After winning the first two games, St. Joe's season has taken a drastic turn for the worse. In their last 4 games, they've lost 34-21 to Cushing Academy, 35-0 to Blair, 8-7 to Moore Catholic and 26-0 against Cedar Creek. I talked to St. Joe's athletic director, Jerry Smith, during the game today and said that they would have to win today's game as well as next week against a 6-1 Montclair Kimberley team in order to get the 8 seed in states. The 8 seed, in Non-Public A Group IV, would get St. Joe's a game against the national #1 team Don Bosco Prep. It would be cool to be able to say that they played them in their first year of football and if St. Joe's are somehow able to provide any sort of resistance to them, it could really make a statement. There's pretty much no chance of this happening but if they somehow actually won, I think it'd be one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports on any level. If they lose that, they will get in a consolation game for states. With the way the power points stand now, St. Joe's is a point behind St. Augustine for 7th. They have two games remaining against Millville and Holy Spirit. They aren't likely to beat Spirit and Millville is undefeated as well. However, Spirit is a group II school for parochial and Millville is a group IV, so they will probably be able to move somewhat because of the group size. But if St. Joe's beats Montclair Kimberley and St. Augustine loses both, I believe St. Joe's should be able to capture the 7 seed. It's really pick your poison with the 1 and 2 seeds, but I would rather play Bergen Catholic and be on the other side of the draw than worry about playing Bosco. Those are by far the two strongest teams. Even though St. Peter's has bounced back, they still have a couple losses to Montclair and St. Joe's Montvale. Besides that, just Paramus Catholic and Notre Dame are over .500 in St. Joe's bracket, so it could make for a couple pretty interesting games.
St. Joe's defensively has been a pleasant surprise this year and continued to be one in today's game. Outside of the Blair and Cedar Creek games, I thought they played pretty solid defense and frankly, the points allowed are mostly because of the offense's ineptitude at times. This game quickly got out of hand at St. Joe's took a 34-0 halftime lead. Morristown Beard beat Dwight-Englewood by forfeit and beat Sussex Tech. Dwight-Englewood actually lost to Sussex Tech so in those 2 wins, there is not much to take from. At halftime, I saw John Haley, high school reporter for the Star-Ledger and he told me "In the 35 years of watching high school football, this might be the worst team I've ever seen." Personally, I wouldn't go that far. Sussex Tech is horrendous and in my opinion definitely worse than Morristown-Beard. Morristown-Beard is still a prep school so just by defacto, you'd have to put one of the smallest Group I schools in New Jersey over them in terms of how bad they are. They should have put one of their receivers at quarterback because as seen on a couple plays, he had a decent arm.
Matt Olivo had a great day running the football rushing for three touchdowns and 101 yards. He had a 1, 47 and 33 yard run for touchdowns. St. Joe's scored on its first five possessions going up by a score of 34-0 with 10:56 remaining in the first half. Interestingly enough, they were able to build nearly a five touchdown lead on just eight plays. They eventually went up 41-0 early in the 3rd at which point they pulled their starters. St. Joe's defensively had an awesome day, allowing just 72 yards. They were able to force a couple turnovers and played great defense throughout. This was as complete a performance from St. Joe's that there has been this season. They clicked on both sides of the ball and never left any doubt from the beginning of the game. William Palmer also scored on a 1-yard touchdown run and perhaps the St. Joe's offensive highlight of the day was when Albert Myers scored on a 77 yard pass from Ryan Campbell. Morristown-Beard's only score came late in the game when Nick Rella scored on a 3-yard run to make the deficit 41-6 and that proved to be the final score.
