Chaminade 9 - MICDS 2

Any team is going to have a hard time against us when we put together a complete game. In what was a fitting end to the first half of the season, just before Easter Break, the Red Devils imposed their will against the MICDS Rams en route to a 9-2 victory. Short two key players, senior captain Danny Faust and junior Ed Rose, the Boys in Black played solid game at both ends.

As always, there was aggressive drives, great 2MD (provided by seniors Jake Entwistle and Chris Duncan) and an increasing amount of strong moves in front of the cage (highlighted by senior captains Jack Meara and Chris Watkins, as well as juniors Kevin Glauber and Jake Schott). A new strength has emerged the last two games as our goalie combo of senior Peter Hoette and junior Chris Lauber have stepped up the shot blocking, passing and stealing. We still need improvement in all those areas from these guys, but the last two games have been solid. In the field, we need improvement in the perimeter passing, especially under pressure, and patience in front of the cage. To often we will force shots inside, and we need to be able to take a foul and take advantage of the great drives we are getting.

Still, these last two games have been the most complete and mental-mistake free game we have played all season. Once we get matched up defensively, we are hard to score upon.

Goals: Meara - 4, Glauber - 2, Schott - 2, Watkins - 1
Assists: Watkins - 3, Hoette - 2, Lauber - 1, Meara - 1
Steals: Entwistle - 5, Duncan - 4, Meara - 4, Hoette - 3, Lauber - 3, Schott - 3, Watkins - 1
Kickouts: Duncan - 1, Schott - 1
Saves: Lauber - 4, Hoette - 2

Player of the Game: Peter Hoette and Chris Lauber: combined 3 assists, 5 steals, 6 saves and a big improvement in the quality of passing and stealing aggressiveness.

DeSmet 6 - Chaminade 4

DeSmet put up their lowest goal total of the year as the Red Devils played their best team game of the year. Player of the Year candidate, Junior Matt Stipanovich, was marked all game by our defensive MVP, senior Jake Entwistle, and Jake held the big lefty to only one goal. That is a major improvement from this past weekend where Matt put up 8 goals on the Red Devils.

Chaminade's defense was relentless the entire game as we pressed hard everywhere and didn't give DeSmet any easy passes. Every pass was contested which led to 21 steals, many of which came from in front of the cage. The 2M defense was excellent as DeSmet couldn't get a goal out of set. After the first quarter, the team was very happy with how well were were matching up against the explosive Spartans.

To DeSmet's credit, they capitalized on the few mistakes the Red Devils made. Two counter-attack goals by senior Danny Holtgrewe came from perimeter steals. Juniors Stipanovich and Schonhoff scored off fouls outside 5M (two of maybe four such opportunities). Senior Bob Morrisey unloaded on one of DeSmet's two 6-on-5 opportunities and senior goalie Kyle Dolan scored on a last second lob.

As I said after the game, DeSmet is a very good offensive team, and 6 mental mistakes led to 6 goals. We need to be perfect if we plan on beating them next time around.

Things that went right:

• Defense...everywhere
• Getting open on offense, through driving hard ball-side
• Mental toughness - the boys were focused coming into this game and there were very few moments of rest as we were short two starters.

Things that went not so right:

• Passing under pressure - still too many wayward passes to open guys, too many passing attempts with defender hanging on arm.
• Shooting - need improvement in accuracy and aggressiveness. We get open shots and hit the goalie in the hands.
• Aggressive moves with the ball - when I ask officials why we don't draw any kickouts when we have position to the goal, they all tell me we don't make a move, that we give up. While I think this has more to do with the defenders using our boys the way swimmers use lane ropes while the coach isn't looking, I do think we need to be more aggressive when trying to relieve pressure. There have been moments where we try and turn our defender (Junior Ed Rose made a nice one tonight), I think we should try to make aggressive moves more often, to either turn the guy and head to the goal, or force the defender to foul.

