Don Bosco Prep versus St. Thomas Aquinas marks one of the biggest interstate matchups on 2014.
Photos by MaxPreps photographers
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Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) have agreed to play against each other in 2014, Don Bosco Prep Athletic Director Brian McAleer told MaxPreps.
The game is set for Sept. 13. Don Bosco Prep will serve as the host team, after traveling to Florida to play St. Thomas Aquinas in 2012.
"It's been a year-and-a-half in the making," McAleer said. "We both had the day open. The opportunity presented itself. We worked diligently to make it a reality."
The two national powers locked horns two years ago in Fort Lauderdale, a game
in which Don Bosco Prep won 20-10.
By agreeing to play again in 2014, it appears that both teams' schedules are complete.
St. Thomas Aquinas announced last week that it will open its season with
American Heritage (Plantation, Fla.), Florida's defending Class 5A champion.
Don Bosco Prep will play another team from the Sunshine State,
Central (Fort Pierce, Fla.), in addition to a game against Pennsylvania's defending AAAA champion,
St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia).
Negotiations between the two programs have been ongoing since the middle of January, despite reports that the two teams would not meet this fall. McAleer said that a game like this one is more complicated to arrange than it appears.
"I don't think the average fan realizes the amount of phone calls you have to make, the different types of accommodations you have to set up for your team, to make it an actual memorable experience for our student athletes," he said.
Both programs have been highly successful in out-of-state competition. Don Bosco Prep is 21-4 in games against teams from outside the Garden State during Greg Toal's tenure as head coach.
During the same time frame, St. Thomas Aquinas is 8-1, with notable victories over Prattville, De La Salle and Byrnes. Its lone loss was its 2012 setback to Don Bosco Prep.
