St. Joseph Varsity Football takes the Silver Championship!

St. Joseph's Varsity Football Head Coach Tony Nitti told his boys if they believe in themselves this is what they would accomplish. He and his fellow coaches already knew they had a good team. They believed in their boys, but that confidence had to transfer. "It's been unbelievable. After our first game, we did not anticipate going to the championship," he said. The season opened with a 34-8 loss against St. Michael's. "But our team has a bunch of good athletes. We have about 13 players who we could plug into any position."

The Varsity team finished with a 6-3 record, one of the best records in recent memory. Between the JV and Varsity, the overall record was 13-5. St. Joe's JV team took Runner-Up in the Silver Championship competition, taking a tough 7-6 loss against Immaculate Conception School. Coach Nitti was impressed with his players. "Our best players had their best game." Offensively, 8th grader Logan Goss scored two touchdowns and defensively, 8th grader Joe Nitti was in on 90% of all the tackles. "It was a phenomenal game both offensively and defensively." He added, "If you want to talk about a breakout kid, Liam Lindberg is that kid." Lindberg only began in football two years ago. "When he began, he had no skill set whatsoever. In two years time, he is a starting player that contributes like the best of them." Lindberg plays defensive end. "He is disciplined, smart, strong...he's easily coachable These skills make him an outstanding player".

Eighth grader, Joe Nitti continued a St. Joseph tradition that began in the 1995/96 season. The passing of a now 14-year-old football was begun by Peter Mastandrea when he gave his game ball to the player he felt would take over the team's leadership. Nitti, who received the ball last season from St. Joseph 2008 Alumnus Riley McGinnis, passed the football to 7th grader, Grant Kasal. "Grant has been in the game a lot and has been doing really good on the field." When asked what it meant to him to receive the ball from McGinnis, Nitti responded, "It made me realize that I had to step it up because now I was more the leader of the team. (McGinnis) did a really good job last year when he was holding it, so I thought I had to do the same."

St. Joseph will celebrate their winning season on November 7th with a banquet at the American Legion Hall in Downers Grove.

For more photos and the Tribune article, click the link below:
http://triblocal.com/Bolingbrook/Detail_View/view.html?type=photos&action=detail&sub_id=36301

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St. Joseph Varsity Football takes the Silver Championship!