2019 UNITED HEALTHCARE EMPIRE CHALLENGE
JAMES M. SHUART STADIUM AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY 
GAMEDAY: JUNE 14, 2019 
TAILGATE 4:00 PM
KICKOFF 7:00 PM

THE GAME WILL AIR ON CBS SPORTS NETWORK ON 6/29 AT 3:00PM

2018 GAMEDAY PHOTOS

BUY TICKETS

Varsity Football

 Practice begins on Thursday August 16, 2018.  
8/16-8/18 Practice on Cy Donnelly Field from 8am-1pm.
 

2018 SEASON:
The varsity football team finished the season with an overall record of 7-2, but were 6 and 0 during the league regular season, good enough to win the NYCHSFL AAA Division title and earn the top seed in the playoffs. The team was lead by a number of outstanding seniors and juniors. Three year starter Greg Campisi and his supporting cast of seniors Danny Parker, Makhai Murphy, and Kyle Angus led one of the top offenses in the Catholic High School Football League.  The team suffered an unfortunate loss to Cardinal Hayes in the semifinals bringing the season to an end. While the season did not end the way the player and coaches hoped it was filled with memories that will last a life time. The coaches are thankful for a group of young men who exceeded expectations and wish all the best to the graduating seniors. The football team will graduate 34 seniors this year. 
Congratulations to the Varsity Football team on a great season.”

2018 MVP Senior Greg Campisi
2018 Team Scholar  Peter Hagan

Coach:
An alum of St. Anthony’s, Coach Reichert completed his 32nd season as the varsity football head coach.  He has been involved with Friar football since 1976.  Coach has won 14 AAA championships and is a member of the St. Anthony’s Athletics Hall of Fame.  He is a part of the Physical Education department at St. Anthony’s and he loves spending his free time at St. Anthony’s supporting all of Friar Athletics.

On Friday, September 28th, St. Anthony’s (3-0) took on Archbishop Stepinac (1-2) at Cy Donnelly Field in a rematch of last year’s CHSFL AAA championship matchup. The Friars looked to get revenge on the Crusaders from Stepinac after losing 47-22 in the championship last year.

The Friars got their revenge, winning a thriller 45-42 to advance to 4-0.

St. Anthony’s came into this game with an extra chip on their shoulder looking for revenge. Senior RB Kyle Angus said, “After losing in the championship last year we knew coming into this game we weren’t going to take no for an answer. We were going to keep fighting through all the way to end and take back what was ours.”

Stepinac came out hot early on in the game. RB Malik Grant tore the Friars up on the ground with big run after big run. On their second drive the Crusaders punched it in the endzone on a Malik Grant touchdown run. On the ensuing drive the Friars went 3 and out and gave the ball back to Stepinac with great field position. The Crusaders took advantage, scoring on a QB draw making the score 14-0 with 2:53 left in the first quarter.

The Friars looked to flip momentum in the second quarter. QB Greg Campisi led the Friars down the field, including a 4th down conversion to WR Greg Randall. Later in the drive Campisi completed a 19 yard pass for a touchdown  to WR Danny Parker to put the Friars on the board. However, they missed the extra point so the score stood at 14-6. On the next Stepinac drive the Friar defense came up with a huge play. DL Xavier Green forced a fumble and it was recovered by DB Nick Espada. Now with the ball back the Friars had momentum. On the very first play of the drive Greg Campisi hit Danny Parker for another 19 yard touchdown. The Friars opted to go for two instead of kicking the extra point. That decision payed off as Campisi found Danny Parker once again to convert. The score was all tied up at 14-14 with 10:42 left in the second quarter.

Both teams added another touchdown before halftime, but the Friars went for two and were unable to convert. Stepinac led 21-20 at halftime.

St. Anthony’s got the ball to start the second half. They took full advantage of it, scoring a touchdown on a Greg Campisi pass to Greg Randall. Again though, the Friars were unable to convert on the two point conversion so the score was 26-21 with 8:47 left in the third quarter. The Friars added another touchdown and a field goal by Silvio LoSardo before the end of the third quarter, while the Crusaders added one touchdown. St. Anthony’s led 37-28 going into the fourth quarter.

With 8:32 left in the game, Greg Campisi ran for a 36 yard touchdown that seemed to put the game out of reach. To their credit, the Crusaders did not give up. They scored two touchdowns in a span of two minutes to cut the lead to 3. After the first touchdown Stepinac attempted an onside kick and was successful. That really shifted the momentum. Stepinac had a chance to tie the game with less than two minutes left, but the field goal hit off the post and was no good.

