The Anatomy of a Powerhouse: How St. Joe’s Prep Rose to the Top of High School Football
Long before he ever became athletic director, Dennis Hart was himself a student at St. Joseph’s Prep, or simply “The Prep” as most people tend to call it.
A member of the freshman football team and an ardent supporter of the football program in the early-1990s, he remembers that era of Prep football as being, for the most part, insignificant.
“The football team, to put it bluntly, was not very good,” he said.
One year they were a competitive, playoff-caliber team. Other years, wins were much harder to come by. Tying West Catholic during Hart’s sophomore year “was a big deal,” he said.
Jason Zazyczny, former principal and current history teacher at the Prep and himself a former student in the late-1980s, has similar memories of the football team. In fact, he remembers the soccer team oftentimes elicited more excitement throughout the school.
“They did well, don’t get me wrong, but we just weren’t a contender in a sense,” he said.
The state of Prep football in 2021 compared to then is night and day. Over the past decade, St. Joe’s Prep football has gone from local standout, to statewide power, to national juggernaut. In all, the program has won six PIAA state titles and seven Philadelphia Catholic League titles in the last eight seasons, and this past season became the first Pennsylvania large school to win three-straight state titles in nearly 20 years.
The first four of those state titles were won under former head coach Gabe Infante, the 2018 Don Shula High School Coach of the Year who finished his nine-year tenure with a 91–22 record. His replacement, longtime assistant coach and offensive coordinator Tim Roken, has so far led the Prep to two more state titles in his first two seasons at the helm.
It’s success that has placed Prep football among the elite tiers of high school football that are normally dominated by schools from traditional powerhouse states such as Florida, Georgia, and California.
Angelise Stuhl, who covers high school football for Philly Sports Digest, said the Prep very clearly belongs in that category.
“There is no doubt that St. Joseph’s Prep has set the standard for football excellence, not only in the Philadelphia Catholic League or the state of Pennsylvania for that matter, but on a national level,” Stuhl said.
It’s not particularly hard to find the Prep. Located on 17th Street & Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia, it stands out within the neighborhood it proudly calls home. Its gated-in campus along with the red brick walls and granite pillars of the school’s own personal, albeit massive, chapel, the Church of the Gesu, gives off an imposing presence.
Once inside, visitors are greeted by marble floors, more red brick walls, and a large portrait of St. Joseph adorning the entrance. Faith and academic excellence are at the core of the Prep’s legacy, and that is made clear right away.
“It’s a very spiritual feeling walking into the front,” Infante said.
Going strictly off of aesthetics, it’s not a place someone might expect to be the home of one of the country’s most successful high school football programs in recent memory.
Just past the main lobby and directly next to the entrance to the school’s dining hall is a small, seemingly unassuming office. Once occupied by Infante and now currently by Roken, it serves as the main headquarters for the Prep football program.
In it, you find yourself surrounded by a large collection of memorabilia: state championship rings, pictures of past teams, even some recruiting letters. Any and all achievements from the past decade are memorialized.
It was in that office that the foundation was laid for an already strong high school football program in the tri-state area to be elevated to new heights.
That rise started with Infante’s hiring. A northern New Jersey native and licensed lawyer in the state, Infante took over the reins of the Prep football program in 2010 after a two-year stint as the head coach at Paramus Catholic High School.
He was more than aware of the Prep during that time. A well-regarded program in its own right, he remembered it being one of the few schools from the Philadelphia area to travel to north Jersey and compete against local powerhouses such as Don Bosco Prep.
“It certainly wasn’t any slouch,” Infante said of the program during that time.
The day Infante traveled to the Prep for his interview, a shooting had taken place right outside the school. The sight of detectives marking and counting bullet cases when he arrived “was not exactly what I expected,” he said.
Nevertheless, he felt an immediate connection to the school and its aura.
“There was a very palpable, emotional, and faithful feeling that I was home,” Infante said. “I can’t explain it.”
Hart, then serving as the Prep’s dean of students, was on the search committee that eventually offered Infante the job.
“When we finished our first interview with Gabe, he walked out of that room and we said, ‘this is the guy,’” Hart said. “He came in and owned the room. His passion, his energy, they’re just undeniable.”
Despite the excitement, it was still a volatile time in Prep football history. Legendary head coach Gil Brooks had just been unexpectedly fired after 18 seasons at the helm despite coming off a 9–3 season and an appearance in the Catholic League title game.
Brooks, to this day, remains the winningest head coach in Prep football history. A team with only one Catholic League title to its name and a 9–43 record in the five seasons prior to Brooks being hired in 1992 ended his tenure with five Catholic League titles and a 162–57–2 record overall. His tenure included a 35-game regular season winning streak and a 55-game Catholic League regular season streak that lasted almost eight years.
“Gil and his staff really laid the groundwork for where we are now,” Hart said. “They took a program that would have little pockets of success and made the Prep a perennial Catholic League power.”
