robdog_5
07-14-2007, 12:12 AM
I arrived at Long Beach Veterans Stadium and it was uncomfortably hot. I walked though the tunnel out to the field and immediately got to see two of the most impressive players on the day in Notre Dame Sherman Oaks' Dayne Crist and Anthony McDonald. As I walked towards them in my Notre Dame hat and Play Like a Champion Shirt, it caught their attention.
I approached to talk to them but there coach started to corral them for a team meeting. Dayne, a great looking athlete, looked over and said "Go Irish!" I got a kick out of that and then Anthony McDonald ran by out to the field and I asked him if he was going to play with a nasty streak out there and he chuckled saying -- "You'll see it."
Just as Notre Dame Sherman Oaks was about to lineup, Crespi's Joesph Fauria walked in and he was impossible to miss. A literal mountain of a man, Fauria had an aura about him as he joked and laughed with numerous people. Big Joe then walked over to Dayne right before his game and gave a hug to his future teammate... got to love that.
Anthony McDonald and the Notre Dame Sherman Oaks defense came out first and a 3 and out was in order as McDonald showed good quickness to go with his nearly perfect physique. He rallied on one checkdown to make and open field play.
On offense and just like the weather, Dayne Crist and his Notre Dame Sherman Oaks teammates started hot, driving down the field hitting his receivers on timing routes, especially out routes. Notre Dame Sherman Oaks took the early lead after scoring on the drive, 7-0.
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_mcdonald1.jpgAs the game was going on, I drifted over to talk to Big Joe and he was probably one of the nicest guys that I've ever talked to. I reminded him who I was and how we meet the week before at another tournament and he remembered saying man you've got a good team. I said we just got lucky, continued to talk and he mentioned how he loved the way we use our tight ends. I told him it would be great to have two of them with you in the fold as well, and he laughed.
I looked back over to the game just as McDonald made a play rallying to the ball. We continued to talk and he told me he really liked our tight end Ryan Deehan. I told him that Deehan was jacked to play against him as he considered Joe as one of the toughest competitors in the state at tight end. Laughing, Joe mentioned that the "ratings stuff is overrated" and that it "doesn't matter what star you are once you get to college because everyone is a freshman."
Fauria then mentioned that he "can't wait to get on campus and compete with Rudolph" saying that "we'll push each other and get better and hopefully I can get on the field." Back to the game, Dayne overthrew a ball on a seam that was a tough throw but if made might have been 6. Crist shook off the incompletion and drove the team down throwing an impressive 20 yard out right on the money. They contined the drive but stalled in the red zone.
As the game wore on, Dayne and Anthony looked like college players already out there among the rest of the boys. Mission Viejo took control of the game when Dayne threw a perfect ball on a post route that was dropped by his top wideout, who then collided with the saftey as they went to the ground for the dropped ball. The wideout was down on the field for a while then was carted off. I later found out he had a ruptured pancreas -- Ouch!
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_crist1.jpgDayne shouted to his team that it was time for everyone to step up -- and they did. Right before the half and down by 6, Dayne lead his teammates down the field in the two minute drill and put the ball in to take the lead before half, 14-13.
In the second half, the game went back and forth game with Dayne looking very good on crossing and deep out routes. However, Mission Viejo found the weakness and attacked Notre Dame Sherman Oak's safeties and answered every time -- including on the last drive to force the game into OT.
In overtime on 4th and 25, Dayne completed a great pass down to the two year line but the wideout was tagged as soon as he caught the ball. Misson Viejo took over and won the game on a jump ball in the corner of the endzone. Disappointed, Dayne and McDonald huddled with the team and disappeared for a while.
After the Notre Dame Sherman Oaks game concluded late because of the injury delay, Big Joe and his Crespi squad was already in the midst of a battle with the ever so talented Long Beach Poly and was trailing by 8. I watched intently as a Notre Dame fan and I became disgusted that Crespi failed to throw to the big guy play after play, but they where driving so I could only complain so much.
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_fauria1.jpgThen on a big fourth down, Big Joe came up with a huge catch snatching the ball over the head of the defender. Showing some emotion, Joe and his teammates started to take momentum, but the defense could not stop as Poly answered.
It came down to the final drive in which Crespi, down 8 according to everyone on the sideline, scored on the final drive and converted on the 2 point conversion. As the game ended, Poly was announced the winner which caused the sideline to erupt, as it was a tie game. Crespi's coach argued with the ref, but to no avail. A tough break but Joe took it with class and was settling down teammates showing alot of maturity.
