Monsignor Farrell went into its halftime breezeway down 10 to DePaul Catholic, the defending New Jersey state champion, in a national game of the week. The Lions came out and scored 21 second-half points, held off a late push, and won 21-18 to stay unbeaten.
Head coach Rocco Del Priore, CCN’s National Coach of the Week, credits his offensive and defensive staffs for the second-half adjustments. The part of halftime he ran himself was about his players’ mindset. He spent it slowing them down, telling them what he saw, and sending them back to two things they had already done together.
Two halftimes in one breezeway
Del Priore said it was the first time he had ever handled halftime this way. He pointed to how much now surrounds a game like this one (“there’s a ton of cameras, ton of photographers, and those guys are involved in everything we do”), and he split the break in two. The offensive and defensive staffs met on their own to go over what to correct and fine-tune for the second half. Del Priore took the team into the breezeway with his strength coach.
One minute to slow down
The first thing he asked for was a minute.
“Guys, for one minute I want you to slow down. I want you to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth and really think and slow down.”
Then the truth
When the minute was up, he told them what he thought. He had expected them to be a little better, and he didn’t think they were playing to their standard.
“We were almost playing scared and holding back, and our mindset wasn’t helping us, it was hurting us.”
He saw the first half as a hole Farrell had dug for itself. “We gave up the trick play. We were struggling on offense and it was self-inflicted wounds, not so much what the other team was doing. So it was good to regroup, refocus.”
Go back to the campfire stories
Next, Del Priore pointed his players to two moments from their own year.
The first was in March. The team was training with Bulgarian split squats, using chains, weighted vests and hundred-pound dumbbells, and the strength coach told the players to go to a dark place that day. Del Priore said he remembered it vividly, and at halftime he took them back to it.
The second came three weeks before the game. The team had been away at camp, and every night players gathered at the fire pit, where different kids got up and told stories. The players called them the campfire stories.
“Go back to the campfire stories,” he told them.
Then he gave them the instruction they took onto the field: “Trust in the coaches, trust in each other, and trust yourself, and it’s just gonna take one play and we’ll get right back in it.”
What the staff saw on the hit chart
The coordinators were working with a tool the program had only just started using. Farrell bought Modern Football on a Thursday and used it that Saturday at the Battle of the Beach. Del Priore calls himself a nerd about Excel data when breaking down an opponent, and he said getting that kind of data in real time during a game is crucial.
The staff was brand new to it that first game. By the DePaul game, Del Priore said, they had a good handle on it. At halftime the hit chart was about what they had expected, and it showed where they were winning and which calls were efficient. On defense, it showed the Lions were highly efficient in their line stunts. The staff had worried they couldn’t just sit in their front and needed to move, and the data showed they were very efficient when they did. Del Priore said that was a big part of the third-down defensive game plan.
One play, then three scores
Farrell’s quarterback opened the second half with a nine-play drive that mixed runs with third-down throws and finished on a third-down touchdown pass to Joseph Augustine-Martino. Augustine-Martino is new to varsity and has four touchdowns in three games.
The defense then forced a quick punt. Sophomore running back Jayden Burch had two good runs, the second a 20-yard touchdown. “Then things got rolling, the crowd got loud,” Del Priore said. Farrell scored once more when senior captain David Leverock, a reserve running back, cut back on outside zone “like almost he was doing it for the whole year.”
Farrell held off DePaul’s late push and won 21-18.
When Del Priore explains the second half, he goes back to the players. “I’m very fortunate we got a tough, tough bunch, bunch of gritty kids that love each other. And it truly showed in that second half.”
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Keith Grabowski (00:01.484)
Down 10 at halftime against defending New Jersey state champion DePaul Cathlick, Ramonsenior Farrell needed an answer, and the Lions found it. They responded with 21 second-half points, held off a late push, and came away with a 21-18 win to stay unbeaten. Head coach Rocco Del Priori joins us as our national coach of the week, presented by Modern Football, to break down the comeback.
The adjustments and what this win says about his team. So, coach, we’re excited to have you here on the podcast.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (00:35.883)
Same here, Coach. Big fan of the podcast. Always listening, always looking to learn from you. Had a ton of great guests. Ton of great football talk on there. Excited to be a guest. Thanks for having us in Farrell Football.
Keith Grabowski (00:51.998)
Absolutely. So coach, let’s talk about this win. big game from the start. It was a national game of the week. I told you be before we got started. I’m watching the Sunday night football game and this is after I already sent you an an email notifying and and this was I hear Monsignor Ferrell High School. I’m like, man, we just picked those guys. So it’s pretty cool experience. Obviously a lot of spotlight on this game. and you so you have that, but you go in at halftime.
And obviously you make some adjustments. So what what was it at halftime that I guess made the difference for your kids in the second half?
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (01:29.201)
Yeah, so it was the first time I actually ever did this. we’re in an era now where there’s a ton of cameras, ton of photographers, and those guys are involved in everything we do. So I let my O staff and my D staff get together and go over what we were gonna correct and what we were gonna fine-tune for the second half. And I brought the team in our breezeway where we go at halftime with my strength coach, and I told him, guys, for one minute.
