Sons of Xavier march on to CHSFL 'AA' final

by Dylan Butler on Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 1:53 PM


Xavier's Ricky Comis lifts up the trophy as the Knights knocked off the Rams in the 89th annual Turkey Bowl.

The talk leading up to the 89th annual Turkey Bowl wasn’t about beating Fordham Prep or reaching the CHSFL Class AA final – though both are sweet. Xavier just wanted to be a football team for another 10 days.

Thanks to junior running back Trey Solomon, it was mission accomplished for the Knights, who beat the Rams, 38-21, at Coffey Field Thursday morning.

“We have 11 guys out of their houses and we’re a team for 10 more days,” Xavier coach Chris Stevens said. “That support system and camaraderie stays intact for them 10 more days after Sandy.”

Xavier not only earned bragging rights for another year with its first win in the series since 2009, but also booked a berth in the CHSFL Class AA final at Mitchel Athletic Complex on Dec. 1. The Knights play either St. John the Baptist or Kellenberg in their first ‘AA’ title game since winning it in 1996 when it was called the Varsity A championship.

“I’ve never really been to a championship in football,” Solomon said. “This feels great. I love playing this game, I love my team and I get to spend 10 more days with them.”

After scoring six touchdowns in an upset of second-seeded Mount St. Michael in the ‘AA’ quarterfinals Saturday night, Solomon followed that performance up by scoring three touchdowns Thursday morning, rushing for 218 yards on 28 carries.

“He never stops,” Xavier running back Ryan Kilgallen said. “He’s one of the most physical guys on this team, one of the strongest guys and he’s only a junior. He’ll be back next year. He just carries us. When he’s going off, we’re going off and we just follow what he does.”

Solomon gained just 43 yards in the first half as Xavier tried to find a way to solve the Fordham Prep defense. At halftime, Stevens said his players asked if they could continue to pound the Rams and he wasn’t about to say no.

Solomon started picking up five yards at a clip, rushing behind an experienced and physical offensive line.

“They have only one senior on their defense and we knew that,” Stevens said. “We said if we’re going to win, we’re going to jam it down their throats.”

With Xavier (8-2) trailing 14-7, Solomon rushed for an 11-yard touchdown to cap a 13-play, 78-yard drive and added a 28-yard score to give the Knights a 23-14 lead 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Fordham Prep (3-7) marched down field and cut its deficit to 23-21 after James McHale (18-of-32, 205 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) connected with Connor Sutherland for an 18-yard touchdown with 7:03 left in regulation.

The Fordham Prep fight song was playing on the public address and the Rams had momentum. But it lasted all of one minute as Solomon burst up the middle two plays later for a 68-yard touchdown to put the Knights in front, 30-21.

“When we got into the huddle, I first had to tell them we had to keep our heads in the game,” Solomon said. “It was a pretty physical run, I guess. The only person to touch me I think was the safety.”

It was a second-half performance by Solomon that didn’t surprise Stevens.

“He runs the 200-meter for the track team because the track coach says, and rightfully so, he gets stronger in the second half of the race,” he said. “That’s indicative of how he plays for us.”

Kilgallen, who had 10 carries for 97 yards, put the finishing touches on the win with a 14-yard touchdown run with 3:24 left in the fourth. The Belle Harbor native, one of 11 Xavier players to be displaced by Sandy, spent the last two weeks sleeping on teammate Connor Sweet’s couch.

“This is my third Turkey Bowl and I’ve lost twice. We didn’t want to lose this one,” Kilgallen said. “We were playing for each other, we’ve got 11 guys out of their houses. The fact it’s a playoff game as well as the Turkey Bowl just made it so much bigger and more important to win.”

Turkey Bowl MVP

Junior William "Trey" Solomon #3 RB/FS

Wins the President's Trophy

26 carries for 252 yards. Scoring 3 Touchdowns and 2 Two Point Conversions. Adding 5 Tackles on Defense.

Solomon: I want another two weeks with the team I love

By Joseph Staszewski

Xavier High School’s Trey Solomon is having the best playoff season of his career — a tremendous performance he’s dedicating to his 11 teammates from the Rockaways left homeless by Hurricane Sandy.

The Flatbush native and junior running back scored six touchdowns in a Catholic High School Football League quarterfinal victory over Mount St. Michael and ran for 218 yards, three touchdowns, and two two-point conversions as the Xavier Knights defeated Fordham Prep 38–20 on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanks to Solomon’s efforts, Xavier will be playing its first title game since 1996 — some much needed therapy to the school’s Hurricane Sandy victims, according to coach Chris Stevens.

“It helps them get another week beyond Sandy,” said Stevens. “That’s the biggest goal.”

Yet Solomon’s goals are a little more self-serving.

“For me it just means I get to spend 10 more days with the guys I love,” he said. “I love my team.”