Goals: Faust - 2, Meara - 1, Watkins - 1

Assists: Hoette - 3, Meara - 1

Steals: Entwistle - 5, Hoette - 5, Faust - 4, Lauber - 2, Meara - 2, Watkins - 2, Rose - 1

Kickouts: Duncan - 1, Rose - 1

Saves: Lauber - 9

Player of the Game: Faust and Hoette. Faust had 2 goals and 4 steals and handled DeSmet's Michael Schonhoff very well. Hoette had 3 assists and 5 steals, doing all of the little things that we need to win; play tough perimeter D, force bad passes, make steals, guard hole well if taken in, wing out to get the ball from the goalie and make good passes. Great games by both seniors.

Up next: Thursday April 9th v. MICDS at Chaminade. JV will begin at 7PM, varsity follows at 8PM.

Tonight v. DeSmet

For the second time in 3 days, the Chaminade Red Devils will take on the DeSmet Spartans. We will be playing at DeSmet's home pool, which is Chaminade. The JV game will begin at 7:00pm and the varsity game will follow at 8:00PM. Varsity will be missing juniors Kevin Glauber and Jake Schott as they are on a retreat. Sophomore Aaron Gremp will be called up from JV to supplement the varsity team.

DeSmet is a tough matchup for us as they are physical and are good shooters. Beating the #2 team in the state will require relentless press defense, because we cannot afford to get into a shootout. A winning score for Chaminade will be 5-4, not 16-15. We need a defensive battle.

See you tonight.

Chaminade 11 - Ladue 8

Check back Sunday evening for the write-up and stats. It takes longer than you would think to write these posts and I am just getting bombarded at work right now. I won't have time to write until the Conference Tournament is over (like anyone reads this drivel anyway!) Coach Stream is going through the same thing as layoffs at his company are forcing him to carry a heavier load. Even the water polo team isn't safe from the economic crisis!

Tonight v. Ladue

Tonight we have Ladue at home. JV at 7PM, Varsity at 8PM.

Sorry about my lack of posting of late, a lot of deadlines at work after missing three days last week. Being busy at work is a good thing, but I wish it were slightly less busy at the moment! Now I know how the boys feel, trying to get homework done while juggling water polo and everything else.

Chaminade 10 - Parkway South 7

The Red Devils picked up their first win in St. Louis as we beat Parkway South 10-7. The first game back from Orlando showed a lot of the things that the team picked up. We came out aggressively, playing for the steal on the defense. We jumped out to an early lead, something that the team last year seemed unable to do. However, one thing was reminiscent of the team last year, and that was the suffocating defense. Led by senior Jake Entwistle, who covered Pat Maloney (easily South’s best player), the defense created opportunities for the offense. Jake led the team with 9 steals, and never let Maloney get the ball for more than a half second if South even managed to get the ball into set. The defense pressed hard on the perimeter, and it took a couple of quarters to get used to the “new” referees and their calls, but we fixed our mistakes. Ed Rose led the counter attack, playing smart and leaving for offense when he should. His 5 goals led the team.

In goal, Chris Lauber dominated in the shallow end, playing aggressively and making a few steals, along with smart outlet passes. In the deep end Peter Hoette played his first game in St. Louis after a very promising showing in Florida, making good saves as well as a couple of steals.
The scoreboard doesn’t reflect the game, the Devils were in control the entire game. We were playing with great confidence and team defense, getting lots of shots and playing as if we could score whenever we needed to. The only problem was what would happen after a steal on defense, giving three of their goals to them by stealing the ball, and then getting it taken away and then South would have an advantage.

Players of the game were Ed Rose for his offense, and Jake Entwistle, for one of his best defensive efforts of the season.

-Senior Captain Jack Meara

Today v. Parkway South

Today the Red Devils take on the Parkway South Patriots at Parkway South. The JV game starts a 4PM and the varsity games starts at 5PM.

I know the Parkway South program fairly well as most of their kids have played for me at Jungle Cats at one point or another. I enjoy playing South because the are all good kids and don't play dirty. The varsity team is VERY fast and will be looking to counter all game. Senior Pat Maloney and Junior Jake Auinbaugh are big and fast kids, so Entwistle and Duncan will have their hands full. The JV team will probably be one of the best JV teams we play this year. South has a great sophomore and freshman class. I don't know how many of them are playing up on varsity, but I do know that freshmen Daniel Maloney and Michael Bowers are on JV and they will be tough.

