VERO BEACH – The St. Edward’s football team will travel to Miami Saturday to play Palmer-Trinity and will be seeking retribution for a 14-0 last season.
Last season, the Falcons were strong on senior leadership, but in this return match, it is the Pirates who have the leadership. The Falcons have just 16 players returning from last year’s team.
“This entire group of seniors, it’s their year,” said St. Edward’s Coach Brad Fojtik. “They are grasping that all their hard work is paying off. Now, physically, they can return the favor to some of those teams who beat us so badly.” Being a pre-season contest, though, this is a game that will be kept in perspective as a building block for the regular season.
“We want to get through the pre-season game without sustaining any injuries,” said Fojtik. “In order for us to win, we need to play mistake-free football.”
The Pirates were outgained 3-to-1 in total yardage against Palmer-Trinity at home last year, with most of the damage being dealt by the 224 total yards of quarterback Aleck DaGrosa.
“They had a real good quarterback last year and they ran a spread offense,” said Fojtik. “They had a few big plays that killed us.”
Featuring a new 3-5-3 defense which brings back eight starters, St. Ed’s now has the personnel and system to beat a spread offense.
“It’s a defense that really lends itself to athleticism and a smaller guy that’s a little quicker,” said Pirates Defensive Coordinator Bill Motta. “We adopted it due to the lack of big lineman. The quickness and skill level really fits the personnel we have here.”
After going 2 for 7 passing for 16 yards against the Falcons last year, junior quarterback Collier Proctor is poised to have a breakout day this Saturday.
“He’s a seasoned junior this year, and a team leader as an underclassman,” said Fojtik of his quarterback. “We want to run the ball so we can throw, and Proctor has as good an arm as we’ve ever had here at St. Ed’s.”