Infante, who remains on good terms with Brooks, always makes sure to give Brooks credit for making Prep football a respectable program.
“I would have never applied for the job had he not done the work that he had done there,” Infante said. “It wasn’t like I took over a program that had never had success. Coach had really built the power.”
Still, the firing of Brooks left the program in flux. Coaches departed, players transferred out, and Infante was left to try and get both newcomers and incumbents who chose to stay on board with his mission.
It led to a difficult adjustment period initially. After going just 4–7 in his first season, those who at the time assessed Infante as a “stopgap coach” to the real future leader of the program looked to be correct.
“The hardest thing for me was to convince people that you can win differently,” Infante said. “Coach Brooks had one particular way of doing things, and my style and the culture I was trying to build was different.”
Success soon started to come along. After Infante’s second and third seasons which included a Catholic League championship game appearance in the latter, the Prep finally reclaimed the title in 2013, their first in eight years. They ended up riding the momentum from that game all the way to the school’s first ever state title, a 35–10 win over Pittsburgh Central Catholic.
“I could just remember sensing that there was a difference and that we were heading in the right direction,” Hart said.
Infante is considered by almost everyone around him to be a master motivator. His pregame and halftime speeches are almost the stuff of legend, even to those who haven’t experienced them firsthand.
Brian Smyth, who played under Infante from 2013–2016, said one in particular always stands out to him.
In 2014, Smyth’s junior year, the team was getting ready to take on arch-rival LaSalle in the Catholic League championship game. They had beaten LaSalle in the prior year’s title game en route to the school’s aforementioned first state championship.
“That entire week, coach had been on his A game at practice and during film sessions,” Smyth said. “He didn’t let any mistakes go unnoticed.”
In the locker room prior to kickoff, Smyth and the rest of the team were sitting around anticipating another one of his epic monologues to get them motivated for yet another big game.
But when Infante walked in, there was no big speech.
“Coach stood there for what seemed like ten minutes, fixing his eyes on each and every one of us,” Smyth said. “After a long period of time, he just said, ‘let’s go.’”
The Prep went on to crush LaSalle in that game, 46–13, to defend their Catholic League crown and would eventually go on to repeat as state champions, as well.
There are countless stories similar to the one above that attest to Infante’s leadership and drive to create a consistent winning program. Faith, family, trust, and, most importantly, preparation are all key principles of the culture he helped breed.
“His organization and the amount of hours that he puts into his craft, he just eats, sleeps, and breathes everything to do with football,” Hart said.
“His attention to detail and drive to win were passed along to the players and coaching staff,” Smyth said.
It was key to the development of a program in which players and coaches alike hold an especially high standard for themselves, both leading up to and on game days. Stuhl said Prep football practices, in particular, are unlike any other in the city.
“It’s almost like watching a collegiate or professional NFL team practice,” Stuhl said. “The blatant organization and complexity of their drills can be intimidating to the average viewer, but to these kids and coaches, it’s a ‘just another day at the office’ sort of vibe.”
The product on the football field is a direct reflection of that environment. The Prep’s run of success has included dominant wins against formidable in-state opponents:
- A 42–7 win over then-defending-champion Central Catholic in 2016 to win that year’s state title.
- A 40–20 win over Harrisburg in 2018 to claim their fourth state title and what would be their last under Infante.
- A 35–13 win over Central Dauphin in 2019 in Roken’s first season as head coach.
- Most recently, a 62–13 win over Central York to clinch their third-straight state title in 2020.
The Prep has become arguably the gold standard for Pennsylvania high school football. Yet whenever Infante is asked what his proudest achievement was during his time at the school, it never involves football.
“It’s anything that had to do with the improvement of the life of our guys,” Infante said.
Much unlike his predecessor in Brooks, Infante sought to go beyond his on-the-field responsibilities as a coach. Understanding how his players function and serving as a constant, guiding presence for everyone within the program as they went about their daily lives is something he takes pride in.
“Part of what I wanted to do was immerse myself in the culture of the Prep on a day-to-day basis,” Infante said. “I wanted our kids to feel supported and I wanted our school to be supportive of what we were doing.”
Infante was an active participant in not just his players’ lives, but the day-to-day happenings of the school. He played a huge part in improving the quality of the school’s weight room for all athletes as well as advocating for increased financial aid across the board. Beyond that, he always made it a point to encourage his players to try new things, such as participating in the many community service projects the Prep offers.
“The players did not look at him as just their coach, but rather a mentor and father figure,” Stuhl said. “Having that respect and admiration from his players is what truly makes a great coach.”
It wasn’t just players that valued his input as well. Hart recalls many times when coaches from other sports programs at the Prep would be in Infante’s office “just talking about players that they share or just how to do things.”
What Infante constructed is a consistent, winning program. But as both Hart and Infante point out, it’s rooted within the broader undertaking of the Prep as a school, which is, as stated in the school’s mission statement, to develop “men for and with others.”
