Biscardi takes charge for dominant Friars
St Anthony's #61 Matt Biscardi defends against Msgr. Farrell during the game held at St Anthony's High School. (Sept. 16, 2011) Credit: Frank Koester
Imagine for a moment that you're the center on a team that has won 21 straight football games. It's taken three years to get to this point -- to gather enough experience to lead one of, if not the, most formidable offensive lines on Long Island. The St. Anthony's Friars live and die with their lines and everyone (and we do mean everyone) wants to put a kink in your football dynasty.
You're Matt Biscardi: 6-1, 295 pounds, 95 grade average and possibly Ivy League bound. But none of that matters right now because the opposing nose tackle has this angry glint in his eye that says he's been thinking about you all week.
It's the few interminable seconds before the snap (to a new starting quarterback, though he's really coming along great these days). And here's the rundown. Ready?
Is it an even front or odd? Where are the linebackers? How's that nose tackle setting up? What's the offensive play? Read for a possible blitz. Adjust your train of thought accordingly. Call your line audibles. Quickly, please. And then, finally, make sure that snap is exactly how quarterback Pete Carew likes it.
"It's important to make all the right calls, and obviously stay low. Getting rid of the ball quickly is very important," said Biscardi, who also has played tackle and guard. "And if I make the wrong call, all the defensive alignments change."
He hasn't been making too many wrong calls lately. The Friars have outscored opponents 92-26 in their first two games after winning the Catholic League Class AAA championship last year. They're doing it with a new quarterback in Carew -- a four-year varsity player who's proving himself more than capable after Sean McDonagh's season-ending injury.
"He's such a smart football player," coach Rich Reichert said of Biscardi, who is being looked at by Princeton and Columbia. "They all rely on him because he has an understanding of the offense."
His relationship with Carew, Reichert said, has been a boon.
"It's certainly helped," he said. "Peter is a senior and a good athlete and he's getting it. But have to see the same things."
Not that past success necessarily portends future victory, something of which Biscardi is well aware.
"We're 2-0 and we're pretty good, but we have more work to do," he said. "We let up one game, and that's our perfect streak. My sophomore season we [fell asleep] on St. Joe's. You never want to be fully content."
He cuts his ambition with an easygoing nature and keen intelligence. It's a mix that has people noticing, even when St. Anthony's isn't systematically dismantling its opponents.
That very thing happens on a truly unremarkable Wednesday evening at St. Anthony's. The rain has finally let up and the air is still full of that dreary mist that makes everything seem sticky and unseasonably warm.
Mike Stackpole and John Parmenter -- the type of football dads who brave the weather to watch a practice under the lights -- look on from behind a short fence. Both their sons are in their senior years, and they say they want to enjoy it while they can, even if it means rain jackets and umbrellas. Both kids play defense, but when it comes to the subject of the night, they don't need much prompting.
"Matt Biscardi?" says Parmenter, whose son, John, is a defensive back. "You couldn't write about a better kid . . . he's always smiling. He's a leader."
He helps inspire leadership in others, too.
"Especially going into the last game," Carew said of the Friars' matchup against Fordham Prep. "Some people didn't think I could lead this team, and then we had that shaky first quarter."
Shaky?
"We only led 17-0."
Carew, who finished 5-for-13 for 130 yards and two TDs, helped propel the Friars to a 51-0 win (Brian Sherlock had two rushing scores). He said he's more confident now, particularly with that O-line in front of him. Biscardi, apparently, saw it in him all along.
Carew said that when he got the starting job, Biscardi called him -- not a text, a real, live phone call -- to "tell me he had faith in me, that I was a strong player and I could lead this team."
It looks like he may have been right.
Imagine you're Matt Biscardi. You see things like that.
