Varsity Aces

Stape's Scene: Tuesday Morning Quarterback

Some random notes from the weekend in which I saw two pivotal football games, St. Joseph's thrilling 17-15 victory over Wayne Hills and Paterson Catholic's 22-12 triumph at Lodi ...

* Wayne Hills' inability to stop St. Joseph on third-and-long in numerous crucial situations hurt the Patriots as much as those two turnovers in the final 3:21 of the first half. Kai Dominguez's biggest catch of the game came on a third-and-16 from the Green Knights' own 39 early in the second quarter. He went up and made a leaping grab for 19 yards, a momentum-changer for sure. Two plays later, Kai the Dominator hooked up with Devin O'Connor for 12 more yards on a third-and-8; and on the next play, O'Connor went up top and found Dominguez in the back of the end zone for a 28-yard score.

Stape's Scene: Sizing Up Hills-Joe's

The game of the year in New Jersey up to this point is on tap for Friday night when St. Joseph visits Wayne Hills looking to snap the state's longest winning streak at 55 games.

Oh, you didn't know this game was going on? Don't mind my sarcasm, considering everyone wants to see how North Jersey's premier public school program over the last decade measures up to what the Green Knights represent on the non-public side of the ledger.

Everyone will make predictions, and as you'll see, many of those will be made along public/non-public lines. Go ahead and tell me I'm pushing an agenda, but the more people I talk to, the more I'm convinced people would rather judge this game on that bias and not what we've seen on the field so far this year.

Stape's Scene: Flashback, Flash Forward

What a weekend of high school football, both in Alabama, which is where I spent three days with Don Bosco, and back here in North Jersey, where several programs put up pivotal performances that could set the stage for even bigger things down the road.

We're heading into what has the potential of being the biggest weekend of the season thus far, but before I go there, let's take a look back and put a bow on Week 3:

Stape's Scene: Dancing in the Ballroom

Don Bosco just finished up going through its pre-game paces in the ballroom here at the team hotel, and the Ironmen seem to be ready to go. They'll board the buses here at 4 p.m. CST and head over to the stadium, which is about a 15-minute drive.

A lot of focus on special teams as usual. Plenty of emphasis for the offensive line, which did not play particularly well against De La Salle. I know that sounds funny for a team that scored 30 points, but the Ironmen expect much better play from that unit tonight.

I'm headed over to Stanley-Jensen Stadium in a few minutes, so stick around.

Stape's Scene: Headliners

The headline in today's edition of the Prattville Progress, the local paper down here, proclaimed Don Bosco as “the biggest thing to hit town since 1923.” That's when then-manager Connie Mack brought the Philadelphia Athletics down here to play an amateur all-star team on the baseball diamond.

A little hyperbole? Of course. But that's how big this is down here.

Prattville has a 24-game home winning streak and it does not plan on that ending tonight.

 

Stape's Scene: The Countdown Has Begun

A little over five hours remain before Don Bosco and Prattville kick things off inside Stanley-Jensen Stadium down here in Alabama and on national television on ESPNU. An expected crowd between 12,000 and 13,000 should fill the seats to capacity, and I plan on heading over to the stadium around 3 p.m. CST to take in the pre-game.

Don Bosco has its team meal scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CST, and I'll head over to the team hotel when I'm finished talking high school sports on WGHT's Sports Overtime (ghtradio.com) between 2-3 p.m. EST.

Some things to think about -- the humidity will undoubtedly be a factor tonight. I'm not saying Don Bosco will be affected more or less than Prattville, but if it's anything like yesterday, the soup's on. Imagine, if you will, playing a full-contact, all-out pads-on game in Jersey in July. That's what it felt like.

Funny exchange between Bosco assistant coach/former Bergen Catholic standout running back Joe Sandberg and Bosco senior Tony Jones. Anyone who remembers Sandberg vs. Bosco his senior year with severe cramping at halftime of their game -- I believe BC led 14-13 at half before Bosco rolled in the 2nd half with Sandberg on the sidelines -- will certainly laugh at his telling Jones to drink lots of pickle juice last night to ward off any cramps against Prattville.

Coaches on both sides will be wearing pink patches to support Coach to Cure MD, a national campaign designed to promote awareness and encourage funding for Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy research being employed by the American Football Coaches Association at the college level this weekend.

Stape's Scene: Live in Alabama

Stay updated throughout the day on the happenings surrounding tonight's high school football game between Don Bosco and Prattville. Local sports columnist Art Stapleton will be posting updates on the Varsity Aces blog all day long, in addition to score and on-the-scene updates beginning late this afternoon on twitter.com/artstapleton and twitter.com/varsity aces.

