At the sound of the Cherokee gun that ended an unbalanced playoff game, spirits fell low as a hard fought journey had come to an end.  Coming off of a respectable 6-4 season in which the team lost in the first round of the South Jersey group 5 playoffs, they hope to better their record for this year and win a championship.  They hope to do so with their unity and experience.

“We’re younger this season than ever before but we have a nucleus of seniors that are experienced and can help out the younger guys playing.” said Head Coach Mark Wechter, as he guides his team through his eighth season as head coach.

“The first four games are going to be tough.” he said. “We’re going to be playing three of the top ten teams in the first four weeks.”

“We’re going to get better every week.” said Assistant Coach Robert Kelly.

The team’s main focus is to reach the playoffs and possibly a championship and to do so they must work on getting better every week.  A lack of experience from the younger players is an area needed of improvement but Wechter feels that the older and more experienced players can help fix the problem.  Unity and cohesiveness are strong components of the team and together, the players are fearless going into every game.  Wechter and the coaching staff believe that they will have a very good football team in the playoffs after some key players have returned from injury.  Before the playoffs start, the team has to focus on its biggest opponents of the season such as Cherokee, Shawnee, and Williamstown.

“The game that we really want this year is the Thanksgiving game against Williamstown.” Coach Wechter said, as he commented on the game’s lack of importance and recognition by the fans.

The team had not played as well as they hoped in the turkey game the previous two years losing 42-0 and 50-0. Coach Wechter wants to see a change.  He believes that his team has a good chance at winning the game this year.

This year the team has six captains who serve as the role models for the younger players on the team.

“It feels good to be a leader.  I’m a natural leader and I was an eagle scout so I’ve pretty much led people my whole life but it feels good because I get to lead a group of young men into battle for one night.” said offensive lineman Ed Hicks 15’, who is one of the six captains on the team.

“We’ve worked very hard since December and throughout the summer.” said Hicks.

They feel as though they are very prepared and they hope that their performance on the field can prove that.  The team likes to focus on one game at a time.  They try not to get ahead of themselves and look too forward into the future.  They see every game as a must win game and they will try their best to make the playoffs and win a championship.