At this point everyone thought the game was over with Stepinac not having enough timeouts to stop the clock. To everyone’s shock, the Crusaders were able to call an extra timeout. In other words, Stepinac called 4 timeouts in the second half. The referees clearly forgot how many timeouts the Crusaders had. Fortunately for the Friars it wouldn’t matter as St. Anthony’s would go on to win 45-42.

The next home game is Homecoming on Friday, October 12th against Cardinal Hayes. Come out and show your support!

Gabe Angieri

The Friars Varsity football team is coming off of a very successful season making it to the CHSFL Championship. They wound up losing to Archbishop Stepinac 47-22 who was led by 4-star recruit and Syracuse commit Trill Williams. Despite the loss in the championship game, Coach Reichert said, “The team trained for this season no different from any prior season.” Coach said that last year’s team had an amazing season and will look to get back to the dance this year. He said that he hopes last seasons loss helps fuel the team and gives them all the fire and intensity this year to win it all.

This year’s team will have a different look having lost 10 seniors including star running back Sean Bryan who had 915 yards and 14 touchdowns, wide receivers Heron Maurisseau who totaled 493 yards on 31 catches and 5 touchdowns and Julian Chung who had 59 catches for 736 and 3 touchdowns. The team also lost defensive end Grayson Cherubino and linebacker Ryan Vahey. Coach Reichert said it will be hard to replace the lost leadership but he thinks the team can do it. He said, “It will take time but these guys can do it. We just have to go one practice and one game at a time.” He also complimented the coaching staff stating, “The coaches do a great job helping the players with any problems they have and that helps them elevate their game.”

The year’s team will be led by many returning players such as star quarterback Greg Campisi, who totaled 20 touchdowns last year; 10 passing and 10 rushing. Greg displayed his versatility with 1,840 passing yards and 592 rushing yards. Also returning is Kyle Angus who looks to play a bigger role on offense now that Sean Bryan graduated. On the defensive side,

Makai Murphy, Nick Espada and Anthony DePaul look to anchor the defense. Coach believes that these five players will help fill the void left by the seniors.

The team has some up and coming juniors who will look to have a big impact this season. Coach Reichert highlighted a few such as wide receivers Greg Randall and Jaden Jernigan, defensive back Nick Alvarado and linebacker Christian Taylor. Coach is very excited to see what they bring to the team.

According to Coach, the toughest matchups for the Friars will be on September 15th against the Flyers and on September 28th against the reigning champion Archbishop Stepinac. The Homecoming game will be played on October 12th against Cardinal Hayes.

Coach Reichert said, “In order to have another successful season the team must play together, working hard everyday whether its on the field or in the weight room the team must have a never give up and never give in mentality”.

The Friars will look to win the CHSFL championship in what will be Coach Reichert’s final season. The quest begins at home on Friday 9/7, stay tuned for another exciting season.

Here’s the Friar’s schedule:
Home against Delbarton 9/7
Away against Chaminade 9/15
Away against Christ The King 9/22  
Home against Archbishop Stepinac 9/28
Away against Archbishop Spalding 10/5
Home against Cardinal Hayes 10/12
Home against Iona Prep 10/19
Away against Monsignor Farrell 10/26

by: Alex Rocco is a junior at St. Anthony's High School, writing for his third year with the Friar Scoreboard. He hopes to have a career in Sports Management and Media one day.  He is also a member NHS, SALT, Friar Faithful, Special Needs Ministry and Franciscan Youth Ministry.

Suffolk's winningest football coach is retiring after 32 years.

By Gregg Sarragregg.sarra@newsday.com
Photo By :Peter Walden, Sr

They are Friars forever. And they came — more than 300 strong — to salute the man who impacted their lives during their careers at St. Anthony’s High School.

Former teammates and players, spanning parts of five decades, converged on St. Anthony’s Friday night to salute Rich Reichert in his last regular season home game as football coach. Suffolk’s all-time winningest coach has announced that he is retiring after the season.

After warmups for the game against Iona Prep, Reichert walked to the school’s fieldhouse for his pregame speech. He descended the stairs into a virtual twilight zone. The doors to the facility swung open and Reichert was stopped in his tracks. Former players lined the way to the locker room — a gauntlet of men standing side by side, greeting him in a sea of hugs, handshakes and tears. All of his boys.

And now they were men built on the foundation set by Reichert over the past 32 years. Fathers, brothers, men of faith, doctors, lawyers, servicemen, policemen, firefighters, business owners. All came to share in the moment.

