Video Highlights of the Game:
http://www.msgvarsity.com/s/5ItN
Trey bien: Solomon leads Xavier over Mount
Not playing football for three weeks was a trying time for Xavier wingback Ryan Kilgallen. It’s been rough for the Belle Harbor native, one of 11 players on the team from Breezy Point and the Rockaways to be displaced from their homes due to Superstorm Sandy.
Just the thought of playing football has brought Xavier closer together in a number of ways. Kilgallen says his team was itching to get on the field Saturday night to take on No. 1 seed Mount St. Michael in the CHSFL Class AA playoffs.
“Just sitting around not being able to play just killed us,” Kilgallen said. “When we finally got a chance to play, we knew it was on and we would go 110 percent.”
Junior running back Trey Solomon scored a game-high six rushing touchdowns to lead eighth-seeded Xavier to an emotional and thrilling 40-36 upset win over the Mountaineers in the CHSFL Class AA quarterfinals at Coffey Field.
“This is a huge win,” Kilgallen said. “We’re playing for each other. We’re not playing for ourselves. There is about 10 of us Rockaway or Breezy guys, we’re not living in our house right now. This game meant so much to us to win. And now we got momentum.”
Xavier will have a few more days of practice to prepare for a semifinal game against rival Fordham Prep on Thanksgiving morning back at Coffey Field. The winner not only gains bragging rights, but also receives a berth to the Class AA championship game.
There was plenty of hugging and congratulations going around the Xavier sideline after a tense back and forth game that was not decided until the final minute of regulation.
Kilgallen, who is living in his uncle’s house in Rockville Centre, spoke of the bond that has grown even closer throughout all the adversity. Xavier may have been losing 22-12 at halftime, but the senior never believed his team was down and out.
“We started out slow but at halftime, we picked each other up. We knew we weren’t out of it,” Kilgallen said. “We’ve been down before. We came back and kept fighting hard and we didn’t it for each other.”
Playing football has been the best medicine, and it’s brought Xavier closer together. Knights coach Chris Stevens was impressed with his team, which scored 28 points in the second half to overcome a Mount team who he has a lot of respect for.
“We’re playing for 10 more days of camaraderie that we can support one another through this tough time. That’s the big thing,” Stevens said. “Out of all those 11 guys, none of them have missed a practice unexcused.”
The Xavier coach spoke about his team being resilient. Mount quarterback Isaiah Martir scored the second of his four touchdowns with 2:37 left in the first quarter to go up 14-6.
The Knights (7-2) couldn’t hold off Martir from getting into the end zone with 1:34 left in the second quarter to put his team up 22-12. It was gut check time for the Knights and they responded by handing the ball off to their most dangerous player.
Solomon tore up the Mount defense with help from an experienced offensive line that created plenty of open holes. After a 4-yard rushing touchdown to begin the second half, the junior put his team up 25-22 with an 8-yard score with 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“I was able to find the holes because the offensive line was blocking for me,” Solomon said. “I didn’t have to make many cuts. I just had to make one and I was in the hole.”
Mount St. Michael (2-6) couldn’t make enough defensive stops in the fourth quarter. Solomon added his fifth score with 3:48 left, and plowed through on a 51-yard touchdown run to put Xavier up 40-30 with 2:04 to play. Albert Sutton had a 51-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 40-36, but Xavier recovered the onside kick to seal the win.
Mount plays Cardinal Hayes in the annual Turkey Bowl game on Thanksgiving. “They executed well. It’s a tough offense to defend,” Mount coach Mario Valentini said. “They run it really well and [Solomon] is a real good player.”
Stevens just had four days to prepare for Fordham Prep, but it’s enough to continue what he labels a special season. “We have some great kids,” Stevens said. “They are resilient.”
|
|
Player of the Week
Nomination
Nominee:
William Solomon
School:
Position:
Running Back / Free Safety
Opponent: Mount
Date
of Game: 11/17/12 Ht.
5’10” Wt. 195
Class: Jr.
Hometown:
Details
of nominees performance:
With
11 of 43 players on Xavier’s varsity football roster forced out of their
homes by Hurricane Sandy, Xavier earned an exciting and emotional win over
traditional AAA Division power Mount St. Michael knocking off the #1 seed
in the Quarterfinal round of the CHSFL AA playoffs.
