11-16-08 CHSFL Class AAA Semifinal 37-15 W

Brendan Schreoder quarterbacked the Friars to victory.

BY JONATHAN WALTER

Rivalry games don’t get much bigger. St. Anthony’s had to deal with the loss of quarterback Tom Schreiber during the week and at the same time prepare for the biggest game of the season.

Call it a perfect storm of events. The second-seeded Friars weathered the storm, and behind a 24-point third quarter, beat No. 6 Chaminade, 37-15, in a CHSFL Class AAA semifinal on Sunday at Cy Donnelly Field in South Huntington. The Friars shined on defense, forcing Chaminade to punt five times, recording three interceptions and two fourth-down stops. The strong defensive play put the Friars in good field position all game long, and put the team in a position to win.

Now the Friars (9-2) are one win away from their eighth straight championship. They advance to the CHSFL AAA title game and will face No. 1 Iona Prep (11-0), which downed St. Anthony’s, 41-21, during the regular season. The game is a 4 p.m. Saturday at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale.

The Friars offense had trouble finishing drives early and turned to their reliable field goal kicker in Maryland-recruit Nicholas Ferrara. All he did was convert on field goals from 31 and 29 yards out. St. Anthony’s took a 6-0 edge into intermission.

Chaminade (6-5) wrested away momentum – and the lead — in the third quarter. Friars quarterback Brendan Schroeder, in his first game as the starter, was intercepted by linebacker Timothy Pond, setting up the Flyers at the St. Anthony’s 22-yard line. Quarterback Ryan Higgins put the Flyers on the board with a 7-yard strike to receiver Robert Lucas. The extra point gave the Flyers a short-lived 7-6 lead.

Kick returner Nick Flynn gave the Friars excellent field position with a 75-yard kickoff return fielded at the 1-yard line. However, the Friars offense still had trouble picking up the first downs. Ferrara pounded another field goal, this time from 23 yards out to put the Friars up 9-7.

Two interceptions netted the Friars 14 quick points. Friars linebacker Paul Alessandri intercepted a pass at the Chaminade 24. Schroeder wasted no time as he completed a 24-yard touchdown pass to receiver Pat Fiorvanti on the next play.

On Chaminade’s next possession, Higgins threw another interception right into the arms of cornerback Matt Metalios, who jumped receiver Michael Ehrhardt’s route. Metalios ran it back 26 yards for a touchdown. After Ferrara’s extra point, the Friars suddenly led 23-7.

The Friars offense finally got the big yards they were looking for. After getting the ball at the Flyers 42, they pounded the ball with their running backs. Kevin O’Malley finally broke away from a couple tackles and took the ball 33 yards into the end zone.

The Flyers scored once more in the fourth. Christopher Dooley came through with a 4-yard touchdown run for the Flyers, but it was too late. With time winding down, the Friars ran out a huge chunk of time on a drive where they ran the ball eight times and put the ball in the end zone on another O’Malley run to crush all hope of a comeback for Chaminade.

Now St. Anthony’s is back where it belongs – in the title game.

Chick here for game photos courtesy of John Barone:

SCORING
TEAMS………………1…..2…..3…..4 — FINAL
Chaminade…………..0…..0…..7…..8 — 15
St. Anthony’s……….0…..6….24…..7 — 37
SA – FG 31 Ferrara
SA – FG 29 Ferrara
C – Lucas 7 pass from Higgins (Connelly kick)
SA – FG 23 Ferrara
SA — Fiorvanti 24 pass from Schroeder (Ferrara kick)
SA – Metalios 27 INT return (Ferrara kick)
SA — O’Malley 33 run (Ferrara kick)
C — Dooley 4 run (Dooley pass)
SA – O’Malley 1 run (Ferrara kick)

11-1-08 NSCHSAA Final Chaminade 3-2 W

The Friars are champions.

No. 1 St. Anthony’s beat No. 2 Chaminade, 3-2, in two overtimes to capture the Nassau-Suffolk CHSAA boys soccer championship Saturday night at Adelphi. Orlando Castanada scored twice and Alex Naples made 10 saves.

The Friars move on to the state CHSAA semifinals on Nov. 7. They will face the Buffalo CHSAA champ (either Nichols or St. Francis) at 7:30 p.m. at Adelphi.

10-18-08 @Chaminade 32-28 L

St. Anthony’s fell to Chaminade, 32-28, in a CHSFL JV football game.

10-18-08 CHAMINADE 16-14 W

St. Anthony’s edged Chaminade, 16-14, in a CHSFL freshmen football game.

10-18-08 @Chaminade 24-6 W

Jaffrea Corley-Woods scored on an 11-yard run.

BY JASON MOLINET

St. Anthony’s senior Nick Mercurio scored twice to help offset the loss of Atiq Lucas in a costly 24-6 win over rival Chaminade on Saturday night before a huge crowd at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale. The battle of 5-1 teams saw the Friars reassert themselves on defense and show just how deep they can go.

The Friars (6-1 overall, 5-0 CHSFL) took a real blow to their collective psyche and the offensive game plan when Lucas went down after pounding up the middle on third-and-1 from the St. Anthony’s 48-yard line. Lucas ran for 4 yards before going down at midfield. After a 25-minute delay, Lucas was carted off the field by paramedics.

Lucas had a protective cast placed around his lower leg. The nature of his injury – or how long Lucas will be out – is still unclear. He reportedly broke his ankle. It’s likely Lucas, a surefire Division I-AA prospect, has played his final game as a Friar.

