The Xaverian H.S., Bay Ridge, varsity girls’ tennis and volleyball teams won league championships this fall, so the boys wanted to match the winning ways.
The Clippers varsity football team won the Catholic High School Football League’s AA-2 championship on Nov. 22 with a 21-8 victory over Holy Cross H.S., Flushing. The win marked the second consecutive league title for Xaverian.
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This second-straight championship season was anything but ordinary, however. The Clippers had a new head coach, former student-athlete Dom Aluotto. Though he had previously been the junior varsity head coach and on the varsity staff as wide receivers coach, this was Aluotto’s first season as varsity head coach.
What truly made this first season a rollercoaster for Aluotto was an unforeseen tragedy in late September. After four games, the Xaverian community found out about the passing of assistant football coach Maurice Jones, who died of a heart attack in his early 60s. Jones had been the varsity program’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for four seasons.
After taking time to grieve, the coaches and players were right back out on the field, working diligently to keep getting better. It was the ultimate baptism by fire moment for a new head coach who had just taken over the program.
“That’s what Maurice would have wanted,” Aluotto said. “The boys were close with Coach Jones and knew how much a part of the program he was. Kids were quoting him in the yearbook …
“That’s how much he meant to them.”
In the first game after Jones’ death, the Clippers put up a statement victory, traveling to the Bronx to take on Mount St. Michael Academy.
The team rallied to honor Jones with the win and went undefeated in league play all season.
“As a team, we came together, and we worked,” said senior quarterback and team captain Terrence Watson. “Coach Aluotto took over the offense and implemented what Coach Jones had started. We used him to find strength, which helped us win the championship game.”
As the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, Xaverian defeated Cardinal Spellman H.S., the Bronx, in the quarterfinals and then Holy Trinity H.S., Hicksville, Long Island, in the semis. This set up a rematch of last year’s title game with Holy Cross.
Junior running back Richie Aiken opened the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run to give the Clippers the early lead. Holy Cross went up 8-7, but Xaverian responded just before halftime with a 4-yard touchdown run from Watson, who would go on to earn Offensive Player of the Game honors.
All season, the Clippers relied on a strong up-front defense to stop their opponents’ rushing attack, and that’s precisely what happened in the title game. Junior cornerback Jaydon Salomon was named Defensive Player of the Game after multiple game-changing plays. A 41-yard touchdown pass from Watson to junior wide receiver Christian LaRocca sealed the victory.
In looking back at this first season, Aluotto said there was no better way to honor the loss of Jones than by winning the league title. The late coach was surely looking down on his team as they hoisted the championship trophy.
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“When I first got the job, I kept saying championship or bust,” Aluotto said. “I thought that if we didn’t repeat, it would be a failure of a season. Coach Jones, though, was old school. He always said to take things one week at a time.”
“We went into the season with our goal of winning the championship, but that’s not always the main thing,” said Joseph Tomassetti, senior linebacker and team captain. “It’s all about building relationships with friends and long-lasting bonds that will be there after football ends.”
In life, things happen that you don’t expect, yet it’s how you respond that defines who you are. This fall, not only did the Clippers rise to the occasion on the field with a championship, but they also united together to celebrate the legacy of their fallen coach.
“They stayed fully locked in,” Aluotto said of his team. “It’s not easy for adults, let alone 16- and 17-year-old boys. I can’t speak highly enough about how these boys responded.”
Right before our eyes, a group of boys became men as they stood tall in the face of tragedy.