Q&A with Pope John XXIII coach Paul Sobolewski
In one of the biggest small school matchups of the weekend, Pope John XXIII of Everett came away with a 34-8 victory over fellow Division 8 state title contender St. John Paul II of Hyannis.
The win improved Pope John to 6-0 with its season finale coming this Saturday against an improving Matignon/St Joseph Prep program.
On Tuesday, we spoke with Pope John coach Paul Sobolewski to gain some insight on the Tigers as they look to maintain their success into the postseason.
This is an edited version of that conversation.
MassVarsity: It's been a while since I saw you when we were at that practice during the preseason. One of the things we talked about then was numbers at a smaller school. What are your numbers looking like now, and how has it gone throughout the course of the season with that?
PS: We topped out, we got it to where we wanted it to be, which is over 30 kids. We've been holding steady at 32 for pretty much the whole season, which is not great, but it's not terrible at our level of football. I'd love to have 36-to-40, but we're surviving at 32. We haven't had anyone quit, which is a good thing. I see good things on the horizon with more interest in the building. When you start winning, more and more kids want to come out the following year. My ultimate goal at a small school would be 40 kids, 10 kids per class, and I think if you can do that you can always be competitive.
MV: Obviously, you had a huge game this weekend. What was that game like? What were some of the things that worked well for you?
PS: I just think our defense has been solid for us all year. They've really kept us in games. Came out again the other night a little sluggish. We fumbled the first play of the game. St. John Paul won the toss and deferred, gave us the ball, we fumbled. Our defense immediately responded. We got pressure on their quarterback, got a good hit on him, kind of tipped the ball in the air, and our linebacker intercepted it. We have 14 interceptions on the year. Our secondary has really been carrying us defensively. They're just so fast back there. We're really hard to throw on. And I think our defense kind of set the tone the other night. We started to click on offense as a result of the change in field position. Late in the first quarter, we kind of seized control of the field position. We were able to score, and then pin them deep again, and score, and it kind of changed the complexion of the game pretty quick I thought.
MV: Do you have any names of the guys on that defense you want to highlight?
PS: Our middle backer, Ajan Nelson, he kind of led the way with 15 tackles for us. We had another interception by Jesus Rivera. It was his seventh on the year, which is incredible. He's a tiny kid, maybe 5-5, 130 pounds. But he just finds the football back there. It's amazing. We also had a big fumble recovery when they were kind of moving the ball late in the second quarter.
MV: I remember when I saw you guys, Ajan was such a big kid. What year is he, and what kind of college attention is he starting to get?
PS: He's a senior, and a lot of the D3 schools are starting to take interest in him. He was, at this level last year, the defensive player of the year. He had over 100 tackles last year. He'll be well over 100 again this year. His strengths are that he's a true middle linebacker-type kid. He's 6-feet. He's about 240 pounds. He's got to work on his speed a little bit to really excel at the next level, and he knows that, and he's working on it. But he's a pretty stout linebacker. He's really good. He's a good football player.
MV: Tell me a little bit about your offense. It seems like you guys have played some good defenses. I know at the beginning of the year you played West Roxbury and East Boston, and obviously those are physical teams. Who has sort of stood out for you on offense?
PS: Earlier in the year, it was tough for us. You're getting a program that's only in its second year of returning to varsity football. You have kids coming in from so many different schools and communities to build a team. We were just really, the first two weeks of the year, really sloppy. We had something like 22 penalties: illegal motions, (and mistakes like that). So it was a little bit frustrating early on, but after Week 2 we started to click. This is a fun offense for us. We're not going to have any kid, like a Khalil Blair last year for me when I was at Cathedral who is going to throw up 36 touchdowns. We're not built that way. We're built with really six weapons on the field at once because all four of our receivers are so fast. And then you add in the fact that we have two really good running backs sharing carries back there with Greg Smith and John Smith Howell. I think John Smith Howell is first or second in Division 8 in scoring. I guess my point is we're pretty balanced across the board. We're getting a lot of different kids the ball, and it's making it tough for our opponents to game plan for us. If I had to pick one kid, John Smith is shining. He's got 10 or 12 touchdowns, whatever it is. Our quarterback's playing well. He's really stepping it up as the season goes on. He's stretching the field with the deep ball, which is taking the pressure (off). St. John Paul's plan clearly was to take away our run game. If Anthony Mejia, our quarterback, if he didn't step up and complete passes for us the other night, the results of the game could have been a lot different.
MV: Another thing we talked about a few months ago was sort of the teams to watch out for in Division 8, and it seems like one of the teams you mentioned was that New Mission/Boston English merger. That has come to fruition. They're still undefeated. Are there any other teams, teams you haven't played yet that you're sort of keeping an eye on now?
PS: Yeah, we plan on getting out this Friday night and taking another peek at West Roxbury. Tech Boston is hitting their stride at the right time of the year. I think Roxbury Charter has really come out of nowhere and put together a great season. And, of course, Lynn Tech is Lynn Tech. They're a big school there on the North Shore, and they're going to be very competitive in the postseason. I haven't gotten to see Charlestown, but they're 4-1. So there are a lot of good teams in Division 8 North, and I think anyone can win in the playoffs on any given night. So we've got to get out there and do our work, too, and start scouting potential opponents coming up in 10 days or so.
