St. Thomas More has phantom Sycamore on schedule
Although Hurricane Henri had downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit Southeastern Connecticut on Aug. 22, it certainly managed to upgrade Ernest Anderson’s headaches.
The St. Thomas More Prep football coach had players traveling to the Montville campus from around the country and he couldn’t gather his entire team to practice until Aug. 25.
Game 1 was only a week and a half away on the University of New Haven’s blue turf against the Chargers’ junior varsity.
“We make no excuses,” Anderson said.
The Chancellors would fall, 21-20, Sunday after leading 20-7 in the fourth quarter, yet the first-year head coach came away “extremely encouraged.” A bad snap on an extra-point, a missed field goal, a roughing the passer on 3rd-and-6, small ouches that led to defeat.
“We can clean those things up,” Anderson said. “We really competed.”
When you coach an independent prep school team you learn to be flexible. Hell’s bells, it may be the very definition of flexibility.
Bishop Sycamore was scheduled to play St. Thomas More last spring when the Chancellors managed to get in a pair of games, including a 7-5 win over perennial power St. Frances of Baltimore. Sycamore had to back out because of a COVID outbreak.
The game with T-More was rescheduled for Oct. 8 under the lights at New
London High.
“Then, obviously, the debacle happened with IMG,” Anderson said.
Be honest. How many of you knew the Columbus, Ohio school, ah, touring team, was scheduled to play at New London? How many of you knew Bishop Sycamore lost, 26-6, to Suffield Academy in 2019?
How many of you even had heard of Bishop Sycamore before the aforementioned debacle that managed to ensnare and embarrass ESPN? A 58-0 loss to IMG Academy exposed a team on national television that didn’t have the Division I talent it purported, was playing in its second game in 48 hours, was getting outscored 115-7 in three games, wasn’t registered with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, left a trail of unpaid hotel bills and didn’t even have a physical address?
If you thought the old fly-by-night schools with a P.O. box and no building couldn’t happen in today’s information age … guess again.
“We call them ‘pop-up’ preps,” Anderson said. “Their intentions are right, but they try to cut corners. Their problem was they tried to get too big, too successful too fast. You grow too fast. You cut corners. It backfires.
“In order to be successful, you have to take your lumps. St. Thomas More almost went 10 years being the doormat of the NEPSAC. There was no problem scheduling St. Thomas More 10 years ago. Now we have momentum. Now, all of a sudden, other prep schools around here, they don’t want to play. Our last year of playing New England prep schools, we did very well for ourselves.”
The Chancellors ended Choate’s celebrated 48game win streak, 34-9, in September 2019. This year the only state team they play is the UNH jayvees.
“Listen, L.J. Spinnato (of Choate) was the program we’re trying to attain,” Anderson said. “We’re trying to do the same thing. The difference between us and other prep schools is that we’re not worried about what other people say. We know what we are. We know what our goals are. Our primary goal will forever be to place these young men in college.”
St. Thomas, a mix of nearly 50 percent postgrads with high schoolers, placed all 19 graduating players last school year on college teams.
Anderson, who had been T-More’s defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach, counts seven Division I-level players on his 2021 roster. Brian Allen Jr. is headed to Illinois, while Antonio Robinson is committed to Marshall and Logan Forbes to Michigan.
Anderson credits the school hierarchy and former coach Jason Manson, who left to become the Director of Player Development at Iowa, for COVID testing two and three times a week and the fortitude to get in six games last fall (two each against East Coast Prep, Milford Academy, Bridgton Academy) and for the two spring games.
“Obviously, we’re a little different as an independent,” said Anderson, who’ll face Nichols College junior varsity this weekend. “When we go to schedule opponents, we’re looking at Division 2 and 3 college jayvees, a post-grad school like East Coast Prep, a Bridgton Academy, Navy Prep. Guys who are older. Show our kids that level of college and also against like-minded schools.
“We also like to schedule powerhouses to really give our guys the type of exposure that they’ll need to continue to the next level. We’ve played St. Frances the last four years.”
This season the Chancellors bite off what Bishop Sycamore couldn’t chew. They play Oct. 15 at IMG, ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Today. They’ll fly to Florida, play under the Friday night lights in front of a slew of college coaches.
“If you look at IMG’s roster, I’d say more than half are either four- or five-star kids going to Power Five schools,” Anderson said. “It’ll show our kids the level that they are at and show our younger guys the level you have to get to if you want to play for the SEC schools of the world.
“For a small prep school, we couldn’t be more excited to go down there and see what we have. Obviously, we know what we are getting ourselves into. It’s like a College Game Day. Having that many kids going to Alabama and Clemson on one team, IMG is a college, whether they are high school or not.”
Anderson said IMG will play T-More in Connecticut next year.
IMG, St. Frances don’t back down from playing anyone. They have a difficult time finding teams to play. On the other hand, T-More has attracted the talent where area prep schools avoid them.
“We a small fish in a big pond,” he said. “And we’re a big fish in a small pond.”
After canceling the Sycamore game, T-More is in talks to play Rock Creek Christian of Maryland. If not, East Coast Prep could be scheduled a second time.
Sycamore coach Roy Johnson, meanwhile, was fired. The program is not folding. New coach Tyren Jackon said Sycamore is not a school. It is a post-grad football academy.
“I know coach RJ,” Anderson said. “They played IMG last year and lost 56-6. In today’s culture the optics of 58-0 on ESPN are going to look crazy. People have to remember IMG has the best players from all over the world with a billion dollars (William Morris Endeavor bought the sports agency for $2.3 billion in 2013).
“Bishop Sycamore is a depressed school that is trying to emulate that without the program and without the proper funds. IMG is playing games with 8090 kids and everyone can play. Bishop Sycamore is showing up with 26-to-30 and maybe 12 can really play. Nobody said anything last year. Being on TV and playing a game two days before, it was a firestorm.”
While getting players from underprivileged backgrounds into coach certainly is to be lauded, Anderson was being too kind to Jackson. He reportedly faces an active warrant out on a domestic violence case dropped to criminal mischief. He reportedly has defaulted on a $100,000 loan. He also faces legal trouble for failure to pay $110,000 to a Delaware, Ohio hotel where he roomed his players during the 2018 season when he was coach of Sycamore’s forerunner Christians of Faith Academy. The Canton hotel where Sycamore stayed for the IMG game said its checks for 25 rooms bounced. There are stories of Jackson pocketing bigtime travel money.
Wonder if there is a hotel in the Hartford-Springfield area still looking for money from 2019? Attempts to reach Suffield Academy coach Drew Gamere about prep school scheduling and his experience with Bishop Sycamore went unsuccessful.
But that’s Bishop Sycamore. No one else. As tempting as it is to paint IMG or the mission of so many prep school sports with a big judgmental brush, well, be fair and be careful.
“We know who we are,” Anderson said. “That’s the thing I love about St. Thomas More. I went here. I won a championship here (in 2005). We are a hardworking, blue-collar prep school. What Jere Quinn has built with the basketball program will never been forgotten. We’ve put kids in the pros, overseas, top academic institutions. In the past four-five years, football has really, really started to grow here and started being a standard.
“Our quarterback Sam Whitney has a 1550 SAT. Our tight end has interest from Yale, Dartmouth and a few other Ivy League schools. We’re getting the right mixture of high character, high academics who can also play football. We are very comfortable with what we are.”