Xavier 38 
Fordham Prep 21

(Much) more to follow, but not tonight. (Sorry!) For now, be advised that The Team Formerly Known as the Kaydets... and then the Bruins... (Est. 1882) will play for the Catholic High School Football League AA Division Championship on Saturday, December 1st at Mitchel Field, Uniondale Long Island. Congratulations, Men! Everyone in the Long Maroon and Blue Line is standing a little taller tonight. 

WNBC and WABC both covered today's game. Set your DVRs for WABC's 11 PM News ASAP and WNBC Channel 4 Eyewitness News following the Jets debacle.

Stand by...
Tom O'Hara '69

89th Annual
Xavier-Fordham Prep
Thanksgiving Gridiron Classic 

a.k.a The Turkey Bowl
AND
CHSFL AA Division Semifinal Playoff Game!!!

THANKSGIVING DAY

November 22nd, 2012

10:00 A.M.

Jack Coffey Field - Fordham University

Tomorrow morning, in one of the grandest (and oldest) Thanksgiving and gridiron traditions anywhere, The Team Formerly Known as the Kaydets... and then the Bruins... (Est. 1882) will once again do battle with The Ancient Enemy who dwells atop Rose Hill.

Here's why you need to be there...

FIRST... the winner goes to the CHSFL Championship Game on Saturday, December 1st. This is Fordham Prep's home game and, indeed, this battle will be waged but a few hundred feet from the Rose Hill Prepsters' campus.

The Rams are looking for their second straight AA Division title and their fans will be out in force to cheer their team on. But Jack Coffey Field has been the scene of many gridiron triumphs by the Kaydets, Bruins and Knights over the decades, and Xavier Nation has never had a problem packing the stands there. Indeed, on many Thanksgiving mornings, we have outnumbered the Fordham Prep faithful. We have got to rise to the occasion once again tomorrow morning. 

SECOND... the 16th Street Kids deserve our support. Just four nights ago, the No. 7-seeded Knights wrote a new page in the 130-year-old annals of Xavier Football when they came from behind to upset playoff No. 1 seed Mount Saint Michael in one of the most exciting and fiercely-fought games I've seen in my 45 years around Xavier Football. And they did it in a season that began with the death of beloved athletic director and JV football coach Rod Hill and ended in the fire and floods of Hurricane Sandy and the snow of the nor'easter that followed close behind. Half of the last three weeks' practice schedule was wiped out and the remainder was a patchwork of sessions held at a half-dozen venues around the city, including the school gym.

If you weren't there when history was made atop Rose Hill last Saturday night— and most of you weren't— you're going to want to be there tomorrow morning. Xavier's gridironmen have another page to write in the history of The Long Maroon and Blue Line, and write it they will. This team is on a mission and Fordham Prep had better be ready to play.

I leave you with this excerpt from Mike Benigno's Xavier E-News article on head coach Chris Stevens' moving speech at today's football rally:

"I Have Never Been Prouder."

That was the message Coach Chris Stevens championed to his players earlier today at the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Bowl football rally held in the Xavier gym.

The Knights have gone through it all this year. The loss of Xavier’s beloved athletic director, Mr. Rod Walker, in September. Eleven of the team’s 43 players either losing homes entirely or being displaced from their homes following Hurricane Sandy. Practice fields closed due to weather and storm damage, with difficult travel to available areas.

Their strength and endurance was tested, but the Knights responded with one thing: resilience. Coach Stevens held in the air two hammers used by Xavier volunteers in the last few weeks in Breezy Point, Belle Harbor and other areas. He placed them in the shape of an X, and said that they symbolized the rising of Xavier Nation.

"Out of the fifty juniors that I teach, I have ten of the fifty out of their homes, yet in my first quiz given after Sandy, which was only going to be counted on the report card if it helped their quarter average, those ten boys averaged an A, and eight of the ten got a good enough grade for the quiz to count for the quarter," Coach Stevens said. "I love you kids. I am thankful in the midst of all the suffering this year to work with some of the most inspiring students and families in the world."

Directions to Fordham's Rose Hill campus from all points of the cosmos (except Ridgefield, Connecticut, of course) can be found at http://departments.xavierhs.org/athletics/football/2012webpage/fordham/directions.htm
 
Media Lookout: if anyone spots any coverage of the Turkey Bowl in any of our great metropolitan dailies or websites, please give me a head's up so that I can spread the word. (Thanks!) http://departments.xavierhs.org/athletics/football/2012webpage/fordham/directions.htm

ALSO: be sure to watch for coverage of the Turkey Bowl on the Thanksgiving Day evening newscasts of all the major networks, especially our good friends at WNBC-TV and on the WABC, MSG and MSG Varsity sports newscasts.

Tomorrow's weather report is— knock on wood— EXCELLENT. Sunny. Temperature in the 50s. 'Nuff said.

Stand by...
Tom O'Hara '69