Q&A with St. John Paul II coach Matt Marshall
Right now, we have St. John Paul II of Hyannis ranked as our No. 2 team in the state for Division 8. The Lions have been one of the favorites to make a deep postseason run since the preseason, and at 3-0, they are looking as good as everyone expected.
We spoke to St. John Paul II coach Matt Marshall about his team, his players, and what lies ahead.
Here is an edited transcript of that conversation.
MassVarsity: First of all, down the Cape, there's some really good football right now. You know, you've got Dennis-Yarmouth, Barnstable, Falmouth, Mashpee, you guys, and really everybody. What's it like competing down there, and what's the type of player you get down on Cape Cod?
MM: You get a lot of athletic kids. On my team, I know there are some big linemen around. Mostly, I get fast, athletic kids who are very smart. That's a big piece. Their football IQ is very good. So I can almost run a college system with these kids.
MV: Speaking of that, what is your background coaching other places? Where were you before this?
MM: I started off, I went to Nichols College. I played there a little bit. Then I was a two-year interim coach my junior and senior year. Then, I went to Scituate High School for five years. Then, one of the assistants on that staff got the head coaching job at Sacred Heart High School, and we built the program. They never had a football program before. This year, they didn't have enough numbers, and they went to Carver. Me and coach (T.J.) Byrne were the guys who got that program going. This year and last year I've been the coach of St. John Paul High School.
MV: You said you've been able to install some college-like systems. Without giving up too much, obviously, what type of stuff do you like to run with these guys?
MM: We run a no-huddle system with signals from the sideline. It all goes by hand signals, so we'll run empty, we'll run doubles, we'll run pistol sets. We can go under center. We've been doing that some this year. I've gotten them to huddle up if we need to slow down and need more time of possession. But, for the most part, it's uptempo.
MV: Can you tell me a little bit about guard/inside linebacker Kevin Flynn? I know he's a captain and four-year starter. What does he mean to the team, and what type of potential does he have at the next level?
MM: He's the heart of the team. He's a guy who gets everyone kind of going. He's not one of those leaders that's going to get up and give you a halftime speech or anything, but he'll get on guys if they're not doing what they're supposed to do. He leads by example. He's vital to our team. If he wasn't there, we wouldn't be the same team. He's one of the best linemen I've been around. I'd put him up there with a kid I had at Scituate, John Foster, who went to Cornell. He's just as football smart as him, and he's just as tough. He's just not as tall as he was.
MV: Another guy that was brought to my attention was center and inside linebacker Will Coty. You don't see a lot of junior captains, but he's one and somebody that's played since he was a freshman. What does he bring to the team?
MM: He's awesome. He's got a nonstop motor, like nothing I've ever seen. Even if he's tired, he's giving 150 percent. He leaves it all on the field. He comes up with big plays because he hustles harder than anyone else, and he works harder than any other player on the team.
MV: Can you tell me a little bit about some of the other guys that are playing well for you right now, and guys that you really lean on?
MM: Yeah, there are a few others. Mike Satkevich, I actually made him a junior captain last year because he's that guy that gets up, and he talks and gets the guys rallied up. A lot of the things Coty does for the offensive line, he does for the skill positions. He was a wide receiver last year, incredible athlete. He plays his best football when the lights are on and it's game time. You just see, he thrives, even in the high-pressure situations, he plays his best football. It's a home run any time the ball is in his hands. We lost our quarterback in a scrimmage. He broke his vertebrae, and (Satkevich) took over as quarterback with really no game experience this year, and he's been doing very well for us. On defense, he's a safety, and he's a ballhawk. He comes up with interceptions. He makes the tackles. He'll come up and make the tackles on sweeps. If he studies film and he knows where guys are, he's there to pick it off. We played a team that ran a lot of screens to the wide receiver, and he was sitting on it.
MV: It seems like, with Division 8, there seems like there are so many good teams right now. The teams might be small, but they have some really good players on them. How do you look forward to competing in that division every year?
MM: What I say to the guys, is it's always the next guy up. When you're young, right now our numbers are so low that we just have a varsity team with eighth graders, ninth graders on the team. They don't really have much game time. It just really comes down to practice, and when your number's called, it's expected that you make a play. And if you want to continue to play, you're going to make a play where the coaches are going to turn their heads and be like, "Wow. All right, he's ready to go." I think it's just how you develop them in practice. A lot of the times, they're running the other team's stuff, so it's hard. That's where they're getting their snaps. But when they are running our stuff, even if it's just a couple drives at the end in the fourth quarter if we can get you in, just do the best you can. We'll evaluate you from there, and try to develop you the best you can.
