St. Joseph’s Prep (12)
Conference: Philadelphia Catholic League, AAAA Division
Class: AAAA
Nickname: Hawks
Coach: Gabe Infante
2012 Record: 10-1
Returning Players – Offense: Jr. OT Jon Runyan; Sr. QB Chris Martin; Sr. RB Vincent Moffett; Jr. RB John Reid; Jr. RB Olamide Zaccheaus; Sr. WR Jawan McAllister
Returning Players – Defense: So. LB Joe Dumond; Jr. DB John Reid; Jr. S Thomas Johnson
Special Teams: “All our return guys on special teams are back. They are Vincent Moffett, Olamide Zaccheaus and John Reid. They all had returns for touchdowns last year. We graduated our punter and kicker. But, Pat Walsh is going to do the punting and kicking duties for us this year. He last played for us during his sophomore year and left the program last year to concentrate on lacrosse. He was our backup kicker and punter as a sophomore. He has a strong leg and during practice one day he hit a 50-yard field goal.”
Top Newcomers: Fr. RB D’Andre Swift
Coaches comments:
How’s your offensive line?
“We have one player returning on the offensive line from last year at offensive tackle. He is Jon Runyan Jr. Shane Davis will play offensive guard. Mark Ehrlich will be our center. Steve Robinson will be our right tackle. We still have a battle for the other guard spot and we have two or three kids competing. Connor Clifton is in the lead and the other kids are Edward Mooney and Dermot O’Callaghan. Our line has looked good in camp and I have been impressed with their play so far.”
Who’s your quarterback?
“We have our quarterback back and he is Chris Martin. He is an extremely composed young man. I like his mental approach and his demeanor. He is very calm, collected and not easily fazed. He’s mentally very strong. He handles pressure very well and is so calm out there. The offense moves when he manages the game and it doesn’t matter if he is running or throwing the ball. The bottom line is he does a nice job at managing the game. He does the little things too. I’ll give you a example. The game against LaSalle last year he was the guy that threw the block that springs Olamide for the touchdown toward the end of the game.”
You have a lot coming back at running back. Talk about your backs.
“We are ridiculously deep at the running back spot. We are going to have to figure out how to split the football. We have so much speed at this position. We have four guys that can fly.”
“We have all our running backs returning from last year’s team. We have three backs and two play in the slot for us. Vincent Moffett returns and he was first team All-Catholic last year. He is a two-year starter. John Reid is another slot back for us and Olamide Zaccheaus. Olamide was our leading rusher last year for us. Freshman D’Andre Swift will see action at running back. James Bell is another guy that will get some playing time.”
How are your receivers?
“We return Jawan McAllister. He was our top receiver last year. Pat Walsh is another receiver. He is a lacrosse player that is coming out this year. John Reid will be out there for us. The slot receivers position is platooned by all our running backs, guys like Olamide and D’Andre. Another kid that will be good for us on the outside is Justin Montague. He has looked good this off-season. He was on the 4×100 meter relay team. He has a lot of speed.”
How’s your defensive line?
“We have no returning starters coming back on the defensive line. Jake Strain has experience on the defensive line. He was the fourth man in for us last year. This year he will be the anchor on the line for us. Armen Ware will play at defensive end for us. He has looked good in camp this year. Alec Dirks has looked good and will play at the end spot. Some of the offensive lineman may play on the defensive line at times.”
How do your linebackers look?
“Joe DuMond was a defensive lineman last year and we are moving him to linebacker this year. He may still play some on the line for us this year. Nick Vandevere will be out there and Ryan McNulty is another linebacker.”
How’s your secondary?
“John Reid is back for us. We also have Thomas Johnson back from last year at safety. Rob Disanto will play corner back. Dillon Deluliis will play at the safety position.”
What concerns do you have going into this season?
“We have concerns up front like the lack of experience coming back on the offensive line. But like every team we have our challenges. We are a young team. We have only 12 seniors on this team to go with 28 juniors and 26 sophomores.”
You have a challenging schedule this year. Talk about your schedule for the 2013 season.
“Our philosophy is we want to compete. We want to try and compete against the best. I think players get better when you play against better competition. We know we have our work cut out for us. But that is part of who we are. I think it helped us last year. It really helps you figure out who you are and what you need to do to get better to win at the time of the year when it counts the most. Our pre-season schedule is really tough. We played teams like Imhotep Charter and went up to New Jersey to play St. Joe’s Regional in Mondale. Right off the bat we will know who we are. That is the whole process to see what we are good at or what we need to get better at.”
What is your key this year?
“We just need to get better each day. Last year we focused on consistency. The first two years we showed flashes of being a good team. But we lacked consistency. It’s about how focused you are each day and we get better when we compete.”
2 Responses
Didn’t they lose 55-7 to St. Joes in NJ? They fell out of the national rankings after being embarrassed how can they be the number 1 team in the state?
Sounds like Coach Infante is very confident in his team, as he should be, and their chances to go all the way this year!