Inside the 2022 CRLS Football Team
CRLS is excited to see how the football team will continue to wow their fans.
November 8, 2022
Sometimes in life, you’ll be wrong. Sometimes it’s big, sometimes it’s pretty small. When you make your living making predictions about sports (like yours truly) you will definitely be wrong about a lot of things. Case in point: the CRLS football team. At the season’s start, this team looked poised to fall flat on its face. In a twist of fate, the football team’s playoff hopes are very much alive with two weeks left in the season. So how did it happen? How does a team that boasted an O-line leakier than a showerhead, a receiver corps with fingers buttered like Thanksgiving biscuits, and a 1-6 record just a year ago, have a chance to punch a ticket to the playoffs before the final week?
It started with a departure from the Dual County League (DCL). The DCL had outclassed the Falcons for years—the team had a 4-22 league record in 6 years, untenable for the Athletic Department. A departure from the league made encounters with powerhouses like Acton Boxborough and Wayland a thing of the past; independence has been a boon for the Falcons’ record.
But on the field, the team saw catastrophic graduation that may have torn down much better teams. Dante Christie’s graduation seemed to spell the grisly death of a rather stooge-y receiver corps that was more famous for their dropped balls and small stature than anything else. However, the Falcons have managed to develop a lethal two-pronged air attack behind senior Libaan Aden and sophomore Jordel Sanchez. In general, the Falcons have sped up their game on offense, using the speed of Kevin Leal at quarterback (QB), which offers more versatility in offensive scheming. The result is 13 pass touchdowns for Leal, placing him firmly in the upper echelon of QBs in the state.
Defensively, the team has had some headaches, namely 30.6 points per game allowed (PAA) and a catastrophic 4th quarter against Belmont that saw Buccaneer running back Joseph Poland rip a desperately needed win away from the Falcons. But the biggest shock of all is a competent offensive line! If you want someone to thank, look no further than junior Jack Fede. The behemoth tackle has given Leal a sense of security, and opposing QB’s a sense of doom whenever he lines up on the other side of the ball.
So now, with two games to play, the Falcons need just one win to be playoff eligible, and two to properly cement a spot in the bracket. The playoff push begins with Weston, at home on the 21st. Weston boasts an elite quarterback, whose rating holds firm at an impressive 89.8, and a running back room whose 95 yards a game elicits sickening images of Joseph Poland. The team then travels to Boston Latin to close out the season against a fairly dangerous Wolfpack squad that boasts a senior-soaked roster, a QB with a pearl-clutching 96.1 rating, and a threatening offensive-defensive duel wielder, August Groh. Both teams are methodical and calculating. Meanwhile, the Falcons are comfortable in a track meet, relying on blistering speed as they did against Boston English to run their opponents out of the stadium by half.
The push won’t be easy, but it brings a smile to the face of any Falcons fan to see the way this team has defied the odds, and the jokes that echoed the halls, to make a run at a playoff berth.
Since this article was written, the Falcons lost their game against Weston on October 21st, 2022.
This piece also appears in our October 2022 print edition.
