Mater Dei High School football coach Steve Sciarappa has broadened his approach to how he prepares for games, beyond film and playbooks.
“I’m a computer geek,” Sciarappa said with a laugh. He has implemented electronic pads that store notes and present slides of games that he said before the season gives a “much more collegiate approach” to preparation.
Sciarappa, who also is the school principal, said, “We have this program in our school. Only three schools in the Shore have this tablet in their schools, including St. John Vianney and Monsignor Donovan, but I don’t know that they use this with their teams. It’s a PowerPoint, and you go over plays slide by slide.”
It keeps everything paperless and conveniently centralized for his players, who speak favorably of the carryover of the technology from the classroom to the playing field, and they finally utilized it toward a victory two weekends ago when the Seraphs beat Point Pleasant Beach, 7-6. It was their first regular-season victory since the 2006 season, when they beat Monsignor Donovan, 27-12.
“I’m a visual learner myself, and having the technology is great for every game,” said running back and safety Mike Eckert, one of nine seniors on the very young team. “Most of the guys on the team are visual learners.”
Kevin Quinn, a senior center and middle linebacker, said the program “helps a lot. I’m a visual learner. In school, we go over all the plays with it.”
Mark Sudziarski, a senior wide receiver who caught the touchdown pass on a diving catch at the goal line in the second quarter from junior quarterback Jesse Meyer against Point Pleasant Beach, said it has helped him run his patterns. “You can execute and remember plays and single them out,” he said. It was only the second touchdown scored this season by Mater Dei, both by Sudziarski.
Point Pleasant Beach missed a gamewinning field goal attempt in the closing seconds in the win for Mater Dei, which had near misses for victories early in the season against Middlesex, 14-7, and Cardinal Mc- Carrick, 14-0. It ended a five-game winless streak that spanned back to a 7-0 NJSIAA consolation game victory over Newark Academy that ended a 1-9 season. It was only the second victory over the last 35 games, but a starting point for a team that has dramatically increased its roster to 30 players, a 50 percent increase from last year, which includes three freshmen and four sophomores in the starting lineup.
“There’s a different mood in the locker room this week,” said senior lineman Dwight Sheehan. “It’s very important, because we still will be playing very good teams. It definitely has had an impact on the team.”
It also has had an impact on Sheehan, who thought he might miss the season with a knee injury, until a second evaluation determined it was not a torn anterior cruciate ligament as initially feared. “It feels great to be playing. It shows you never give up,” said Sheehan.
The road gets tougher with the Shore Conference Central Division game at Shore Regional this past Friday, Oct. 29, (a loss) and a Nov. 5 game against Dunellen before a state consolation game and a Thanksgiving game at home against Keansburg.
“It’s been great at practice preparing for Shore Regional with that win [Point Pleasant Beach] behind us, and that came at our Homecoming with the class of 1973 holding a reunion,” said Sciarappa. “I’m really happy for guys like Kevin Quinn, who has been a four-year starter for us. We have to overcome adversity every day. Everybody is crucial, and they all bought into it.”
Some of the others include Parker Lampe, a wide receiver and defensive back; Joe Elcott, a wide receiver and defensive back; Casey Malloy, a running back and linebacker; Mark Bilotta, a wide receiver and linebacker; and two-way lineman Patrick Cantwell. They have provided the leadership with Eckert, Quinn, Sheehan and Sudziarski for the team, which looks to match or surpass the four victories of the 2006 season. Its best record in memory is not that long ago — in 1999 when it went 7- 3 and beat Immaculate Conception in the state playoffs before losing to St. Joseph’s of Hammonton in the finals.
“We can build off this for the future,” said Sudziarski
Eckert and Quinn agreed that attendance is the essential starting point to measuring progress. “It’s the only stat,” said Sciarappa. “They’re really committed to being there every day.”