This will be a good first test after a successful Florida trip.

SLUH 13 - Chaminade 1

Direct quote from a senior: "That was not a good game."

Usually losses are hard to deconstruct as many little things add up to the loss and it's hard to draw broad themes to reason why the loss occurred. This loss is not one of those losses. This loss can be pinned on one thing: passing.

The Red Devils played hard and were in the game for a half, but in the end, poor passing led to their demise. SLUH played excellent passing lane defense. They pressed hard and wouldn't give the Red Devils any easy passing lanes. Rather than working to create lanes, the Red Devils often forced passes which led to many steals and counter-attack goals. Conservative estimates put the turnover ratio at 3 turnovers for every 4 possessions. Personally, I think the ratio was higher. In order to beat good teams, you need to take care of the ball. Just like in football, the team with the fewest turnovers usually wins.

Things that went right:

• Half-Court defense - when we made SLUH set up, they did not score. We play great team defense in the half-court.
• The 2nd Quarter - 1-1 was the score in the second quarter. I believe everyone in the building believed the entire game was going to go like the second quarter went. I believe we can replicate that second quarter for an entire game against this team.

Things that went not so right:

• Passing - we need to take more pride in our passing; how it was delivered (was it too hard, too soft, did it skip, was it catchable), where it was delivered (was it too high, too low, too close or too far away) and if it was the right pass for what we are doing offensively (who was driving, who was open, did the pass lead to a positive play or did I just get rid of the ball)
• Counter-attack defense - we let the SLUH attackers leave early for offense and we were playing catch-up too much. We need to anticipate when our opponent is going to leave for offense.
• Movement on offense - we basically run a motion offense and there was not enough movement. Our goalie had to hold the ball too long on too many possessions and when the ball would come down the pool, we were content to watch the 2M work for position, rather than drive weak side or look for back door/pick opportunities.
• Shooting aggressiveness - it was improved from the Kirkwood game, but the boys need to pull the trigger when they are open

Goals: Watkins - 1
Assists: Meara - 1
Steals: Entwistle - 2, Watkins - 2, Faust - 1, Glauber - 1, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1, Rose - 1
Kickouts: Entwistle - 1, Rose - 1
Saves: Lauber - 8

Player of the Game: Watkins - 1 goal, 2 steals

Next Game: FLORIDA!

Tonight v. SLUH

Tonight, the Red Devils face-off against the top-ranked SLUH Jr. Bills. JV will begin at 6PM and varsity will follow at 7PM. These are the correct times (I posted the wrong times initially) and if there is ever any confusion about game times, please check http://mowaterpolo.com/, as that site always has the most updated schedule.

SLUH has been a dominant force for the last three seasons, and their undefeated record stretches back to when water polo was still in the fall. The Red Devils encountered the Jr. Bills three times last year and I thought our performance against them improved each time. We also had the best success against SLUH of any team last year because of our abilities on the defensive end.

In the spirit of March Madness beginning today (a national holiday in my eyes) and to get under the skin of SLUH JV coach John Penilla, I called former Notre Dame basketball coach Digger Phelps to get his three keys to the game tonight for Chaminade. Here there are, without the matching tie and highlighter:

1. Accurate passing while under pressure: good passes will lead to open drives and 6-on-5 opportunities
2. Entwistle, Duncan and more Entwistle: Jake and Chris need to be perfect guarding the hole and can't get kicked out
3. Solid goaltending from Junior Chris Lauber: Chris has been working hard on long passing this week which will help stimulate the Red Devil counter-attack

Digger makes some good points, but I think the critical matchup tonight is how our defensive stalwarts, led by Jake Entwistle, Chris Duncan and Captain Danny Faust, handle the SLUH 2-meters John Heafner, Will Page and Steve Sigman. Jake and Chris, in particular, played brilliantly against Kirkwood and will have to again carry a large load tonight. If we can keep those three Jr. Bills off the board, we will find ourselves in this game to the very end.

