Shore Regional Football Gearing Up for Title Defense

One of the hardest things to do in football is win back-to-back championships. From the NFL right down through the NCAA and high school, consecutive championships are a rare and special occurrence.

That difficulty is compounded at the Group I level in New Jersey, where the graduation of a large and productive senior class generally signifies a rebuilding year or two. But for Shore Regional, last season's NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I champions, the only plans it has revolve around defending its Shore Conference Class B Central division title and going after the program's sixth state title.

“Back-to-back state champs,” said senior lineman Gary Dietrich. “That's the ultimate goal.”

The Blue Devils finished 2010 with an 11-1 record and captured the program's first state sectional championship since 1997. However, exiting was a talented senior class that included quarterback Evan Ruane, running backs Mark Coleman and Pat Maggio and wide receiver/kicker Shane Carroll. Some experienced linemen on both sides of the ball were also lost. The cupboard isn't bare, though. Several players who either started or saw significant time last season are returning, and it's those players who will be asked to lead Shore back to the promised land in 2011.

“Right now we have the leadership and the winning mentality because a lot of us were a part of last year's team,” said senior quarterback Brendan Dula.

“We remember last season and what we had to do, so now we understand what it takes to get back to Rutgers,” said senior running back Nick Grigos.

Dula started in the secondary last season as a junior and will now take over as the starting quarterback in Shore's Delaware Wing-T offense. The 6-foot-2, 160-pounder has the versatility Shore likes in its quarterbacks. He'll be able to tuck and run when the opportunity presents itself and also has a good arm for throwing the deep ball. That's an element Shore always likes to have in its arsenal as it did last year with Ruane and Carroll.

“I just want to be able to run the ball properly, get the ball to the running backs to let them do their job and make plays when I need to,” Dula said.

The Blue Devils will have their go-to guys in the running game but have a stable of six players that will all see time, similar to last season. Grigos will return as the starter at fullback while junior Jack Kelly will also be in the mix. The halfbacks are senior Stefanos Kousaris, who played regularly last season and had a touchdown during the state sectional final, senior Nick Mahoney and juniors Mark Costantino and Chris Masica.

“We're very happy with the fullback and halfback positions,” said head coach Mark Costantino. “We just have to stay healthy and if we do that we'll be right in it.”

Dula's targets on the outside at receiver will be 6-foot-2 senior Tom O'Horo, junior Tyler Vivian and senior Rob Carracino, the latter of whom played tight end last season. Senior Jake Armstrong will be the starting tight end.

Anchoring the offensive line will be the guards, returning starters Dietrich on the left side and senior Henry Edmondson on the right side. Junior Dennis O'Halloran will be the center and the tackle spots are still up for grabs with juniors Mike Lamb, Brendan Blair and senior Elpidio Cruz battling for the two starting spots. The offensive line was a bit of an uncertainty at this time last season only to come together nicely and become one of Shore's strengths. With Dietrich and Edmondson leading the way the Blue Devils hope to see this group rise to the challenge, as well.

“I don't know if we'll be as good on the offensive line as we were last year - our tackles are still developing – but we'll try to get better every week,” Costantino said. “We like to get the ball and not give it back, and that puts pressure on the other team when you have it for six minutes and then score. That's our style of play, but we still want to be able to score quickly with our receivers and Brendan has a great arm to do that. Nothing has really changed from last year, we're just waiting to see what these guys do well.”

On defense, Shore will continue to run its multiple 4-4 scheme and returns seven starters from last season's unit that allowed just 8.2 points per game. Dietrich and Edmondson are both returning starters at defensive end with Blair and junior Luis Bernardes also in the mix. A pair of sophomores, Matt Proto and Chris Okupski, will be the starting defensive tackles, and although they are young, they bring substantial size to the middle of the line. Proto is 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds while Okupski is a mammoth 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds.

If the defensive line can control the trenches it will set the table for an experienced group of linebackers to shut down the run. Grigos returns as a starting inside linebacker and will be joined by Armstrong. The outside linebackers are Kousaris and Carracino, both of whom are returning starters. Kelly and junior Dan Ballie will see time at inside linebacker and senior Brendon Herman and junior Connor Rogers are in the mix at outside linebacker.

The secondary features a pair of returning starters in O'Horo at one cornerback spot and Dula as the safety. The other starting cornerback will be Vivian with Costantino also in the rotation. Costantino is also a backup safety along with Mahoney, but all three will see regular playing time in the defensive backfield.

Shane Carroll gave the Blue Devils a steady presence in the kicking department over the last three seasons, and with his graduation the kicking duties will be taken over by Kelly while the punting job will go to Bernardes.

Coming off an 11-1 state sectional championship season, Shore knows it will be the hunted in 2011. And with a re-loaded Asbury Park team, an always tough Keyport squad and a challenging list of nondivisional opponents on the schedule, getting off to a slow start is not an option.

 “We have a big X on our backs this year,” Costantino said. “We are always a team to be reckoned with, but we know we have to play a little harder every game. We have to get out of the box quickly or we're in trouble, because it doesn't get any easier as the season goes on.”