Next up is Montclair Kimberley Academy. They currently are 6-1 and second in power points in Non-Public Group II. They beat Cedar Creek who St. Joe's lost to last week. This is an absolutely huge game for St. Joe's and to qualify for states in their first year is an accomplishment and to be able to say they played a great team like Don Bosco or Bergen Catholic will make this season all the more satisfying. The absolute best I thought St. Joe's could've gone was 5-3 and they have a chance to be right behind that at 4-4. The game on Saturday won't be easy, but it is senior day and St. Joe's has an awful lot to play for. I'm going to predict St. Joe's pulls out a close win to get the matchup up in Ramsey against Don Bosco in a couple weeks., but like I said before, it would be better for them to draw Bergen Catholic because they might have a modicum more of a chance. We'll see what happens Saturday.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Last Two Games Recap/Thoughts
Before I start, to be honest, I didn't stay the entire time at the Blair Prep game two weeks ago. The game was pretty much over before it started with Blair quickly going up 28-0. St. Joe's got a big reality check in terms of how much progress they had made this season. While the win at Marlboro was nice, they showed in the last 2 games how things can quickly go south. It was just a miserable time up in Blairstown two Saturdays ago. As it was, I had already seen a game up at West Point earlier that day so it was a very long day for me and I probably wasn't as mentally invested into the game as I should've been. Besides that, this was one of those games totally in the middle of nowhere and one of the furthest rides of the year, near the Pennsylvania border. It was neat that St. Joe's finally was able to play under the lights, though in retrospect, with the impending rain, they probably should have played it in the afternoon. The pouring rain and cold setting in made it a very difficult game to watch. It had been comfortable weather for much of that day but I guess up in the mountains with the night setting made it awfully chilly and uncomfortable for spectators. St. Joe's simply did not do anything right at Blair. They continuously gave Blair good field position, did not have good kicks, couldn't hold on to the ball, couldn't run as effectively as the past 3 games, and were using kicker Bryan Rafano at quarterback after sitting Ryan Campbell after his performance against Cushing. The final was 35-0 and it could've been worse. Games like this show that St. Joe's still has a ways to go.
Interestingly enough, I am perfect with my season prediction so far as St. Joe's won their first two and dropped their second two. I have them losing against Moore Catholic before bouncing back and winning their last three. St. Joe's Junior Varsity team beat Moore Catholic 42-20 last year at home. I expected this to be a good game coming in and it lived up to it. Moore Catholic came into the game with a record of 4-0 while St. Joe's was even on the ledger at 2-2. Moore Catholic defeated Cedar Creek by a score of 34-20. Cedar Creek, a new public school near Atlantic City, is St. Joe's opponent next week.
This game would prove to be a great defensive struggle and very sloppy. It is a major concern to see St. Joe's struggling with holding onto the ball. In both home games so far, they have turned it over multiple times. It is even more of a killer to keep doing it in fairly good field position. I thought a major positive was to get kicked around like St. Joe's did last week and lose that game 35-0 and stand right back up. They played phenomonal defense this game. They did a nice job stopping the run and for the most part containing the pass. Although the game was very sloppy, in a way, it was fun to see a low scoring defensive battle. St. Joe's would be the one to first score, on a Matt Greene 8-yd touchdown run on their first drive in the 3rd to make it a 7-0 game. Moore Catholic, which had a big day rushing for over 200 yards, had a 65 yard gain by Jomanta Broady. St. Joe's defense clamped down once again holding Moore scoreless for the first three downs. However, on the fourth, quarterback Russell Brown had a play set up where he had the option of either running or throwing it, and ran into the endzone to make it 7-6. They then decided to go for two. They were called for a false start penalty so had to start from the 8-yard line on the 2 point conversion. St. Joe's read the play better this time and nearly got to Brown, but he threw it in time to Nick Imburgia at the 2 and got in the endzone to give Moore a 8-7 lead. Both team's defenses picked it up from there on out each giving themselves a chance to hold on to the victory. Moore Catholic came up with two big fourth-down stops and St. Joe's played great defense where they had to. St. Joe's had the opportunity to take a 10-8 lead late in the 4th quarter and this is where there first questionable playcall of the year came up. On the 21, 4th and 2 with a kicker like Bryan Rafano, you have to kick the ball. Even if it misses, it is within his range, plus the wind was blowing left to right which was advantageous for St. Joe's. Instead, they run it on 4th and 2, and they are stopped. Moore Catholic would hold on to win the game 8-7 and this was St. Joe's first loss that would really sting, considering they beat them last year and the fact that all they needed to do was either score at some point after Moore Catholic scored or just stop the 2-point conversion.