You can keep up with score updates on twitter.com/varsityaces, so keep coming back throughout the day for more.

Stape's Scene: The Big Show

It's 6 a.m. CST down here in Alabama and I just caught interviews on the local news featuring Prattville coach Jamey DuBose and a snippet from Don Bosco coach Greg Toal hyping the big game. I think they could have tracked Toal down at the team hotel or at the walkthrough at Stanley-Jensen and not at a gas station, which was in the background. Funny stuff, actually.

This is Art Stapleton, the local sports columnist for The Record, and I'll be here throughout the Don Bosco trip, providing on the scene updates before, through and after the game, so stick with the Varsity Aces blog and read expanded coverage in the pages of The Record.

You can also follow me on twitter.com/artstapleton and twitter.com/varsityaces beginning this afternoon, and there will be constant score updates on twitter.com/varsityaces.

OK, so here's the deal. I've got two stories in the paper today focusing on the Bosco-Prattville showdown. The first column -- a look from the mainstream perspective of Don Bosco -- is an attempt at bringing this story forward. It's not necessarily for the hard core local sports fan who knows this stuff and accepts it as our reality, but for the average fan wondering how we've got a big-time football program in North Jersey and how it is perceived in its own backyard. More on that down below.

Stape's Scene: Lions in Sheep's Clothing

Be very careful, Don Bosco fans, because this much is clear after spending a half a day here in Alabama preparing for Friday night's showdown: the Prattville Lions are lying in wait and waiting to pounce.

Look, Prattville may not have the national ranking, but it does have tremendous tradition. There will be a packed stadium of 13,000 fans rooting against the Ironmen, who have not played since Sept. 12 -- when, I might add, a majority of the 8,600 fans were cheering for them.

Prattville is fast and runs a spread very similar to the one employed by Don Bosco on offense, which should help the Lions in preparation for the Ironmen. The Lions have a quarterback in LSU-bound Sam Gibson, whom the Bosco coaches compare to former St. Peter's stud Will Hill with his ability to keep defenses honest with his arm and keep coordinators up at night with his legs.

Prattville (3-1) also has a talented safety in Nick Perry, who has already committed to Alabama. This community is so juiced up for this game, the best example of this being the scene that played out as Don Bosco finished up its walkthrough at Stanley-Jensen Stadium.

Three pick-up trucks stopped in front of the stadium with the sounds of "Sweet Home Alabama" blaring from their radios. All three did so simultaneously, and Bosco definitely took notice.

Also, say what you want about the humidity in Jersey, but those insisting it will be a factor down here were not kidding. It was like pea soup earlier this afternoon -- you just felt the difference, and when the sun came out inside Stanley-Jensen, the temps certainly made it feel like July. Now consider Bosco is playing just its second game, while Prattville is prepping for Game No. 5, you get the picture.

The biggest key to the game, in my opinion, with be Prattville's offensive front against Don Bosco's defensive front. The Ironmen are good in the secondary, but Gibson can't be given time to do his thing.

Don Bosco's got to play better offensively in this one than it did against De La Salle. I know, that may sound silly for a team that scored 30 points, but many of those came on a short field.

More to come on Friday.

Stape's Scene: Back at the Ranch ... or the Hotel

Don Bosco practiced at Stanley-Jensen Stadium for about 1:45 with a heavy emphasis on special teams, a favorite of Greg Toal, especially in big games. Some injury news for Don Bosco -- sophomore wide receiver Leonte Caroo will not be playing Friday and he is likely out for an extended period of time.

Caroo went to the doctor for a gash in his arm and, while he was there, according to Nunzio Campanile, he complained of neck pain. What doctors ended up discovering was a stress fracture in his neck, which means he will be out for a while. The Ironmen consider themselves fortunate that such an injury was discovered by accident; Caroo made the trip with the team and, while he must be extremely disappointed, there has to be a sense of relief that this kind of injury was found sooner rather than later.

The team will meet tonight at its hotel for dinner at 7 p.m. CST and I'm guessing some more game planning will follow. It's a long day tomorrow, considering the game won't kick off until 6 p.m. CST.

Those twitter updates I promised won't start until tomorrow. I figured it's better to update the blog today and use twitter for score updates and the countdown to kickoff tomorrow. My column for tomorrow is already filed, so this will probably be my last blog post until tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.