CHSFL predictions, Week 1
Xaverian @ Xavier (Friday, 7:30 p.m.)
Butler: One team lost a star offensive threat to graduation, the other, well, lost a star offensive player to graduation. Quarterback Najee Tyler, who made the Clippers' offense tick, is at Purdue, while “Famous” Seamus Kelly has left Xavier to play rugby at the University of California. The Knights run that nearly impossible-to-defend single wing, but Xaverian has Syracuse-bound Mario Tull. This is a tough one, but I’ll give my nod to the Clippers. Pick: Xaverian
Good afternoon, Xavier Nation.
Well, I ran my mouth (keyboard?) yesterday and Xaverian made me eat my words. The following article from The New York Post sums up last night pretty much, I think. It was a frustrating evening for Coach Chris Stevens ’83 and his team.
Let’s start with the positives. There was a fairly large and enthusiastic crowd on Xavier’s side of the field, especially given the weather, which ranged from what the Irish euphemistically call “a fine soft evening” (light, sometimes even mist-like drizzle) to a moderate rain and wind, and included lengthy periods where it rained not at all. The temperature was mild enough to allow a phalanx of bare-chested and painted Xavier underclassmen to mount a periodic conga line through the stands and along the sidelines. Picture Animal House meets The Lord of the Flies. Well done, men!
In between the JV game— a 28-0 loss, I regret to report— and the varsity game there was a ceremony to honor the memory of 33 alumni and the numerous other members and relatives of both schools’ communities who were lost on September 11th, 2001. Many thanks to Father Joe Lux S.J. for organizing and conducting this event. Father Lux, who is back at 16th Street after a 21-year absence, was moderator of the football program in the 1970s and 1980s during our transition to the Catholic High School Football League.
Back to the game. The AAA Division Clippers are probably the best team the Knights will play during the regular season— I say probably because next Friday’s opponent, Stepinac, upset AAA Division Fordham Prep 24-21 last night— which is unfortunate because Xavier’s young team, especially its inexperienced offensive line, seemed at times to suffer from a case of opening night jitters.
As Mr. Staszewski writes below, the Knights moved the ball well but hamstrung themselves with penalties, miscues, miscommunication and fumbles at critical times. You’ll note that Chris Mattina and Jonny Clark both averaged over 6 yards a carry, and when Chris Stevens posts his game stats on the Xavier Football webpage, we’ll probably find that Mad Jack Wilson was even more productive. The Knights passed just twice that I saw— once into traffic, resulting in an interception, and once for an incompletion.
Like the offense, the Knights’ defensive unit played with ferocity and displayed flashes of brilliance. In particular, John Gearity, who, if I understand Coach Stevens correctly, is a hybrid of outside linebacker and strong safety, just leveled the Xaverian ball carrier on several occasions, bringing the crowd to their feet.
You’ll read below that Xaverian quarterback Greg Rando completed 21 of 26 passes for 167 yards and three touchdowns. That’s less than 8 yards per completion. As was also noted by Mr. Staszewski, many were screen passes. I would add that most of the rest were short passes over the middle and in the flats. The bulk of Xaverian’s passing yardage was thanks to the speed and running ability of their receivers. Regardless, the success of the Clippers’ short passing offense succeeded in stretching the Xavier defense and setting up Xaverian’s ground game.
Standing by....
Tom O'Hara '69
Inconsistent Xavier falls to Xaverian
Knights' running game never gets going and they fail to capitalize on Clippers' miscues
The Clippers (1-0) looked like they were going to have their hands full
with Xavier’s single-wing offense on the Knights opening drive.
Xaverian coach Joe DeSiena said it is almost impossible to simulate the
style in practice. It took his team a long first series to adapt to it.
Outside of its opening drive, Xavier was being outplayed by Xaverian in the first half. The Clippers had grabbed a two-touchdown lead heading into the break behind the calm play of junior quarterback Greg Rando. The junior was impressive, completing 21-of-26 passing, many of them screens, for 167 yards. He had touchdown passes of 12, 29 and 5 yards in his first varsity start.
The Knights, though, felt all it would take was a solid drive to open the second half to get back into things. Except it was over before it started.
On the first play from scrimmage, senoir running back John Gearity fumbled the ball on his own 20-yard line. Xaverian recovered and proceed to go up three scores in an eventual 28-6 win in a CHSFL non-league game at Aviator Sports Complex Friday night in Brooklyn.
“We get a 4-yard gain and the guy tries to make a hard 6 yards out of four and loses the ball,” Xavier coach Chris Stevens said. “That was the beginning of the wheels coming off.”
The Knights (0-1) got on the board with a 22-yard touchdown run to the right side by senoir John Wilson to cut the Clippers lead to 21-6 with 6:33 left in the third quarter. Three plays into the ensuing Xaverian drive, Xavier linebacker Pat Nilsen recovered Rando’s second fumble of the game on its own 48-yard line. The first, forced by Sean Carley, came with the score 7-0 in the second quarter and was recovered by Pat Coleman. Xavier couldn’t capitalize on either, thanks to a fast and physical Clippers defense. It ran just four plays and gained nine yards following the second take away.
“We figured out how to stop all of the runs,” Xaverian senior Mario Tull said.
Xavier’s single-wing running attack, which no longer features work horse Seamus Kelly, got going in spurts. Clark ran for 62 yards on 10 carries and Mattina rushed 10 times for 66 yards for the Knights (0-1), who went 49 yards in 10 plays on their opening drive before being stopped.
“We couldn't get anything going consistently,” Stevens said.
“They are a 'AAA' team any they played that way”
Xavier coach Chris Stevens said. “They were more physical than us
tonight and more athletic than us tonight.” Stevens said. “We needed
to play our best game and we didn’t.”