No football team has dominated the ranks of Section Nine more than Monroe-Woodbury has these last six years. The last time the Crusaders lost to a local team was in 2003 when Newburgh whipped them in the Class AA championship, 35-0. But since that loss, Pat D’Aliso’s Purple Cru has amassed a record of 67-4 with the only losses coming in postseason play.

In 2004 Ray Rice (who went on to Rutgers and then the Ravens) and New Rochelle overwhelmed M-W, 47-0, in the Eastern State Semi. Exit four-year starting QB Matt Stack and enter a junior named Greg Sullivan. With the changing of the guard, D’Aliso decided to modify his very successful option offense by morphing it into Urban Meyer’s spread. The plan worked as Sullivan led the Cru to a state title in 2005.

Now D’Aliso is looking to get back to Syracuse for the fifth straight year. His team has been ranked #1 in the state all season long, and it is also ranked nationally. Right now Prep Nation has MW as the #8 team in the Northeast. D’Aliso has been to the New York Football Promised Land once and wants another taste.

He has a great staff, a lot of talent, a bunch of scrappy support players and loads of dedication from all involved. Members of that MW unit don’t take football, conditioning, academics or off-field behavior casually. It’s toe the line or clean out your locker. A coach can realistically make such demands when his program has just gone 67-4.

All that being said, Monroe-Woodbury (9-0) is like any other playoff team. It still has to keep winning one game at a time to reach its goal. The opponent in this Saturday night’s Class AA title game is high-flying Warwick (8-1). Coach James Sciarra’s Wildcats’ only loss came in week seven when the Crusaders beat them, 49-32. That game was pretty much over with 6:20 left in the fourth and MW on top, 28-12. Then each team provided an avalanche of three TD each.

Warwick will again have its hands full. The ‘Cats are coming off thrilling and gut-wrenching victories over Minisink Valley (43-42) and Newburgh (20-6). The offenses dominated the first game while the defenses took over in the second.

Warwick is led by record-busting seniors, QB Rian White and WR John Babin. This season White has completed 136-of-218 passes for 2,044 yards, 28 TD and 5 interceptions. That’s a lofty Quarterback Rating of 123.2. He is two TD passes shy of tying Kevin Arduino’s sectional record of 30, set last year.

Babin (68 catches for 1,062 yards and 17 TD - all sectional records) naturally draws a lot of attention. When that happens White will likely look toward the other side of the field for WR Sam Careccia who has 29 receptions for 420 yards and six TD so far this season.

White is also the focus of the Wildcat ground game. Like a jazz musician, he has improvised many of his 775 yards on 95 carries (8.2 ypc) and 14 TD. Jesse Testa has rushed 88 times for 574 yards and three TD.

The first meeting between these two teams saw Scalo enter the defensive secondary for a few key series which freed up MW senior defensive standout Ryan Morgan to move from his safety spot up to linebacker where he could harass White. With this title game being more important than the first, will we see D’Aliso do the same if similar circumstances arise?

MW would prefer that Scalo stick to offense where he’s having another great season. While White is more of a passer, Scalo (6’3, 208) is a thoroughbred of a runner. On the ground the senior has carried 146 times for 1,357 yards (9.3 ypc) and 20 TD. He currently leads the section in rushing yardage and is second in scoring behind Cornwall flyer Tyree Smallwood. The Crusaders also have Trevor Officer in the backfield. The junior has rushed 84 times for 589 yards. Senior Joe Lafontant and soph Ryan Spelman (who is Scalo's heir-apparent) are also adept runners.

Scalo doesn’t throw nearly as much as White, but when he does, it’s effective. The southpaw’s 41-for-76-for-912 yards with 10 TD and only two interceptions earns him a 125.7 QBR. Scalo’s passes almost always end up in the hands of tall, talented and swift WRs Patrick Laird (22 x 563 x 7 TD) or Jared McFarlin (11 x 178 x 2).

Laird’s deep kickoffs and accurate placekicking (57-for-59 on PAT) help give the Crusaders an edge on special teams.

Defensively, Warwick lost veteran senior MLB Jared Komorowski because of a concussion in the Minisink game. But the Wildcat defense came up with a huge performance against Newburgh last week. Junior LB Andrew Treschitta was named the defensive MVP last week. Senior free safety Dan Marggraff, who’s also an excellent return man, and CB Shane Marchini have looked good in the secondary.

For the Crusaders, junior Josh Skowronski leads the outstanding offensive line while senior Jordan Bari anchors the defensive front.

EXTRA POINTS: Scalo now has over 400 career points. In career rushing yards he is #6 in the record book with 5,012, just 176 yards behind former MW QB Matt Stack who’s #5 … In career passing yardage White is #3 - just behind O’Neill’s Aaron Kilner and ahead of #4 Scalo … White is also #2 in career TD passes and #3 in passing yardage in a single season … Babin now owns all but one of the sectional receiving records … Patrick Laird’s 57 PATs puts him at #3 on that sectional list … Records are great but they don’t mean anything now. Right now it’s all about getting to the regionals.

--- PHIL DUSENBURY