I want you to slow down. I want you to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth and really think and slow down. And when that minute was up, I told them the truth. That I thought that they would be a little bit better. And I thought we we weren’t playing up to our standard, and we were almost playing scared and holding back, and our mindset wasn’t helping us, it was hurting us, and that you know, go back to
when we were training in March doing Bulgarian split squats with chains on and weighted vests and hundred pound dumbbells and my strength coach told him to go to a dark place that that day. I remembered it vividly. And then I told him
We were away at camp three weeks ago, and every night the kids would go by the fire pit and different kids would get up and tell stories and they called them the campfire stories. I said, go back to the campfire stories. And I said, trust in the coaches, trust in each other, and trust yourself, and it’s just gonna take one play and we’ll get right back in it. And that’s what we did. And credit obviously to my offense and defensive staffs for fine-tuning.
Keith Grabowski (03:21.355)
Yeah, well it was obviously very insightful to to be able to do that. I mean, and the point here is, you know, obviously this making it about your kids really locking into what they’re doing rather than focusing on the opponent. And you know, obviously you play a a really good team.
you weren’t taken away from them, but it was really putting the focus back on yourself so that they don’t press. I think that’s so important. Young kids, you know, you get in a big game like that, maybe it’s not going exactly how you want. And then when guys try to force things, that’s when things fall apart. So I think that was that’s great. You were able to reset that for them so they could go out and have a good second half.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (04:03.667)
Absolutely. I I felt at that point, you know, we had
put ourselves in that position. We gave up the trick play. You know, we we were struggling on offense and it was self-inflicted wounds, not so much what the other team was doing. So it was good to regroup, refocus, and you know, I’m very fortunate we we got a tough tough bunch, bunch of gritty kids that love each other. And it truly showed in that second half.
Keith Grabowski (04:33.845)
Yeah, so coach tell us how that second half went then.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (04:37.063)
Yeah, so we we came out the gate and our our quarterback engineered us on nine play drive. we mixed up some runs, some some third down pass and we we we finished with third down touchdown pass to
one of our receivers, young guy Joseph Augustine Martino. He’s a brand new varsity player. he’s got four touchdowns in three games, so he’s been a bright spot. we went back out on D, forced a quick punt, and our sophomore running back Jaden Birch had two nice runs and the last one a 20-yard touchdown.
And then it things got rolling, the crowd got loud, and then we punched one more in when our senior captain, reserve running back, Dave Levrok, cut back on outside zone like if almost he was doing it for the whole year.
Keith Grabowski (05:35.469)
That’s that’s great stuff, coach. And obviously a big win for your program, three and now on the year. in a lot of this, you talked about, you know, the culture that you build, you talked about the things that you do and the off season, but there’s things you believe in, you mentioned to me that you do every day, kind of built around your mentality as a defensive line guy.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (05:57.768)
Yeah, so
You know, proud defensive line coach. I was an assistant coach and played D-line and my head coach back in the day we would do 45 minute indies and it was six point hits. It was you hit the sled and we split doubles. We didn’t do any pass rush moves. that’s all we do. So after my first year here, I felt we weren’t really striking and we weren’t physical, so I incorporated six point hits as an everyday drill for the
Program. So you know, we’ll come out, we’ll do everyday bag drills, your standard, you know, lateral shuffle over the bags, up and down, and we’ll have like a ball focus or a tackle focus. But then right after that, everyone pairs up. We get agiles or half rounds, and we and each guy gets nine reps on six-point hits, and they’re getting their knees and their toes in the ground, and all ten fingers, and they’re bulling their neck, and they’re exploding.
Floating out their hips, triple extension, and we say thumbs in you win, locking out, and you know, I tell you know, by the time November comes when it when when our season gets serious and it’s playoffs when they go home, you should be deadly at that drill.
Keith Grabowski (07:16.555)
Yeah, I mean it obviously an important skill. It’s something that on both sides of the ball that’s important to you. you don’t want your quarterback using that a lot. It means you’d have to make some tackles, but hey, you know, the mentality is there, I think, for all your guys. So, coach, you also do something, you tell me about a a program wide practice, something that you guys do every week. I love this concept and how it allows you really to touch all levels of your program.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (07:31.556)
Absolutely.
Keith Grabowski (07:45.431)
Bigger program like yours, too.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (07:47.741)
Yeah, so
Tuesday nights, we’re fortunate. We practice under the lights. the soccer team plays from you know about 430 to 630. So we’re able as the three different programs, the JV, the freshman at varsity, one’s able to lift, the other two could meet. And then when we get on the field, we’ll go on the back to our sled field, our grass field, and we’ll have we’ll start practice off program wide with, you know, your six point hits.
the defense will go through, you know, some sled, some some tackle drills, the the offense will work, some mesh and some throw on air. And then we’re able to let our position coaches go together and the varsity coaches take the younger guys and really coach them up. And it it ends up being a intense
indie and it’s great and you get to see the older guys working with the younger guys and you know you find your your leaders in that period too. You see who’s looking to help the future guys that one day are gonna be playing with us.
