parents at Marlboro expressed in awe the ease in which he attemepted his 40 yard field goal right before halftime. Marlboro, however, led 8-0.
It was going to be interesting to see how St. Joe's responded after halftime to their first deficit of the season. They were in a tough spot now because if they're tied or ahead, they're obviously going to be a predominantly running offense. However, once they fall behind, they are going to have to rely considerably on their passing game to make a difference. After they punted on their first drive of the half, St. Joe's multisport athlete in football and basketball, Al Myers took a punt back to the house for a touchdown which got St. Joe's rejuvenated. Matt Greene wound up running it in on the 2 point conversion to tie it up. After another punt, St. Joe's got it back and after a 12 play, 64 yard drive, Matt Greene helped out the team again by scoring a 1 yard touchdown to put the Falcons up for good.
Matt Olivo would make the lead 22-8 after a 40-yard touchdown scamper. A very questionable moment in terms of playcalling for me, came soon after. After Marlboro went 3 and out again, they decided to fake punt on a 4th and long in their own territory. It's still the 3rd quarter, it's a less than two touchdown game. St. Joe's had struggled to some extent on offense and it was not like the Falcons were a shoe-in to score. This had given St. Joe's great field position once again and Rafano would easily make a kick to extend the lead. Not only would St. Joe's extend the lead, but all of a sudden, Marlboro was looking at the scoreboard down 3 scores.
In the waning moments of the game, 5:48 remaining on the clock in a lopsided game at the moment, every parent's worst nightmare happened when #57 on Marlboro, Mike Colley, a 6-2 senior, was badly injured on a play. He was lying motionless on the ground for probably over 25 minutes or so. When stuff like this happens, it is always a sobering moment because as with anything when tragedies or bad things happen, you seldom think about actions or what can potentially happen before it actually does. He had hurt his neck. But although he was motionless, I don't think it was as it looked or when he was on the ground, because soon after the athletic trainer was talking to people with a smile on his face as one of the parents near me had noted so while it was a bad injury, Colley should be able to make a recovery so that's good.
After a long delay, Marlboro, I think took the Falcons off guard when they got a long reception. That set up Tommy Vetrano for a 1-yard touchdown. Jordan Jimerson soon added to his touchdown tally for the season with a long 51-yard touchdown play which finished the scoring for the day. St. Joe's won 32-16.
There's a couple things I would take out of this game. It was very encouraging to see St. Joe's come back after falling behind. Not only did they do so, but they exploded on offense, scoring three touchdowns in the third quarter. Ryan Campbell completed 66.6% of his passes finishing 6 for 9, with 52 yards. So he had proven to be effective to some extent and they made more playcalls for his use this week than last week. Although Marlboro has struggled, St. Joe's proved they could compete with a Group IV school and for the second game in a row, hardly resembled a first year varsity team. Some of the Marlboro parents were even saying St. Joe's does not look like it was only their second game...so the Falcons must be making progress.
A quick note to finish, the first power points of the season came out and here are the seedings through the first 2 weeks. The top 8 make it.
1) Don Bosco Prep 2-0 32
2) Bergen Catholic 1-1 18
3) Notre Dame 2-0 18
4) St. Joe's (Metuchen) 2-0 17
5) Seton Hall Prep 1-1 14
6) Paramus Catholic 1-0 12
7) Paul VI 1-1 10
8) St. Augustine 1-1 10
9) St. Peter's Prep 0-2 2
St. Joe's early on had trouble holding onto the ball resulting in a fumble which allowed Marlboro to start their first drive on the St. Joe's 42 yard line. They soon punted it and St. Joe's did as well. Early on, it looked like this was going to be a low scoring battle and field position was going to be key in deciding the victor. Marlboro then went on a long drive spanning two quarters before coming up empty on the 4th down. After another St. Joe's punt, Josh Hudson ran into the Marlboro return man at the St. Joe's 49 yard line after calling a fair catch. This was an egregious penalty and while it did not cost the Falcons on this drive, it could potentially in another game. This moved them to the 34 yard line but they were stopped on a 4th and 1. St. Joe's got the ball back but on their third play of the drive, perhaps their biggest display of inexperience so far in their first two games was when there was miscommunication between the quarterback and running back and they ran into each other which resulted in a fumble after if ricocheted off a couple other players. Marlboro recovered and had great field position once again and this time, they took advantage. Jason Kaplin wound up running it into the endzone to give Marlboro the 6-0 lead just before halftime. They would convert on the 2 point conversion to make it 8-0. An encouraging sign was when St. Joe's quarterback Ryan Campbell connected on a couple passes to get St. Joe's in field goal range near halftime. Keep in mind, they did not throw one pass last week against Sussex County Vo-Tech so it was good to see the team starting to air it out a little bit and have some success in doing so. St. Joe's kicker Bryan Rafano can be described as a secret weapon. For a first year varsity program, he is a very good kicker. One of the coaches told me he is division I good. Although the kick hit the left upright before halftime, many parents at Marlboro expressed in awe the ease in which he attemepted his 40 yard field goal right before halftime. Marlboro, however, led 8-0.
