2006 Season Recap

(8-2 Regular Season Record)

After taking notable steps in the 2004 and 2005 campaigns, the 2006 St. John’s football team established itself as a serious competitor with the WCAC elite.  In fact, the 2006 football team set several marks.  Their 8-2 regular season record was the school’s best record since 1989.  Their third consecutive victory over Gonzaga marked a string of victories against their archrivals that hadn’t happened since the 1970s.  And possibly just as notable, the team finished the season ranked in the Top Twenty in the Metropolitan Area by The Washington Post.  In fact, the team was ranked in the Top Ten for four separate weeks.

 

The season began on the road against Baltimore’s Calvert Hall, a school that boasts of an enrollment of 1200 boys.  Calvert Hall jumped out to a 6-0 lead in rainy conditions before St. John’s rattled off 34 unanswered points.  Junior tailback Antwon Bailey, who was named Offensive Most Valuable Player at the end of the season as well as First-Team All-WCAC, paced the Cadet offense with 136 rushing yards and 94 receiving yards.  He also scored three touchdowns.  Defensively, St. John’s intercepted two passes and had nine quarterback hurries.  Senior strong safety Darryl Jones led the team with eight tackles.

 

Week Two found the Cadets facing off against West Catholic, a team that went on to win the Philadelphia Catholic league championship.  The Cadets avenged their defeat from last year, winning 29-13 thanks to two early goal line stands by the defense.  Bailey again had a big day, scoring on a run, on a pass reception, and on a punt return.  He finished with 118 yards receiving.  Also getting in on the action was senior tight end Tony Tucker, a First-Team All-Met defensive end and a First-Team All-WCAC tight end, who was on the receiving end of a 58-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Josh Johnson.  Senior Jamil Bussie, the team’s Defensive MVP, racked up nine tackles.

 

St. John’s traveled up to Baltimore again for the third week, where they defeated Mt. St. Joe’s, 22-15.  The muddy field limited the explosiveness of the Cadet offense, but junior Anthony Coleman’s emergence as a clutch receiver proved to be the difference.  He had a 46-yard touchdown and a key 27-yard catch as he amassed his first 100-yard performance of his career.  Johnson went 11 of 17 for 190 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.  Junior free safety Gerald Moore came up with his second interception of the season, and SJC’s 12 tackles for loss kept the Gael offense grounded for most of the game.

 

Conference play began with undefeated St. John’s (ranked No. 7 in The Post) facing off against undefeated Good Counsel (ranked No. 10 in The Post).  St. John’s struck on the second play of the game as Moore, lined up at receiver, connected with Tucker on a 54-yard double pass for a score.  Both defenses became stingy from this point forward.  In fact, the only other score of the first half was an interception for a touchdown by Good Counsel.  Bailey scored in the third quarter, but the lead didn’t hold up as the Falcons were able to punch in a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to win, 14-13.  Six-foot-five, 337-pound sophomore Pete White, who was named First-Team All-WCAC as an offensive lineman, made his first defensive start of his career and amassed nine tackles.  Coleman also had nine tackles, and Jones led the team with 10.  Freshman defensive back Charles Brown made his first interception of the season and also recovered a key fumble.  Later in the week, Coach Joe Patterson was named High School Coach of the Week by the Washington Redskins.

 

Week Five witnessed a tough loss to the No. 1-ranked DeMatha Stags as the Cadets failed to capitalize on two different first-and-goal situations.  First-Team All-WCAC defensive back DeLonte Armstrong returned from injury in dramatic fashion, returning a kickoff for a touchdown.  The offense accounted for three explosive plays, including long passes to both Bailey and Tucker, but it wasn’t nearly enough.  The SJC defense recorded seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including three sacks, but missed tackles resulted in several big plays for the Stags.

 

St. John’s faced Paul VI on the following Monday evening (Columbus Day) in a game that had major playoff implications.  The Cadets rallied from a 13-12 fourth quarter deficit to win 18-13.  The game-winning drive for the Cadets seemed in doubt when the Cadets faced third-and-10 from their own 20 yard line.  However, Johnson connected with Bailey for the first down shortly before connecting with him again on a 58-yard screen pass.  Coleman, who lined up as fullback in the power eye, scored the go-ahead touchdown.  The defense was quite good throughout the day.  Not only did they harass First-Team All-WCAC quarterback D.J. Mangus (seven sacks and 13 quarterback hurries), but they also produced a touchdown as senior linebacker Pat Scorah picked off a pass and took it back for a touchdown.

 

Having played on Monday and faced with the prospect of playing playoff-bound McNamara on Saturday, the team returned to the field Tuesday for a full-pads practice.  The Cadets overcame the short workweek and notched their second consecutive come-from-behind victory, this time rallying from a 14-6 halftime deficit.  Coleman, again getting some carries from the backfield, scored two touchdowns, and Bailey, who finished with 94 yards rushing, also scored.  Two two-point conversions, including a one-handed grab by Tucker, gave St. John’s the 22-14 win.  Senior defensive lineman Danny Toigo led the SJC defense with eight tackles.