The win improved Pope John to 6-0 with its season finale coming this Saturday against an improving Matignon/St Joseph Prep program.
On Tuesday, we spoke with Pope John coach Paul Sobolewski to gain some insight on the Tigers as they look to maintain their success into the postseason.
This is an edited version of that conversation.
MassVarsity: It's been a while since I saw you when we were at that practice during the preseason. One of the things we talked about then was numbers at a smaller school. What are your numbers looking like now, and how has it gone throughout the course of the season with that?
PS: We topped out, we got it to where we wanted it to be, which is over 30 kids. We've been holding steady at 32 for pretty much the whole season, which is not great, but it's not terrible at our level of football. I'd love to have 36-to-40, but we're surviving at 32. We haven't had anyone quit, which is a good thing. I see good things on the horizon with more interest in the building. When you start winning, more and more kids want to come out the following year. My ultimate goal at a small school would be 40 kids, 10 kids per class, and I think if you can do that you can always be competitive.
MV: Obviously, you had a huge game this weekend. What was that game like? What were some of the things that worked well for you?
PS: I just think our defense has been solid for us all year. They've really kept us in games. Came out again the other night a little sluggish. We fumbled the first play of the game. St. John Paul won the toss and deferred, gave us the ball, we fumbled. Our defense immediately responded. We got pressure on their quarterback, got a good hit on him, kind of tipped the ball in the air, and our linebacker intercepted it. We have 14 interceptions on the year. Our secondary has really been carrying us defensively. They're just so fast back there. We're really hard to throw on. And I think our defense kind of set the tone the other night. We started to click on offense as a result of the change in field position. Late in the first quarter, we kind of seized control of the field position. We were able to score, and then pin them deep again, and score, and it kind of changed the complexion of the game pretty quick I thought.
MV: Do you have any names of the guys on that defense you want to highlight?
PS: Our middle backer, Ajan Nelson, he kind of led the way with 15 tackles for us. We had another interception by Jesus Rivera. It was his seventh on the year, which is incredible. He's a tiny kid, maybe 5-5, 130 pounds. But he just finds the football back there. It's amazing. We also had a big fumble recovery when they were kind of moving the ball late in the second quarter.
MV: I remember when I saw you guys, Ajan was such a big kid. What year is he, and what kind of college attention is he starting to get?
PS: He's a senior, and a lot of the D3 schools are starting to take interest in him. He was, at this level last year, the defensive player of the year. He had over 100 tackles last year. He'll be well over 100 again this year. His strengths are that he's a true middle linebacker-type kid. He's 6-feet. He's about 240 pounds. He's got to work on his speed a little bit to really excel at the next level, and he knows that, and he's working on it. But he's a pretty stout linebacker. He's really good. He's a good football player.
MV: Tell me a little bit about your offense. It seems like you guys have played some good defenses. I know at the beginning of the year you played West Roxbury and East Boston, and obviously those are physical teams. Who has sort of stood out for you on offense?
PS: Earlier in the year, it was tough for us. You're getting a program that's only in its second year of returning to varsity football. You have kids coming in from so many different schools and communities to build a team. We were just really, the first two weeks of the year, really sloppy. We had something like 22 penalties: illegal motions, (and mistakes like that). So it was a little bit frustrating early on, but after Week 2 we started to click. This is a fun offense for us. We're not going to have any kid, like a Khalil Blair last year for me when I was at Cathedral who is going to throw up 36 touchdowns. We're not built that way. We're built with really six weapons on the field at once because all four of our receivers are so fast. And then you add in the fact that we have two really good running backs sharing carries back there with Greg Smith and John Smith Howell. I think John Smith Howell is first or second in Division 8 in scoring. I guess my point is we're pretty balanced across the board. We're getting a lot of different kids the ball, and it's making it tough for our opponents to game plan for us. If I had to pick one kid, John Smith is shining. He's got 10 or 12 touchdowns, whatever it is. Our quarterback's playing well. He's really stepping it up as the season goes on. He's stretching the field with the deep ball, which is taking the pressure (off). St. John Paul's plan clearly was to take away our run game. If Anthony Mejia, our quarterback, if he didn't step up and complete passes for us the other night, the results of the game could have been a lot different.
MV: Another thing we talked about a few months ago was sort of the teams to watch out for in Division 8, and it seems like one of the teams you mentioned was that New Mission/Boston English merger. That has come to fruition. They're still undefeated. Are there any other teams, teams you haven't played yet that you're sort of keeping an eye on now?
PS: Yeah, we plan on getting out this Friday night and taking another peek at West Roxbury. Tech Boston is hitting their stride at the right time of the year. I think Roxbury Charter has really come out of nowhere and put together a great season. And, of course, Lynn Tech is Lynn Tech. They're a big school there on the North Shore, and they're going to be very competitive in the postseason. I haven't gotten to see Charlestown, but they're 4-1. So there are a lot of good teams in Division 8 North, and I think anyone can win in the playoffs on any given night. So we've got to get out there and do our work, too, and start scouting potential opponents coming up in 10 days or so.
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