Without Lucas, perhaps Long Island’s top playmaker, St. Anthony’s fed the ball to senior Nick Mercurio. He ran for a career-high 115 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns.

Mercurio got the Friars on the board one drive later. After breaking away for a 40-yard run down to the Chaminade 5, Mercurio finished off the drive with a 1-yard plunge with 41 seconds left in the opening quarter. Nick Ferrara’s point after kick made it 7-0.

Undersized junior running back Jaffrea Corely-Woods stepped up in the second quarter, putting the Friars in front 14-0 with a 11-yard scoring run with 7:54 left.

Ferrara extended the lead to 17-0 with 56 seconds left in the half. His 25-yard field goal capped a drive that began at the Friars’ 32 and lasted 12 plays.

The defense did its job. One week after surrendering 28 points to St. Joseph by the Sea, the Friars gave up just two first downs in the first half against Chaminade (5-2, 3-2). The Flyers didn’t cross midfield until the fourth quarter. That drive was stopped at the Friars’ 10 when Chaminade quarterback Stephen Chmil was stuffed on fourth-and-1.

A late fumble set up the Flyers’ lone score. Chmil hit John Urbank in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 5 with 36 seconds left in the game. The kick failed.

Iona Prep plays Holy Trinity at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Westchester. If the Gaels win, it sets up a showdown of unbeaten CHSFL teams in New Rochelle next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. That’s how tough the schedule has been for the Friars: Every week seemingly is the biggest game yet.

SCORING
TEAMS…………………………………..1……2……3…..4 — FINAL
St. Anthony’s…………………………7…..10……7……0 — 24
Chaminade……………………………0……0……0……6 — 6
SA — Mercurio 1 run (Ferrara kick)
SA — Corley-Woods 11 run (Ferrara kick)
SA — FG Ferrara 25
SA — Mercurio 14 run (Ferrara kick)
C – Urbank 5 pass from Chmil (kick failed)

Football Preview: Chaminade

After two straight trips to Staten Island, the St. Anthony’s road tour continues this week. But at least the Friars won’t have to leave Long island.

St. Anthony’s faces Chaminade in a CHSFL showdown of 5-1 teams at 7 p.m. Saturday at Mitchel Athletic Complex in Uniondale. Football games don’t get much more intense.

The Friars (5-1 overall, 4-0 CHSFL) are coming off a 37-28 win over St. Joseph by the Sea. As usual, Tom Schreiber directed a potent offense and Atiq Lucas and Nick Mercurio proved to be versatile weapons out of the backfield. But the defense has continued to show a disturbing trend of surrendering big plays.

Chaminade (5-1, 3-1) rallied from down 13-0 in the fourth quarter to edge Holy Trinity, 14-13. The Flyers have platooned quarterbacks in their newly-installed spread offense. While the running game couldn’t get traction against Holy Trinity, wideouts Michael Ehrhardt (6-4, 185 pounds) and John Urbank (6-3, 185 pounds) proved to be dangerous downfield threats.

While St. Anthony’s has arguably the top cornerback in the league in Matt Metalios, the Friars had to do without safety Ryan Fumai last week. He was named CHSFL player of the week for his performance against Farrell, but sat out last week with a foot injury. If he remains sidelined, the Flyers have a spot to exploit.

Last season, St. Anthony’s shut out the Flyers, 17-0, in a Week 8 downpour. The Friars own a 30-11 series edge dating to 1974 and have won the last 14 meetings. Chaminade last beat the Friars, 31-19, in 1998. That’s a lot of history for Chaminade to overcome.

– JASON MOLINET

10-14-08 CHAMINADE 2-1 W

That both of these teams actually scored a goal against each other was news let along that one had prevailed in a match up of top Catholic League, Long Island and nationally ranked squads.

When defender Adam Weinzimmer took a pass from fellow senior Karl Rumph and deposited it into the net for a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the contest it was one more goal than either team tallied in a 0-0 draw on Sept. 30.

Then junior forward Orlando Castanada dished to senior midfielder Mike Valencia and with 17 minutes remaining in the game scored the game winner. Don Anding had knocked in the equalizer 22 minutes in.

The Friars are now 7-0-1 and is ranked fourth in a nationwide poll kept by ESPN. The 7-1-1 Chaminade squad is ranked eighth in the identical poll.

Scoring
Team…………………….1….2 – Final
Cham……………………1….0 – 1
St.A………………………1….1 – 7
GOALS – Cham: Anding; St. A.: Weinzimmer, Valenica. Saves – Cham: Saldana 3, Gallagher 4 St. A.: Naples, 6.

9-30-08 @Chaminade 0-0 T

This is what happens when two of the best teams on Long Island and possibly the region match up. Scoring chances, but no scoring as both schools point toward the second’s season contest.

“There were crowds in front of the nets, but no goals,” said coach Gene Buonainuto, who thought it was a “well matched game.” There is no overtime except for playoff games.

Adan Weinzimmer was stopped in the ninth minute and with less than two minutes remaining in the first half Nick Masotto was thwarted by Steven Stefanek, as he broke up a pass that Masotto was zeroing in on. Karl Rumph’s 20-yard direct kick shot was headed away with 5:40 to go in the game. The Friars are now 7-0-1.

Scoring
Team…………………….1….2 – Final
St.A……………………..0….0 – 0
Cham.…………………..0…..0 – 0
Saves. St.A: Naples 13. Cham. NA.