Starters for varsity:
#1 Chris Lauber
#2 Chris Watkins (c)
#4 Jack Meara (c)
#5 Kevin Glauber
#6 Peter Hoette
#8 Danny Faust (c)
#9 Jake Entwistle

Chaminade 13 - John Burroughs 3

Senior Night was a roaring success. The Red Devil seniors came out strong and the rest of the team followed up by dismantling the Bombers 13-3. The effort was there from start to finish and but for a Dan Fernandez kickout, a last second bomb and a backhand, the boys would have had a shutout. In one of my proudest moments as a coach, I overhead the Burroughs players talking after the game and one of them said "I like playing that team." The Red Devils played a hard clean game and didn't showboat or embarrass anyone. We won the right way and I'm proud.

Goals: Fernandez - 3, Kubik - 3, Duncan - 2, Arnold - 1, Entwistle - 1, Meara - 1, Rejko - 1, Stabler - 1
Assists: Benage - 4, Glauber - 2, Watkins - 2, Duncan - 1, Hoette - 1, Stabler - 2
Steals: Stabler - 6, Entwistle - 4, Benage - 3, Kubik - 3, Schwartz - 2, Watkins - 2, Faust - 1, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1
Kickouts: Fernadez - 1

Player of the Game: Rejko - best 5M shot of the year in the seniors' last home game

Up Next: The Conference Tournament. I will post when I know our ranking.

Tonight v. John Burroughs

Tonight at 7:00 PM at Chaminade, the Red Devils varsity will close out the regular season against John Burroughs. The JV will play SLUH's JV tonight at 6:00 PM at Chaminade and will have one more regular season game against DeSmet's JV on Tuesday at MICDS.

Tonight's game against Burroughs will be the seniors last home game, so please come out early and support them on Senior Night. We'll see you tonight as we try and kick off a new winning streak (that hopefully won't end until next year).

Starters for varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#7 Kevin Rejko
#11 Dan Fernandez

DeSmet 5 - Chaminade 4 (OT)

This one is on me. There are two major mistakes I made in this game and, either through inexperience, stubbornness or stupidity, I couldn't realize what was going on. The most obvious mistake was the last play of the game. After the opposing team scores a goal (such as DeSmet did with 4 seconds remaining in overtime) you can call a timeout and then you are allowed to set up in the offensive side of half. Even though I have known this rule since I was a kid, it somehow slipped my mind in this instance and we settled for a half court shot...albeit a really good half-court shot by Jake Entwistle.

The second mistake is less obvious. We went into the 4th quarter leading 4-2 and we had DeSmet on their heels. We had our foot on their throats...and we let up. And I could tell we were letting up. I could see that we were playing not to lose, rather than playing to win. That, as you know, is a dangerous game to play. I had a timeout in hand and should have used it to wake the boys up to what was going on...but I guess I was playing not to lose as well. I figured our defense was playing so well that a timeout would only give their best players a rest and the longer play went on, the better our advantage would be. I was wrong, and the more tentative we played on our offensive end, the more aggressive they became.

The two lessons learned from this game are:

1. Our defense is nearly impossible to score upon if all 7 guys in the water are focused and working hard. If one guys lets up, the machine breaks down and a good team will take advantage of the break down. You can't relax against a good team or you get two back-door goals scored against you.
2. Against teams that hold and grab your legs or your suit, you cannot rely on the referees to call a foul. DeSmet likes to run plays that cause chaos so the referees can't see that a lot of the defenders are getting held. It's illegal, but a cheap way to get a goal if 11 seconds are left in overtime. My message to our players is this: you know you are going to get held, so you need to make sure you don't get held. Especially on those chaos plays, we need to have our hips up and keep our distance from their players. If you do get grabbed, don't sink and pray for a call, get your hips up and start swimming and kicking as hard as you can.

I say this a lot to the boys, there is a fine line between being aggressive and being dirty. There is a difference between kicking someone and someone getting kicked. When my suit would be held in college, I would get my hips up and flutter kick so hard and fast that either the guy holding me would let go or he was about to get a concussion. I would never aim for a defender or try to harm him, but I was determined to swim away from him and if he wanted to ride along he was risking getting hurt.

