The 2023 JV Football Team was a big group with a loaded roster of 63 players consisting of 31 returning sophomores and 32 new freshmen added to the program. New head coach Vinny Proscia ’08, going into his 11th season at Xaverian and first time as JV head coach, had no fear of expanding the roster to the most it’s had on one team in the program’s history. The remainder of the coaching staff had new faces but not old to the program with all being alumni and playing for Coach Proscia in the past as well. Offensive Coordinator Anthony Bianchi, Defensive Coordinator Julius Arcaro, Offensive and Defensive Line Coach Daniel Welsome, and Defensive Backs and Running Backs Coach Anthony Rosati. The theme Coach Proscia and his staff had set forth for this group was to compete and grow the program with numbers. The only way to compete is to have a lot of manpower and each player will have to compete every day to earn an opportunity to play. With an eight-game regular season schedule and three freshman games scheduled, this became an opportunity for a lot of players to get playing time to develop and grow.

 

The team was led by Sophomore Captains Donald Cranston, Justin Rotondi, John Scuteri, and Joe Tommasetti.  The JV Football Team opened up their season opener at St. John the Baptist with a very strong and convincing 22-6 win with touchdown passes each from Giacomo Tarasco, a touchdown pass to Tyler Buono and Terrance Watson touchdown pass to Peter Nocera, and a rushing touchdown by Richie Aiken.

 

The Clippers then traveled to St. Peter’s, which was a game that slipped away with a strong defensive start and big touchdown runs by Richie Aiken and Terrance Watson that gave the Clippers the lead but fell 31-13 with a halftime score by Peter’s with no time left and a bunch of second-half turnovers for scores.

 

The Clippers then faced Fordham Prep at home in a game that rained and made it hard for the Clippers to grip the ball with only one rushing score by Joe Tommasetti, falling to Prep 19-6. Making the Clippers 1-2 overall in league play, they then traveled to Holy Cross, where they faced another rain game and trailed 14-0 at half, looking like nothing was going their way until the second half when the Clippers rallied back with Quarterback Giacomo Tarasco leading the charge with touchdown passes to John Scuteri and Peter Nocera in regulation and game-winning touchdown by Richie Aiken in a thrilling overtime win 20-18, making them 2-2 overall.

 

The Clippers returned home to a strong Xavier team that gave them the toughest loss of the season 34-0. Now 2-3, the Clippers returned home for back-to-back games against Mount Saint Michael, winning 21-6 where the defense prevailed with two interceptions for touchdowns scored by Joe Tommasetti and Mateo Schachner and an offensive score by Richie Aiken on the ground. The Clippers then played Nazareth, winning in all phases of the game 40-6. The game started with a touchdown connection to Peter Nocera from Giacomo Tarasco. The rest were running scores on the ground by Terrance Watson, Richie Aiken, two by C.J. Auletti, and one by Ashton Doussos, making the Clippers’ record in the league now 3-3 and 4-3 overall.

 

The Clippers then had a tall task playing another tough opponent at home: St Francis Prep. The game started out similar to the Xavier game, going down fast and early 14-0. However, this was a different Clippers team that didn’t give up and had Prep on its heels in a close game, 26-20, with scores by Christian LaRocca on a pass by Giacomo Tarasco. Peter Nocera scored two times on passes from Tarasco, but with a costly turnover on downs, the Clippers lost 34-20, making them 3-4 in league record and 4-4 overall, making them the 7th seed in the playoff seeding.

 

The Clippers then had to face St. Francis Prep again, but at their home. The game was thrilling where the Clippers had two leads, 7-6 and 13-12, where Giacomo Tarasco scored twice on the ground, and then with three minutes left in the game, St Francis Prep scored with 50 seconds left, making it hard for the Clippers to win and ended their season with a 20-13 loss.

 

Xaverian ended their season with a 3-5 record league play and 4-5 overall. The season had a lot of bright spots, with tons of talent emerging and gaining manpower to compete for the future. Despite the record, the players and coaches still feel it was a successful season overall and are looking forward to next season!