Friars Football: Week 6 Preview

Title: Monday Morning Quarterback / Week 6 Preview
Publication: Frairs Football.com
Author: Jason Molinet
Date: 10-8-07
Word Count: 747

OK, Friars fans. The holiday is over. I’m not talking about Columbus Day, although most students did enjoy a four-day hiatus. I mean the football schedule.

Winless Xaverian represented a break from the pressure-packed CHSFL schedule for St. Anthony’s. The X-Men, as the announcer at Kings Bay Field in Brooklyn repeatedly called Xaverian on Saturday night, was a team that no one was afraid to play or even conjure up doomsday scenarios about.

The Friars’ 27-6 win was the equivalent of a scrimmage. And coaches found plenty to hound players about. The game was just what St. Anthony’s needed after a tough three-week stretch. Well, the holiday is over.

Three teams remain on the schedule — Holy Trinity, St. Joseph by the Sea and Chaminade — and each represents a bear trap in the woods. One misstep and — snap.

It begins Saturday with the final road game of the regular season, a 1:30 p.m. start in Hicksville against rival Holy Trinity. Don’t be fooled by the Titans’ 2-3 record. They are as good if not better than a year ago when they fought the Friars to a standstill for one half.

The question is can the Friars measure up to last season’s accomplishments? Did your ears just pop? That’s the pressure of another championship run rising once again. The forecast calls for that pressure to be at its most intense Saturday just before game time.

St. Anthony’s at Holy Trinity

WHEN: Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hicksville
RECORDS: St. Anthony’s (4-1); Holy Trinity (2-3)
THE SCOOP: Holy Trinity is coming off its biggest win of the season, an impressive 45-28 flogging of Staten Island power Farrell. The Titans have won two of their last three, sandwiched between a frustrating 7-6 loss to Chaminade. The Titans moved the ball up and down the field but couldn’t finish. One drive was stopped by Chaminade safety Andrew Morici, who intercepted a pass at the Chaminade 5-yard line. But that offensive brownout was followed by a blowout. Sophomore Anthony Brunetti rushed for 280 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries to sink Farrell. Senior quarterback Michael Lagalante is a year older and wiser. He’s thrown five touchdown passes this season. Look out for senior linebacker Robert Lazos, a real playmaker for the Titans. The Friars have utilized several options on offense the last two weeks — eight different players carried the ball for 188 yards against Xaverian — and are poised for a breakout game. The big question is will Brunetti find running room or not. If Rutgers recruit Scott Vallone (neck) doesn’t play for the second straight week, the Friars will surely miss their big run stuffer on the defensive line. Someone must step up or Holy Trinity could make things interesting

2006 REWIND

ST. ANTHONY’S 35, HOLY TRINITY 7
Each team entered the game 4-0. But only St. Anthony’s emerged unbeaten, pulling away for a 35-7 win. The defense stuffed Holy Trinity quarterback Michael Lagalante on a fourth-and-1 play from the St. Anthony’s 14-yard line just 4:21 into the game. That set the tone on a night when the Friars forced three turnovers, sacked the quarterback five times and turned away the Titans twice in the red zone. Junior defensive tackle Scott Vallone (pictured above) finished with 11 tackles, three for a loss, and one sack. Holy Trinity’s lone touchdown, which sent the teams into halftime tied at 7, was set up by a pass interference call that could have easily gone the other way. John Gagliano took the first play from scrimmage to open the second half and broke away for a 41-yard touchdown run, the first of 28 unanswered points by St. Anthony’s. Holy Trinity, which scored from 30 or more yards six times in its first four games, could not connect on the big play against the Friars. And after a night on the run from the Friars’ relentless line, Lagalante left the game with an injury with 4:24 left.

THE SERIES

St. Anthony’s leads the all-time series with the Titans 23-8 dating to 1974 and has won the last 13 meetings. Holy Trinity last beat the Friars, 28-13, in 1992, part of a 3-6 season for St. Anthony’s. Last year’s game was one of the most anticipated in the history of the rivalry with each team 4-0. But the Friars broke it open in the second half to win, 35-7. Here’s the last five meetings:
•2003: St. Anthony’s 47-24

•2003 CHSFL semis: St. Anthony’s 64-34

•2004: St. Anthony’s 13-6

•2005: St. Anthony’s 42-7

•2006: St. Anthony’s 35-7