This loss dropped their record to 2-3 and St. Joe's season is looking like it is getting bleaker by the week. Fortunately, they're through with the toughest part of their schedule and only have Cedar Creek, Montclair-Kimberley and Morristown-Beard left. All of the three are winnable so it will be interesting to see if they can turn things around in their inaugural year of varsity football. The things to take away from this game was that I liked their ability to bounce back after getting blown out last week. Their defense really stepped up today and showed they could play a great game. I liked the substitution of Austin James for Ryan Campbell at quarterback. Campbell has not been getting the job done vs. the better teams and I think this is a good move. You have to wonder how different St. Joe's season would be if quarterback Chris Blades was healthy. I think they definitely would've won today and the game vs. Cushing would've been closer as well. So overall, those are three things I take out of today's game and we'll see if St. Joe's can get back on the plus side of the ledger next week.
Interestingly enough, I am perfect with my season prediction so far as St. Joe's won their first two and dropped their second two. I have them losing against Moore Catholic before bouncing back and winning their last three. St. Joe's Junior Varsity team beat Moore Catholic 42-20 last year at home. I expected this to be a good game coming in and it lived up to it. Moore Catholic came into the game with a record of 4-0 while St. Joe's was even on the ledger at 2-2. Moore Catholic defeated Cedar Creek by a score of 34-20. Cedar Creek, a new public school near Atlantic City, is St. Joe's opponent next week.
This game would prove to be a great defensive struggle and very sloppy. It is a major concern to see St. Joe's struggling with holding onto the ball. In both home games so far, they have turned it over multiple times. It is even more of a killer to keep doing it in fairly good field position. I thought a major positive was to get kicked around like St. Joe's did last week and lose that game 35-0 and stand right back up. They played phenomonal defense this game. They did a nice job stopping the run and for the most part containing the pass. Although the game was very sloppy, in a way, it was fun to see a low scoring defensive battle. St. Joe's would be the one to first score, on a Matt Greene 8-yd touchdown run on their first drive in the 3rd to make it a 7-0 game. Moore Catholic, which had a big day rushing for over 200 yards, had a 65 yard gain by Jomanta Broady. St. Joe's defense clamped down once again holding Moore scoreless for the first three downs. However, on the fourth, quarterback Russell Brown had a play set up where he had the option of either running or throwing it, and ran into the endzone to make it 7-6. They then decided to go for two. They were called for a false start penalty so had to start from the 8-yard line on the 2 point conversion. St. Joe's read the play better this time and nearly got to Brown, but he threw it in time to Nick Imburgia at the 2 and got in the endzone to give Moore a 8-7 lead. Both team's defenses picked it up from there on out each giving themselves a chance to hold on to the victory. Moore Catholic came up with two big fourth-down stops and St. Joe's played great defense where they had to. St. Joe's had the opportunity to take a 10-8 lead late in the 4th quarter and this is where there first questionable playcall of the year came up. On the 21, 4th and 2 with a kicker like Bryan Rafano, you have to kick the ball. Even if it misses, it is within his range, plus the wind was blowing left to right which was advantageous for St. Joe's. Instead, they run it on 4th and 2, and they are stopped. Moore Catholic would hold on to win the game 8-7 and this was St. Joe's first loss that would really sting, considering they beat them last year and the fact that all they needed to do was either score at some point after Moore Catholic scored or just stop the 2-point conversion.
This loss dropped their record to 2-3 and St. Joe's season is looking like it is getting bleaker by the week. Fortunately, they're through with the toughest part of their schedule and only have Cedar Creek, Montclair-Kimberley and Morristown-Beard left. All of the three are winnable so it will be interesting to see if they can turn things around in their inaugural year of varsity football. The things to take away from this game was that I liked their ability to bounce back after getting blown out last week. Their defense really stepped up today and showed they could play a great game. I liked the substitution of Austin James for Ryan Campbell at quarterback. Campbell has not been getting the job done vs. the better teams and I think this is a good move. You have to wonder how different St. Joe's season would be if quarterback Chris Blades was healthy. I think they definitely would've won today and the game vs. Cushing would've been closer as well. So overall, those are three things I take out of today's game and we'll see if St. Joe's can get back on the plus side of the ledger next week.
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