Red Division Champs
LaSalle dethrones St. Joe’s Prep

By John Knebels

Maybe if they played the game 10 times, St. Joseph’s Prep would win nine of them. Maybe if they’d play 100 times, the Prep would win 99 of them.

To LaSalle High School, however, it doesn’t matter how many theoretical formulas would determine the more powerful football team, because in the Catholic League Red Division championship on Nov. 24 at Northeast High School, the scoreboard left the only message that mattered. Loud and bold, it said the underdog Explorers had dethroned the defending champion Hawks, 14-7.

“Something like this is hard to put into words,” said senior defensive tackle Dom Baker, who is as ferocious on the field as he is affable off the field. “For this to happen in my senior year . . . It can’t get much better than this.”

Fighting off a bundle of bruises and sprains, in his determination Bake epitomized a LaSalle effort that truly will be remembered for a long, long time. In fact, the entire fall has been an incredible experience for LaSalle, which, earlier this year seized Catholic League titles in cross country and soccer.

The last title was definitely the most difficult, and while many of LaSalle’s players insisted they thought they had a decent chance at a victory despite what just about everyone else had predicted, the Explorers’ post-game celebration indicated that they, too, were a tad shocked at what they had just accomplished.

As they faced the huge throng of yellow- and-blue-clad fans and, with helmets raised, sang the school’s alma mater together, LaSalle’’s players looked like oversized kids on Christmas morning.

“Where’s that plaque, baby?” yelled senior lineman Brian Trainer. “Where’s that plaque?”

About 30 feet away, LaSalle’s first-year coach, Drew Gordon, was holding the round trophy. Beaming, Gordon insisted that even though he was able to guide LaSalle to its first football title since 1998, it was the kids who deserved all the credit.

That includes players such as junior quarterback John Harrison, whose record-setting year included an astounding 30 touchdown throws and 2,274 yards through the air. In the biggest game of his life, Harrison completed 17 of 29 for 175 yards and a touchdown pass to Joe Migliarese, the junior receiver’s 13th of the season.
And it includes senior all-around standout Jack Forster, whose 12 TD receptions meant that the Prep sometimes had to put a two-pronged clamp on him, thus opening the doors for his teammates. And senior linebacker JB Campanella was a defensive force all day long.

And, perhaps most importantly, it includes senior safety Greg Frantz. It was Frantz who made the game’s biggest play, scooping up a fumble at his own four-yard line and rumbling 96 yards for the game’s first score with 1:54 remaining in a first quarter that was controlled mostly by the Prep. Not only did the touchdown ignite a crowd that had been silenced by the Prep’s vaunted run game, it provided the Explorers with a heavy dose of confidence.

“I just picked it up and started running,” said Frantz, who earlier in the season scored on an interception return. “I didn’t know if someone was going to catch me. I don’t know if I ever ran any faster than that.”

After Harrison and Migliarese hooked up for a touchdown to give LaSalle a stunning 14-0 lead before halftime, the Prep finally inched its way back late in the third quarter when junior star Jamir Livingston, who gained 146 yards on 30 carries, raced 18 yards to cut the deficit in half.

As the Prep crowd rose to the occasion, the end—- a dramatic late Prep rally to win the game — seemed inevitable. But the score stayed the same, and suddenly, the Hawks were down to their final march inside the final minutes.

On fourth down and long at the LaSalle 30-yard line, the Prep had one last chance. But thanks to LaSalle’s Campanella and senior lineman John McBurnie, the play never developed, as an unprotected Prep senior quarterback Chris Whitney was sacked for a five-yard loss.

With no yellow flags anywhere to be found, the party began.

“Right before the last play, I came out of the game and told one of our assistant coaches that we were going to win,” said Baker. “He raised his fist. Then the guys out there made it happen. It was unbelievable.”

Across the field, Prep players were left wondering how one of the biggest upsets in recent memory happened.

The Prep (9-3 overall) had traversed the Red Division with a perfect 7-0 record during the regular season to increase its divisional winning streak to 48 over seven years, and the team had walloped LaSalle, 42-14, during the regular season. Too, the Hawks were dominant in their semifinal victory over a very strong North Catholic team.

Meanwhile, LaSalle (10-3 overall) had started the season with seven straight wins before enduring a terrible late-season slump that included three consecutive losses — to the Prep, Archbishop Ryan, and Roman Catholic.

Even in the playoffs, LaSalle’s overall “A” game was AWOL. The team needed overtime heroics to defeat a seemingly overmatched Cardinal O’Hara, 39-38, before righting the ship with a 28-7 victory over Roman Catholic.

Then came the night of nights.

“We tried to run around them the last time we played,” said Baker. “Our coaches told us to go right at ’em. Go man-to-man and do your best.”

The loss was particularly deflating to the Prep’s Whitney, the division’s Most Valuable Player. What the post-game stats won’t show is that Whitney’s sub-par numbers do not include two beautifully thrown passes that were dropped by normally sure-handed receivers in the end zone.

Too, questionable play calling — too much passing after already establishing a ground game that was not being stopped — resulted in some forced throws that a visibly frustrated Whitney would love to have had back. Clearly, the Prep had been unaccustomed to playing behind by two scores, and likewise, patient scavengers, the Explorers accepted every gaffe with appreciation.

When it was over, it didn’t matter what the conventional wisdom was. The only thing that mattered was a 2006 football championship plaque that sits proudly in LaSalle’s already jam-packed trophy case.

(Do you have a response to this or a tip for a future article? Send email to jknebels@comcast.net.)