Keith Grabowski (08:58.325)
Yeah. How long have you been doing this now, Coach?
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (09:01.211)
this this started with the previous head coach, Coach Garrafolo. He would he would call it the hundred and fifty man stretch. So like hundred and fifty guys, I we’d stretch together and then we’d do some drills. And when I became the head coach in twenty-two, the first day of pads, we would always start together with everyone. First day in uppers, after a whole summer just being in helmets and doing sevens and lifting and running. So we’d want it we’d want to start with a program.
And then that would lean itself into the varsity position coaches working with the lower level coaches to do some, you know, your your everyday type position drills. And we’ve morphed it now into every Tuesday night we’re together for the first thirty to forty minutes.
Keith Grabowski (09:53.698)
How’s that helped you develop your staff too? Right. I mean, usually our our younger guys are less experienced guys, all the ones who are with those freshmen, you can make an argument maybe that those freshmen need the experience the most. So how how has it helped develop that coaching staff as well?
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (10:08.722)
Yeah.
it’s f it’s fantastic because we’re we’re all using the same verbiage. We’re running the same O and D. Obviously the lower levels are our base O and D and you know, we’ll let them have their own packages and they’ll have their fun stuff too. But we’re able to coach the key coaching points of the drill and coaches are able to give each other feedback and it’s always great in my opinion as a teacher, you know, to learn. Like we’re lifelong learners, like, right? I’m I’m
listening to your podcast as much as I can. Then I if if I pick up one thing from one coach, you know, it’s great. And that’s why we go to So we love we love the opportunity at Farrell for our coaches to coach multiple kids and you know hopefully one guy could teach something to someone that maybe they didn’t get that, you know, that that the last time.
Keith Grabowski (11:06.85)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think it it it allows you to to have that opportunity to coach those younger guys, right? I c I can think back to just my playing days. I went to a Catholic high school as well. You know, we didn’t get really any exposure to those older coaches till that next year. And, you know, we had we had two freshman coaches. but you think about it, like, you know, you want them to understand what is this full experience you’re gonna be. What are these guys at l like at the higher level?
Right. And you know, sometimes, hey, those younger guy younger kids might not mess necessarily with a coach, but they see that it’s worth staying in the program. You know, there’s there’s more here for me.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (11:48.872)
Yeah, like it’s
So besides this Tuesday night practice, we get those JV guys who we value as potential twenty-seven starters on the field in seven on seven and inside run and scout team D you know.
as much as we can to get them up to speed. So we like to tell the JV and freshman guys, Tuesday through Thursday is gonna be tougher for you than Saturday. When you line up Saturday morning in the J V game, it should be slow because you’ve practiced with the varsity in multiple periods throughout the week.
Keith Grabowski (12:45.271)
Coach and looking at
technology you use. I know you guys are using our our sponsor, Modern Football Technology of the Fear here. And you mentioned to me that you know, it was kind of a quick onboarding as you guys got it on board, but it’s it’s proven to be one, easy to use and get going in the season, but two, very effective and helpful for you. Talk to us about how you guys are using it and how it’s been helpful here in the first three weeks.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (12:56.189)
You here.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (13:13.681)
Yeah, so we we used modern football we bought it on the Thursday and we were using it on Saturday at the Battle of the Beach. credit to Mark and the staff for getting my guys up to speed. And I I you know I was super impressed with it. I’m I’m a a nerd in the sense of the Excel.
data. I I love, you know, plugging in, you know, data when you’re breaking down a team and to get it real time in the game is crucial and we were we were brand new at it that first game but but by this last game in DePaul at halftime, you know, we had a good idea and and we saw you know what what the hit chart looked like and we were we were actually we were on par with it with what we thought we’d get and you know we kept
But kept it honest and we saw where we were winning and where we were efficient in our calls. And we realized that a lot of our line stunts were working. We were highly efficient in our line stunts. We were worried they were going to move us around and we couldn’t just thick them. We needed to move. And we saw we were super efficient when we moved. So that was a big part of the third down D game plan.
Keith Grabowski (14:36.289)
Coach, that was an impressive win. Obviously a big win for your program. things are going really well for you guys. Have been really performing well in in New York here. But we’re excited to have you here. We’ll have to get you back in the off season, talk a little bit more ball with you and share some more ideas. But appreciate you taking the time here during a busy week and good luck to you and the Lions here the rest of the season.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (14:40.017)
Well.
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (14:57.319)
Busy week and
ROCCO DEL PRIORE (15:02.429)
Coach, thank you so much. like I said, big time fan of the podcast. I I’ve been getting you emails for a long time. you know, I I’m I’m really thrilled to be on here with Monsino. Continuing to listen and learn from you.