CHSFL rankings, Week 7
8. Xavier (4-3) (8)
The Knights made short work of lowly Cardinal Spellman Saturday and after a slow start Xavier is red-hot. Chris Stevens’ men have won three straight, four of their last five and gained 501 yards on the ground against the Pilots. Their offense is confusing and the ground attack is varied. Look out for the Knights come the post-season.
CHSFL predictions, Week 8
Christ the King @ Xavier (Sunday, 5 p.m.)
Staszewski: There is a special twist to this one as both offenses will feel like they are playing against their own defenses. That’s because former Christ the King head coach Kevin Kelly will be helping to run the Xavier defense. The Royals offense will beat you will big plays and Xavier will grind it out. I still think Christ the King is due for a win as it is beginning to play well. I will take Chris Higgins’ crew. Pick: Christ the King
Butler: Xavier is hitting its stride just in time for the playoffs. The Knights have won three straight and four of their last five. Mad scientist Chris Stevens has his single-wing offense rolling and first-year coordinator Kevin Kelly, who faces his former team for the first time, leads a defense that has given up just 13 combine points in the last three games. Christ the King has improved, but a win against the red-hot Knights is a bit much to ask. Pick: Xavier
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Player of the Week Nomination
Nominee:
Jonny Clark
School:
Position: Tail Back Opponent: Christ the King
Date
of Game: 11/01/09
Ht. 5’11” Wt.
190
Class: Jr.
Hometown:
Details
of nominees performance:
Xavier
defeated Christ the King 49 – 12 to go 5-3 Overall and 5-2 in the CHSFL
AA-A Division.
The last CHSFL regular season game of the 2009 season pitted two improving
AA-A Division teams against each other, as well as, the former and present
teams of Coach Kevin Kelly. In
2008, Coach Kelly was the Head Coach of Christ the King and he is now the
Defensive Coordinator for Xavier. This
week’s nominee played a big role in determining the outcome of the game
in favor of Xavier. Jonny
Class
Honors:
This is Jonny’s first academic semester at
League
Honors:
Since he only transferred to
Xavier this year as a junior from
Other
Sports & Honors:
During
his freshman and sophomore years at
Royal flush: Xavier crushes Christ the King
Knights dedicate 49-12 romp to defensive coordiator Kevin Kelly, ex-CK coach
Having already solidified its position in the CHSFL Class AA playoffs, Sunday night’s Week 8 matchup against Christ the King was essentially meaningless for the Xavier football team. That is, until Chris Stevens gave the game some meaning...
The Xavier head coach wanted his team to play well for defensive coordinator Kevin Kelly, who was the head coach of the Royals for six years before being laid off as a physical education teacher at the Middle Village, Queens school last spring.
“We had nothing to play for really, it had nothing to do with seeding for the playoffs,” Stevens said. “We wanted to pay Coach Kelly back for the good job he’s done with the defense and the kids really stepped up to that.” They certainly did as Xavier crushed Christ the King, 49-12, at Aviator Sports Complex in both teams' regular-season finale.
Kelly, who downplayed the significance of the victory, said he was touched by his new team’s show of support. “They dedicated the game to me and I appreciated that,” he said. “It shows the kind of kids we have. They’re tough and they have a lot of respect. For them to rally around me in this type of situation felt really good.”
Kelly said he’s still close to the Christ the King players and first-year head coach Chris Higgins, an assistant on his staff at Christ the King for five years. “It was a tough situation how it ended last year,” Kelly said. “I have a lot of respect for Chris and the players on the team and I care about those guys. I want to see them succeed, except for this one day. I also care about our guys, too. I am a Xavier Knight and I’ve gotten real close to these guys and they’ve done a really good job.”
Indeed, quietly Kelly’s defense is among the elite in the CHSFL AA-A. The Knights have given up 102 points this season, second only to undefeated Archbishop Stepinac. And in the final four weeks, the Knights have conceded 25 points. “It’s been a growing process,” Kelly said. “We’ve got great leadership on the defensive side of the ball with Sean Kelly [no relation] and Dom DeFalco. They’ve been real staples of that defense and been able to pick it up quick. I’m very proud of these guys.”
Xavier (5-3, 5-2 CHSFL AA-A) isn’t too shabby offensively, either. On Sunday, Jonny Clark led the way, rushing for four touchdowns, including a 70 yarder late in the second quarter. He had another long TD run called back because of a penalty. “He surprised us. He runs better and better,” Stevens said of Clark. “When you run between the tackles, you give it to Clark because he runs real hard inside. [Chris] Mattina is really dexterous, but if we need some hard running Clark is the man…We’re really happy with him.”
As for Christ the King, quarterback Terrel Hunt threw a pair of touchdown passes to Ollie Robinson and had an 80-yard strike to Jayvaun Smyer called back because of a block in the back penalty. It was a crushing defeat for the Royals (1-7, 1-6), who are now in a three-way tie with Cardinal Spellman and Bishop Ford for the CHSFL Class A playoffs.
“We let a big-time opportunity slip away today because we would have solidified home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs,” Higgins said. “But tonight we didn’t get it done.”
Xavier did, though, and head into the postseason having won four in a row and five of their last six. “We’re starting to do well and get on a roll right now,” Clark said.
