The last time we saw the Ocean Township Spartans, they were celebrating a well-earned Central Jersey Group III championship.
Head coach Sal Spampanato’s team overcame the suspension of several key players near the start of the season to put together a 9-3 campaign, which included one of the most impressive postseason runs in the state.
Led by a stable of talented seniors, the Spartans knocked off second-seeded Lawrence, sixth-seeded Wall and fourth-seeded Hamilton North to earn the coveted state title, the team’s third overall, but first since the 2000 season.
But now, as the new season opens this weekend, it will be a different Ocean Township team that takes on Central Regional tonight, as the Spartans have graduated nearly 20 players from last year’s championship squad, including some of the key playmakers.
Gone is quarterback Keith McPherson, who emerged late in the season as the fearless signal-caller and explosive force just about everyone in the Shore Conference knew he could be. Also gone is running back Chris Chittum, who put together one of the most prolific postseasons in recent history to pace the Ocean attack all the way to the title.
There will be new faces at the wideout spots, with the departure of Wesley O’Donnell and Corey Giddings, while almost an entirely new offensive line looks to recapture some of the effeiciency that last year’s team demonstrated late in the year.
Defensively, Ocean will need to find a way to replace Lou Eliades, who was one of the Shore’s most dominant defensive lineman.
However, Ocean does have some talent returning on both sides of the ball, like playmaking seniors Joe Falco, Yinka Soda, Tim Brown and Alex Levy, and should remain a pretty explosive offensive team despite the new faces.
Facing a tough schedule, which includes the likes of Central, Lacey, Toms River East, Neptune, Middletown South, Long Branch and Monmouth Regional means the Spartas will be tested often througout the season.
In other words, if Ocean has any thoughts of putting forth a command performance coming off last year’s title run, they’re going to have to earn each and every win.
Hopefully, a little bit of the magic the Spartans had last year can carry over to this season.