“That was overwhelming,” Reichert said after Friday night’s stirring 43-33 victory over Iona Prep. “I had no idea. I don’t know how they kept it quiet. There were guys from the very first team I coached. My teammates were there — it was unbelievable.”

It was a testament to Reichert’s legacy steeped in the Friars’ winning tradition and his love for his players. He will walk away from the job he’s embraced on his own terms. He said it was time to really enjoy his family, especially his wife of 41 years, Maryann. And it was time to give a younger coach an opportunity to build his own legacy.

“It was never about me,” Reichert said. “It was always about St. Anthony’s and the players. It was always about the school and what it offered to young people in a way that helped them to be molded into young men with a purpose. My job was to guide and teach. The winning would take care of itself.”

Reichert graduated from St. Anthony’s in 1970 and went to St. John’s University. He retired as a Nassau County police officer of 23 years in 2003.

“He felt the timing was perfect,” Mary Ann said. “He’ll have time to be with our two girls and his eight-year-old grandson Ben. And he loves watching our son Rich Jr. coach.”

Reichert’s impact at St. Anthony’s will be felt for many years.

"This is a man who’s invested his life into other people’s children, turning boys into men,” said Brother Gary Cregan, the principal at St. Anthony’s. “He’s an institution. These men that came here to celebrate this coach did so because they looked to him as a father, not just a coach. He cared for the individual person as much as the win. That’s what makes him so unique. He intimately connected to our students and school.”

Reichert turned St. Anthony’s into a football powerhouse, winning 14 CHSFL AAA titles. His record of 265-65-3 and winning percentage of .803 is tops in Suffolk.

Keiron Bigby, a 1983 graduate, fondly remembers Reichert, who was new to the Friars coaching staff in Bigby’s senior year.

“When I was a senior there weren’t too many people of color at St. Anthony’s and coach Reichert was always there for me and so supportive,” said Bigby, who played basketball and football at Brown University and earned a Super Bowl ring with the Washington Redskins in 1988. “I was from Central Islip and he connected with me and helped me through some difficult times. He was a very important influence in my life.”

Bigby, 52, who owns a liquor company, is not surprised at Reichert’s legacy.

“He was a St. Anthony’s alum and understood what the school was all about,” Bigby said. “He was dedicated to molding young people. He emphasized diversity and was sensitive to the issue. There were few African American quarterbacks and I dealt with many slurs in my day. I always knew I had coach Reichert’s support and that left an impression.”

Reichert had 28 winning seasons in his 32 years, including a 64-game regular season winning streak from 1998 to 2007.

Former player Tom Monaghan, a 1986 graduate, said Reichert was successful on every level because he was loyal to people and stuck to his principles.

“I coached with him for 14 years and it was a privilege to be on his staff and learn from him,” Monaghan said. “He treated people fairly. He taught me as a young coach to give every player a fair shot. His philosophy is to play as many people as possible. He rarely allows guys to play both ways. And special teams are comprised of 11 more of his players. He gave everyone a chance and that resonates when you’re an adult.”

Monaghan said when he sent the email that informed people of plans to honor Reichert Friday night, there were more than 50 responses in 10 minutes.

Reichert coached just over 1,200 players in his career. And every time he runs into a former player he first asks, “How’s your family?’’ He cares deeply for people. He’s genuine.

“Don’t mistake kindness for weakness,” said St. Anthony’s athletic director Joe Minucci, who graduated in 2004. “He could be tough when he it was warranted. He understands implicitly how to deal with young people. He patiently works in our weight room to give students a plan of action, direction, encouragement and discipline to stick with it.”

Matt McLees, who graduated in 1982, went to Southern Connecticut and played for the Cleveland Browns in 1987 and is the current Nassau high school football coordinator and district athletic director for Sewanhaka Schools, was emotional revealing Reichert’s impact on his life.

“He treated players lovingly and fairly,” McLees said. “When he needed to have a hard hand and lay the wood he could do it without humiliating the player. He championed good men. My son loves him.”

Tyler McLees, a 2010 graduate and All-Long Island selection, now serves in the U.S. Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment Special Forces and captains the combat team.

“I became a leader in my field because of my experience with St. Anthony’s football under coach Reichert,” Tyler McLees said. “There was discipline and accountability and it built a strong foundation. And now I serve my country.”

Reichert said the high school experience should be one students never forget.

“You never forget your high school days,” Reichert said. “I know I didn’t.”

