Fit for victory

Joe Chiaro loved eating McDonald’s double cheeseburgers. Sometimes, he would eat two or three a day with a side of fries.

Unfortunately, the fast food served to slow down Chiaro’s athletic aspirations. At 5-foot-8 and 200 pounds, the then-middle-school student couldn’t play football without danger of hurting his peers.

But the idea of staying on the sidelines was too much for Chiaro to bear when he was set to enter high school.

"I decided to do something about it," the 17-year-old senior said while taking a break from last Wednesday’s practice. "I wanted to play ball, so I dropped 30 pounds."

Now, with healthy proportions of 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Chiaro is the starting offensive tackle and defensive end for the Neumann-Goretti Saints.

The resident of Front and Howard streets has become quite the team player in his years with the squad, formerly the Neumann Pirates. For example, when the Saints needed to fill a hole at offensive tackle this season, Chiaro had no problem moving from tight end.

"We needed a tackle because we were undersized, and I was always good at blocking," he reasoned.

This season, the bigger challenge is helping the Saints find their stride. On Sunday, Neumann-Goretti picked up its first Catholic League win by shutting out Cardinal Dougherty 22-0.

While acknowledging "it has been tough," Chiaro isn’t disillusioned by the slow start.

"In the end, a few minor mistakes have cost us games. We just have to keep our heads up," he said.

The confident approach worked Sunday. After leading 2-0 at halftime, Neumann-Goretti’s offense kicked into gear in the second half, thanks to touchdown runs of 1 and 3 yards by junior Dan Chavis. The win improved the Saints to 1-4 in league play and 2-5 overall. The team’s other victory came against Freire Charter in a non-league contest.

Chiaro’s perseverance through the Saints’ struggles is only natural; he’s taken on challenges before.

After all, the honor student’s favorite subject is biology. And he applies himself just as much to his nutritional discipline, which he has maintained for more than three years.

When Chiaro needed to drop 30 pounds to play freshman football, he replaced his beloved cheeseburgers with chicken and wheat products, and claims he hasn’t eaten red meat in a year and a half.

French fries, on the other hand, aren’t as easy to pass up.

"Sometimes I’ll sneak a few fries when my friends aren’t looking," Chiaro admitted.

But the rewards of football have helped keep the player physically fit. The former starting junior-varsity tight end worked his way up to varsity last season, and played in the final three games in Neumann history. Chiaro also enjoys lacrosse, a sport he started playing sophomore year. Last year, the long stick, or defensive player, earned an All-Catholic Honorable Mention nod.

Chiaro is also musically gifted, playing the saxophone in the school band and playing guitar in his own group, Effrontery. He can juggle the soulful sounds of the sax with the hard-rocking Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath songs he plays with his friends.

"I like the guitar," Chiaro said. "It’s loud and noisy."

Much like the blocks and tackles he delivers on the football field.

But Chiaro and his teammates have taken a few hits of their own, beginning with a loss to Archbishop Wood in last year’s semifinals.

Last spring, longtime Neumann coach Ed "Bubby" DiCamillo was released, leading six players to transfer to rival West Catholic. The remaining athletes started preparing for the 2004 season after Neumann-Goretti promoted offensive line coach Steve Smith to head coach.

Chiaro had circled the Oct. 9 meeting with West Catholic as the biggest game of the year. Despite predictions that the opponent would win the division, the Saints wanted to make a statement against their former teammates. In the end, West Catholic’s 36-0 victory drowned out any message they might have had.

No matter how many points his team trailed by, Chiaro kept battling.

"That was probably the most intense game I ever played in," he said.

Despite the one-sided score, Neumann-Goretti made a strong defensive stand in the first half, the athlete noted.

"We were playing the best team in the league, and they only scored nine points on us in the first half," Chiaro said.

With three league games remaining, the Saints are fighting for their playoff lives, as only six of the nine division teams will make the cut.

Harder still, two of those games are against Archbishop Carroll and Wood, both 4-2. Kennedy-Kenrick, one game ahead of the Saints, will visit 11th and Bigler streets Saturday at 1 p.m.

"Beating Dougherty was a big win," said Chiaro, who is considering Temple, Rutgers and Widener. "We need to win now if we are going to make the playoffs. It’s going to be tough."

2004 Schedule
North Catholic L 15-12
McDevitt L 24-7
Episcopal L 39-0
Conwell-Egan L 20-12
Freire Charter W 40-14
West Catholic L 36-0
Dougherty W 22-0
Sat. Kennedy-Kenrick Home 1 p.m.
Oct. 30 Carroll Away 2 p.m.
Nov. 6 Wood Away 1 p.m.
Nov. 25 Southern Away 10:30 a.m.

Home games are played at 11th and Bigler streets.

2004 Catholic League Blue standings
West Catholic 5-0
Conwell-Egan 4-1
Carroll 4-2
Wood 4-2
North Catholic 3-3
McDevitt 2-3
Kennedy-Kenrick 2-4
Neumann-Goretti 1-5
Dougherty 0-6