Do you really think "the kids" on Mount Lebanon last year or Pine-Richland in 2014 and 2017 would have preferred to play another team in the state finals? Would all the Coatesville people--including the players--have preferred a game against PR rather than against SJP in the 2017 semi-final?
I guarantee that if SJP leaves the PIAA, within a year or--at the very most--two years we won't hear the end of claims that team x would have beaten SJP if SJP were still in the PIAA.
As a devoted fan of one of Prep’s arch-rivals who gets bounced out early in the playoffs almost every year, I could easily join the field in complaining about the so-called perennial all-star team residing at 17th and Girard.
But I have nothing but admiration for a successful program energized by Gil Brooks, accelerated by Gabe Infante, and rocketed by Tim Roken. Success was earned the hard way, and was catalyzed by the growth and activity of their Football Alumni, who supported the program financially. Though it seems primitive in today’s technology, the Football Alumni would support the creation and distribution of highlight DVD’s for each player, and send them out to prospective college coaches for their consideration. The exposure provided many players with opportunities they may not have received on their own.
Success bred success, and St. Joseph’s Prep would become the gold standard for aspiring star players in the Delaware Valley. But not everyone could come; you had to pass the entrance exam, and be a student first and a team player second. And though your family may receive some financial aid, you had to pay a significant portion of a significant tuition.
A significant milestone of the Hawk timeline of success occurred in early 2013, when generational player D’Andre Swift changed his mind and chose St. Joseph’s Prep over La Salle. The year-by-year talent pool was quite good, and got even better as the rest of the 2010’s unfolded. Exposure to out-of-state contests, started by Brooks, now resulted in early-season matchups shown on ESPN. Certainly, 7th and 8th graders in the Delaware Valley who had athletic abilities and football skills could dream about someday putting on a Hawk uniform.
All of the successes noted above are phenomenal, but I’ve yet to mention the by-far biggest reason for the success, namely the St. Joseph’s coaching staff. We are now in an age where there has been an erosion of the quality and quantity of coaches in youth football. Overall, coaching quality has diminished in the state of Pennsylvania, as long-time coaching legends have retired, and good young coaches are hard to find. But not at St. Joe’s, where long-time high-quality assistants have stayed the course through head coaching changes, and additional very qualified coaches have come to be part of the success.
If you watched the games at Cumberland Valley, you could easily see the impact that a high-quality coaching staff had on the field. The Hawks had few false starts, few encroachments, few dropped passes, few fumbles, few defensive blown assignments, and no “twelve men on the field” penalties. It’s great to have talent, but you move up to a higher plateau when you have coaches who can really coach individual players and offensive/defensive strategies. And yes, the St. Joseph’s coaching staff could coach rings around any of the other teams playing this past weekend. The execution of their game plan, the accountability of each individual player, the talent (of course), and the poise and confidence that they exude had me compare them to the other Bird team succeeding in South Philadelphia.
I want the Prep to stay successful, and I want our boys in Wyndmoor to get psyched up as always to play them twice a year. Though many of those games may result in blowouts, there wouldn’t be one player on La Salle’s team that would want St. Joseph’s to go away and play a national schedule. And any player on any team worth its salt would feel the same way.
