As this season begins, the current cast of Panthers resembles last year's squad in more ways than one as the school is stricken once again with the eternal plight of the Group 2 high school — while just four seniors return, several Pequannock residents who would undoubtedly be starters are playing for private schools like Delbarton and DePaul.
This leaves a lot of gaps, and the ranks will be filled with those who don't yet know the burning pressure of Friday night's lights. But still, with two of the most important starters in Foukas and inside linebacker Dan Mormillo (107 tackles in 2011) returning, a base has been set up around which a team can build on.
"Those two positions are vital on any team, and even though we've had huge graduation losses, it's comforting to know that we have the quarterbacks of offense and defense back to build around," said head coach Ed Kopp.
And much of the attention will be focused around that quarterback of the offense as third-year starter Foukas returns for his final year. His big-game experience and physical talent have made it clear that he will be the cornerstone of the team.
"Right now, he's the franchise…he's our Captain America," Kopp said. "When defenses play against us, their objective is to stop Luke…and make somebody else on the team beat them."
Foukas is as much a threat running as he is passing, and he'll be the focal point of an offense anchored by tackles Dan Kica and Vinny Parrotta on the line. Kica, who blew out both his ACL and MCL during the Butler playoff game, had offseason surgery on his knee and, regardless of the lingering effects of the vicious injury, will be good to go on game day.
But big questions at key positions remain, and Kopp said that the Panthers are still in the process of determining who will take over for departed playmakers like running back Anthony Rubino and receivers Matt Jachera and RJ DeGeorge.
One player who has been using the initial scrimmages to show off his talent has been junior AJ Adamcyzk, who may be asked to fill the void at tailback left by Rubino; Kopp said the back reminds him of last year's workhorse in both his build and style.
Also joining the mix is senior Tommy Zaher, a quick young receiver who's breaking of Pequannock's baseball hit record last year makes evident his athletic ability.
After that, Kopp said, it is a toss-up as to who will pick up the other starting spots as a number of receivers battle it out on the fringe. Showing his leadership skills, Foukas has begun taking the young ends out for private, early-morning throwing sessions long before the other team activities take place.
Although the young corps must still work on its overall physicality, the coach said that there are some naturally gifted individuals present, such as 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior Shpepjim Dauti, who's "decent moves" may land him a spot on both sides of the ball, and Ian Campbell, a 6-foot-5 sophomore tight end who will bring a conspicuous presence to the middle of the field.
"We've never had a prototypical tight end that we can use as a big target over the middle of the year; we've made a living on the outside," Kopp said.
He's not expecting the team to click right away, but he does expect them to follow the example of the last few Panther teams and be a "much, much better team at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year."
But with the first game of the year against an unfamiliar Wallkill Valley team, this may not be the time for early-season struggles; Kopp worried that the psychological effect on his young players of starting the season 0-1 might be severe.
But he's hoping that a new, more laid-back approach that the coaching staff has taken this offseason might pay dividends, and his attempt at avoiding that boiler-room atmosphere so prevalent in the most successful of high school football programs will have a calming effect on the players.
There's been more weight room time, more chalk talks, more tape review, more conditioning, and less hammering away on the field as the team readies itself under a truncated practice schedule owing to state laws that have outlawed double practices.
If it works out as planned, and the team makes a repeat trip to the playoffs, the coach said that maintaining strength both mentally and physically will be what carries them through.
Although he has turned the school's program around – from 0-10 in his inaugural season six years ago to 7-3 and a playoff berth — the ultimate goal of winning the state championship has eluded him.
But in the end, he said that's not really what counts; in a game like football, the relatively small number of contests means that each one, in its own right, is "monumental," and that the season is always more about the journey than the final scores.
No comments:
Post a Comment