White Plains hosted its fourth annual Big Apple 7 on 7 on Saturday. It featured the largest field ever — 20 teams and over 500 participants — and was an eight-hour marathon.
I just talked to the two organizers, White Plains coach Skip Stevens and Rye Neck coach Nick Ianello. Here’s a quick rundown of what happened.
BIG APPLE 7 ON 7
Winner: Iona Prep
Runner-up: Fordham Prep
Semifinalists: Rye, Pleasantville
Quarterfinalists: Spring Valley, Rye Neck, Sleepy Hollow, Pearl River
MVP: Chris Cooper, Iona Prep
Iona Prep finished the event a perfect 6-0. The Gaels were one of three teams to go 3-0 during round-robin play, joining Fordham Prep and Pleasantville. Six teams posted 2-1 records: Rye, Spring Valley, Rye Neck, Sleepy Hollow, Pearl River and Croton-Harmon. Croton missed out on the playoffs on a tiebreaker, but it had lost head-to-head to Rye Neck.
The No. 1 takeaway from the event was the dominance of Iona Prep, particularly the combination of Mario Biaggi and Chris Cooper. Biaggi, who was more of a runner when he was named the starter as a junior, was on point with his timing and accuracy. He was in sync with Cooper, one of the top returning players in the LoHud area.
“He was something else,” Ianello said.
The 20 teams played in groups of four. One of the most impressive early on was Pleasantville, which competed well against some of the area’s top programs until it lost to Iona in the semis. The Panthers are continuing to evolve on offense to more of a spread and fared well because of it.
Rye beat Stepinac in round-robin play and advanced to the semis behind impressive sophomore quarterback Andrew Livingston. The Garnets eventually fell to Fordham.
Stepinac and Ardsley both left the event early, but the other 18 teams (actually 17 schools because Sleepy Hollow had two teams) remained throughout.
The event also included a mini-combine operated by Velocity.
“It was a good day — busy as heck,” Stevens said. “But the day went smooth. We were right on schedule. Everything was pretty efficient.”
• White Plains will host its Tiger Camp on June 23-27 with Westlake, Rye Neck, Edgemont, Byram Hills and White Plains, plus Woodlands and possibly New Rochelle later in the week.
• Iona Prep will host its camp from June 20-23. It will feature, obviously, Iona, as well as New Rochelle, Rye and Hastings.
48 Comments
Josh y does it seem like yur info is always slightly off, don’t u double check yur sources? New Ro isn’t going to White Plains, n da Iona Camp is the 20th-24th. A 3 day camp didn’t seem odd to u? Devaney never got this stuff wrong. You also didn’t mention the camp at Carmel from the 25th – 29th.
New Ro… You’re funny. I got this info from Stevens and Quirolo tonight, but just text me if you have some corrections. I know you have my number.
JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF A MONSTER YEAR FOR CHRIS COOPER,”MARK IT DOWN”
Josh
I believe the Iona camp is from June 20th through and including June 24th-
Iona did not have the services of Austin Jones who is one of their top returning skill players plus two of their starting DB’s were also out- very happy with the QB depth on the team as all 3 QB’s looked very good-
newro,
you are way out of line. show some class.
IP,
Iona is loaded this year. I was actually slightly surprised Cooper dominated on O. I thought Jones and Williams would be Biaggi’s main targets this year.
Josh,
Did you hear if any of Stepinac’s young players up from the JV performed well on Sat?
ipower:
fyi, this saturday @fordham u. is their basketball team camp. heard iona is playing bishop loughlin, south shore, and jefferson. not sure if this is accurate but iona will certainly get a taste of what is in store for next year.
I’M CONSIDERED A BAD GUY!!.. AND MY IP ADDRESS IS RED FLAGGED!!... #BOOM!!..
gaels
I heard now isiah ice is staying in the school-
well that’s good because they will need him on sat! heard the big kid (nigerian) is leaving?
IONA
CONGRATS… YOUR GAELS ARE SHOWING THE TALENT EARLY!!.. THEY SHOULD BE THE TOP TEAM IN WESTCHESTER THIS YEAR!!!...
CONGRATS TO COOPER (M.V.P.) THE PLAYER THAT I SAID 19 OR SO MONTHS AGO WILL BE A D1 FOOTBALL PLAYER!!.. I ALSO THINK AUSTIN JONES IS BY FAR IONA BEST WR!!...