Overall, it was one of our best performances. Our game plan worked for the first 3 quarters and we were in control. We were very efficient in our shooting (4 for 10) and rarely rushed or forced a shot. But, I think we still have a lot of room for improvement. I want us to play a full game of defense, not just 90% of a game. I want us to finish teams off, too often we let teams back in the game. I want us to finish our drives, we do many great things on the offensive end but never get a quality shot off. I want us to know our roles, who should be guarding the back line and who should be guarding up top. I want us to have different offensive plays and different defensive schemes so we aren't so predictable.

One more conference game and then we are in the post season. We will get another chance at DeSmet in the conference tournament, so we need to be ready. I am looking forward to practice this week.

Goals: Kubik - 3, Benage - 1
Assists: Benage -1, Meara - 1, Stabler - 1, Watkins - 1
Steals: Entwistle - 6, Stabler - 6, Duncan - 4, Benage - 3, Kubik - 2, Meara - 2, Hoette - 1, Watkins - 1
Kickouts: NONE!
Saves: Stabler - 11

Player of the Game: Entwistle - 6 steals, fantastic 2M defense and did not take a sub once

Up Next: Monday April 21st v. John Burroughs at Chaminade. JV plays SLUH's JV at 6:00 PM and the varsity game against JBS will start afterwards at 7:00 PM.

Chaminade 6 - MICDS 1

In one of the best played games to date, the Red Devils beat the MICDS Rams by playing flawless defense. As expected, the Rams played great defense as well and goals were hard to come by for both teams. The Rams came at Chaminade with a lot of aggressiveness and speed, running picks to get open. The Red Devils communicated on defense and were able to switch to make sure the Rams couldn't get any ball side drives. As Senior Blake Stabler said as the game ended: "We played awesome."

Offensively, we executed very well up until the point where we shot the ball. We drove hard, made great picks, made some good passes, protected open water, expended a ton of energy getting in position to score...and didn't finish. Scoring under pressure is a necessary skill that we need to develop in order to succeed this year. We'll be taking lots of wet shots and lay-outs in the coming weeks.

Goals: Arnold -2, Benage - 1, Entwistle - 1, Fernandez - 1, Kubik - 1
Assists: Kubik - 3, Fernandez - 1, Stabler - 1, Watkins - 1
Steals: Entwistle - 9, Stabler - 6, Arnold - 3, Watkins -3, Faust - 2, Fernandez -2, Meara - 2, Benage - 1, Kubik -1
Kickouts: Kubik - 1, Meara - 1, Stabler - 1
Saves: Stabler - 6

Player of the Game: Entwistle - 1 goal on 4 shots and 9 steals.

Up Next: Friday April 18th v. Clayton @ Clayton. The JV game starts at 4:00 PM. The varsity game will follow at about 5:00 PM.

Tonight v. MICDS

Tonight the Chaminade Red Devils varsity squad will take on the MICDS Rams who are playing a varsity-only schedule this year. Coach Casey told me that they have really been hurt by the change of season, but he thinks they can come back strong next year and going forward. This matchup will be at 8:00 PM at Chaminade. Prior to the game, the JV faction of the CCP water polo program will encounter the Longhorns of Parkway West at 7:00 PM.

I played for both Coach Casey's when I was a kid and have coached against them in club play, but never in high school. I'm nervous and excited as these were the two people who first taught me how to play water polo. They also have taught nearly everyone on our team how to play water polo as well. And as you all know, Dan Casey started our program here. So basically, we are all very grateful for Don and Dan Casey and how they have enriched our lives with this sport...but let's drop the hammer on them tonight.

The coaching staff poses two major problems for the Red Devils:

1. They have coached every single player on this team. They know our boys in the same way I know the South and SLUH boys. I bet they know more about our boys than I do.
2. They know how to coach defense. No offense to any other program, but the Casey's and Baud at SLUH are about the only coaches who know how to coach really good defense in this city.

So what does that mean for us? We need to execute. We need to be patient. We need to protect the ball. We need to communicate. If any of those four "needs" breaks down, we might find ourselves on the losing side of this battle.

