CHSFL AA Division Semifinal Preview

by Matt Diano

#3 Iona Prep (6-3) vs. #7 Xavier (3-5)

When: Saturday November 12^th, 2016

Where: Wellington Mara Field on the Campus of Iona Prep

Time: 1pm

The last time they met:

-Iona Prep won 28-22 on October 22nd

-Gaels senior QB, Michael Apostololoulos connected on 17 of his 28 pass attempts for 194 yards and a 1 TD

-Running back, Rodney Samson Jr. was the leading scorer in the game, account for 12 of IP points with a pair of running TDs; he ended the game with 104 yards on 16 carries…He enters Saturday on a streak of four consecutive multi TD performances.

-Ki’shyne Shipmon, who is fresh off of a CHSFL POTW award following a 3 TD receiving game in the quarterfinal win over Fordham Prep, was the main target on 10/22/16 as well, logging eight catches for 64 yards.

-Johnryan Freeman was also were good out wide, making six snatches of his own to conclude the day with a team-high 98 yards and the program’s only receiving touchdown

-Junior RB/CB Malkelm Morrison was a standout on special teams, returning a kickoff 90 yards for a score.

-Knights’ senior tailback, Jalen Johnson, averaged just under 10 yards per carry (9.7), accumulating 145 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.  He also had two successful two-point conversations to rack up 16 of the team’s 22 points…Johnson  has run for 125 yards or more and multiple touchdowns in four straight games.

-Xavier QB, Joe Morelli, only threw one pass (incomplete), but made his presence felt the best way he could, using his legs to complement Johnson with a 81 yard, 1 TD game on 18 touches.

-Playing within a Chris Stevens’ defensive scheme that stresses negative yardage plays, senior DE, Malik Fisher, made three stops for losses…He finished the game with seven overall tackles

-Even though they were unable to come all the way back (trailed 21-6 at the half), the defending AA titlists won the second half, 16-7

Synopsis:

The second straight David vs. Goliath-esque match-up that the defending AA champion Knights find themselves playing in, if you to ask 100 pundits who they thought would be playing this weekend, probably only one (and he/she’d he lying) would have suggested anything aside from highly anticipated rematch between the Gaels and Christ the King….However, the chalk was not just tossed out the window, it was shot out of a canon, never to be seen again when the Stevens guided cohort  shocked the New York Football world when they forced four turnovers and recorded their second highest point total of the season to upset the host Royals 28-27 to keep their pursuit of a repeat alive….If they hope to extend that hope to championship weekend, they are going to need to be every bit as good on both sides of the ball because in our estimation, Iona Prep (despite being the #3 seed) is the best team remaining in the Double playoff field. 

An epic trial that pits the #2 rated offense in the league vs. the #2 defense, identical to what we wrote last week (and despite the fact that they demonstrated an ability to score when necessary), we feel that the key to keeping the Cinderella story going is for Xavier to do what Knight teams always do well and try to make this a ball-control, low scoring affair where the outcome is closer to 17-14 than it is to the 28-22 tally that occurred back in week #7….But alas, as the cliché goes, this is a goal that is easier said than done as Iona Prep has only been kept under 20 points once this season and are averaging 40.6 points per game…Even the best defensive personnel under the most ideal conditions would struggle to transform 40 into 14, but that is the cross that Xavier must bear….The good news is that they have already established  a precedent for accomplishing this lofty objective when they held now two-time AAA finalist, Cardinal Hayes’s explosive offense to 18 points. 

On the frontlines of the D-Unit will be Fisher (45 tackles, leader in TFL and sacks with 9.5 and 5), junior DT, Derek Orbe (43 tackles, 9 TFL), Rory Kinsella (70 stops, 7 tackles for a loss), Ifeanyi Emeh (64 tackles; 5.5 TFL; seems to elevate his performance for big games, as his two tops performances came against IP and CTK, as he finished with 11 tackles in each), Billy Esposito (33 tackles, 6 TFL), and especially Johnson, who as the team’s #1 defensive back is going to need to concern himself with shutting down any of the three primary WR weapons that he is assigned…Johnson leads the Knights with 79 tackles , four of the school’s nine INTS, and five of their 14 successful pass defenses….Johnson is a reigning Catholic Player of the Week in large part because of the impact that his two interceptions had in helping XR to defy the odds and silence the doubters.

Lining up opposite them is an offensive brigade that no longer needs any introduction because their reputation always precedes them….A unit that can beat you down equally effective by both land and sky, it is no accident or coincidence that Joe Spagnolo’s boys five surpassed 40 points in five of nine games this season and have gone as high as 70 in 2016.  Apostolopoulos, who is ranked in the top-5 in NYS in just about every major passing category, will step onto the field on Saturday having thrown for 2,314 yards and 26 touchdowns while completing 63 percent of his attempts (166-for-264)…The fact that Xavier kept him to under 200 yards in the first meeting is a really good sign for Xavier since it only two other times in 2016.  One All-State player deserves another and for Apostolopoulos, he has found his football soulmate in the person of 11^th grader, Michael Degasparis, who is ranked 2^nd in the Evil Empire with 66 catches and is 4^th in receiving yards with 971 yards…In the first meeting, the 6’2, 185-pounder posted a season low two grabs for only 22 yards…Look for this number to go WAY up now that a trip to ‘ship is at stake.
 

Now, when faced with having to play against what we consider to be one of the best pitch/catch duos in the northeast, the normal logic says that you need to offer safety help over the top to double Degasparis….This is not possible against Iona Prep, because as we saw in October, keeping him under control usually translates into more opportunities for Freeman and Shipmon, who are all too happy to be the ones to send you home with a frown if you do not give them the respect they have earned by offering proper coverage…The latter [Freeman] is himself a person who belongs in the conversation for All-State honors, as he leads the team in touchdown catches with nine, is second on the team with 718 yards, and is third in overall catches with 49….Shipmon’s 40, 564, and 8 do not do him justice; he plays much bigger than those impressive numbers suggest.  He has scored multiple TDs in three games this season, highlighted by last week’s career-high three scores….Shipmon is also the second best running option for the Gaels, as he puts up 11 yards every time you hand the ball off to him.  For the season, he has racked up 307 yards on only 28 carries.
 

Staying on the topic of the IP rushing attack, Samson Jr. is a very safe bet to reach the 1,000 yard plateau this weekend as he comes into semifinal weekend needing only 52 yards, which he can get on a single carry if he is able to get into space…Averaging 105 yards/game and a scorer of 15 rushing TDs in his senior season, just like Johnson for Xavier, Samson is in the midst of a hot streak, having recorded two touchdowns in four consecutive games to give him five multi-TD efforts overall.  While the offense seems to hog the headlines (which we take full blame), it should be pointed out that Iona Prep is currently riding an eight quarter scoreless streak, having shutout St. Francis in the regular season finale and then goose-egging a very strong FP pass attack last week in the quarterfinals…Many of the names cited above (Shipmon, Samson, etc) are significant contributors on defense too, so don’t be shocked if you see a couple of switch hitting (scoring from both sides of the field) performances.
 

As the last team to reach the end zone, Xavier should be expected to use the formula that has served them well, AKA a heavy dose of Johnson (711 yards, 13 TDs) and Morelli (536 yards, 3 TDs)….Because the passing game is not their strong suit, they need to avoid falling into a big hole the way they did a few weeks ago….Like the classic Big-10 football powerhouses of yesteryear, we want them to POUND, POUND, POUND away and dominate T.O.P.