Albertus Hosts Boys Soccer and Football Playoff Double Header Saturday

Albertus Magnus will host an exciting playoff double-header on Saturday.

 The boys soccer team kicks off the day when they face off against Briarcliff at 11 a.m., leading up to the main event, when Albertus' football hosts its first home playoff game at 2:15 p.m. against Woodlands.

Both football teams have had solid seasons, and, with both Albertus and Woodlands at records of 4-3, Saturday's match-up looks to be a real nail-biter.

"Woodlands has had a great year and they share the same 4-3 record as us," said the Falcons' Head Coach Paul Villanueva.  "They are able to score a lot of points using spread offense and have a lot of great athletes, so we're wary of them, but we like what our defense has been doing, and hope that they can cover these guys and keep doing what they've been doing to get us to victory."

Villanueva is equally confident in his offense, especially with the return of their star senior tailback, Michael Louis.  Louis joins the ranks of Ryan Condon, Laureano Andrade, and Jeremy Sosa.  These four running backs are the primary tools of the Falcons' offense, and will provide them with many excellent options in the playoffs.

"Our offense is finally at 100%," said Villanueva.  "I hope to spread the ball around between all four running backs and run the ball up both sidelines.  I hope that we just keep getting better and keep coming off the lines real fast.  Running the ball has been the strength of our team.  Both of our quarterbacks have been really good at managing the game and being smooth at handoffs and play-actions.  Right now it's Casey Kern and I'm real confident he can manage the game."

Villanueva was sure to point out the important role that his linemen have played in the Falcons' success this season.  With only one returning senior in Joseph Rodriguez, the line is young, however, despite their inexperience, they have performed at a very high level.  Filling out the line are sophomore tight end Tommy McConnell, sophomore guard Ryan Tobin, sophomore centers Matthew Cabillis and Robert Gelok, junior tackle Eugene Fallon, and junior guard Michael Mihovics.

"Our line is the key to our success, we have only one senior in our line returning, the rest are sophomores and juniors. On the defensive line, there's Brandon Evasco, a junior who's been playing really well defensively.  Our line is really young, and to be in the position  we are in, I'm really proud of our kids.  These young guys can really put the team on their shoulders."

The Falcons are coming into their first playoff home game fired up, after a dominant 20-6 victory over the Blind Brook Trojans last Saturday. 

"Last week we had a really nice defensive game in which our defense didn't allow any points from the Blind Brook team," said Villanueva.  "The only points came on a kickoff return in the second half.  It was really exciting to get our star senior, Michael Louis back, he had a partially torn ACL which he injured in a game against Yonkers and missed four games before coming back.  It's finally looking like he's back to 100% and had over 150 yards and three touchdowns.  We certainly missed him, and hopefully he'll provide the spark to get us going in the post season."

With Louis back in action, the Falcons came out hard to dominate the Trojans on both sides of the ball.  Louis led the way in an astounding comeback performance, as he scored all three of the Falcons' touchdowns.  He had an impressive total of 15 carries for 147 yards on the night.  With their own impressive offensive performances as well were Ryan Condon and Jeremy Sosa.  Condon had 5 carries for 84 yards.  Sosa had 7 carries for 52 yards.

"The defense played well, shutting out the Trojans' offense with 7 sacks and a big interception return by Ryan Condon (55yds) down to the Blind Brook 10 yard line in the 3rd quarter," said Villanueva.  "Brian Ilsely had a safety and also had a big interception to seal the game late in the 4th Quarter."

Sosa rounded out his performance Saturday with a big defensive game as well, as he made a key sack and averaged 55 yards per punt.  Leading the Falcons' defense was defensive tackle Mike Mihovics, who had 5 tackles and 2 sacks for the night.  Eugene Fallon, Ryan Tobin, and Brandon Evasco, all had solid performances with a respective 1.5, 1, and 2 sacks on the night.

The Box Score for Blind Brook at Albertus on Saturday, Oct. 23:

1ST QUARTER: MICHAEL LOUIS 3 YD TD, CASEY KERN KICK FAILED

2ND QUARTER: MICHAEL LOUIS 7 YARD TD, RYAN CONDON 2 PT CONVERSION RUN GOOD

3RD QUARTER: BLIND BROOK #4 65 YARD KICK RETURN TD CONVERSION FAILED

4TH QUARTER: MICHAEL LOUIS 31 YARD TD RUN KICK FAILED