Xavier mistakes on Offense and Defense allowed Moore to control the ball for much of the 1st quarter and a half, but two plays after Moore finally scored in the 2nd quarter, Xavier came back with a decleating crack block by Thomas Ryan and a 65 yard run by James Kowalski to quickly take back the lead. Xavier was driving at the end of the 2nd quarter, but ran out of time on the Moore 25 yardline. In the second half, adjustments shut down Moore's inside running game and consistent pressure from the edges by LBs Jerry D'Arco and Mike Erickson threatened to knock the fillings out of the teeth of Moore's QB. Xavier dropped three potential interceptions during the game, at least one of which would have been for a sure TD. Quick Kick was a big momentum changer for us again this week (when the score was 8 - 7 Xavier) we pinned Moore inside the 3, which resulted in a safety and a short field on the subsequent punt from which we drove and scored. The power running game was lead by strong guard Mike Dedza, tight end Mike Scannell, the offensive line and Seamus Kelly plunged in for an 8 yard score and the subsequent power I blast for the two point conversion to put Xavier up 16 - 7. Xavier defense gave up nothing after this and then began the Craig Scardapane show. With great trap blocking by weak guard Dan Guzzino, Craig scored twice on the same counter trap up the middle with runs of 58 and 71 yards on two subsequent drives. Game Over.
Xavier is now 3 - 0 to start the season, which is the first 3 - 0 start Xavier has enjoyed on the Varsity level since 1959! The next two weeks are tough in division opponents Bishop Ford @ Aviator, 7:00pm on 9/29/07 and St. John the Baptist @ Aviator, 8:00pm on 10/6/07.
CATHOLIC
Player
of the Week Nomination
Nominee:
Craig
Scardapane
School:
Position:
Running
Back & Corner
Back Opponent:
Details
of nominees performance:
Craig had 150 yards on 9 carries and two touchdowns. He had
touchdown runs of 58 and 71 yards. Craig also kicks off, kick off
returns, punts and punt returns for us. His four kick offs averaged
49.25 yards which means he kicked the ball on average to the ten yard
line. One of his kicks went into the endzone for a touch back.
On two kick returns Craig averaged 29 yards per return with his 39 yard
return setting up a short field for one of our other scores. Craig
also set up another one of our scores with a quick kick that went for 58
yards downed on the 3 yard line which subsequently resulted in a safety
and then a short field from which we scored. On his four punts he
averaged 44.3 yards per punt. On defense Craig plays our cover
corner we put him up against the other team's best receiver every
week. In this game, Craig had 5 tackles and broke up 3 other pass
plays, he truly was a one man gang.
Class
Honors:
League
Honors:
Craig was the Xavier Varsity Football Team "Best Offensive
Player" last year and won CHSFL "Player of the Week" honors
last year in Xavier's 41-0 victory over Moore Catholic on 10/28/06.
Other Sports & Honors:
Craig is also runs Track and is a starter on Xavier’s 2007 “B”
Division National Championship Rugby Team.
Please fax nomination form to Kevin A'Hearn at (516) 292
– 2557 or email to nychsfl@optonline.net
Nominations
must be received by the Monday Night Meeting.
All
winners will be announce on the league website on Tuesday after the Monday
Night Meeting.
Mavericks lose grip in 28-7 loss
Moore
blows 7-0
second-quarter lead and loses third straight
Sunday,
September 23, 2007
By JASON BOCK
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --
Sometime during
yesterday's CHSFL home contest with Xavier, the Mavericks went from being
in control to having zero control. And when the second-half tailspin was
over,
"I just told my
kids at the end of the game, 'You learned another lesson today and that is
you need to play a full game of football to win games in the Catholic
league,'" Rocco said. "I have no idea yet, what happened in the
second half."
The lead was
short-lived, however, as Xavier started its next possession from the
29-yard line and on the second play from scrimmage, burned the
"I think that's
indicative of us not being a great football team right now," said
Rocco. "A great football team would score 7-0 and come back and smack
'em on the kick return, smack 'em on defense, get the ball and put it in
again."
Following a quiet end
to the first half, Xavier used a little trickery early in the second half
to seize control of the game.
Facing a third-and-10
from their own 36, the Knights direct snapped to Craig Scardapane in the
backfield, who launched a punt over the Mavericks defense and down to the
6 yard line.
Xavier forced a safety
two plays later, and scored a TD on its next possession to go ahead 16-7.
Scardapane set up the score with a 40-yard kickoff return, and later in
the half carried in TD runs from 59 and 71 yards out.
Xavier, which gained
only 28 yards of total offense outside of Kowalski's run in the first
half, barreled forward for 179 rushing yards over the final two quarters.
"I felt like we were a team that was in really good shape, but we didn't look like it in the second half," Rocco said.