It was going to be interesting to see how St. Joe's responded after halftime to their first deficit of the season. They were in a tough spot now because if they're tied or ahead, they're obviously going to be a predominantly running offense. However, once they fall behind, they are going to have to rely considerably on their passing game to make a difference. After they punted on their first drive of the half, St. Joe's multisport athlete in football and basketball, Al Myers took a punt back to the house for a touchdown which got St. Joe's rejuvenated. Matt Greene wound up running it in on the 2 point conversion to tie it up. After another punt, St. Joe's got it back and after a 12 play, 64 yard drive, Matt Greene helped out the team again by scoring a 1 yard touchdown to put the Falcons up for good.
Matt Olivo would make the lead 22-8 after a 40-yard touchdown scamper. A very questionable moment in terms of playcalling for me, came soon after. After Marlboro went 3 and out again, they decided to fake punt on a 4th and long in their own territory. It's still the 3rd quarter, it's a less than two touchdown game. St. Joe's had struggled to some extent on offense and it was not like the Falcons were a shoe-in to score. This had given St. Joe's great field position once again and Rafano would easily make a kick to extend the lead. Not only would St. Joe's extend the lead, but all of a sudden, Marlboro was looking at the scoreboard down 3 scores.
In the waning moments of the game, 5:48 remaining on the clock in a lopsided game at the moment, every parent's worst nightmare happened when #57 on Marlboro, Mike Colley, a 6-2 senior, was badly injured on a play. He was lying motionless on the ground for probably over 25 minutes or so. When stuff like this happens, it is always a sobering moment because as with anything when tragedies or bad things happen, you seldom think about actions or what can potentially happen before it actually does. He had hurt his neck. But although he was motionless, I don't think it was as it looked or when he was on the ground, because soon after the athletic trainer was talking to people with a smile on his face as one of the parents near me had noted so while it was a bad injury, Colley should be able to make a recovery so that's good.
After a long delay, Marlboro, I think took the Falcons off guard when they got a long reception. That set up Tommy Vetrano for a 1-yard touchdown. Jordan Jimerson soon added to his touchdown tally for the season with a long 51-yard touchdown play which finished the scoring for the day. St. Joe's won 32-16.
There's a couple things I would take out of this game. It was very encouraging to see St. Joe's come back after falling behind. Not only did they do so, but they exploded on offense, scoring three touchdowns in the third quarter. Ryan Campbell completed 66.6% of his passes finishing 6 for 9, with 52 yards. So he had proven to be effective to some extent and they made more playcalls for his use this week than last week. Although Marlboro has struggled, St. Joe's proved they could compete with a Group IV school and for the second game in a row, hardly resembled a first year varsity team. Some of the Marlboro parents were even saying St. Joe's does not look like it was only their second game...so the Falcons must be making progress.
A quick note to finish, the first power points of the season came out and here are the seedings through the first 2 weeks. The top 8 make it.
1) Don Bosco Prep 2-0 32
2) Bergen Catholic 1-1 18
3) Notre Dame 2-0 18
4) St. Joe's (Metuchen) 2-0 17
5) Seton Hall Prep 1-1 14
6) Paramus Catholic 1-0 12
7) Paul VI 1-1 10
8) St. Augustine 1-1 10
9) St. Peter's Prep 0-2 2
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Sussex County Vo-Tech-St. Joe's Recap/Thoughts
History was made today when St. Joseph High School of Metuchen traveled up to Sparta to take on Sussex County Vo-Tech. After two years of play on lower levels, their varsity team finally took the field. Sussex County Vo-Tech had a football team about a decade ago, disbanded it and brought it back 3 seasons ago. They have been struggling to get off the ground as they have only one win (via forfeit) in the past 3 seasons. It was a new start for them too so whoever won this game would have encouraging signs to look at for the rest of the season.
From the first snap, it looked like it was going to be St. Joseph's game to lose. They played stellar defense outside of a couple long pass plays and one sustained drive which led to a Sussex County Vo-Tech score spanned across two quarters. I found St. Joseph's play to be very technical. In a way, you could kind of see that it was their inaugural varsity game. They ran 22 plays from scrimmage, all of which were rushes. They only had a total of 144 yards as well. They were in a bind during the game because they quickly built up a 35-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter. St. Joseph's projected starter at the beginning of the season, junior Chris Blades suffered a season-ending injury and their second string quarterback decided to concentrate on baseball. So this game would have been the perfect time to see what kind of skills junior quarterback Ryan Campbell had to offer, but again St. Joseph's was up 35-0 early in the 2nd quarter and you do not want to rub their nose in it. St. Joseph's rested their starters as well pretty much from the 2nd quarter on.
