40 teams in 40 days – Day 31: Roman Catholic (12)

Written by: David Mika on Tuesday, August 21st, 2012. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

2011 season

Roman Catholic finished the season with an 8-4 record and 2-2 in their league. During the regular season they had big wins against West Catholic and Chestnut Hill Academy. In the playoffs they defeated St. Joseph’s Prep. Their season came to an end against LaSalle College.

Marcus Kelly was the leading rusher. He rushed for 1,796 yards on 237 carries and 16 touchdowns.

Michael Keir passed for 1,525 yards and 12 touchdowns.

His two favorite targets were Will Fuller and Taishan Tucker. Fuller caught 46 passes for 758 yards and 10 touchdowns. Tucker caught 33 passes for 554 yards and five touchdowns.

Q & A with Roman Catholic head football coach Joe McCourt

We sat down with McCourt and talked to him about his team for the 2012 season.

How is your camp going this summer?

The first day was a little sluggish. The thing I like is we got better each day. We are practicing defense in the morning and offense in the afternoon.

Who do you have coming back on offense?

Michael Joyce is back at center. Collin Shields is returning at offensive guard and at tackle is JJ Logan. All three players are returning starters. Frank Remolde is the other guard and Stephen Henry is the other tackle.

We have our returning quarterback back, Michael Keir. He has been great for the program. He is so smart and so intelligent out on the field. He can pretty much run an offense by himself. He knows what he is looking at and he knows coverages. We are hoping he stays healthy this year. He has been banged up the last couple of years.

My tailback is sophomore Dimetri Kelly. We are excepting big things out of Kelly this season. He is following in his brother’s footsteps. Pat McCourt is our fullback.

At receiver we have Will Fuller returning. He committed to Notre Dame. He is not only the best receiver, but he is the best football player that I have coached or seen. That is how much praise I have for him. He is such a good kid and he is a team player.

Chris Johnson-Cruz is the other slot receiver. At tight end is Phillip Forrence. We return six on offense.

Who do you have coming back on defense?

On the line we have defensive end Hez Trahan. Our defensive tackle is Ricky Rivera. The other spots we have a full rotation going on.

We have Chris Johnson-Cruz back at outside linebacker. Dimetri Kelly is the other outside linebacker. In the middle we have Guy Campanella. We also have Brandon Lopez and Kabir Basil.

We have Will Fuller at one corner and AJ Frasier. Our free safety is Jake Illingworth. We feel we are set in the secondary.

We return five players on defense.

Who do you have coming back on special teams?

Our punter is Michael Keir. Phillip Isaac is our kicker.

League

It has been really top heavy the past couple of years. I think this year it is as wide open as you can get. LaSalle College is always good. St. Joe’s Prep is good. We have been in the championship the past couple of years. I think teams like Father Judge and Archbishop Ryan are improving every year. You can’t take anyone for granted each week. Our league is competitive. We hope we come out on top this year.

To have a successful season you have to?

We have to stay healthy. We are real top heavy with our starters. We have great starters. We don’t have a lot of depth. It’s important to stay healthy.

We need to play good defense. I think we are going to put up some points offensively. We need to stop teams this year. We need the younger kids to step up.

Home Opener

Roman Catholic opens home against Malvern Prep on September 1^st

40 teams in 40 days

Day 1 – Mount Carmel Area (4) Day 11 – Scranton (2)

Day 2 – Manheim Central (3) Day 12 – Pottsville (11)

Day 3 – Delaware Valley (2) Day 13 – Cardinal O’Hara (12)

Day 4 – Southern Columbia (4) Day 14 – Shenandoah Valley (11)

Day 5 – Berwick Area (2) Day 15- Central Dauphin (3)

Day 6 – Easton Area (11) Day 16 – Scranton Prep (2)

Day 7 – LaSalle (12) Day 17 – Garnet Valley (1)

Day 8 – Downingtown East (1) Day 18 – Spring-Ford (1)

Day 9 – Council Rock North (1) Day 19 – Southern Lehigh (11)