Rocks game/season recap:
I'm not going to rehash personnel decisions. My thoughts are all searchable starting week 4 (heck I guess preseason and week 1) I had thoughts too.
One move I liked as I said pregame to use the whole roster, putting Matt Kingsbury at H/Lead/Wham Back was great and Matt played a phenomenal game offensively and defensively.
Someone mentioned DBs. I thought it was an excellent game plan. Go ahead, play Dowling and MC aggressively, let me know how it works out for you. To beat MC, you can't care if they get 500 yards in between the 20s, you just can't let them score every 50 seconds. Watch the game again on demand if you have it, very few missed tackles, and 1 aggressive INT with another INT off a tipped pass. But then the chess match with MCs O. I think I mentioned something about Jordan Lynch's deep well of knowledge this week and it showed in his redzone calls. He went for the endzone from the 14 and the 22. He knew losing green on the field makes his 6 ball handlers easier to cover. So while he still had field to work with and St. Rita had to still defend that amount of field, he pulled LBs and safeties with Dowlings excellent footwork and play fake dynamics, opening up the passing lane to Furlong.
Hats off to Blainey Dowling, greatest one year jump in ability I've seen. I mean he wasn't bad last year, just raw and you can see a lot of tools. But this year, his precision and attention to detail and his ability is extremely commendable. Obviously, you don't get to see it all in such weather driven affair but if you've seen most of these kids since grade school, it's very cool to see stories like his.
Another great story is #75 Strelzcyk with St. Rita, don't think he played much as a frosh but put the work in, nature helped. has had 2 dominating seasons and he has a bright future ahead of him. Nice to see NNfan notice the offensive line. Since Lick, St. Rita fans and staffs have always prided themselves on that part of the game. Someone mentioned next year's offensive line. I think it would be another stellar group. Joey Armbruster, Keith Sumpter. Griffin Haggerty, Brady Courtney all got decent amount of playing time and have size. The key will be replacing senior Center Charlie Armbruster. 3 year starter that technically is above many at that position, one of the best I have seen. I think it's St. Rita's biggest (or most important) personnel decision for next year. But Coach Nee is the man. I don't have enough superlatives to use on him. It's an offensive lineman's dream school with Coach Nee's schemes and ability to maximize talent. He is assisted by former pro RJ Mattes who is just a great person and coach who sees things others can't.
I may have disagreed with a lot this year and plenty last night. But make no mistake, Coach Todd Kuska is the reason St. Rita still plays football in games that matter. This past week, with the beat down Brother Rice took last week on the field and on this site and St. Rita entering their 3rd semifinal appearance in a row, I allowed myself to go down memory lane and see the obituaries written about St. Rita in 2016 and 2017 and 2018 and the program stands at its highest point in its great history because of him and the families and alumni that believed in him. And in his final, final act, hands the reins off to the next generation to continue this unbelievable 60 year run St. Rita football is on. It can't be emphasized enough that he could have stayed 10 more years but you look at these windows of these legacy schools (BMac, Marian of the Heights come to mind even though Coach Lopez has the Spartans arrow pointing up), if you don't hit the refresh button soon enough, it could create a mountain too big to climb back on top of.
There will be enough time to talk about next year but there is plenty of high-level talent at St. Rita. The administration, to my surprise and delight, went out and made sure they got their correct person to lead St. Rita Football into it's next chapter. Martin Hopkins is ... the ones on here that know, know. Solid person, solid family. I mean just can't be happier about St. Rita's future. The loss stung, still stings but the energy and commitment to the program is at an all time high.
