HS Football Player of the Week: Moore knew Justin Lacks was special the first time he touched the ball

Justin Lacks express

Moore Catholic's Justin Lacks (6) ran for 229 yards against St. Joseph-by-the-Sea during the CHSFL AA-2 Championship on Saturday, November 16, 2019. (Staten Island Advance/Derek Alvez)

Moore Catholic head coach Nick Giannatasio knew his Mavericks had something special the first time Justin Lacks touched the ball as a freshman on the varsity level. 

He returned the opening kickoff for an 85-yard touchdown in Moore’s season-opening 31-20 CHSFL A win over Kennedy Catholic in 2016. 

“He wasn’t supposed to play varsity that year. He was on the JV team, but the JV had an open date and we brought him up to the varsity game to return punts and kickoffs,” remembered Giannatasio. “He also had seven carries for 140 yards and two more touchdowns that game. The coaching staff talked afterward and we decided that we would keep him on the varsity. Right then and there we knew we had something special.”

ISLAND’S AND CITY’S ALL-TIME RUSHING LEADER

But no one could have ever have thought that Lacks would turn out to be the player he did as the senior running back became the Island’s all-time leading rusher two weeks ago and the city’s top ground gainer in Saturday’s 28-6 CHSFL AA-2 division championship win over St. Joseph by-the-Sea.

In the biggest game of the season for Moore, Lacks came up huge as he rushed for 237 yards and two touchdowns vs. a Viking defense that knew Lacks was the player and couldn’t do it.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pounder entered the game with 5,231 career rushing yards having already surpassed the Island mark of former Susan Wagner runner Ramael Myers’ 5,085 yards set from 1997-2000. His 237-yard output on Saturday left him with 5,468 yards and the NYC all-time rushing record, beating out Fort Hamilton’ Kadeem Wolcott by 68 yards. Wolcott finished with 5,400 yards from 2004-06.

Lacks also garnered offensive MVP championship game honors for his efforts. To boot, he was named SILive.com’s and the Staten Island Advance’s HS Football Player of the Week for the second time this season. It’s also the fourth time a Maverick has been bestowed with HS Player of the Week honors this season.

“Every team, for four years, had to account for Lacks in our offense because he is just so dynamic,” said Giannatasio, whose team finished with a 9-1 record. “And even knowing that they really couldn’t stop him.”

Having to account for Lacks also made the Mavericks’ offense more potent as receivers found themselves in one-one-one coverage.

“It made for more favorable matchups in the passing game because the defenses had to stack the box to try stop Lacks,” said Giannatasio. “Our receivers were near the tops in every aspect of the receiving stats.”

As great a player Lacks is, Giannatasio said he’s even a better person.

“Very humble; a real pleasure to coach,” said Giannatasio.

All that was on display Saturday in Lacks’ post-game comments as he credited his offensive line and coaches for all his success.

"I owe my coaches and teammates -- especially my offensive line -- for all the work they did to win this championship and get the city record,'' said Lacks. “Those guys work their butts off on the sleds all week and helped me get all those yards.”

TWO DEFINING MOMENTS IN 2019

While Lacks’ whole career was amazing, Giannatasio said there were two defining moments for him in 2019.

“Versus Holy Cross in overtime, Lacks touched the ball every play, either rushing or receiving to win the game for us,” said Giannatasio. “And the second half vs. Sea in the rain in October when we couldn’t throw the ball that well because of the elements, and Justin was able to just take over the game with his physicality.”

And it’s that physicality that made Lacks special as defenders really had a tough time tackling the bruising back.

“We could see from the sidelines that even though he was touching the ball a lot, he was tiring out the other team, rather than getting tired himself,” explained Giannatasio. “As a staff we’ve talked this year about the impact that Lacks has each week. The way we’ve designed our offense is to be opportunistic and take advantage of what the defense gives us.

“A lot of times we get really favorable matchups in the passing game because of Lacks, and yet we look up at the end of the game and he still has 200 yards somehow. He’s that special.”

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