As Reichert walked from the field after Friday’s win that gave the Friars a 6-1 record and a first-round playoff bye, he was surrounded by an army of friends and grads. They crammed into fieldhouse and sang the school fight song with Reichert leading the booming melody.

How fitting it would be if he goes out singing one more time after the CHSFL title game.

Kyle Angus (Sr.); RB – St. Anthony’s Friars

For any senior classman, when you reach week #6 of the regular season, it begins to dawn on you that the finish line is inching closer by the second.  For some, the realization that the journey is close to reaching its destination is a cause of for added pressure and tightening up.  For others, it is a reason to reflect on all you have accomplished while simultaneously acknowledging that there is still business to be completed.   Like a diamond, for this second group, the pressure does not hinder them, it brings out the best in them…Kyle Angus belongs to the latter!

Putting forth what was without debate the finest overall performance of his two-year career, the 6’1, 190-pound running back needed just eight total touches to record a mind-blowing five TDs in the Friars’ 56-32 Homecoming triumph over their visitors from the Bronx, Cardinal Hayes….In doing so, he became the first St. Anthony’s player (excluding TD passes) to score five touchdowns in a single game since Rob McCann accomplished the feat in November of 2014…Unlike McCann, who caught all five of his TDs, the all-purpose tailback would showcase all of his tools, running for three touchdowns and making a pair of TD grabs to demonstrate the balance of his repertoire.

Scoring the first 6 of his 30 overall points on a 62-yard 3^rd&19 swing pass on the Friars’ opening possession, Angus caught the ball near the sideline but then cut back towards the middle of the field where he ran undisturbed the rest of the way to give STA the early 7-0 lead…His second touchdown of the 1^st quarter came two minutes and 40 seconds later, when following a Cardinals kickoff return to even the score at 7 apiece, Angus would put the finishing touches on a 5-play, 84-yard drive by plunging the ball in on a 7-yard run to make the score 14-7.

With his team now enjoying a comfortable 35-14 lead at the break, Angus would pick up where he left off, running a carbon copy route of his first TD on the second play of the 2^nd half and taking it 47 yards to the house for his second touchdown reception of the evening…He later tacked on two additional third quarter TDs on runs from distances of 51 and 1 yard to account for his full array of tallies.

All in all, Angus carried the ball five times for 68 yards and added another 119 yards on three grabs to conclude the game with a season-high187 all-purpose yards….On the season, he has now rushed for 239 yards on 47 carries (tied with QB, Greg Campisi for team-lead with 7 TDs) and made 22 catches totaling 392 yards (4 touchdowns).  His 11 combined touchdowns leads the “AAA” division and ranks him 3^rd overall among all NYCHSFL competitors.

Up next for Angus and the Friars is the game that all LI/Westchester football fans have been waiting weeks to see go down…A clash that will determine the top seed in the triple-A playoffs, St. Anthony’s will have the luxury of playing on the friendly confines of Cy Donnelly field when they bang heads with Iona Prep…The top-2 highest scoring teams in the NYCHSFL, Iona Prep comes to South Huntington averaging 43.8 points per game; the host Friars counter with a 41.2 PPG average…DON’T BLINK, because points will be quick and plentiful on October 19^th.

By Gregg Sarragregg.sarra@newsday.com

St. Anthony’s quarterback Greg Campisi has lit up the CHSFL all season. He’ll need to do it one more time for the Friars to capture first place in the AAA regular season and earn the top seed in the playoffs.

The Friars host Iona Prep, which is also 4-0 in the division, at 7 p.m. in South Huntington. At stake is a first-round bye in the CHSFL’s AAA playoffs.

"The winner of this game wins the top seed but sits a week while the other six teams playoff for a spot in the semifinal round,” St. Anthony’s coach Rich Reichert, in his 32nd year, said. “I’m not a fan of the bye. Players can lose their focus waiting around.”

St. Anthony’s (5-1 overall) which has allowed 26 points per game will be hard-pressed to stop Iona QB Derek Robertson, who has the Gaels scoring 44 points per game.

“He’s a special athlete,” Reichert said. “Obviously, our defense needs to play very well.”

It may come down to the play of the quarterbacks and who has the final possession. Campisi is having a monster season, with 1,511 yards passing and another 670 rushing. He also has 26 total TDs.

By Kenny DeJohn  kenny.dejohn@newsday.com Updated October 12, 2018 11:20 PM

Kyle Angus wagged a finger toward the scoreboard. Without the St. Anthony’s offensive line, he said, the final score wouldn’t have been possible.