HOOPS!!.. STEP WAS INVISIBLE AT THE 7 ON 7 THAT IS A VERY BAD SIGN OF WHAT TOO COME!!...
Prince how does it feel that your team is the 2nd best in its own city?
WESTCHESTER
IT FEELS GOOD TO BE IN NEW RO THE 2 TOP TEAMS IN WESTCHESTER (PUBLIC#1 AND PRIVATE#1) ARE FROM LIL OLE NEW RO!!.. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN!!!.. #I SAID THEY “SHOULD BE” I NEVER SAID THEY ARE!!.....
Lay off Josh newro!
Prince
Still a long long long way from November- Injuries, Press Clippings, bad breaks can all have a negative impact- Plus Iona was given a really rough schedule- First 3 league games are St.Anthony, Chaminade and Xaverian- The league did not do Iona any favors.
IONA
VERY TOUGH FIRST 3 GAMES BUT I STILL THINK THEY WALK AWAY 2-1 I THINK SAINT ANT WILL BE VERY TOUGH FOR WEEK 1 IONA USUALLY IMPROVES AS THE SEASON MOVES FORWARD!!
Guys… Don’t worry about it. It’s been taken care of.
Hoops… I have exchanged some e-mails with O’D about the recruiting stuff, but I don’t know about how Stepinac played Saturday. I know it lost to Rye and left the event early.
Prince… Your IP address isn’t flagged. You wouldn’t be able to post on here if it was.
JOSH
OK, WELL IT’S BLOCKED FROM USING CERTAIN WORDS!!.. WORDS THAT I HAVE SEEN OTHERS POST AND WHEN I POST THEM, MY POST IS SENT TO “JAIL” WHY IS THAT?????....
JOSH
I THOUGHT THE POST WAS A LIL RUDE AND OVER THE TOP!!!... #”NEWRO” DEF DO NOT LIKE YOU!!!..
... DID YOU CALL HIS PARENTS!... 
Prince… There is no difference between your posts and everyone else’s. You can either flag someone’s IP address so they can’t post, or it’s unflagged. There’s no magic middle.
JOSH
I POSTED WORDS THAT OTHER BLOGGERS POST AND THE POST GOES INTO MODERATION!!..
I HAVE ALSO COPIED AND PASTE THERE ORIG POST AND MY POST WENT INTO MODERATION!!...
SO I WOULD HAVE TO BELIEVE THERE IS A “MAGIC MIDDLE”
I wouldn’t waste your energy thinking about stuff like that. It doesn’t exist. If I had thought you needed censoring I would’ve made that decision a long time ago. Obviously I haven’t. No one posts here more than you.
JOSH
THANK YOU!!.. FOR SPARING ME (CENSORING)!....
I TRY TO KEEP THE BLOGGERS BUSY WHILE YOU IN THE LAB PUTTING TOGETHER GREAT STORIES….:) 
JOSH…. JUST… ROTTEN….. HAYWOOD…. STATES
WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN 2011?.... OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE!
WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE TEAM IN 2011 ?.... AND WHY!
WAS THE BEST GAME IN YOUR OPINION IN 2011?.... AND WHY!
WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF 2011?...!
WHO HAD THE FANS IN SEC1 IN 2011?
WHAT TEAM SURPRISE YOU THE MOST IN 2011?
WHAT WAS THE HARDEST HIT YOU SEEN IN 2011?...
WHAT 2 TEAMS WOULD YOU HAVE LIKE TO SEEN PLAY IN 2011?
anyone have a date on new rochelle champions camp? exact dates ?
Stepinac and Ardsley left after bracket play was over , before the playoffs.
DA most hated,
Favorites-defense lance mcdowell,
Offense-josh Oliver
Team-poukeepsie
Why?took “chip”
St.Anthonys vs IONA prep (first game),why? IONA almost won
Fans-yorktown
Surprise team-JJEF beat new RO in new RO
Lance mcdowell in yorktown “monster hits all game against big offense.
Teams play each other in 2011-IONA prep vs new rochelle
class b sleeper team: ardsley. they played very well against croton and pretty much tied with them, but bc of a late int they lost by 2. they destroyed rye neck and killed the sleepy hollow b team with there second string guys in for more than half of the game.
Wasn’t at the seven on seven but what did u see from Ardsley that put’s them down on as a sleeper. From had good receiving cores for the last 2 years but that was with QB Daniel Stein, I remember Stein getting respect in the spring and summer of ‘10, it will be different this time around with experienced receiving core and new QB, Have they named a QB yet or were they rotating in potential players for that spot
yes actually, there new quarterback is carlos monseratte who has just as good as an arm as stein, if not better and is more mobile. although he is much smaller and less built then stein was. however, with possible the best receiving core in class B in Kardish and Peterson, I could see them doing damage.