Offensively, I thought St. Joseph's has a lot of potential. Jordan Jimerson had a great game and scored the first touchdown in St. Joseph's history when he returned a punt for a touchdown 2:39 into the game. He ran for a 36 yard touchdown just over a minute later. It helped that 3 of the St. Joseph scoring drives started at the Sussex Tech 26, 45 and 22 yard lines and that boosted their scoring in a hurry. On defense, the teams they play will only get better but I thought this was a start. Outside of the scoring drive for Sussex Tech, I thought St. Joseph played pretty good defense. They got pressure on the quarterback, did a nice job stopping run plays, and played good defense on the receivers. There were a couple pass plays however, that a good team would make, that was incomplete for Sussex Tech, so they have to be careful on plays like that, but other than that, I thought this game was encouraging and there was some good things to come out of it.
After the game, I was talking with St. Joseph's Athletic Director Jerry Smith and he was pretty happy with the team's play. He mentioned the lack of starters for pretty much the final three quarters and thought if we could play like we did in the first quarter, we could have a great season. He told me, "Marlboro next week will be a lot better than this team, but the team 2 weeks from now is like the Jets. If we beat them, I think we go undefeated." I think undefeated is a lot to ask for but there's no reason St. Joseph cannot finish over .500. I think the unfamiliarity factor against Cushing Academy in Massachusetts will help them two weeks from now, not to mention it is St. Joe's first home game in history and they are doing a lot to celebrate the day. I think they will come ready to play. Marlboro lost this past weekend by more than three scores to J.P. Stevens of North Edison. J.P. Stevens did not win a game last year so that is encouraging to hear. Marlboro is a Group IV school, so that is a big step up from Group I and Sussex County Tech so it is a good early season challenge for St. Joe's and it will be interesting to see if they come as ready to play this coming Saturday as they did for their inaugural football game.
From the first snap, it looked like it was going to be St. Joseph's game to lose. They played stellar defense outside of a couple long pass plays and one sustained drive which led to a Sussex County Vo-Tech score spanned across two quarters. I found St. Joseph's play to be very technical. In a way, you could kind of see that it was their inaugural varsity game. They ran 22 plays from scrimmage, all of which were rushes. They only had a total of 144 yards as well. They were in a bind during the game because they quickly built up a 35-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter. St. Joseph's projected starter at the beginning of the season, junior Chris Blades suffered a season-ending injury and their second string quarterback decided to concentrate on baseball. So this game would have been the perfect time to see what kind of skills junior quarterback Ryan Campbell had to offer, but again St. Joseph's was up 35-0 early in the 2nd quarter and you do not want to rub their nose in it. St. Joseph's rested their starters as well pretty much from the 2nd quarter on.
Offensively, I thought St. Joseph's has a lot of potential. Jordan Jimerson had a great game and scored the first touchdown in St. Joseph's history when he returned a punt for a touchdown 2:39 into the game. He ran for a 36 yard touchdown just over a minute later. It helped that 3 of the St. Joseph scoring drives started at the Sussex Tech 26, 45 and 22 yard lines and that boosted their scoring in a hurry. On defense, the teams they play will only get better but I thought this was a start. Outside of the scoring drive for Sussex Tech, I thought St. Joseph played pretty good defense. They got pressure on the quarterback, did a nice job stopping run plays, and played good defense on the receivers. There were a couple pass plays however, that a good team would make, that was incomplete for Sussex Tech, so they have to be careful on plays like that, but other than that, I thought this game was encouraging and there was some good things to come out of it.
After the game, I was talking with St. Joseph's Athletic Director Jerry Smith and he was pretty happy with the team's play. He mentioned the lack of starters for pretty much the final three quarters and thought if we could play like we did in the first quarter, we could have a great season. He told me, "Marlboro next week will be a lot better than this team, but the team 2 weeks from now is like the Jets. If we beat them, I think we go undefeated." I think undefeated is a lot to ask for but there's no reason St. Joseph cannot finish over .500. I think the unfamiliarity factor against Cushing Academy in Massachusetts will help them two weeks from now, not to mention it is St. Joe's first home game in history and they are doing a lot to celebrate the day. I think they will come ready to play. Marlboro lost this past weekend by more than three scores to J.P. Stevens of North Edison. J.P. Stevens did not win a game last year so that is encouraging to hear. Marlboro is a Group IV school, so that is a big step up from Group I and Sussex County Tech so it is a good early season challenge for St. Joe's and it will be interesting to see if they come as ready to play this coming Saturday as they did for their inaugural football game.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Preseason Prediction/Updated Schedule
With the season a mere 4 days away, I figured it is now time to give my preseason prediction on how St. Joe's does in its inaugural season as well as post their finalized updated schedule.
