Chaminade 3 – CTK 0

One team had a sophomore quarterback making his first start and an inexperienced running back still trying to fit into the offense. The other team saw most of its running backs out or playing with injuries. The result: No Offense.

Oh, and Chaminade beat Christ the King, 3-0, yesterday at Hofstra.

“We have so many young kids,” said Chaminade head coach Bill Basel, whose team improved to 1-1, 1-0 in the CHSFL. “I never thought they would be in this situation this soon. They did a great job under the circumstances.”

The circumstances were caused by injuries and inexperience – on both offenses. And they made Steve Tangredi’s 37-yard field goal in the first quarter hold up.

“If three points is what we get, then three points is what we get,” said Chaminade defensive tackle Chris Nace, who helped spearhead the Flyers’ defense. “I thought we would score more points, because when we saw them on film, they looked totally disorganized. The turnovers were frustrating, but we just have to deal with them.”

Particularly because two of those turnovers were interceptions thrown by Dan Devine, who was playing in just his second high school game. A week ago, in a 55-10 loss to Xaverian (MA), quarterback Fred Edwards sprained his left knee and wasn’t able to play yesterday. So Chaminade’s offense, which Basel had hoped to center around the passing game, had to be altered dramatically.

“We kept it very simple,” Basel said. “I think we ran about five different plays the whole game.”

And none with much success. Devine completed just three passes and threw two interceptions, forcing the Flyers to stay on the ground. All too often, however, that’s where the ball wound up. Normally sure-handed running back Greg Kalafatic led Chaminade with just 34 yards on 19 carries and fumbled the ball five times, although the Flyers lost just one of them. The one they lost cost them a scoring opportunity.

But on this day, it didn’t really matter. CTK has a stable full of talented runners, but the best of the bunch, Freddie Johnson, was hampered by a sprained ankle and carried the ball only three times for nine yards.

“I don’t think we did a horrendous job,” Christ the King head coach Mike Cassidy said, whose team has lost 3-0 games two weeks in a row. “In two or three weeks, I think we’ll be fine.”

In the meantime, the Royals aren’t. They gained just 108 yards on offense and had more punts (7) than first downs (6). And their last first down came in the second quarter on CTK’s only scoring opportunity, when a lack of timeouts prevented them from attempting a short field goal.

For as much as CTK’s offense struggled, Chaminade’s defense excelled. The trouncing the received in Massachusetts may have paid dividends.

“We were completely embarrassed [last week],” Nace said. “Everyone came to play today.”

That impressed Basel, who may be without Edwards again next week when Chaminade takes on the league’s best team, St. Anthony’s.

“That was a nightmare,” Basel said. “They got us everywhere we looked. Today was a good test for us. I was happy we came away with the win. We still have a lot of young guys on defense and they came up big.”