 

After two emotional wins, the Cadets came out flat against Bishop O’Connell, but four third-quarter touchdowns gave them a 32-5 win.  On the day, the offense had nine explosive plays, including three apiece by Bailey and Coleman.  Both Bailey (115 yards) and Coleman (109 yards) eclipsed the 100-yard mark rushing on the day.  They also combined for 22 broken tackles.  Tucker led all receivers with 107 yards.  Armstrong ended two O’Connell possessions with interceptions.

 

The Saturday Homecoming Game against Carroll was postponed to Monday, but the Cadets didn’t miss a beat, notching a near-flawless performance en route to a 41-0 win.  The game also served as Senior Day, and St. John’s celebrated with six different seniors scoring.  Johnson went 8-of-9 throwing the ball, with three touchdowns and 138 yards.  Scorah rattled off a 55-yard run and added three extra point kicks.  Bailey reached the 100-yard rushing mark on just 10 carries, and Coleman led all receivers with 96 yards on five catches.  The defense was stingy as it tallied 10 quarterback hurries.  It was truly a team effort as 19 different Cadets recorded tackles.

 

Week Ten, of course, pitted St. John’s against archrival Gonzaga.  The game took place in front of a capacity crowd at Blair High School on a frigid November night.  The rivalry, which is generally considered the oldest football rivalry between two Catholic high schools, did not disappoint. Gonzaga jumped out to an early lead, thanks in part to a fake punt on its first possession.  Down 6-0, the Cadets struck back as Bailey scored the first of three touchdowns on the day.  A 61-yard touchdown run by the Eagles and a two-point conversion put them up 14-7 in the second half.  With time running out in the half, Johnson connected with Armstrong for a touchdown, just as he had done with time running out in the first half of the 2005 contest.  Down 14-13, the Cadets elected to go for the lead.  On the pivotal play, tailback Jones took the handoff; as he neared the line of scrimmage, he leaped in the air and lobbed a pass to the diving Tucker in the endzone.  The conversion gave SJC a 15-14 lead going into halftime.  A fourth-quarter Bailey touchdown was answered by a Gonzaga score, but the Eagle attempt to tie the game on the conversion was batted away by Brown.  Bailey’s third touchdown of the game sealed the victory.

 

Instrumental in the victory over Gonzaga was Johnson’s stellar day passing; he went 14 of 17 for 274 yards with no interceptions.  Armstrong finished the day with 133 yards receiving, and Bailey had 138 yards from scrimmage to complement his three touchdowns.  Jones had a fantastic day on defense as he led the team in tackles, had two fumble recoveries, and grabbed an interception.

 

The Cadets entered the WCAC playoffs as the No. 3 seed and traveled to Wheaton to take on Good Counsel.  St. John’s jumped on top early as Johnson connected with junior C.J. Hammond for a 36-yard score.  Good Counsel responded with a touchdown on the next drive, but neither team reached the endzone again in the first half.  The Falcons had a strong second half, thanks in a large part to a blocked punt for a touchdown and an interception for a touchdown.  The Cadets, suffering the loss of both Coleman and Armstrong to injury, made a valiant effort as Brown caught two touchdown passes from Johnson, who finished with 254 passing yards.  In fact, seven different Cadets caught passes.  On defense, Bussie had a huge day with 15 tackles, three of which were for losses.

 

On the year, the Cadets had several key points to celebrate beyond the aforementioned accomplishments.  For starters, St. John’s was ranked No. 1 in Washington by the highly regarded Massey Computer Ratings, ahead of both Dunbar and Ballou.  Their overall rating would have made them No. 6 in the entire state of Maryland.  The Washington Post wrote seven different articles on St. John’s football in 2006 alone.  In August, St. John’s football was featured alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a nationally televised fitness segment for Channel One News.

 

On an individual level, defensive end Tony Tucker was selected to the East Meets West All-American Game; he was also selected as a tight end to the George Michael Golden Eleven for NBC.  The Washington Post selected Tucker, Pete White (OL) and DeLonte Armstrong (DB) to the All-City team.  Junior Anthony Coleman and SJC alumna Marissa Coleman, a star basketball player for the University of Maryland, were featured on a four-minute segment by George Michael for NBC Four.  Running back Antwon Bailey finished with 138 broken tackles; he led the team in rushing, scored 15 touchdowns, and his 445 yards receiving were second on the team.  Coleman’s 31 receptions (for 484 yards) were the most for an SJC player in five seasons, and Josh Johnson completed 125 of 218 passes (57.3 percent) for 1943 yards.  Junior defensive end Aaron Richardson finished with 21 quarterback hurries.

 

“I thought the program made some dramatic strides this year,” said Coach Patterson.  “I’m proud of the players, and I’m excited about the future.”