Starters for varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#8 Danny Faust
#12 Chris Watkins

I'm excited for the Parkway West game. West's varsity coach Charlie Cutelli and I have become good friends as he has been coaching Jungle Cats with me for the last couple years. We are the same age and he lives a block away. He is a good coach and very passionate about the sport. Jungle Cats was started when we were sophomores and Charlie and I were among the first in the program. When we were in high school, Charlie's Parkway South team lost one game in two years and that was to my SLUH team our junior year (with SLUH's JV coach John Penilla and Conner Keefe's older brother Ryan as our captains). He has two state titles, so I don't have much sympathy for him when his Longhorns struggle!

See you tonight.

Chaminade 9 - Parkway South 3

The Red Devils have more wins than losses for the first time this season...a feat to be proud of! I'm going to sound like a broken record before too long because yet again our boys were tremendous on the defensive end and lacking on the offensive end. Chaminade held the Patriots to 3 goals and forced 23 turnovers, a season high. This was done through a press-no-foul defense on the perimeter and tenacious fronting of the 2M. In addition, the Red Devils recognized out of position Patriots and crashed the 2M on hole passes from the top when an opportunity arose.

On the offensive end, the Red Devils tied a season high in goals with 9, but shot less than 50% as Parkway South's Jim Bowers stopped 12 shots. Jim played very well, but our boys rushed a lot of shots, took too many outside shots and didn't force Jim to move across the goal-mouth with cross-goal passes. We still are working through the post-Spring Break rustiness, but at least the effort is there. The greatest thing we have going for us is our intensity level...we just need it to be more structured.

Things that went right:

• 2M defense
• Defensive awareness leading to a season high in steals

Things that went not so right:

• Patience on Offense
• 6-on-5 Offense (0 for 2)

Goals: Benage - 3, Arnold - 2, Kubik - 2, Faust - 1, Hoette - 1

Assists: Stabler - 4, Kubik - 2, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1, Watkins - 1

Steals: Stabler - 6, Duncan - 4, Kubik - 3, Arnold - 1, Fernandez - 2, Watkins - 2, Benage - 1, Entwistle -1, Faust - 1, Hoette -1

Kickouts: Kubik - 2, Duncan - 1

Saves: Stabler - 4

Player of the Game: Arnold - 2 goals on 3 shots, 2 steals and persistence on offense to recover two rebounds for goals

Up Next: Thursday April 3rd v. Lafayette @ Lafayette. JV at 4:15 PM, Varsity at 5:15 PM.

Tonight v. Parkway South

Chaminade will be scrapping with the Parkway South Patriots tonight at Parkway South. The JV game starts at 7:00 PM followed by the Varsity game at about 8:00 PM. We will be short super Sophomore Kevin Glauber tonight as he is making up his Monday absence. As of writing, I am unaware of the status of Junior Jack Meara has he hurt his arm blocking a shot yesterday in practice. We all hope he is okay.

I am more familiar with these Patriots than any team in the area, besides maybe SLUH. I think nearly every South player played for me at Jungle Cats at some point in the last two years. Senior Jake Meyer is their best overall player who has skills on both the defensive and offensive end. What Jake lacks in stature, he makes up for in smarts. Like Ladue's Varwig, Jake travelled with us to California last summer and has a great deal of experience. Junior Patrick Maloney is South's best 2M player and is also their fastest swimmer. Entwistle, Faust and Duncan will again be called upon to shadow Patrick everywhere. In my opinion, Senior goalie Jim Bowers is one of the 5 best in the area, but South's weakness is their reliance on underclassmen that are talented but undersized and inexperienced. Our Red Devils are savvy veterans who can hopefully out-smart and out-work the younger and less aware Patriots. It should be a good one. See you tonight.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette
#11 Dan Fernandez

Chaminade 9 - Ladue 1

The Red Devils got back to .500 by beating a very good Ladue team. The scoreboard didn't show it, but Ladue played tough and held Chaminade's offense in check. An injury to Ladue's senior goaltender gave CCP an opportunity to score some soft goals against an inexperienced sophomore. But, regardless of Ladue's goaltending situation, our boys clamped down on two of the best 2M's in the area (Zach Varwig and Hayden Yancey) and allowed only one Ladue goal off a perfect cross goal shot. So even with their #1 goalie, 2 goals would have secured a win.

