TEAM PREVIEW: St. Joe's of Hammonton
2015 In Review: The Wildcats were 10-2, winning the Parochial Group 2 championship by beating Hudson Catholic, after beating Immaculata and Holy Spirit. They scored 387 points for a 32.23 average and allowed 166 for a 13.83 average, including two shutouts. Wins included Millville, Atlantic City, and Mainland, while their losses were to St. Augustine and Mt. St. Joseph (Md.).
Departures: OL/DL Derek Lomax - Lehigh, QB/DB Salaam Horne - Fork Union, Va. (prep), RB/DB A’laam Horne - Fork Union, Va. (prep), Rah-Sun Tapp - 1-AA in Ohio, TE/LB Chris Carey - West Chester (Pa.)
Offense: St. Joe’s runs the Wing-T and returns three starters. The quarterback will be junior Matt Tucker (5-foot-10, 160) and returning at fullback is junior Qwahshin Townsell (6-foot-0, 200). One halfback will be junior Tahjir Reese (6-foot-1, 200) and there is competition at the other halfback among sophomore DeAndre Tull-Kennedy (5-foot-10, 175), sophomore Nate Johnson (5-foot-9, 165), and senior Isaiah Jones (5-foot-9, 175).
Competing at split end are junior Cejai Parrish (5-foot-8, 165), senior Dino Petrongolo (5-foot-9, 165), and junior Diego Martinez (6-foot-0, 160). All will play, as they will not always be using a tight end. When a tight end is used, it will come from senior Elijah Hardee (5-foot-9, 225), junior Sencere Tapp (6-foot-0, 190), and senior Eric Graziano (6-foot-1, 225).
Two starters are back on the line in senior JD DiRenzo (6-foot-6, 275) at left tackle and senior Mike Mascioli (5-foot-10, 230) at right guard, moving from center. The left guard will be sophomore Brad Lomax (6-foot-2, 220) and senior Joe Fichetola (6-foot-0, 230) is the center. Right tackle is open, with junior Anthony Lord (6-foot-1, 220), junior Dashan Birch (5-foot-10, 275), senior Darius Collins (5-foot-11, 285), and sophomore Wisdom Quashie (6-foot-3, 290). Also in the mix are sophomore Bobby Hyndman (6-foot-0, 185) at guard and sophomore Tucker Monico (6-foot-3, 270) at center.
Defense: The Wildcats run a 5-2 and return six starters. Three of those starters are on the line: Tapp at end, Hardee at tackle and Collins at nose guard. DiRenzo will be the other tackle and the other end is open, with Hyndmann and others in the running. In the interior rotation will be Quashie, Lomax, Lord, and sophomore Anthony Cheesman (5-foot-9, 240).
Linebacker has sophomore JJ Delgado (5-foot-8, 185) returning. His partner will be Townsell or Mascioli, who saw time on the defensive line.
Returning in the secondary are Tucker at cornerback and Parrish at safety. The other corner will be between Jones and Martinez, while the other safety has Tull-Kennedy and Johnson battling it out.
Special Teams: The kicker is Graziano and Tucker will punt. The return men will be Tull-Kennedy, Johnson, and Parrish.
Schedule:
Saturday, 9/3, Allentown at home, 1PM
Friday, 9/9, at Mainland, 7PM
Saturday, 9/17, Holy Spirit at home, 12PM
Saturday, 9/24, Absegami at home, 12PM
Friday, 9/30, at Pennsville, 7PM
Friday, 10/7, at Oakcrest, 7PM
10/14-15, Bye Week
Saturday, 10/22, Cedar Creek at home, 12PM
Friday, 10/28, at St. Augustine, 7PM
Saturday, 11/5, Ocean City at home, 2PM
Concerns: Inexperience at certain positions. They will be starting on zero week (Labor Day weekend), have only two scrimmages, and need to be ready. Once they get going, Head Coach Paul Sacco thinks they will be fine.
Recruits: DiRenzo has offers from Colgate, Lehigh, and Delaware. Mascioli is probably D2/D3.
In the junior class, Townsell is a 1-A prospect, while others will need a good season.
While it’s early, two intriguing prospects are Quashie and Lomax.
Coach’s Comments: “We lost some great kids, especially the Horne twins, who were 90% of our offense. Over the years, we spread things out among many players, but we couldn’t do it last year and we struggled early. We have good kids to replace them with Townsell at fullback and other kids to carry the ball and our quarterback. The offensive line will be better, as we had to repatch it last year, with sophomores and juniors jumping into place. Our strength will be the defense. We will be very young, but could surprise some people. We’ll go as far as our senior leadership will take us.” - Head Coach Paul Sacco, Jr.