Those offensive linemen — Konall Keane, Justin Williford, Gavin Miller, Mike Marrone and Chris Wright — paved the way for Angus to ravage the Cardinal Hayes defense.

Angus had five carries for 68 yards and three touchdowns, as well as three catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns, leading St. Anthony’s to a 56-32 win over Hayes in the CHSFL on Friday night.

The standing-room-only homecoming crowd roared as Angus left defenders in his wake. He set the tone with a 62-yard catch-and-run off a swing pass for the game’s first score.

“The swing play, that’s a run for us,” coach Rich Reichert said. “He just has a unique way of just getting his foot in the ground and going north-south.”

Later in the quarter, Angus took a jet-sweep 7 yards for a score and a 14-7 lead. He wasn’t close to done.

The 6-1 speedster took the second play of the third quarter — another swing pass — 47 yards for a touchdown and a 42-14 lead. His first touch of the next drive was a block-splitting 51-yard touchdown run. He added a 1-yard TD run for a 56-26 lead.

In the second quarter, two fourth-down stops in the red zone and Grant Gifford’s fumble recovery to halt a drive with under a minute left allowed the Friars to take a commanding lead.

Quarterback Greg Campisi benefited from the offensive line play, too. With extra time in the pocket, he picked apart the Hayes secondary.

After Gifford’s fumble recovery with 19.8 seconds left before halftime, Campisi, working with two timeouts, found Daniel Parker for 9 yards and Jaden Jernigan for 12 yards, leaving the Friars (5-1) with 5.2 seconds remaining.

Campisi took the ensuing snap under shotgun and heaved a Hail Mary into a crowd. Jernigan jumped above the rest and emerged for a 33-yard touchdown and a 35-14 lead.

The senior quarterback was 14-for-22 passing for 308 yards and four touchdowns.

Said Angus: “[The offensive linemen] did their job, and when they do their job, that’s what happens.”

By Mike Ruizmichael.ruiz@newsday.com
photo by Patrick McCarthy

Greg Campisi’s playmaking was exhilarating, but his poise in a crucial moment was equally eye-catching.

Moments after throwing a late third-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown, temporarily flipping momentum, the St. Anthony’s quarterback bounced right back on the ensuing drive and flew 43 yards into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown Saturday afternoon in a 42-14 victory at CHSFL rival Chaminade.

“It was an unfortunate mistake,” said Campisi of the pick-six by Daniel Schaefer that cut the Friars' lead to 28-14 and gave the Flyers new life. “I should’ve thrown the ball into the ground instead of the middle of a pile. But it was a mistake I had to move on from. Everybody makes mistakes, it was a bad play, but we just had to go out on the next drive and get the momentum back.”

“He’s very hard on himself and I was a little concerned to see how he responded and if he could turn the page,” St. Anthony’s coach Rich Reichert said. “We’re putting a lot of pressure on him to always be right and it’s not always gonna be that way.”

Campisi resembled a running back at times with eight carries for 147 yards and three TDs. He scampered 54 yards to the end zone with 9:34 remaining for his final touchdown and the final score of the game for the Friars (2-0). Campisi opened the scoring by scrambling left and bursting free 25 yards down the sideline with 9:10 remaining in the first quarter.

Running back Kyle Angus quickly deflated the Chaminade crowd just 2:05 later, ripping off a 55-yard TD run on 4th-and-1 to make it 14-0 St. Anthony’s.

Campisi also showed off his arm, throwing for two more TDs. He lofted a 28-yard TD pass down the right sideline to Greg Randall on the opening play of the second quarter and a 26-yard strike to Makhai Murphy with 7:04 left in the third to make it 28-0.

“Greg’s a winner,” Reichert said. “He does everything right and it’s like having another coach on the field. He’s a great athlete; people don’t understand how fast he is.”

The Friars' defense put together an impressive display of their own, limiting the Flyers (1-1) to one offensive score on an 8-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Thomas Rogan.

“Our defense played a really good first half,” Reichert said. “We came out a little soft after halftime but other than that we bent but didn’t break.”

by Gregg Sarra 
September 8, 2018  
Photo by  Daniel De Mato

Greg Campisi is a boss. St. Anthony’s senior quarterback, in his third year of varsity ball, has been given the reigns to the Friars season.

“We give him a lot of freedom,” said St. Anthony’s coach Rich Reichert. “There’s a lot of trust in a guy like Greg because we know he understands our system and what we’re trying to accomplish. He’s a natural leader and a winner.”