Things that went right:

• 2M Defense - Danny Faust, Jake Entwistle and Chris Duncan, with support from Jack Benage and Jack Meara, held the Ladue 2M tandem to zero goals. They rarely fouled outside 5, which forced Zach and Hayden to take shots under pressure, and when they did foul, they immediately got a hand up and in some cases, blocked a shot (Duncan!).
• Movement on Offense - our set offense was quite rusty, but it wasn't due to lack of effort. The hardest thing to get high school players to do is to be aggressive on offense and make something happen when nothing is going on. We showed creativity and willingness to take risks with our drives and it paid off with high percentage shots and 5 man-advantages.
• Goaltending - Blake played fantastic and clearly frustrated Ladue's shooters. In the second quarter, he cramped up and Jack Meara put on the red cap and made a great save. The passing by both was precise and they even hooked up in the 4th quarter as Meara beat his man down the middle and Blake hit him with a dry pass at the 5M line for a easy goal.

Things that went not so right:

• Half-Court Offense Balance and Execution
• 6-on-5 (Patience is a virtue!)
• Winging Out Early on Counters

Goals: Kubik - 3, Arnold - 2, Benage - 2, Fernandez - 1, Meara - 1

Assists: Benage - 2, Duncan -1, Faust - 1, Fernandez - 1, Kubik - 1, Meara - 1

Steals: Stabler - 8, Entwistle - 2, Benage - 1, Kubik - 1, Schwartz - 1, Watkins - 1

Kickouts: Stabler - 1

Saves: Stabler - 11

Player of the Game: Stabler - 11 saves on 12 shots, 8 steals, 2 assists and 1 cramp recovery

Up Next: Wednesday April 2nd v. Parkway South @ Parkway South. JV at 7:00 PM, Varsity after JV at approximately 8:00 PM.

Tonight v. Ladue

The Red Devils are taking on the Ladue Rams tonight at Chaminade. The JV game starts at 7:00 PM followed by the Varsity game at about 8:00 PM. To my knowledge, we will have everyone dressed for the game without any lingering absences to make up. It's nice to come off Spring Break with a full lineup and a clean slate. I expect we will be be pretty rusty and relatively out of shape, so there will be lots of substitutions.

I am not very familiar with this Ladue team. I coached two of their players in the offseason, Zach Varwig and Patrick Wall. Zach is a senior who has played for me for two years and even went to California with me last summer for the Junior Olympics. Zach is Ladue's primary 2M and will probably be the strongest kid in the pool tonight (apologies to Kevin Arnold). When he wants to, Zach can be a game-changer so Jack Benage, Danny Faust, Jake Entwistle and Chris Duncan will have to keep a close eye on him all night. There was a nice write-up about Zach in the Post, you can read it here.

This will most likely be the most competitive home game we have remaining. They will bring lots of fans, so should we. See you tonight.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#2 Jack Benage (c)
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#8 Danny Faust
#9 Peter Hoette
#11 Dan Fernandez

SLUH 7 - Chaminade 2

That's an ugly score, but those who were at the game knew it was much closer. The Red Devils, missing Junior Danny Faust, Senior Kevin Rejko and Senior Captain Jack Benage, played their best defense of the year, and for 3 quarters kept the defending state champs within striking distance.

Things started off poorly as SLUH's Junior John Heafner, going to the deep end, scored on the first possession on a surprise shot from the wing. Chaminade responded by locking down defensively and protecting the ball and not letting SLUH counter-attack. 3 minutes into the 1st, CCP's Senior Captain Kevin Arnold tied the score when left open at the point. SLUH's Junior Michael O'Neill put SLUH up 2-1 on a broken play and that's how the score remained going into the 2nd quarter. Shooting in the shallow, SLUH's Junior Will Page scored his first of three goals to open up the scoring in the 2nd and was followed by a goal by CCP's Senior Michael Kubik. SLUH's Junior Trent Going ended the first half scoring on a cross-goal shot on 6-on-5.

