Chris Costabile (red) is ready to lead the Mount St. Joseph offense against Archbishop Spalding Friday evening in Severn. The MIAA non-conference match kicks off the 2008 Primetime Pigskin Series.
Mount St. Joseph coach Chip Armstrong oversee drills during Wednesday afternoon practice in Irvington. The No. 13 Gaels will play six games on their new turf field in 2008 after playing on the road last fall while Pleyvak Field was renovated.
by Derek Toney
dtoney@digitalsports.com
(See video below)
Mount St. Joseph High football team caught some by surprise in 2007, gaining a share of the MIAA A Conference championship. The Gaels won’t be sneaking up on anyone this fall. Actually, they’re hoping to sprint past the opposition.
The Irvington school is banking on a fast and talented group of performers to make another title run. Friday evening, The Gaels will make their season debut against
Archbishop Spalding in Severn Friday evening at 7 p.m. to kickoff the 2008 Primetime Pigskin Series, a weekly showcase football game, sponsored by DigitalSports.
The game will be simulcast live on ESPN Radio 1300 and over the internet at DigitalSports. The Gaels are No. 13 in the latest
DigitalSports Baltimore Metro Top 20 Rankings, which comes out every Monday afternoon.
“We would like to get that first game under our belt,” said Mount St. Joseph coach Chip Armstrong. “It’s been a successful preseason.”
“The first couple of weeks of practice have been great,” said Gaels quarterback Chris Costabile. “We’re way ahead of schedule, more than any other year. We can’t wait to get out there and play Spalding.”
After sharing duties with Chris Collins last season, Costabile, a senior, has full reign. Armstrong said the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Costabile, headed Dartmouth University to play lacrosse, gives the Gaels an entirely different dimension.
“We’re probably a much better passing team than last year,” said Armstrong. “A lot of teams think of us as a sort of a run-first team, but we’ll be much more balanced.”
Costabile has a full arsenal of game breakers at his full disposal including receivers Andy Kvech, Steve Spindler, Wayne Mobley and Kyle Fuller, Renard Robinson and running back Artis Holt. The biggest question the Gaels are ready to confront is the offensive line which has senior John Evans as its lone returning starter.
“We’re going to try to get open and make plays,” said Fuller, a 6-foot, 155-pound junior. “We have a lot of speed on offense and defense.”
The secondary including Fuller, Holt, Ty Richburg and Spindler are the cornerstone of an experienced defensive unit. Mount St. Joseph allowed 28 points over its final five games, and overcame a 2-4 start to finish with a share of the MIAA A crown with Loyola Blakefield.
“We don’t think what we did what was a fluke at all,” said Costabile. “Obviously, we got off to a slow start with our out of conference games. We hope not to do that this year.”
The Gaels would like a repeat of last season’s opener, a 47-14 victory over Spalding. Mount St. Joseph raced out to a 28-0 advantage.
The Cavaliers of the MIAA B have a game under their belt, a 39-9 pounding by No. 3 Loyola. The Gaels know the Anne Arundel County school will be motivated for its home debut.
“I thought they played really well in the first half [vs. Loyola],” said Armstrong. “They controlled the tempo in the first quarter and that’s something we can’t allow them to do against us. We need to get them off the field and score quickly.”
“They have a lot of size, I don’t know how much speed they have,” said Fuller. “They always come out playing hard, and we’re going to have to match that.”
Playing on the road has become second nature for Mount St. Joseph, which didn’t play a game at its Irvington campus last season. Next week, the Gaels play their first regular season home game on the new turf at Plevyak Field against Thomas Johnson, a Class 4A state championship hopeful.
“We started to do it pretty well towards end of last year,” said Armstrong. “It’s kind of an art to it when you get on the yellow bus with 45 sweaty high school kids.”
Friday's Mount St. Joseph/Archbishop Spalding football game will be carried live ESPN Radio AM 1300 and simulcasted live on DigitalSports. To hear the live internet broadcast click here at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 5. ESPN Radio and DigitalSports will also broadcast three other games in the DigitalSports Primetime Pigskin High School Football Series. The other games are:
Sept. 26 - Perry Hall at Harford, 7:00 p.m.
Oct. 10 - Howard at Wilde Lake, 7:00 p.m.
Oct. 31 - Dunbar vs. Edmondson, at Poly, 7:00 p.m.