Tough, physical mistake-free football is what we need to play!
Tough, physical mistake-free football is what we need to play!
THE ROAD TO A CHAMPIONSHIP STARTS HERE FRIDAY NIGHT!
10/24/2009

 

 

116 - 31

 

That is what Marcellus has scored in the last 3 games versus what it has given up.  That’s momentum.  That’s a team on the rise.

 

We have a big game on Friday against South Jefferson.  It’s win or go home.  You can have a bad week in the regular season and still make the playoffs but in the post-season you have to bring your best every week and win or it’s all over. 

 

This is a big game.  Big games require big plays from big play makers.  Playoffs are a stage that is set for stars to shine and field generals to take over a game.  Big time players play big time in big games – that’s what we have to have on Friday; big time plays from our prime time play-makers. 

 

The good news is we have plenty of them.

 

“The Trigger” for Marcellus stands 6’3” tall and weighs 215 pounds and has a howitzer for an arm.  Senior captain Will Fiacchi is the leading passer in New York State according to MaxPreps with 1,981 yards in the regular season – averaging an incredible 18.5 yards per completion.  Against South Jefferson in Week 4, he engineered a 65 yard game-winning drive with no time-outs in the final 1:19 minutes on his way to a 519 yard passing game (the 3rd highest single game total in New York State history).  He holds division 1 scholarship offers and is headed to the next level … but not before he takes this team to a championship!





 

“The Bus” stops for no one as junior running back Ricky Alfreds has made a living this regular season shredding opposing defenses.  Strong, quick and surprisingly fast, Alfreds hits the hole running downhill and has a leg drive that carries piles of defenders forward.  On a team that lives by the pass, Alfreds rushed for 625 yards in the regular season, averaging an impressive 6.9 yards per carry with 4 games of 100+ yards.  But Alfreds is a dual-threat back who is just as dangerous as a receiver considering he tallied 239 yards receiving on 14 catches for an average of more than 17 yards per grab.





 

The team’s leading receiver is like a stealth fighter who is impossible to find until it’s too late and he explodes past you.  Senior captain Dan Rudy runs routes that are smooth as silk and causes opposing cornerbacks to have nightmares.  He’s good for an average of more than 20 yards every time he catches a pass; compiling 690 yards in the regular season with 7 trips to the House.  He’s set two school records this year already for single game receiving yards with a 180 yard performance against VVS and 163 yard shellacking of Homer.  This is a clutch player who leads both on and off the field.





 

None of these 3 big play makers goes anywhere without a butt-kicking doled out by the front five on opposing defenses.  Felicia, Drapikowski, Wagner, Wiley and Tomeny bring the brains and brawn to dominate the line of scrimmage.  Against South Jefferson in Week 4, this Fab-Five allowed the Mustangs to roll up over 700 yards of offense!  In one of the most sophisticated offensive schemes you’ll find in any high school, this blue-collar crew goes to work in the trenches and just gets the job done.  Coaches told the team at the beginning of the year that we would go as far as this group would take us … and right now, they’re looking to take us a LONG, LONG way!

 

If intensity had a face it would have red hair (and look a lot like Zach Wiley).  This outside linebacker is the voice (if not the soul) of the Green Swarm defense.  Wiley blitzes like a heat seeking missile and has blown up more than his share of plays in the backfield and has a nose for the football, recovering several big fumbles this year.  With a bench-press of more than 350 pounds, Wiley is one of the strongest players on the field and also one of the fastest – a dynamite combination unless you’re on the receiving end of one of his smack-downs.  Think of him as The Hulk with red hair … if you’re wearing another color jersey you’re not going to like him when he’s angry – and he’s always angry on that field!





 

I often wonder what the view from the pocket must look like as a pair of 6’5” 230 pound defensive ends close in on you from both sides but I imagine it is not a comforting sight for an opposing QB.  Junior Joe Felicia and senior captain Niko Wagner have combined for 12 sacks in the regular season and batted as many passes.  Both of these players have had their jerseys stretched so often by opposing tackles having to hold them on virtually every play that their XL size game jerseys are now XXXL.  When Wagner and Felicia are in the backfield it looks like two foxes loose in a hen house – total chaos! 