Campisi completed 11 of 18 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns Friday night as St. Anthony’s rolled past New Jersey powerhouse Delbarton, 34-17, in a non-league opener. His touchdown passes covered quite a bit of ground. His scoring tosses went for 76, 66 and 82 yards.

For his accomplishment, Campisi was named the Newsday Athlete of the Week.

“I think he played a great game,” Reichert said “It was all big plays. And he’s definitely the player and the leader we thought he would be. We’re going to go as far as he takes us.”

On the Friars first possession, Campisi went play-action, read the linebacker, who committed to the run and dumped a short pass over his head to a wide-open Kyle Angus for a 76-yard touchdown and a 12-0 lead. He bulled in on the two-point conversion run to make it 14-0.

“It just makes it a lot easier to coach when you have a quarterback that the team respects and follows,” Reichert said. “He’s really the catalyst for this team.”

Campisi, a dual threat on the football field, is also an outstanding lacrosse player. He will play lacrosse at Harvard next fall.

He showed his athleticism on multiple plays in the home opener. He extended plays avoiding the rush. He wiggled his way through the Delbarton defense for yards after contact. And his decision making was spot on.

“That’s the nice part about him,” Reichert said. “He makes things happen.”

Every time Delbarton threatened to get back into the game there was Campisi making sure the Friars stayed on top.

He fired a long pass to a streaking Daniel Parker for a 66-yard second quarter scoring pass for a 20-10 halftime lead and then added an 82-yard play-action beauty to speedster Makhai Murphy in the fourth quarter to seal the scoring.

Each time Delbarton scored a touchdown to get within two scores, there was Campisi leading his team back to the end zone to extend the lead.

That’s what winners do.

St. Anthony’s High School vs. Delbarton School

9/7/18 7:00pm Cy Donnelly Field

St. Anthony’s High School Live Stream Homepage

https://locallive.tv/stanthonyshs

Direct Game Link

https://locallive.tv/archives/28647

COMPILED BY ANDY SLAWSON

Rich Reichert

Born 1952

Wife Maryann

Married 41 years

Children: Laura, Beth, Richie

Education: St. Anthony’s (1970), St. John’s University (1974)

Nassau PD 23 years (retired 2003)

*32 seasons as a head coach: 1987-2018

*Most wins in Suffolk football history: 265

*Record: 265-64-3

*Winning Percentage: .800

*28 winning seasons

*31 CHSFL AAA playoff appearances

*21 CHSFL AAA Finalists

*14 CHSFL AAA titles

*64 game regular season CHSFL winning streak: 1998-2007

*23-game winning streak: 2005-2007

*27-game winning streak:1994-1996

*29-game winning streak: 2009-2011

Joseph Costanzo (Sr.); LB – St. Anthony’s Friars

Our lone defensive player of the week recipient, the Friar senior checked off so many different boxes in the school’s 28-7 victory over Christ the King, last Saturday, that he made it impossible to ignore him.

Facing one of the most naturally gifted offenses anywhere in NYS that featured a running back holding a scholarship offer to the University of Michigan, a quarterback being actively watched by the likes of Penn State and Ohio, and several additional future college players at the other skill positions, the St. Anthony’s “D” would limit the Royals to no more than a  2^nd quarter touchdown.

Showing himself to be a complete linebacker who is equally effective in both run and pass coverage, there wasn’t much more that the 5’11, 205-pounder could have done during week #3 to add to his statement-making afternoon.

Credited with 14 total tackles, Costanzo was a big reason why CTK’s highly routed tailback [Tirek Murphy], was kept to only 15 yards (on 8 carries) and the Middle Village school as a whole mustered only 78 yards gained on 27 attempts (2.7 average).

The STA 12^th grader also shined in passing down situations, as he earned a quarterback sack and had one of two interceptions [Nick Espada accounting for the other pick] on the day for the boys from South Huntington.

Speaking of creating turnovers, the INT was one of just three change of possessions that Costanzo had a direct hand in bringing to fruition.  His truck-like hits to ball carriers also resulted in a pair of forced fumbles.

Now, as the Reichert-guided Friars inch closer to a week #4 rematch of last year’s triple-A title contest against a very diverse and athletic Stepinac offense (averaging 438.6 yards of total production), the D-unit will be counting on Costanzo to remain locked in…Should the front seven be successful in matching their intensity from last week, the Friars have every reason to feel confident about their prospects of improving to 4-0 in 2018.