Class b observer,
I think your observation on the 3 games Ardsley played on Saturday is a bit delusional . They lost 16-14 to Croton (which is not a tie).The game vs Rye Neck was at best 23-9 clearly not a destruction of a team. I did not see the game the game vs Sleepy b team but based on your bias view of Ardsey’s play I would say it wasn’t a killing. Ardsley is a very athletic team with a lot of potential. Let’s leave it at that.
class b observer
Your are out of your mind, your analysis of Ardsley couldn’t be farther from the truth. I can’t speak for the other 2 teams, but beating Sleepy by 6(22-16) isn’t, ”...killed the sleepy hollow b team”
Just so you know, I think that was sleepy hollows JV team, and 99% of the kids are in 9th grade.
Wow miss this thread yesterday… Some serious happenings…
Prince, going to take Time with that question I like a lot of Haywood’s answers…
Why does Stepinac keep leaving these 7 on 7’s early?
..^.(*** ****! **) SEC#1 June 13th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
JOSH…. JUST… ROTTEN….. HAYWOOD…. STATES
WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE PLAYER IN 2011?.... OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE!
WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE TEAM IN 2011 ?.... AND WHY!
WAS THE BEST GAME IN YOUR OPINION IN 2011?.... AND WHY!
WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF 2011?...!
WHO HAD THE FANS IN SEC1 IN 2011?
WHAT TEAM SURPRISE YOU THE MOST IN 2011?
WHAT WAS THE HARDEST HIT YOU SEEN IN 2011?...
WHAT 2 TEAMS WOULD YOU HAVE LIKE TO SEEN PLAY IN 2011?
fan June 14th, 2012 at 9:53 am
Why does Stepinac keep leaving these 7 on 7’s early?
LOL, GOOD QUESTION!!
Prince, not sure I saw a hardest hit.
Fav team – north rock.. Jjef close 2nd but then again – biggest surprise too.. No one had north rock!!!
Off player – should have been Everett , could have been stall worth but tie between Hendo and tucek… I think two honorable mentions Edney and ramapo RB… Oliver too!!! But this personal favs… Hendo was a bull dozer and tucek very talented and gritty..
Def player has to go to mcdowdwell… This came after season watching tape, did not realize what a force he was …sometimes big guys don’t live to their hype but he did…
Best game has to be new ro- north rock in two aspects besides coming down to wire… It showed the red raiders were back and that two nr’s still dominate class AA…
The game that needs to be played new ro- stepinac… No more excuses!!!
Prince,
Paranoia is the first sign….someone must be hacking your computer LOL, therefore your thoughts also,...it goes all downhill from here.
fan and PPR,
I don’t know of Stepinac leaving a 7on7 early other than the one at WP last Saturday. From what I read, their starting QB Danny Hoffer was flying to West Virginia for a scheduled recruiting trip to Marshall (1A). Not bad, huh?
Whatever you say hoops fan.
Fan,
How many 1A recruiting trips did you take in HS? What I wrote is what either Josh or Kevin reported ( I can’t remember which one)...I assume they know better than you or me.
3 Yards and a Cloud of Dust June 14th, 2012 at 5:16 pm
Prince,
Paranoia is the first sign….someone must be hacking your computer LOL, therefore your thoughts also,...it goes all downhill from here.
YARD….. IT’S ALREADY DOWN HILL!!!...
Hoops fan June 14th, 2012 at 10:38 pm
fan and PPR,
I don’t know of Stepinac leaving a 7on7 early other than the one at WP last Saturday. From what I read, their starting QB Danny Hoffer was flying to West Virginia for a scheduled recruiting trip to Marshall (1A). Not bad, huh?
WHAT DID THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM?
It looks like the CHSFL AAA Championship will be played at Yankee Stadium
IONA POWER
NICE!!.....
“IonaPower June 15th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
It looks like the CHSFL AAA Championship will be played at Yankee Stadium”
Where & Whom did you hear that from?
Kaboom
According to the Stepinac football website the game is being played at Yankee stadium
http://stepinacfootball.stackvarsity.com/schedules/
The CHSFL is working on the Championship Games moving to Yankee Stadium. It is not a done deal yet.