When the season started for the Owls (4-3, 1-2) the Condor League Title and a CIF berth was in the minds of most everyone.
However, the early loss of senior co-captain Andrew McCaffery (ACL/MCL tear), and later the loss of senior center Alex Louden (oblique fracture, wrist) forced a reconsideration of this year’s goals.
Despite having to re-orchestrate the offensive and defensive strategies, the Owls were able to win the majority of their games, and, more importantly, establish the foundation of a dominating 2012 team.
“At the beginning of the year, we were focused on making the playoffs. After losing two senior leaders, we really switched into a preparatory mode for next year,” said freshman Stephen McCaffery.
“We have a good number of underclassmen, which will really help us next year: I think we’ll have a strong team, and be able to win the Condor League,” Stephen added.
The team’s future success will be in the hands of the six returning freshmen players — Ryan Bickett, Christian Kahmann, Ethan Katnic, Stephen McCaffery, Parker Rusack, and Thomas Sloan — all of whom had significant contributions on the season.
In their closing JV game versus Dunn, the freshmen showed that they really do have the heart and soul of a great team, beating out the plentiful Dunn JV 36-14 with only ten players.
Freshman quarterback Stephen McCaffery led the Owls in this victory, most memorably through his 70-yard fumble recovery turned touchdown on the second play of the game.
Young McCaffery also made quarterback appearances in every varsity game.
Both Quentin Tedesco and Andrew Vignolo had killer sophomore seasons.
Tedesco was helpful all-around the field, catching touchdowns, playing cornerback, and even filling in at center every-now-and-then.
Vignolo took up the slack on both the offensive and defensive lines filling in for injured players.
Senior Brandon Bickett was another standout player this year, playing not only quarterback, but also some running-back towards the end of the season.