High School Football America: 2010 Pius X High School Football Story - Game 1

by Jeff Fisher
Pennsylvania High School Football Huddle

All season long, High School Football America is giving its readers an inside look at the Pius X High School football program.  Pius is one of the smallest high school in America playing 11-man football.  

There are less than 90 boys in the school...50 of them play football.

Below is the game story from its season opening loss to Pottstown on Saturday.  You can learn more about the Royals, plus see all of the preseason camp video by going to www.highschoolfootballamerica.com.

Roseto, PA - The Pius X  Royals showed just how young they are in Saturday's season opening 27-20 loss to Pottstown on a beautiful afternoon in Roseto.

With senior co-captain Zack Cinelli sitting-on the sidelines with crutches from season-ending knee surgery on Wednesday, the Royals fought hard, but couldn't overcome mental and physical errors against the Trojans, who are a 3A program from southeastern Pennsylvania. 

Pottstown put the ball on the ground with nine fumbles in the game, but the Royals only came-up with four of them.  On defense, the Royals allowed 508 yards in total offense with Trojan running backs Marc Smith and Malik Brinkley each topping the 200 yard rushing mark....Brinkley rushed for 221 and Smith 219 yards.

In spite of the inconsistent play, the Royals did have a lot of positives, starting with the fact that they bounced back from every Trojan score to keep the game within reach into the fourth quarter. 

That was a good sign for head coach Phil Stambaugh, who was making his head coaching debut at his alma matter.  The Royals are playing a lot of juniors, sophomores and freshman...most of them being inexperienced at the varsity level.  With Cinelli out, the Royals only have seven seniors on the roster.

Freshman quarterback AJ Long showed flashes of future ability completing 18 of 25 passes for 191 yards; he also ran for 58 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown.

Senior co-captain George Dalessandro played a solid all-around game; catching four balls for 78 yards, plus he caught Smith from behind at the Royal 1-yard line on what would have been a 90-yard touchdown run.  Smith fumbled the ball on Dalessandro's tackle...the ball rolled-out of the end zone for a touchback.

For his efforts, Dalessandro won the Matt Casciano Memorial Game MVP trophy.

Scores by Quarters

                              1     2     3     4     F

Pottstown               7     6     7     7     27

Pius X                     0    12    0     8     20

Scoring

Pottstown - Jeff Endy 2 yd. run (Dentler kick)

PX - Nick DeRea 6 yd. run (kick failed)

Pottstown - Malik Brinkley 24 yd. run (kick failed)

PX - Dashon Russell 1 yd. run (pass failed)

Pottstown - Marc Smith 10 yd. run (Dentler kick)

Pottstown - Malik Brinkley 78 yd. (Dentler kick)

PX - A.J. Long 28 yd. run (Long pass to Camilletti for 2 pt. conversion)

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Pottstown - Malik Brinkley 16-221,  Marc Smith 15-219, Monroe Hampton 2-23, Mishon Coppock 4-17, Jeff Endy 9-11; Pius X - Boise Ross 16-58, AJ Long 14-58,  Nick DeRea 9-41, Dashon Russell 2- (-1)

Passing - Pottstown - Jeff Endy 2-9-0, 17 yds.; Pius X - AJ Long 18-25-2, 191 yds.

Receiving - Pottstown - Marc Smith 1-10, Monroe Hampton 1-7; Pius X - Matt Camilletti 5-33, George Dalessandro 4-78, Boise Ross 3- 5, Joey Dalessandro 2-32, Adrian Bernard 1-14, Petey Hernandez 1-8, Anthony Martino 1-6, Nick DeRea 1-5