In the game, William “Trey” Solomon carried the ball 29 times
for 264 yards for a 9.1 yard per carry average and all of Xavier’s 6
touchdowns. Trey had touchdown
runs of 17, 13, 4, 9, 3 and 50 yards.
He also scored a 2pt. conversion and completed a 29 yard pass to
earn Xavier an important first down on its’ opening scoring drive.
Trey did all of this while leading Xavier with 9 solo tackles and 3
assists on defense as well.
Class
Honors:
Trey has a 90 average at Xavier and is currently taking A.P. English.
League
Honors:
In his freshman football season, Trey was chosen as a captain and team
MVP, scoring 23 touchdowns and making 6 interceptions, while leading his
team to an unbeaten 8-0 record in the CHSFL City Division for the first
time in Xavier history. In his
Sophomore year, Trey had 77 tackles from the Free Safety position and
scored 18 Touchdowns helping the Xavier Varsity to an unbeaten Division
Championship Season. He was
also named 1st runner up CHSFL Defensive Player of they Year.
Other
Sports & Honors
Trey
was a three season athlete at Xavier in his Freshman year running the 55m,
100m, and 200m events for both the Freshman and Varsity Indoor Track team.
He helped the Freshman Track team to win the Jesuit Invitational
held at Fordham Prep. He was
also a member of the Freshman Baseball team where he started in
Centerfield. In his Sophomore
year, Trey ran the 200m and 400m events for both the Varsity Indoor and
Outdoor Track Seasons, helping Xavier to win the prestigious Mayor’s Cup
and the NYCHSAA Sectional Championship for the 1st time in
school history. He was also
the Anchor Leg on the winning Sophomore 4x400 Relay at the CHSAA
Intersectional Meet.
Live! It's Saturday Night!
Xavier vs. Mount at Jack Coffey Field
(If you read nothing else, please don't miss the e-mail from head football coach Chris Stevens at the end of this article. Read it, and then ask yourself: "How can I NOT be at Fordham University tonight to have our kids' backs?")
The Team Formerly Known as the Kaydets... and then the Bruins (Est. 1882)... will have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the friendly confines of Fordham University's Jack Coffey Field in advance of this year's Turkey Bowl when they (finally) meet Mount St. Michael in the first round of the Catholic High School Football League AA Division Playoffs tonight. Kickoff is at 8:30 PM.
The last time the Knights (5-2 CHSFL; 6-2) played football for real was back on October 27th— nearly three weeks ago— when they spoiled Christ the King's Homecoming Weekend 40-14. Tonight's game was supposed to have been played on November 4th, Marathon Sunday, but Hurricane Sandy wiped out that weekend's playoff schedule and, for that matter, the New York City Marathon. The quarterfinals were rescheduled for the following weekend, but then came the nor'easter, which dumped a half a foot of snow on a city that had already been brought to its knees by fire and flood.
So here we are, and unless we are visited by a plague of locusts between now and kickoff, the 2012 Xavier football season officially resumes atop Rose Hill tonight. Xavier-Mount is the second game of a twi-night doubleheader that will open with Fordham Prep taking on Cardinal Hayes at 6:00 PM.
As I explained in a previous E-Blast from what seems like several months ago now, the CHSFL's current playoff system dates back several seasons to when the CHSFL consolidated from three divisions— AAA, AA and A— into two divisions: the AAA-AA Division with 12 teams, and the AA-A Division with 8 teams. At the end of the regular season, the teams in 1st through 8th place in the AAA-AA Division compete in the AAA Division Playoffs for the AAA Division Championship. The teams occupying 9th through 12th places in the AAA-AA Division play the teams in 1st through 4th places in the AA-A Division (Xavier's division) for the AA Division Championship. (The teams in 5th through 8th places in the AA-A Division play each other for the A Division Championship.)
