Governor Mifflin (3)
Conference: Berks Inter-County Conference, Section I
Class: AAAA
Nickname: Mustangs
Coach: Dominic Vecchio
2012 Record: 10-3
Returning Players – Offense: Sr. TE Chris Battinieri; Sr. OT Jared Gill; Sr. OT Conner Morehart; Sr. OG Gibriel Toure; Sr. OG Aaron Walker; Sr. C Austin Woodworth; Jr. QB Jan Johnson; Sr. RB Jonas Fiant; Jr. RB Aric Dupell; Sr. WR Sal DelVecchio
Returning Players – Defense: Sr. DL Conner Morehart; Sr. LB Bret Kendall; Sr. FS Riley Gutierrez; Sr. CB Bret Chambers
Special Teams: “Jan Johnson is our kicker and punter.”
Top Newcomers: Jr. RB Wilson Fontanez; Sr. WR Colin McKnight
Coaches comments:
How’s your offensive line?
“Jared Gill will play some offensive tackle. Conner Morehart is back. He is the other offensive tackle. Gibriel Toure will play offensive guard. Aaron Walker will be the other guard. Our center will be Austin Woodworth. Morehart brings back the most experience on the line. They all had playing time last year.”
“We have Chris Battinieri coming back and he will play tight end.”
You have your quarterback back. Talk about Jan?
“We don’t throw much, so we need him to run the ball more. We run the option here. If you don’t have a good quarterback in this offense forget it. He had a great season for us as a 10th grader last year.”
How’s your running game?
“Our best player last year was Ryan Barbon. He is really going to be missed. He was our feature back last year and team leader. Now on the other hand we do have a couple of guys that have the potential to take his place. We will start with Jonas Fiant. He has very good potential at the running back position. Another kid that has good potential is Wilson Fontanez along with Aric Dupell. I think out of those three kids we are going to come up with some buddy that will be close to what Barbon did for us last year. The two slot backs will run some for us this year. They are Kyle Perez and Bret Chambers.”
How about your receivers?
“Another major loss to our offense last year was Thomas Depaul. He was our go to guy at receiver and played tailback. We have one kid that played almost the whole season for us and he is Sal DelVecchio. Most of the time last year he was a blocker. We have some kids with ability that can help us out. One kid is Colin McKnight. He is a new kid. We have two other kids by the name of Reid Hoff and Evan Pollock. So. I think we are going to wind up rotating a lot of these kids in at the wide receiver position. We rely heavily on our wide receivers to block. Two other kids that will rotate in are Aaron Hoskins and Riley Gutierrez.”
How’s your defensive line?
“Conner Morehart is back on the defensive line. Jarred Gill, Keith Miller and Garrett Henry will all see action on the line. We like to move all these guys around. Aaron Walker and Gibriel Toure will be in the mix.”
How are your linebackers?
“We lost Barbon and Fiant is back, but he will play more on offense this year. So we have to see how much he will play on defense. We do have some good kids there. One is Bret Kendall. He played a lot for us last year. We have kids like Darren Schlegal and Adam Sebastinas in the mix. So I am hoping that between those four players we can come up with two guys that we can rely on to help us out. We also have two 10th graders coming up and have looked solid. They are twin brothers and their names are Tucker and Lucas Garner.”
How’s your secondary look?
“Riley Gutierrez was our free safety last year. He’s back. We have our corner back and he is Bret Chambers. Evan Pollock and Wilson Fontanez will be in the mix for the other corner position.”
What concerns do you have going into this year?
“One concern we have is our offensive line. We are significantly bigger than we have been in the past and that isn’t necessary a good thing in our offense. We need our lineman to be quick.”
What is your strength on defense?
“I would say our line. We have experience coming back and quickness. Traditionally we are strong at stopping the run. ”
What is your key this season?
“I think it’s two things. The first thing is you got to have the kids, which we have had in the past. I want to think we have them again. The second thing that is equally important is chemistry among the kids and coaches. The kids have to believe in themselves and the coaches too. If that doesn’t happen then you are in trouble.”
