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p>Mondays are a late night for Neumann-Goretti’s Anthony Mastrando. The junior quarterback spends extra hours in the coach’s office analyzing game films and, if he notices something his team did wrong in the previous contest, the 16-year-old makes any mistakes the focus of practice.
"It makes us get better," Mastrando said of the sessions in the makeshift coach’s office inside a trailer at 26th and Moore streets. "We work on plays where things went wrong, which helps us get better."
After getting outscored 106-0 in the first three games of the 2008 season, the Saints losing streak came to screeching halt last Saturday with a 35-14 victory over South Philly neighbor Prep Charter. The passer did his part with a combined 225 yards of offense and three touchdowns. His 46-yard run in the second quarter gave Neumann-Goretti a 14-6 advantage. The Saints 394 passing yards for the season puts them ahead of their ’07 pace, when they finished with 264 yards. They recorded just two wins, leaving plenty of room for improvement.
The offense has shown some promise already. In a 30-0 loss to Bishop McDevitt earlier this month, Mastrando had a 91-yard touchdown pass called back on a penalty.
"Everyone was going crazy because it was our first points of the season," the quarterback said of the play.
During a recent practice, the resident of 17th and Stocker streets shared his frustrations over early offensive struggles.
"During games, it was going through my mind that we needed to score," Mastrando said. "When I think about it, I start getting real angry."
Like the classroom, where the athlete carries a 4.0, he kept working hard to get his team in the win column. His strong leadership skills have caught the attention of second-year coach Bill Sytsma.
"If the huddle is out of shape, he fixes it," Sytsma said. "He fixes any formation. He has the freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage."
Starting with Saturday’s 7 p.m. home match against 2-2 Conwell-Egan at 10th and Bigler streets, the results count towards the Catholic League Class AAA standings. North Catholic, Archbishop Wood and Lansdale Catholic round out the division. Mastrando said the victory over Prep Charter "should give us some momentum going into the regular season, which should help us."
It is too soon to say how his Saints will fare under the new Pennsylvania Interscholastic Association District 12 format, but the quarterback said finishing in the top two or three is realistic. The top four advance to the playoffs.
"I think we are getting better as the weeks go by," Mastrando, a fan of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, said. "The first week [a 41-0 loss to Upper Merion] we were not together."
His coach is equally optimist.
"There are not any easy games, but no games should be out of hand," Sytsma said.
