Catholic Memorial Knights Need Youth to Step Up on Gridiron

In 2009, the Catholic Memorial Knights football team posted a 5-5 record, while at one point starting as many as 12 sophomores.

In 2010, they'll expect last year's youngsters to prove to be this year's leaders as the team prepares to take the next step as contenders in the tough Catholic Conference.

"Starting that many sophomores in Division I football, playing in a league where you have three of the top teams in the state, is a lot," said head coach Alex Campea, who is preparing for his seventh season at the helm of the Knights. "Now they're juniors. My expectations are certainly much higher. Even though they're juniors, they played a lot of football last year."

Indeed, two of the squad's four captains – quarterback AJ Doyle and strong safety and offensive flex option Donovan Henry – were both sophomore starters in 2010. They'll join seniors John Gorman and West Roxbury's Fabrice Rateau in leading Catholic Memorial's 2010 campaign.

Gorman, a returning captain, who calls the defensive plays as the team's Mike linebacker (the middle linebacker who captains the defense) and splits time between fullback and tight end offensively, particularly stands out to his coach as an important piece to the 2010 puzzle.

"He's an outstanding student, an outstanding individual, captain in two sports, one of the top baseball players in the state and a heck of a football player. He's the full package," Campea says. "Any college coach who wants to recruit a top athlete, he's going to look at someone like John Gorman to be a part of their program."

Outside of the captaincy, Campea expects two other juniors to play big roles for the Knights. Cameron Williams and Armani Reeves – another West Roxbury native and, according to Scout.com, the cousin of NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley – figure to provide athleticism in both the secondary and the receiving corps.

"We have good skill players," says Campea. "Good speed."

The questions, then, fall in the offensive and defensive lines.

"We graduated pretty much everybody from our offensive line and our defensive line," Campea explains. "We have good players there, we're working hard, doing a good job, but we have to replace both. There were a couple guys who played last year, but we had them in different positions, so there's adjustments we have to make."

Catholic Memorial is always a threat to compete in the Catholic Conference. Success isn't necessarily easy to come by however. Though the Knights finished with a .500 record in 2009, they were 0-4 in league play. With experience and skill on their side, how does the coach propose that his team improves upon that record?

"Get better, period," he says. "We play in the toughest conference in the state. We have to be better prepared. We worked hard all off-season. Now it's time to make a dent in the league. We want to win the conference. We want to win the championship. That's no easy task. But we need to get better from last year's team."