Friars Football: Week 7 Preview

Title: Monday Morning Quarterback / Week 7 Preview
Publication: Frairs Football.com
Author: Jason Molinet
Date: 10-14-07
Word Count: 516

With all due respect to Chaminade, St. Anthony’s faces one last real challenger this regular season. People have been looking for excuses to downgrade the Friars ever since a hard-to-imagine loss to Mount St. Michael in Week 3.

Yes, the Friars stumbled badly in the Bronx. But it was one bad day. One quarter, really. St. Anthony’s picked itself off the field and went back to work. The Friars have gotten better week-by-week. Another regular season title is within reach and the Friars should go into the postseason with confidence and momentum.

That will hold true if — and only if — the Friars can get past St. Joseph by the Sea on Friday. This is a team that’s given the Friars fits before. It’s a team that MSG broadcaster Mike Quick has lauded as a darkhorse from Day 1. It’s a team that’s explosive on offense. And it’s a team — like St. Anthony’s — that suffered an embarrassing loss earlier in the season (to Staten Island rival Farrell).

Now that’s something every Friars football player can relate to. So put aside the bravado. Tone down the trash talk. You are playing a team very much like yourselves. Go out there and simply hit someone. This is the night the Friars find out who they are.

St. Joseph by the Sea at St. Anthony’s

WHEN: Saturday, 7 p.m.
WHERE: South Huntington
RECORDS: St. Anthony’s (5-1); St. Joseph by the Sea (5-1)
THE SCOOP: THIS GAME HAS BEEN POSTPONED 24 HOURS BECAUSE OF WEATHER. Staten Island upstart St. Joseph by the Sea beat Iona Prep 34-27 on Sunday. But it was anything but easy. The Vikings needed an interception in overtime to put the game away. Iona Prep actually led 27-14 in the third quarter. But St. Joseph rallied to score the game’s final 20 points. Pat Brennan rushed for 173 yards and three touchdowns on 33 carries and has a CHSFL-best 954 yards and 10 scores. So the challenge for the Friars is a simple one: Stop Brennan. The defensive front did a good job holding Holy Trinity’s running game and Anthony Brunetti to check. The Friars will need a repeat performance. This marks just the third meeting between the schools, all since 2005. The previous two games were high-scoring affairs. So don’t expect any different here. Much of the pressure on offense will fall on Friars quarterback James Brady. What’s new? He needs to shake off his worst passing performance of the season and get everyone involved.

2006 REWIND

ST. ANTHONY’S 36, ST. JOE SEA 35
These teams combined to score 91 points in a 2005 thriller, so this Week 4 match-up spelled trouble. And trouble is what St. Anthony’s got when quarterback James Brady went down with a hamstring injury in the second quarter. The Friars trailed 35-29 late in the game when backup Anthony Gagliano put together the winning drive. He completed a 40-yard pass to Lou Loria to move into Vikings territory. Keith Shannon, who rushed for 112 yards on 22 carries, capped the heroic march with a 1-yard scoring plunge in the final minute and Mike Barbour added the decisive extra point.