 

The Sniper in the secondary is Steve Brissette who has picked off 3 passes this year already and probably has 3 more coming in the post-season.  He’s always around the ball and has a fumble recovery to his credit as well.  He gets help in that Mustang coverage from Kevin Daily who is as close to a lock-down cornerback as you’ll find in this league.  Daily is one of the fastest players on the team and he uses that speed to close with a vengeance.  The third leading tackler on the team with 50 take-downs to his name, Daily is one of those players who is all fun and games until he steps on the field and then he hunts you like a puma. 





 Senior Jason Howard and freshman (yes, I said freshman) Jason Decker are one and two on the team’s tackle list with 68 and 64 pile-ups respectively.  These two linebackers seem to improve every game and have become a enforcer tandem that shuts down opposing offenses with frightening regularity.  Consider that opening stat of just 31 points scored against Marcellus in the last 3 games and you realize how good this defense is playing as it heads into the post season!





 

Not to be forgotten in this roster of big play makers is the team’s kicker, Brendan Carey, who can change a game in our favor in about 1.5 seconds.  Carey already has 4 field goals this year of 33, 27, 22 and a school-record tieing 42 yarder.  Twice he’s gone 6 for 6 in extra points and has accounted for 32 of Marcellus’s points this season.  He can kickoff deep or hit an onside kick and gives the Mustangs a legitimate threat to score points any time they have the ball on the opponent’s 30 yard line or closer.  In close playoff games, Carey’s leg may be the difference maker.




 

These are all big play makers for Marcellus.  These are all young men who have the potential to take control of a game and carry the team to victory.  But the awesome thing about football is that heroes come from places we expect … and places we don’t expect.  This is the ultimate team sport.  Every one of those star players will be the first to tell you that they aren’t stars at all – the team is the star; the team earns the wins.  While I have the privilege of showcasing a few of them here, every one of those prime time players would tell you it’s never about them; it’s never about one player; it’s always about all 34 of the Green Herd.  The post-season heroes can come from anywhere on this team.  All of our players play with incredible heart and intensity and every one of them is capable of being that one man who makes the difference when we need it most.

 

 

In the playoffs, one snap, one play, one tackle, one catch, one run, one pass, one kick, one turnover can be THE difference between winning and losing.  Who will make that play for Marcellus this week?  Who steps up and leads when we need it most?  Who pushes themselves to be extraordinary at the one moment we need to turn the tide?  It could be anyone in our huddle … this is the season for heroes to emerge!

 

It’s time to play football for real – the kind that counts, the kind that sends the loser home and the winner onward.  That’s the football we live for; that’s the games we want to play; that’s why the team has worked nearly all-year to get here.  It’s game-on!South Jefferson is coming to town this Friday night.  They think they can steal one from us.  They think they can beat us on our home turf like we beat them on theirs.  They think they can advance.  But they are mistaken.  They are badly mistaken.  The team they’re playing in week one of the playoffs is not the team they played in week 4 … not by a long shot … we are on a roll; we are playing our best football of the season.  We gave up cheap points to them in the first game – but we will not be so generous this time around.  They are a good team – they have athletes who can be dangerous so we have to treat them with respect … they’re not here by accident and we know from last year what happens when we look past any opponent.  But we won’t do that this Friday night.  No, we’ll be looking right at South Jefferson – they will have our undivided attention! 

 

It’s time to play big time football.  It’s time to make the push for the championship this team wants more than anything this year.  It’s there for the taking.  The goal is in sight.  South Jefferson is in the way – so let’s get rid of them this week.  Let’s play the caliber of football that goes out and dominates for 4 quarters – that flexes its muscle in every aspect of the game and serves notice to future opponents that the Green Herd is coming at full speed. 

 

Friday night lights has never felt so good! 

 

GO MUSTANGS!