In Notre Dame Sherman Oak's second game, I watched Crist and McDonald and with no chance of winning the tourney and having lost their top wideout, you could tell the intensity was just not the same. Notre Dame Sherman Oaks was up 7 and ended up winning the matchup, but my attention was caught by the emotion on the other field where the championship round was still going on the other half of the field.
As Mater Dei, a team with an army of players and coaches, began to take the lead, their coaches became really cocky and were talking trash to the opposing coaches. Then, as I looked over, the two coaches were nose to nose and it eventually led to some pushing. They were quickly separated and both teams were brought to the sideline, but the emotion carried on both on and off the field. Mater Dei then took it to Mission Viejo and the Mater Dei coaches let them know about it. In my opinion a proud program such as Mater Dei should be ashamed of themselves as they showed no class. With the game winding down, I looked back over to see Dayne throwing strike after strike and leading his team to a victory.
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_fauria2.jpgWith the game over, I was sort of bummed as the whole Notre Dame Sherman Oaks team left the stadium to apparently go to another tourney that started later that night. As they left, Fauria and Crespi came on to play an uneventful game where Joe was basically a decoy, and it looked like he was frustrated by this.
Crespi hung on and won by 2 to an inferior team, but again Big Joe could have made a huge difference. After the game Joe gave me a few minutes and talked candidly about how he loved Notre Dame on his visit and he is extremely excited to get out there. I will see him again next week when both our team (Poway High) and his will be in the Adidas 7-on-7 National Championship. We agreed to talk again and he walked away saying -- "GO IRISH!!!"
TOURNAMENT RECAP & IMPRESSIONS
All in all, it was a good day. Dayne Crist looked very impressive with his footwork and what a strong arm! Timing routes are his forte right now as him and his team seemed to have that skill mastered. Anthony McDonald seemed a bit bummed he couldn't take peoples heads off as the one time a team threw in the middle of the field in his zone and he nailed the wide receiver as if he thought he had pads on.
As for Joe Fauria, he had few opportunities when I watched, but when the ball was thrown to him he had great hands. Further, nobody could hold him off the line as he blew guys off despite some of them being small. They say good things happen in threes. Well, three very good prospects will be coming to South Bend in 2008.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This article was written for Gold Helmet by Robby Sevier (http://www.goldhelmet.com/forums/member.php?u=242), who goes by robdog_5 on the Gold Helmet forums. If you would like to discuss this with him, feel free to send him a private message (http://www.goldhelmet.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=242). As always, comments, feedback and discussion are welcomed!
I approached to talk to them but there coach started to corral them for a team meeting. Dayne, a great looking athlete, looked over and said "Go Irish!" I got a kick out of that and then Anthony McDonald ran by out to the field and I asked him if he was going to play with a nasty streak out there and he chuckled saying -- "You'll see it."
Just as Notre Dame Sherman Oaks was about to lineup, Crespi's Joesph Fauria walked in and he was impossible to miss. A literal mountain of a man, Fauria had an aura about him as he joked and laughed with numerous people. Big Joe then walked over to Dayne right before his game and gave a hug to his future teammate... got to love that.
Anthony McDonald and the Notre Dame Sherman Oaks defense came out first and a 3 and out was in order as McDonald showed good quickness to go with his nearly perfect physique. He rallied on one checkdown to make and open field play.
On offense and just like the weather, Dayne Crist and his Notre Dame Sherman Oaks teammates started hot, driving down the field hitting his receivers on timing routes, especially out routes. Notre Dame Sherman Oaks took the early lead after scoring on the drive, 7-0.
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_mcdonald1.jpgAs the game was going on, I drifted over to talk to Big Joe and he was probably one of the nicest guys that I've ever talked to. I reminded him who I was and how we meet the week before at another tournament and he remembered saying man you've got a good team. I said we just got lucky, continued to talk and he mentioned how he loved the way we use our tight ends. I told him it would be great to have two of them with you in the fold as well, and he laughed.
I looked back over to the game just as McDonald made a play rallying to the ball. We continued to talk and he told me he really liked our tight end Ryan Deehan. I told him that Deehan was jacked to play against him as he considered Joe as one of the toughest competitors in the state at tight end. Laughing, Joe mentioned that the "ratings stuff is overrated" and that it "doesn't matter what star you are once you get to college because everyone is a freshman."
Fauria then mentioned that he "can't wait to get on campus and compete with Rudolph" saying that "we'll push each other and get better and hopefully I can get on the field." Back to the game, Dayne overthrew a ball on a seam that was a tough throw but if made might have been 6. Crist shook off the incompletion and drove the team down throwing an impressive 20 yard out right on the money. They contined the drive but stalled in the red zone.
