Football preview: St. Thomas Aquinas vs. DePaul in Non-Public B semifinal
St. Thomas Aquinas faced questions in the preseason with several newcomers and first-year fulltime starters.
Right?
“Well, you had question marks,” Trojans coach Tarig Holman said with a hearty laugh. “We didn’t have any question marks.”
Fair enough, coach.
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“We knew we had a quality group of guys,” Holman said. “The guys that were there last year did a tremendous job of leading. We have a really good coaching staff and the culture is kind of what continues to dominate no matter who’s there and we’re able to learn from the group that was there last year.
“We had a lot of guys that contributed last year and came back were kind of under the radar, but now they’re out front and they’re leading.”
The result has been an undefeated regular season for the second time in three years. Now, second-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas (9-0) hosts third-seeded DePaul Catholic (5-5) in the NJSIAA Non-Public B semifinal Friday at 6 p.m. Both teams are state ranked.
The defending sectional champion Spartans are coached by Nick Campanile of the well-known Campanile coaching family.
Holman understands what his team is up against from the Wayne school. DePaul sophomore quarterback Derek Zammit threw for 1,300 yards as a freshman last season. He’s now topped 1,500 yards.
Top receiver Dez Jones is a major Division I recruit as a junior (his latest post on X/Twitter is about receiving an offer from Ohio State). While Don Bosco junior transfer Nolan James Jr. has rushed for over 1,000 yards and is another DI recruit.
“They’ve always been a top-notch program,” Holman said. “They’re always competing at the high level as far as parochial B every single year. Like I said before, we’re just grateful to have the opportunity to go out and show what we can do. We’re going to have a home playoff game for the first time in a very, very long time. ... So that’s something that’s special, as well as hitting the 9-0 mark against some really, really, really good competition. I think it says a lot about where our program is headed and what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
The Trojans must deal with a two-week layoff, in which they were off in the final week of the non-public regular season and then had a quarterfinal bye in the playoffs last week.
“It’s going to be three weeks by the time we play,” Holman said. “It’s a difficult situation to manage, but we have intrinsic motivation that continues to push us to be as good as we can. We also use the philosophy and term that iron sharpens iron. We compete every single day in practice against each other and our goal is to always get better.”
Now, the truth is STA did have question marks with several multiple-year starters graduating. Roman Blanks has taken over for four-year QB starter Jayden Young and thrown for 1,000 yards. Chase Young and Elijah Abass-Shereef formed a dangerous running back combo (1,500 combined yards).
The Trojans did return depth on the offensive line with Thomas Schwegler (four-year starter), Caden Sternlieb and Elijah Thomas. The unit has been joined by senior right tackle Khyan Adams, who played sparingly last year but has stepped up as a captain.
Two new starting cornerbacks have flourished in Nassire Furman, who missed most of last season with a broken collar bone, and two-way starter Zacai Manigo (WR). Two transfers helped immensely in star linebacker/tight end Christian Magliacano and Lamar Stevenson (WR/DB).
Other guys have been versatile like sophomore Anwar Witherspoon, who started at outside linebacker last season, but has played just about everywhere this fall, including at quarterback, receiver, tight end and defensive end.
So, there were question marks after all, right coach?
“Not question marks,” Holman said. “I knew the kids could do it. It’s just a matter of them going out and doing it.
“I call them exclamation points.”
The picks
This feels like a similar situation as last week’s St. Joseph-Metuchen/Seton Hall Prep game. We both picked St. Joseph. Seton Hall won 61-20. Now, true, these are totally different teams, but I meant a similar comparison in not being able to judge how good a North Jersey private school power is despite its record. DePaul is 5-5 with losses against Pennsylvania and New York heavyweights, as well as the top two New Jersey non-public teams in Bergen Catholic (31-13) and Delbarton (28-0). DePaul oozes with talent and I don’t know if St. Thomas has seen that speed. But I’m going with the Trojans, what the heck? They’re home, the place will be packed, there’s a buzz on social media, the Trojans are rolling. Not having that iron sharpened in a game for a few weeks might hurt, but at least they were able to heal up and they have a top kicker in Jack Joyce. So, with fully knowing that DePaul is super legit, I’ll go home team. I'll be on hand so kindly check in for updates and a post-game article on X/Twitter @andy_mendlowitz
MENDLOWITZ’S PICK: St. Thomas Aquinas 28-24
Like my esteemed colleague said, this feels a lot like last week's St. Joe/Seton Hall Prep game. And one of us is going to learn from our mistake. I sincerely hope that the powers that be in the Big Central Conference move St. Thomas out of a Group 3 division, because if the Trojans maintain their current upward trajectory as an emerging Non-Public power, playing some of the bigger publics in the regular season can only help matters. For now, they’re about to face, by far, the best team they’ve seen all year, and I am somewhat concerned about the adjustment, especially with STA having not played in two weeks. DePaul might be a .500 team, but two of the its five losses have some to out-of-state powers and two more to the Top 2 non-publics in New Jersey. Not saying St. Thomas doesn’t have it in them, but I gotta go Spartans.
PINCUS’ PICK: DePaul 30-23
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ football preview: St. Thomas vs. DePaul in Non-Public B semi