When it was over, Kevin Kelly showed no emotion, except to hug a few of his former players and share a few laughs with members of the CK coaching staff. But the Xavier players knew it was special for Kelly. “He won’t let on,” Sean Kelly said, “but it was huge for him and big for the team, too.”
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too….
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same….
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there’s nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
….If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And— which is more— you’ll be a Man my son!
— Rudyard Kipling, If
Well done, Men!
Coach, mentor reunite when Xavier faces Christ the King in season finale
Chris Higgins has never seen a CHSFL coach dissect videotape better than Kevin Kelly.
"He can tell you what route a kid's running by looking at his shadow," Higgins said.
Kelly says analyzing film gives his team instant familiarity with the opposition before it takes the field. "Video lets you learn your opponent before you play them," Kelly said. "That was something I got from playing. It lets you know your opponent before the game, their strengths or weaknesses. It's important."
Higgins knows the importance of video, and he knows Kelly.
Higgins spent four years as Kelly's assistant at CK. But the head job
at CK opened up this year. Kelly was laid off as a physical
education teacher during the summer due to a decline in enrollment at
Christ the King, said CK athletic director Joe
Arbitello. Kelly went on to accept an assistant dean and defensive
coordinator position at Xavier HS, and Higgins became the Royals' coach.
Higgins will find out just how much he learned under Kelly, when his Royals face Xavier at the Aviator Sports Complex in the regular-season finale on Sunday (1:30 p.m.). Pride will be on the line, but there's something else at stake: the playoffs.
Xavier is coming off a 46-6 victory over Spellman on Saturday, a win that kept the Knights (4-3) in the upper echelon of the CHSFL 'AA' standings. The top four 'AA' teams advance to play 'AAA' teams in the playoffs.
"It should be fun to see Chris as a coach that day, but it's about doing what we need to do to move forward," Kelly said.
Higgins agreed. The Royals (1-6) are in the lower half of
the division and would go on to participate in the 'AA' tournament, but
they are also looking at the bigger picture. "Personally, I'd like to
see if my team can match up with Xavier," Higgins said. "We want
to focus on ourselves and move forward."
Former CK Head Football Coach Kevin Kelly finds new home at Xavier
By Dylan Butler July 1, 2009 -- dbutler@fiveborosports.com
Kevin Kelly was in shock.
After eight years as a teacher at Christ the King HS and six as head
football coach, Kelly was told he was being excessed, his job as a
full-time physical education teacher was being eliminated. Just like that.
Kelly was hit harder than a quarterback on a weak-side safety blitz.
“The enrollment has gone down over the years since I’ve been there,
obviously this year being a big hit with the amount of teachers being let
go,” said Kelly, one of 10 teachers laid off. “It was a situation I
wasn’t really expecting, but it happened.”
The sting lasted a few days, but Kelly wasn’t about to lie down. He
preached to his players about bouncing back, about battling, even in the
face of adversity. It was time to practice what he preached.
So Kelly handed out résumés, a lot of them. He figures he gave out about
100 to anyone he knew. One of those guys was Chris Stevens, the Xavier
head football coach.
“You teach your players to be persistent and go after goals,” Kelly
said. “My goal was to go after a job at a really good school and I was
able to do that.”
It took Stevens, a disciple of the single-wing offense, almost no time to
get Kelly an interview with Xavier headmaster Michael LiVigni.
“I’ll find anyway to get a good guy in the building,” Stevens
said.
Just five days after speaking to Stevens on the phone, Kelly was being
interviewed and soon after was named Xavier’s assistant dean of students
and defensive coordinator of the Knights.
“Let me tell you what, Kevin does his homework,” Stevens said.
“It’s obvious he puts quite a bit of time and effort into his game
plan, particularly defensively. We’re really excited about having him
put time in to help us make game plans, help breakdown film, help us scout
games.”
Kelly’s appointment was a perfect marriage. He was a football coach who
specialized on the defensive side of the ball, while Stevens was looking
to bring someone in to help fill the void created as Bill Paszke, who has
coached defense with him for 12 years, has become physically limited due
to illness.
“I didn’t really sit around,” Kelly said. “I got the ball rolling
trying to find another job. Luckily Xavier had an opening that was a good
fit for me. It’s a phenomenal school and I’ve really been blessed with
this opportunity.”
Kelly has had several conversations with Stevens about the upcoming year,
about defensive schemes and Stevens said he gets more and more excited
about the season.
“I just continue to get more excited because he thinks defense very
similar to the way we do, yet he’s great in terms of making up game
plans and knowing tendencies,” Stevens said.
Meanwhile, Kelly said he’s happy not to have to try and game plan for
the nearly impossible to defend single wing Stevens’ employs.
“That’s one thing I will not miss, trying to stop the single wing,”
Kelly said. “He does a really good job with that and it’s obvious with
the numbers they put up the last couple of years.”
Kelly said he was overwhelmed with the support he received since word
traveled around the league that he would not be back as Christ the King
coach.
“It was a tough situation, obviously especially in the beginning, but
from former players to current players to college coaches, a lot of people
were really shocked,” he said. “It was good to see the kind of impact
you’ve had with some of the people you’ve been involved with.”
And so one door opens for Kelly just after another closed.
“I couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” Kelly said. “A
place like Xavier is unbelievable.”