As the game wore on, Dayne and Anthony looked like college players already out there among the rest of the boys. Mission Viejo took control of the game when Dayne threw a perfect ball on a post route that was dropped by his top wideout, who then collided with the saftey as they went to the ground for the dropped ball. The wideout was down on the field for a while then was carted off. I later found out he had a ruptured pancreas -- Ouch!
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_crist1.jpgDayne shouted to his team that it was time for everyone to step up -- and they did. Right before the half and down by 6, Dayne lead his teammates down the field in the two minute drill and put the ball in to take the lead before half, 14-13.
In the second half, the game went back and forth game with Dayne looking very good on crossing and deep out routes. However, Mission Viejo found the weakness and attacked Notre Dame Sherman Oak's safeties and answered every time -- including on the last drive to force the game into OT.
In overtime on 4th and 25, Dayne completed a great pass down to the two year line but the wideout was tagged as soon as he caught the ball. Misson Viejo took over and won the game on a jump ball in the corner of the endzone. Disappointed, Dayne and McDonald huddled with the team and disappeared for a while.
After the Notre Dame Sherman Oaks game concluded late because of the injury delay, Big Joe and his Crespi squad was already in the midst of a battle with the ever so talented Long Beach Poly and was trailing by 8. I watched intently as a Notre Dame fan and I became disgusted that Crespi failed to throw to the big guy play after play, but they where driving so I could only complain so much.
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_fauria1.jpgThen on a big fourth down, Big Joe came up with a huge catch snatching the ball over the head of the defender. Showing some emotion, Joe and his teammates started to take momentum, but the defense could not stop as Poly answered.
It came down to the final drive in which Crespi, down 8 according to everyone on the sideline, scored on the final drive and converted on the 2 point conversion. As the game ended, Poly was announced the winner which caused the sideline to erupt, as it was a tie game. Crespi's coach argued with the ref, but to no avail. A tough break but Joe took it with class and was settling down teammates showing alot of maturity.
In Notre Dame Sherman Oak's second game, I watched Crist and McDonald and with no chance of winning the tourney and having lost their top wideout, you could tell the intensity was just not the same. Notre Dame Sherman Oaks was up 7 and ended up winning the matchup, but my attention was caught by the emotion on the other field where the championship round was still going on the other half of the field.
As Mater Dei, a team with an army of players and coaches, began to take the lead, their coaches became really cocky and were talking trash to the opposing coaches. Then, as I looked over, the two coaches were nose to nose and it eventually led to some pushing. They were quickly separated and both teams were brought to the sideline, but the emotion carried on both on and off the field. Mater Dei then took it to Mission Viejo and the Mater Dei coaches let them know about it. In my opinion a proud program such as Mater Dei should be ashamed of themselves as they showed no class. With the game winding down, I looked back over to see Dayne throwing strike after strike and leading his team to a victory.
http://www.goldhelmet.com/images/news/nike77_fauria2.jpgWith the game over, I was sort of bummed as the whole Notre Dame Sherman Oaks team left the stadium to apparently go to another tourney that started later that night. As they left, Fauria and Crespi came on to play an uneventful game where Joe was basically a decoy, and it looked like he was frustrated by this.
Crespi hung on and won by 2 to an inferior team, but again Big Joe could have made a huge difference. After the game Joe gave me a few minutes and talked candidly about how he loved Notre Dame on his visit and he is extremely excited to get out there. I will see him again next week when both our team (Poway High) and his will be in the Adidas 7-on-7 National Championship. We agreed to talk again and he walked away saying -- "GO IRISH!!!"
TOURNAMENT RECAP & IMPRESSIONS
All in all, it was a good day. Dayne Crist looked very impressive with his footwork and what a strong arm! Timing routes are his forte right now as him and his team seemed to have that skill mastered. Anthony McDonald seemed a bit bummed he couldn't take peoples heads off as the one time a team threw in the middle of the field in his zone and he nailed the wide receiver as if he thought he had pads on.
As for Joe Fauria, he had few opportunities when I watched, but when the ball was thrown to him he had great hands. Further, nobody could hold him off the line as he blew guys off despite some of them being small. They say good things happen in threes. Well, three very good prospects will be coming to South Bend in 2008.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This article was written for Gold Helmet by Robby Sevier (http://www.goldhelmet.com/forums/member.php?u=242), who goes by robdog_5 on the Gold Helmet forums. If you would like to discuss this with him, feel free to send him a private message (http://www.goldhelmet.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=242). As always, comments, feedback and discussion are welcomed!