Scouting Report: Bishop McGuinness

Bishop McGuinness <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2021/09/free-mcguinness-overwhelms-kelley-in-bishop-battle/">steamrolled</a> rival Bishop Kelley at home Friday night to improve to 1-1, while the Comets fell to 0-3 on the season. While there were many players on the Irish side who made plays during the game, those listed below were the most outstanding: <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #fdffd6;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center;"><strong>Mike Taffe</strong> | 6’0" RB/ATH | Bishop McGuinness ’23 <span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>(pictured above)</em></span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> No player was more outstanding Friday night than Taffe, whose legs carried the ball into the end zone four times against the Comets. The junior back started the game with three consecutive carries, the second a 26-yard carry to put the Irish in the Comets red zone, the third a 13-yard touchdown strike to take a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game. Seconds later, following a turnover on the next kickoff, Taffe took the direct snap from three yards out to score a second time, less than three minutes into the match. Taffe is a true do-it-all back, bringing to the McGuinness back-field power and speed, strength and agility, acceleration and finesse, and he showcased each of these traits against Kelley in rather dominant fashion. The run that perhaps best exemplified his talents was his third touchdown, when a play that appeared to be a designed run into one of the interior gaps busted, and a crew of Kelley defenders met Taffe in the backfield before he could blink. Rather than taking the play for a loss, Taffe rather bounced the run outside, managing contact from a couple of the Comets defenders, and broke free before bursting up the right sideline for a 36-yard touchdown. And that’s the thing about Taffe: he makes more out of less every time he gets the ball. Short gains turn into defenders chasing Taffe on his path to the end zone; plays that should have been tackles-for-loss turn out to be first-down plays. Taffe gets somewhere, almost every time. He finished the game with 154 total yards of offense. <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #fdffd6;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center;"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="101264" first="Zane" last="Shadid"]</strong> | 5’11" LB | Bishop McGuinness ’23</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Down two scores following a muffed kickoff return, Kelley may have been optimistic headed into its third possession, but it just turned into more misfortune for the Comets when the McGuinness D-Line held up, forced a fumble, and Shadid picked it up and took it back to the Kelley 22 yard-line. He’s strong, slithery, and can burst to meet the ball, but also a highly cerebral and confident defensive presence. <img class="size-medium wp-image-184316 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/08/Zane-Shadid-10-crop-5394x3542-1628869907-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" />Shadid is an intuitive playmaker, indicative of his fumble recovery in the first quarter, but proved in his numerous tackles-for-loss and no gain Friday night. I would estimate that Shadid was well prepared for Kelley’s run game in the film room, perhaps even taking personal time out of his busy game week to ready himself for the Comet line’s schemes; he often looked like a veteran starting defender going against a scout offense with the way he confidently attacked Kelley’s designed gaps and disrupted the mesh to make plays in the backfield. It wasn’t just Shadid’s iQ that stood out or makes him a legitimate college prospect; he has the athleticism and motor to back it up, too. On some Kelley sweep plays, Shadid pursued the angle and prevented plays from advancing to the outside. https://twitter.com/zaneshadid/status/1436800213415612431?s=21 <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #fdffd6;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Will Kilgallon </strong></span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">|</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> 6’1" K/P/WR</span> | Bishop McGuinness ’24</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Kilgallon had an exceptional game punting and kicking off, while also going a perfect 7-of-7 on points-after. He hit touchbacks on all but a few of his attempts, credits to a slight breeze to his back from which he benefitted most of the night. His best kickoff, however, was his second second of the game, a high 59-yard strike with plenty of hang time that fell into the arms of the Kelley returner on the half-inch line, which allowed Kilgallon’s gunners to get downfield and promptly force and recover a fumble, regaining possession for the Irish offense, who quickly scored to go up two scores to start the game. It was arguably the turning point of the night, as it drained the energy from the Comets sideline almost completely. His second-best play came later in the game when he averted crisis on a punt, as a high snap led to Kilgallon fumbling the ball about as Kelley defenders swarmed him near his own goal line. One Comet appeared to have him wrapped up, but Kilgallon escaped the contact, and on the run, unleashed on a 35-yard punt. Had he not broken the Comet tackler, Kelley at worst would have gained possession with a 6-yard field ahead of it. Kilgallon was also inches away from sending a 56-yard coffin corner punt later in the game, but it just missed the boundary and bounced into the end-zone for a 36-yard net. Those were his only two punts of the night <table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; background-color: #fdffd6;"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 100%; text-align: center;"><b>Other standouts</b></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <ul style="list-style-type: square;"> <li><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Noah Rice,</strong> 5’9" Jr. ATH --</span> On both sides of the ball, Rice came through with crucial plays Friday night. Coming up with a 10-yard sack in the fourth quarter, Rice pursued and swarmed the ball any time he broke the line of scrimmage Friday night. He also caught three passes to gain a couple first downs for the Irish.</li> <li><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Brody Houser,</strong> 6’5" Sr. DE</span> -- Houser was there to make multiple plays across the game for the Irish, including one 11-yard sack on third down that pushed Kelley well out of field goal range in the first quarter, and a self-manufactured fumble recovery that gave the Irish a short field, resulting in a late second-half touchdown to go up 35-0.</li> <li><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>River Warren,</strong> 6’3" So. QB</span> -- I’m still very impressed by what I’m seeing from Young Warren, who finished the game 12-of-22 for 222 yards and two touchdowns, both well-placed connections on long routes near the boundary. The lanky sophomore still has some kinks to work out, including some timing issues, but for an underclassman who just started his second game on a top-five team, he’s doing alright.</li> </ul> <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/09/Brody-Houser-1-crop-5606x3681-1631398184.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-199905" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/09/Brody-Houser-1-crop-5606x3681-1631398184.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="525" /></a>