Against Archbishop Carroll, Carter had his best game this season with 125 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. (Photo by Jonathan Vander Lugt) by Jonathan Vander Lugt When La Salle’s Isaiah Jones …
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by Jonathan Vander Lugt
When La Salle’s Isaiah Jones went down with a knee injury three games ago, coach John Steinmetz gave the ball to backup Danny Solecki, a fellow senior. Jones went down mid-game against McDonogh School, one of the top prep programs in Maryland, and the Explorers couldn’t muster much against the Eagles in what wound up being a 21-0 loss.
Since then though, Solecki has more than held his own. In Friday night’s 42-6 victory over Archbishop Carroll, he managed an offense that racked up 402 total yards.
“I feel like I’m doing pretty well,” Solecki said. “I definitely have a lot more things to work on – one of them becoming a leader. That’s part of the process, though, part of the challenge. I’ve accepted it and I’m happy with the things have gone.”
It’s hard to think that La Salle isn’t as well. In the two full games with Solecki under the helm, La Salle has two wins and a combined 87-27 scoring margin. Last week’s win came over Malvern Prep, which was considered by many to be the favorite to win the Inter-Ac.
This past week, Solecki finished with 14-of-21 passing for 141 yards and a pair of touchdowns, in addition to 24 more yards on the ground. Last week, he passed for four scores and 327 yards.
“Dan’s very business-like,” Steinmetz said. “He’s doing his job – makes good, quick decisions. That’s what I like.”
“I feel like my awareness in the pocket is good, and that I make smart decisions,” Solecki said. “I can afford to clean up my mechanics a little bit – setting my feet, extending my wrists, things like that. That’s what practices are for though, so I’ll keep working on that.”
Against Carroll, Solecki and co. got to work right away, engineering a 12-play, 62-yard drive for a score on the game’s opening possession. La Salle punted after a three-and-out on the next drive, but scored on each of the three following.
The first touchdown came on a 14-yard connection from Solecki to Marvin Harrison (son of the NFL Hall-of-Fame wide receiver of the same name), and the next two were on 51-yard and 40-yard breakaway runs by Octavious Carter and Manny Quiles, respectively.
The second half was less explosive, but La Salle did the job nonetheless. Solecki found Brett Mallee for a 37-yard score on the Explorers’ first play of the half and two drives later, Carter dashed in from 13 out to run the clock.
Carroll scored its lone touchdown on a 51-yard pass from Kamal Gray to Carlon Brown in the second quarter, but was otherwise toothless in the face of a suffocating La Salle defensive front.
“Our d-line played really well tonight,” Steinmetz said. “We were really happy – both of lines actually played really well.”
Carroll was not without its playmakers – Gray, Brown and Dahmir Ruffin all possess clear athletic talent – but it was overwhelmed in the trenches on each side of the ball.
Bolstered the offensive line’s stellar play, La Salle ran for 261 yards on the night. Carter led with 125 on just 10 carries, and Quiles finished with 67 on five before going down in the second quarter with what appeared to be a minor ankle injury.
“Our offensive line really stepped up today,” Solecki said. “I don’t think I hit the ground once”
“We moved the ball around,” Steinmetz said. “It seems like everyone got in on the act. Dan did a good job of distributing the ball.”
Five Explorers scored – Solecki, Carter, Quiles, Mallee and Harrison.
According to Steinmetz, it’s not all that different than what it would have been had Jones stayed behind the helm. It’s hard to believe at face value, given how talented Jones is, but when you look around at the talent La Salle has on offense, it becomes easier to see.
“I think we’re still running the same stuff,” Steinmetz said, coyly, unwilling to divulge much about the effect that Jones’ injury has on the team. “I think that would have been the game plan whether Isaiah was playing or not. We’ve got a lot of playmakers. We’re just trying to figure out how to get them the ball.”