“At the high school level, yeah we want you to win, but you have to do it within the mission and scope of the school,” Hart said. “There aren’t too many people that care to understand that and then have the ability to take their vision for their program and the mission and vision of the school and lock them together.”
“Our mission as a program was to supplement the mission of the school,” Infante said. “We were engaged in the total development of our guys.”
Every year, administrators from Jesuit high schools all across the country gather for a conference. It’s academics-oriented for the most part, being that Jesuit high schools take as much pride in their achievements in the classroom as they do in sports.
Hart represented the Prep on a number of occasions, including one such gathering in Palm Desert, California. Despite the close connection Jesuit high schools share, schools that Hart had never heard of before were present.
After going around the room and introducing himself to other fellow administrators in attendance, he was approached by one in particular who was eager to talk to him.
“The first break in action, the guy came up to me, and he wanted to talk about our football program,” Hart said. “He was from a Jesuit school somewhere else in the country, nowhere near Pennsylvania. But he’s asking me about players, asking me about Gabe, asking me about this and that, and I was like, ‘oh wow, this is different.’”
The Prep had already been renowned for its commitment to academic excellence and Jesuit high school values. But the massive success of the football program helped raise the school’s profile even further, to the point where the Prep was becoming a national brand.
With the team consistently claiming state titles, the Prep has become a mainstay on the national high school football stage. They have appeared in the MaxPreps Top 25 list more times than any other school in Pennsylvania since 2008, ranking 16th or better for the last five years and topping out at number four in 2020. Their games have been broadcast nationally on networks such as ESPN on numerous occasions as well.
Players that come out of the program have also made names for themselves. Along with the many who have played for elite Division I schools, three former Prep players were drafted by NFL teams in 2020 alone, the second-most of any school in that year’s draft: D’Andre Swift by the Detroit Lions, John Reid by the Houston Texans, and Jon Runyan Jr. by the Green Bay Packers.
In addition, well-known local athletes have begun to send their kids to the Prep. Josiah and Jeremiah Trotter Jr., sons of former Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, in addition to Marvin Harrison Jr., son of former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison, have all played for the Prep and committed to top Division I programs.
All of that publicity the football team commanded helped to draw in even more families and prospective students. Hart and Zazycyzny noted the real effects it has had on enrollment at the school.
“It’s a huge piece in terms of raising the profile of the school and awareness about what was happening at St. Joe’s Prep,” Hart said.
“Our exposure was bigger, and so that pool of candidates expanded a little bit more,” Zazycyzny said.
In spite of all of the achievements and positive school-related developments brought on by the football program, there still are signs of contempt towards what the Prep has built. It’s not uncommon to hear complaints such as the Prep having an unfair competitive advantage as a private Catholic school that can pick and choose who attends the school, a luxury public high schools don’t have.
Yet Stuhl pointed out that not only do good players ultimately want to play for winning programs, but there is more to building a successful program than just drawing them in.
“A school can recruit players and still not have the success the Prep has had,” Stuhl said. “At the end of the day, whether one decides to play for a public or private school, success comes down to coaching and the culture.”
Still, even some within the Prep community have expressed concern with the increased attention and greater emphasis being placed on the football program’s achievements as opposed to academics and other extracurriculars.
“I would have this great meeting with Gabe, and we’d be just celebrating,” Zazycyzny said. “And then 20 minutes later, I’d have another meeting with somebody completely different about football, and I’m like, ‘how can this be the same program?’”
But the program has carried on with its winning ways despite the combination of outside concerns and the ever-increasing attention being placed on it. Smyth remarked that all of it only made the team hungrier for more wins.
“There wasn’t really pressure, it was more of a standard being set,” Smyth said. “We knew we had the talent and coaching staff to be dominant every year. The question was, ‘how high can we set the bar?’”
However, Stuhl noted that mentality hasn’t greatly affected the players’ attitudes away from the football field.
“What stands out the most is just how humble and respectful all of the athletes and coaches are, especially towards the media,” Stuhl said. “A lot of times when high school students have a lot of success, it can get to their head. Not these kids.”
That humbleness was bred out of Infante’s constant reminder to his players that they are responsible for carrying on a legacy that still continues to grow.
“Coach was big on making sure his team understood that they stood on the shoulders of those who came before them,” Smyth said. “The team would not have become a national powerhouse without the blood, sweat, and tears of players past.”
When he stepped down in 2019 to join the coaching staff at Temple University, Infante passed on similar wisdom to his successor in Roken, telling him it’s his duty to “develop the next person.”
Though his decision to move on was a highly emotional one, Infante still takes solace in knowing that he was instrumental in creating a program with as lasting a legacy as it does both on and off the football field.
“When you validate the mission, what you do with winning is what matters most,” Infante said. “And we did it to improve the lives of people there.”
