Sports

Football: Stepnoski’s a big plus, but tackling isn’t for Mercy

The Bishop McGann-Mercy Monarchs have one heck of a football player in Pat Stepnoski. They also continue to have a tackling problem. Both were readily apparent in their 43-35 road loss to The Stony Brook School Bears on Friday night.

Stepnoski had a tremendous game, running 37 times for 236 yards and five touchdowns. All of those figures are career-high numbers for the senior. McGann-Mercy Coach Jeff Doroski said it was the best game he ever saw Stepnoski play.

“He really carried the load for us,” Doroski said. “He did everything.”

Indeed, Stepnoski also threw for a two-point conversion, played outside linebacker, kicked off and punted. He has scored all seven of McGann-Mercy’s touchdowns this season.

“He’s our go-to guy,” Doroski said. “He’s a tough kid. He works really hard. Then again, it can’t always be about one guy. We need people to step up on both sides of the ball.”

Bad tackling, something that been a problem for the Monarchs (0-2 in Suffolk County Division IV) the past couple of years, reared its ugly head again in the loss to the Bears (2-0).

“We had some breakdowns defensively, some missed assignments,” Doroski said. “We’ve been struggling for the last two years and we’ve been working on our tackling. It’s something that we were struggling with. We missed some tackles in some key spots.”

The Monarchs hope to improve on their tackling Friday night when they play their home opener against the Wyandanch Warriors (0-2).

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