They added a preseason scrimmage game against Burlington City/South Hunterdon on August 27th and that was the game I caught. Although the game was against two of the weaker Group I schools in New Jersey, I thought St. Joe's defense played fairly well only giving up one long pass play and a couple big runs up the middle in about 40 minutes or so. They also did a good job of stopping counter/reverse runs. I found it interesting that when some parents asked other parents who were the teams playing, many parents said very matter-of-factly St. Joe's of Metuchen, as if we had been a long-established team. Granted, this game was on the other side of the state almost an hour away but I found it odd that parents did not mention that it was our first year of Varsity football. Frankly, with this team I don't know if you can tell the difference. They look like a team that has been around for at least a couple years and it will be interesting to see if it can translate over in their play.
Here is their finalized schedule with my bolded prediction for this season.
9/10 1PM @ Sussex County Vo-Tech W
9/17 1PM @ Marlboro W
9/24 1PM Cushing Academy L
10/1 7PM @ Blair L
10/8 1PM Moore Catholic L
10/15 1PM @ Cedar Creek W
10/23 1PM Morristown-Beard W
10/29 1PM Montclair-Kimberley W
Predicted Record 5-3
I think 5-3 is a definitive possibility. As I alluded to in one of my other blog entries because St. Joe's is a first year program, the schedule is not bad at all and I think that should help St. Joe's get to a .500 or better record. They start off this weekend playing one of the worst teams in the state in Sussex County Vo-Tech. The result of this game could help gauge their progress so far. I think St. Joe's ultimately wins by a couple touchdowns here. The following week comes St. Joe's first big test in Marlboro. If they win here, I think people involved in New Jersey High School Football will believe we are ahead of schedule and making good progress for a first year school. The middle portion of the schedule is where I think St. Joe's falters. They play Prep school Cushing Academy from Massachusetts, a night game at Blair Academy and another game against usually decent Moore Catholic of Staten Island. They then play at new school Cedar Creek located in Egg Harbor Township. This year, Cedar Creek will only have grades 9-11 so when St. Joe's plays them, they won't even have any seniors on the team. Regardless, they are a group I school and a new group I school vs. a new big group Parochial school, you have to give the advantage to the Parochial school. Lastly, St. Joe's closes with 2 weaker Parochial schools in Morristown-Beard and Montclair-Kimberley and I predict for them to win both of those games at home. This season should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the game up in Sparta on Saturday.
They added a preseason scrimmage game against Burlington City/South Hunterdon on August 27th and that was the game I caught. Although the game was against two of the weaker Group I schools in New Jersey, I thought St. Joe's defense played fairly well only giving up one long pass play and a couple big runs up the middle in about 40 minutes or so. They also did a good job of stopping counter/reverse runs. I found it interesting that when some parents asked other parents who were the teams playing, many parents said very matter-of-factly St. Joe's of Metuchen, as if we had been a long-established team. Granted, this game was on the other side of the state almost an hour away but I found it odd that parents did not mention that it was our first year of Varsity football. Frankly, with this team I don't know if you can tell the difference. They look like a team that has been around for at least a couple years and it will be interesting to see if it can translate over in their play.
Here is their finalized schedule with my bolded prediction for this season.
9/10 1PM @ Sussex County Vo-Tech W
9/17 1PM @ Marlboro W
9/24 1PM Cushing Academy L
10/1 7PM @ Blair L
10/8 1PM Moore Catholic L
10/15 1PM @ Cedar Creek W
10/23 1PM Morristown-Beard W
10/29 1PM Montclair-Kimberley W
Predicted Record 5-3
I think 5-3 is a definitive possibility. As I alluded to in one of my other blog entries because St. Joe's is a first year program, the schedule is not bad at all and I think that should help St. Joe's get to a .500 or better record. They start off this weekend playing one of the worst teams in the state in Sussex County Vo-Tech. The result of this game could help gauge their progress so far. I think St. Joe's ultimately wins by a couple touchdowns here. The following week comes St. Joe's first big test in Marlboro. If they win here, I think people involved in New Jersey High School Football will believe we are ahead of schedule and making good progress for a first year school. The middle portion of the schedule is where I think St. Joe's falters. They play Prep school Cushing Academy from Massachusetts, a night game at Blair Academy and another game against usually decent Moore Catholic of Staten Island. They then play at new school Cedar Creek located in Egg Harbor Township. This year, Cedar Creek will only have grades 9-11 so when St. Joe's plays them, they won't even have any seniors on the team. Regardless, they are a group I school and a new group I school vs. a new big group Parochial school, you have to give the advantage to the Parochial school. Lastly, St. Joe's closes with 2 weaker Parochial schools in Morristown-Beard and Montclair-Kimberley and I predict for them to win both of those games at home. This season should be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the game up in Sparta on Saturday.
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