With a Catholic state football championship on the line this weekend, St. Francis has had to deal with the uncontrollable.
In the leadup to Saturday’s game against Cardinal Hayes (11-2) at Columbia University’s Baker Field Complex at 2 p.m., St. Francis (5-5) will have to overcome a three-week layoff after beating Canisius for the Monsignor Martin championship, not knowing its opponent until the eve of Thanksgiving, scrambling to make travel arrangements and overcoming local weather.
It’s been a lot for the Red Raiders, but coach Jerry Smith takes it as a compliment to his program being able to prepare for another state championship in late December.
“With this game being this Saturday and not knowing where we were playing the night before Thanksgiving, and then we were trying to get ahold of hotels, no salespeople were around because of the holidays,” Smith said. “It’s a good problem to have because we’re in the game but if it was any other team, it would’ve been done, but Hayes doesn’t have a home field.”
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On Monday, the team practiced in the snow on campus, and the following morning a hotel was finalized. In the afternoon, the team practiced at the University at Buffalo’s Murchie Family Fieldhouse.
“It’s been an interesting process,” Smith said. “Like anything else, you just suck it up buttercup, let’s keep going. There’s been a lot of things going on this year from logistics to personnel, you name it. I’ve kept an even keel as much as humanly possible to let the kids know that’s not about what’s happening, it’s about how we react to it. We could let the situation overcome us while we have the problem, but that would be exhausting and consume us.”
Not wanting to overwork his players, Smith has condensed practices but has been making sure his players get reps at game speed. The team had a scrimmage last week, which led “to a few guys getting banged up.”
“Right now, we appear to be healthy and will find out in the coming days if everyone will be 100 percent,” Smith said.
According to MaxPreps, Cardinal Hayes is the No. 1 team in New York State, while St. Francis is No. 7. All season long, the Red Raiders have relied on Terrence Pendergrass, who is averaging 121.2 rushing yards per game and has 18 touchdowns. As a team, St. Francis averages 195.1 rushing yards and 142.2 receiving yards per game.
“Our kids have been through a gauntlet of playing teams being better than the last,” Smith said. “We’re not intimidated by any team, that’s for certain. The biggest enemy is ourselves. We have to be confident in what we’re doing and make sure we’re prepared. I think over the course of the year of the different offenses and defenses we’ve played, let’s hope there isn’t something we haven’t seen.”
As for the Cardinals, they are one of the more potent offenses in the state, averaging 240.1 rushing and 226 receiving yards per game. Kenneth Antoine (109.6) and Rich Belin (98) are the team’s top two rushers and have combined for 34 rushing touchdowns. On the outside, Cleveland Charlton (81.3), Reid Jones (62.2), and Eli Garcia (60.9) lead the team in receiving and account for 23 of the team’s 28 receiving touchdowns.
“Their quarterback does everything for them and he’s hard to bring down,” Smith said. “They have three really good receivers. It’s going to be formidable because they like to throw the ball deep, but it gets deceiving because they run the heck out of the ball. The running back [Antoine] reminds me of Ricardo Kidd with the way he runs it. We’re going to have to swarm and stay where we’re supposed to and run the ball and stop the run. If we do that, we can take a shot at trying to contain them.”
Smith is proud of his team for getting through the uncontrollable, as they prepare for Cardinal Hayes, which Smith repeatedly described as being “formidable.”
“We feel honored and privileged to play football at this time of year,” Smith said. “It’s been tough, but the kids have been resilient.”