We spoke to St. John Paul II coach Matt Marshall about his team, his players, and what lies ahead.
Here is an edited transcript of that conversation.
MassVarsity: First of all, down the Cape, there's some really good football right now. You know, you've got Dennis-Yarmouth, Barnstable, Falmouth, Mashpee, you guys, and really everybody. What's it like competing down there, and what's the type of player you get down on Cape Cod?
MM: You get a lot of athletic kids. On my team, I know there are some big linemen around. Mostly, I get fast, athletic kids who are very smart. That's a big piece. Their football IQ is very good. So I can almost run a college system with these kids.
MV: Speaking of that, what is your background coaching other places? Where were you before this?
MM: I started off, I went to Nichols College. I played there a little bit. Then I was a two-year interim coach my junior and senior year. Then, I went to Scituate High School for five years. Then, one of the assistants on that staff got the head coaching job at Sacred Heart High School, and we built the program. They never had a football program before. This year, they didn't have enough numbers, and they went to Carver. Me and coach (T.J.) Byrne were the guys who got that program going. This year and last year I've been the coach of St. John Paul High School.
MV: You said you've been able to install some college-like systems. Without giving up too much, obviously, what type of stuff do you like to run with these guys?
MM: We run a no-huddle system with signals from the sideline. It all goes by hand signals, so we'll run empty, we'll run doubles, we'll run pistol sets. We can go under center. We've been doing that some this year. I've gotten them to huddle up if we need to slow down and need more time of possession. But, for the most part, it's uptempo.
MV: Can you tell me a little bit about guard/inside linebacker Kevin Flynn? I know he's a captain and four-year starter. What does he mean to the team, and what type of potential does he have at the next level?
MM: He's the heart of the team. He's a guy who gets everyone kind of going. He's not one of those leaders that's going to get up and give you a halftime speech or anything, but he'll get on guys if they're not doing what they're supposed to do. He leads by example. He's vital to our team. If he wasn't there, we wouldn't be the same team. He's one of the best linemen I've been around. I'd put him up there with a kid I had at Scituate, John Foster, who went to Cornell. He's just as football smart as him, and he's just as tough. He's just not as tall as he was.
MV: Another guy that was brought to my attention was center and inside linebacker Will Coty. You don't see a lot of junior captains, but he's one and somebody that's played since he was a freshman. What does he bring to the team?
MM: He's awesome. He's got a nonstop motor, like nothing I've ever seen. Even if he's tired, he's giving 150 percent. He leaves it all on the field. He comes up with big plays because he hustles harder than anyone else, and he works harder than any other player on the team.
MV: Can you tell me a little bit about some of the other guys that are playing well for you right now, and guys that you really lean on?
MM: Yeah, there are a few others. Mike Satkevich, I actually made him a junior captain last year because he's that guy that gets up, and he talks and gets the guys rallied up. A lot of the things Coty does for the offensive line, he does for the skill positions. He was a wide receiver last year, incredible athlete. He plays his best football when the lights are on and it's game time. You just see, he thrives, even in the high-pressure situations, he plays his best football. It's a home run any time the ball is in his hands. We lost our quarterback in a scrimmage. He broke his vertebrae, and (Satkevich) took over as quarterback with really no game experience this year, and he's been doing very well for us. On defense, he's a safety, and he's a ballhawk. He comes up with interceptions. He makes the tackles. He'll come up and make the tackles on sweeps. If he studies film and he knows where guys are, he's there to pick it off. We played a team that ran a lot of screens to the wide receiver, and he was sitting on it.
MV: It seems like, with Division 8, there seems like there are so many good teams right now. The teams might be small, but they have some really good players on them. How do you look forward to competing in that division every year?
MM: What I say to the guys, is it's always the next guy up. When you're young, right now our numbers are so low that we just have a varsity team with eighth graders, ninth graders on the team. They don't really have much game time. It just really comes down to practice, and when your number's called, it's expected that you make a play. And if you want to continue to play, you're going to make a play where the coaches are going to turn their heads and be like, "Wow. All right, he's ready to go." I think it's just how you develop them in practice. A lot of the times, they're running the other team's stuff, so it's hard. That's where they're getting their snaps. But when they are running our stuff, even if it's just a couple drives at the end in the fourth quarter if we can get you in, just do the best you can. We'll evaluate you from there, and try to develop you the best you can.
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