Crusaders Advance to AAA Championship for Third Straight Year
The Stepinac High School Varsity Football Team beat Monsignor Farrell High School, 20-10, in the AAA Semifinals to advance to the CHSFL AAA Championship for the third straight year.
On Saturday, on the Lions home turf in Staten Island, the Crusaders (8-2), the number three seed upset the number two-seed Farrell (7-3), after losing to the them during the regular season, 23-20, on October 15, in White Plains.
The Crusaders victory sets up a rematch from last year’s AAA Championship, as they will face the number four-seed Cardinal Hayes High School (6-4), in the Title game, on Saturday, Nov. 19.
The time and location of the NYCHSFL AAA Championship will be announced later this week. The Crusaders beat Hayes last year in the Championship Game and then went on to capture their first ever CHSAA NYS Championship.
It was a weekend of upsets as Hayes dismantled the AAA top seed St. Anthony’s, 49-35, at St. Anthony’s High School to advance the AAA Championship for the second consecutive year.
It was properly Crusaders Head Coach Mike O’Donnell’s toughest season in the past three years. O’Donnell lost his decade-long Offensive Coordinator Joe Spagnolo, during the offseason who opted to take a Head Coaching position with rival Iona Prep.
Moreover, O’Donnell opened the Crusaders Training Camp this year, less than a week after being discharged from White Plains Hospital, where he was admitted for an irregular heartbeat.
Complicating matters even more, the Crusaders lost two of their best players, Atrilleon Williams and Devante Reid to injury at midseason. Furthermore, they were breaking in Mike Nicosia, a first-year varsity starting quarterback to succeed Stepinac hero Tyquell Fields, who is now playing for D-1 Stony Brook University.
Nonetheless, Stepinac grinded the season to success, while losing only to first place St. Anthony’s and second place Farrell during the regular season. O’Donnell hired the former Head Football Coach at The Hackly School, Phil Treglia, as his Offensive Coordinator, who Nicosia took on-the-job training from during the season.
A premier junior varsity standout, Nicosia learned quickly and grew into a bonafide AAA varsity quarterback as the season progressed. Nicosia shocked Farrell on their home field by throwing two touchdown passes in the first half to put Stepinac in the lead 14-3, at 11:46 of the second quarter.
Nicosia hit his favorite target senior wide receiver Brandon Gasparre, five and a half minutes into the game with a five-yard pass for a touchdown. Then he followed-up by selecting junior underclassman Alex Thomas to receive some glory with a 12-yard strike in the end zone.
Nicosia with nine varsity games on his resume has completed nearly 60% of his passes at a rate of 127-of-215 for 1655 yards and 17 TDs, while only being intercepted five times. “It is a great feeling (to advance to the Championship Game). It is a once in a lifetime opportunity feeling, it does not get any better than this,” thrilled Nicosia.
Although it was the Stepinac defense that was the key to the game. They held the Lions in check while relinquishing only three points until 54 seconds remaining in the game when a fullback pass-play beat the Crusaders secondary in the end zone.
Stepinac Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Demarco’s strategy was to keep the Lions out of field goal territory and the Crusaders achieved that all but twice in the game. “Yes we tried to keep their field position to a minimum,” commented senior linebacker Louis Blackwell. “Teamwork that is how we stopped them from scoring and how we got our offense good field position,” acknowledged Blackwell.
Farrell’s soon to be NFL field goal kicker senior Paul Inzerillo had kicked four field goals including a 52-yarder to beat Stepinac during the regular season. The Crusaders were not going to let him repeat that feat.
Inzerillo marched onto to the field only twice in the Semifinal game. He kicked a 48-yard field goal in the second quarter and missed an attempt from 52 yards in the fourth quarter.
As far as the Crusaders steadfast place kicker Shane Rafferty, he booted two field goals and two extra points to score eight of the Crusaders 20 points. Rafferty kicked a 36-yard field goal to end the first half and a 29-yarder in the third quarter, which was setup by a 40-yard run by Antonio Giannico.
“Shane Rafferty is a great soccer player and great kicker and we are happy to have him,” said Giannico. “It feels amazing to advance for a third straight year. This is our goal and hopefully we come out with the win next week,” said Giannico, who has played on all three Crusaders teams that have reached the AAA Finals the past three years.
This year, the CHSAA NYS Championship will be played at the NYCHSFL site, which translates to, if Stepinac beats Hayes in the AAA Final, the CHSAA NYS Championship game will be played, at Stepinac, in White Plains, on Saturday, Dec. 3.