Down 4-2 going into the second half, the Red Devils were confident that the defensive game plan was working and actually both teams battled hard for 7 minutes as neither a goal was scored nor a timeout was called. I'm not sure if SLUH subbed on the fly, but we only subbed out one player because everyone was playing so well defensively. In between quarters, I could tell that Coach Baudendistel was not happy, and that meant that we were doing something right and we had the momentum going into the 4th.

Unfortunatly, Chaminade could not get any offense going in the 4th quarter. SLUH's permimeter defense was stifling as our boys kept getting pinned against the wall, unable to move the ball. SLUH's Will Page and Senior Captain Tim Dale combined for three goals, two of which coming with less than two minutes remaining, to finish off Chaminade.

The most telling stat to me was the score when the teams were shooting deep. SLUH scored two goals in the deep and Chaminade scored one. I don't blame the SLUH players for using the bottom to gain position (and score a goal) because that is the product of referees not forcing the players to stay floating. And clearly, our boys used the bottom just as much to get steals and prevent goals and in some cases to shoot (just not as well). But I think it is interesting that the teams played VERY evenly when shooting in the deep.

It was a fun and emotional game for me. Not only was I coaching against my alma mater, but I was coaching against a group of kids that I had been coaching every offseason for the last three years. Although there was a sense of pride in the way SLUH played, I was proud of our guys more. As good as SLUH's Mike Sizemore played on defense, I say that CCP's Chris Duncan played the best game I ever saw him play and nothing makes me prouder. Make no mistake that I am a Chaminade guy now and I was there to beat them yesterday and I will be there to beat them next time. Can we be friends after the game? I think so.

Things that went right:

• Defense (counter attack)
• Defense (half court)
• Defense (2-meter)

Things that went not so right:

• Passing Under Pressure
• Winging Out Early On Counters
• Getting the ball down to the wing

Goals: Arnold - 1, Kubik - 1

Assists: Kubik - 1

Steals: Stabler - 3, Kubik - 2, Duncan - 2, Arnold - 1, Hoette - 1, Meara - 1, Watkins - 1

Kickouts: Entwistle - 1

Saves: Stabler - 17

Player of the Game: Stabler - 17 saves, 3 steals

Up Next: Monday, March 31st v. Ladue @ Chaminade. JV at 7:00 PM, Varsity after JV at approximately 8:00 PM.

Today v. SLUH

The Red Devils are taking on the SLUH Jr. Bills today at Forest Park Community College. The JV game starts at 4:15PM followed by the Varsity game at about 5:15PM. We will be short Seniors Jack Benage and Kevin Rejko who both missed last game and must sit this game as well and Junior Danny Faust who is sick today. This is a blow as these guys are great defenders who would really help defending SLUH's vicious counter-attack.

SLUH is without a doubt the best team in the area right now. They boast, in my opinion, the three best 2M's in the state: Senior Tim Dale, and Juniors John Heafner and Will Page. I would also argue that Senior Mike Sizemore, who went to grade school with our Kevin Arnold and Michael Kubik, and Junior Michael O'Neill are two of the best defenders in the state (although we got some boys who could challenge them for that title).

We have an interesting advantage over other teams when it comes to SLUH though. First of all, I went to SLUH and played under head coach Paul Baudendistel and played with JV coach John Penilla. Secondly, I coach Jungle Cats with Paul and John and have also coached every single player on SLUH's team. The advantage is that I know everyone there and I know the system (it's essentially the same system we run).

So if both teams know what system is being run and what the other team is trying to do, then the game will hinge upon execution. Whoever executes the system the best will certainly win the game. Unfortunately for Chaminade, we have been running the system for 4 weeks and SLUH has been running their system for 4 years (for the seniors). Should be an interesting game. I imagine a lot of learning will occur.

Starters for Varsity:
#1 Blake Stabler
#3 Michael Kubik
#5 Kevin Arnold (c)
#6 Jake Entwistle
#9 Peter Hoette
#12 Chris Watkins
#13 Chris Duncan