In the AA Division playoffs, the four AAA-AA Division teams are seeded #1 through #4 and are automatically granted home field advantage. (Don't get me started.) The four AA-A Division teams are seeded #5 through #8. Xavier is seeded #7 because the Knights finished the regular season in third place— behind St. Francis Prep and St. John the Baptist and ahead of Cardinal Hayes— and, as #7 seed, they should be playing the #2 seed, AAA-AA Division Fordham Prep. Because the CHSFL respects traditional Thanksgiving rivalries, however, the 16th Street Kids are instead playing the top-seeded Mounties following the Rose Hill Prepsters' game against Mount's traditional Thanksgiving rivals, Cardinal Hayes.
Should both Jesuit schools prevail tonight, I would expect that next Thursday's Turkey Bowl Classic will double as an AA Division semi-final playoff game, but first things first.
So why is tonight's game not at Mount St. Michael's Bronx campus? Return with us now to the weekend of November 3-4, when this contest was supposed to have been played. The game was scheduled for Marathon Sunday because the SATs were being held that Saturday and, like St. Joseph's by-the-Sea, Xavier's opponent in last year's playoff opener, Mount's field has no lights.
Although Xavier no longer has to worry about the New York City Marathon and its accompanying traffic nightmare, the SATs have followed the Knights and Mounties to this weekend. However, both teams play again just five days from now, on Thanksgiving morning, and so both coaches want to get this playoff game out of the way as soon as possible. There was no way, of course, that Mount was going to agree to play at Aviator Field, and so here we are.
If these were normal times, playing this game at Fordham University— scene of many gridiron triumphs by the Kaydets, Bruins and Knights over the decades— might be considered an advantage for Xavier. I know that as a player, coach and now a fan, I have never felt like a visitor at Jack Coffey Field because Xavier Nation has always packed the stands on Thanksgiving morning. In many years, we have outnumbered the Fordham Prep faithful.
But what happens tonight, will depend in part on you, Xavier Nation. All of us in the long Maroon and Blue Line, as John Murray '67 likes to call Xavier's gridiron alumni, know that playing football at 16th Street has never been easy, even in the best of times. And these are not the best of times.
Xavier Nation has taken a pounding from Hurricane Sandy and the subsequent nor'easter. If you've been to Xavier's website, you know that over 80 kids from the student body have been put out of their homes. Over 20, including some of our football players, have lost everything.
But if you live in the Rockaways or Breezy Point, or you've been part of the incredible Xavier relief effort there, or you've been following the accounts of that effort posted on Xavier's website by president Jack Raslowsky, headmaster Mike LiVigni and Xavier E-News editor Mike Benigno '00, you also know that many of Xavier's current gridironmen have been front and center in those relief efforts when they could have been making the best of a very bad situation by using their time off from football to rest their battered bodies and catch up on their sleep.
Although it's been 44 years since I played football for Xavier, I can still remember the fatigue that would set in by mid-November after nearly three months of relentless, nonstop pounding at practice and in games exacerbated by the grind of long commutes, late dinners and hours of homework and studying late into the night. I know that you also remember. In my book, these kids are heroes. And I know that you know that, too.
But enough bloviation from me. Let me close instead with this e-mail that I received late last night from Xavier head football coach Chris Stevens '83:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, Tom.
Sorry, I have meant to write you back so many times that I have lost count.
Our team has taken a significant hit. We have 11 of 43 players out of their houses, but you could not tell that in school or on the field. They are a special group— no missed practices and many are doing even better than usual at school. I am very proud of and inspired by them.
The late cancellation of the Mount game was bad and the loss of Pier 40 and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel were real issues. This was compounded by the fact that New York City closed all city parks last Wednesday and Thursday due to fear of the nor'easter.
We have practiced in the gym, at Red Hook, at East River Drive (My first football there in 29 years.) and at Chelsea Waterside Park on 23rd Street when if finally reopened. The loss of Pier 40 at this time of year really hurts, but they had extensive damage, with the turf bubbling up and tearing, so that will be out for the forseeable future.
The kids are in great spirits and love each other's company. Usually at this time of year there is a lot of burnout, but the camaraderie of the team is really helping some of our kids cope. It is a great caring support system and a blessing to be a part of.
See you Saturday night.
Chris
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I'll see you mugs (and muggettes!) tonight. In the Bronx. There is another page in the 130-year-long annals of Xavier football history waiting to be written, and I'm going to be there when the 16th Street Kids write it.
"Sons of Xavier, keep marching..."
Stand by...
Tom O'Hara '69
