PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR Above: Shore Regional wide receiver Kyle Jackson runs through a receiving drill during a preseason practice last month. Below: The Shore Regional High School football team runs through a blocking drill. Coming off a 4-6 season with a very young team, Shore Regional High School head football coach Marc Costantino expects his team to be in the mix of this year’s Shore Conference Patriot Division race.
Although Asbury Park and Rumson-Fair Haven are the consensus picks to battle it out for the division’s top spot, Costantino is confident that his team can play with anybody on its schedule this year.
“We were really young last year, but these guys have worked very hard to get ready for this year,” the coach, now in his 17th year at Shore, said. “I absolutely think we can be right in the (divisional) mix. I think Asbury Park and Rumson are probably the two top teams once again, but we certainly can play with anybody if we play to our potential.”
The Blue Devils will find out very early if their coach’s confidence in them is well founded, since they open the season by taking on the defending Central Jersey Group I champs from Asbury Park.
“Yeah, we’ve got Asbury Park in week one, so we know we’ll have our hands full there,” the coach said. “They return the bulk of the team that won the state championship last year and could be just as good if not better. But we’ll be ready for them. We played them tough last year.”
With a year of experience under their belts, the 14 returning players for the Blue Devils are champing at the bit to make good on the progress they showed a year ago.
“Most of these guys played last year, and we lost a couple of heartbreakers at the end of the season,” Costantino said. “We would have liked to have had a few more wins last year, but as a result, we’re really looking forward to this season.”
Leading the charge on offense is junior quarterback Chris Riley, who appears poised to be the primary threat in Shore’s Wing-T offense. Last year, Shore nearly set a school record in rushing yards, but struggled to put together a solid passing game. Thus far in the preseason, the Blue Devils appear to be making progress in that regard. The rushing game, however, has not missed a beat.
“We lost a couple of very good guys in the backfield, but we’ve got some good players fighting it out right now,” Costantino said. “Right now Gerard Carnevale and Dylan Chase, both seniors, have the edge, but we should be pretty deep in the backfield.”
Senior Ryan Boyd and junior Keith White will be leading the way at the fullback position, while the offensive line will be anchored by senior tackles Gavin Crawford and Jason Reid, while senior Cameron Stewart is also back at guard. Battling for the starting center job is junior T.J. Manzo and senior John Gigante. Junior Mike Mahoney is slated to be the starting right guard. Junior Rich Vivian is the starting split end for the Blue Devils, while Costantino plans to use a pair of talented tight ends this year.
“Senior Tyler Hartsgrove will be out for a couple of weeks, but we’re looking forward to getting him back,” the coach said. “In the meantime, sophomore Mark Coleman will fill that role. He’s a real good athlete who we expect to play well.”
Defensively, Shore is led by senior tackle Mike Osis, a three-year starter who is one of the top defensive linemen in the Shore.
Reed and Crawford will start at the defensive end position, with Dylan McBride and Don Benjamin rotating in.
“Right now the defensive tackle position is up for grabs,” Costantino said. “There’s a lot of guys fighting it out, but I guess junior Trey Cooper and senior Chris Remedios have the edge.”
White, Boyd and senior Travis Trout are the middle linebackers for the Blue Devils, while a number of players will see time in the defensive backfield.
Vivian and Carnevale will start at safety, while seniors Jack Scarrone and Keith Morales along with junior P.J. Ermides will all see time.
“And we have two excellent kickers in senior Dan Mellaci and sophomore Shane Carroll,” Costantino said. “They’re both capable of kicking 45-yard field goals. “In years past we had good kicking every year, and then we didn’t have it for a while,” the coach added. “Once it’s not there, you really realize how nice it is to have.”
As his team prepares for the regular season, Costantino has identified several areas where it needs to improve over last year, starting with its offensive passing game.
“We definitely need to improve our passing attack, and it has looked surprisingly good thus far,” he said. “I’m really happy with what I’ve seen and how that part of our offense has progressed.”
On the defensive side, it is once again the passing game that is in need of improvement.
“That was our Achilles’ heel last year, no doubt about it,” the coach said. “We were very strong against the run and would shut teams down, and then all of a sudden, boom! — a 50-yard passing play would kill us. We need to limit the number of big plays we allow, because that really hurt us last year.
“And we need to do a better job with the turnover margin,” the coach added. “We haven’t won the turnover war in a number of years, and that’s such a key to being successful in football, especially at the high school level.”
And of course, more than anything else, Costantino knows he needs to keep his best players on the field to compete in what should be a very good Patriot Division this fall.
“Staying healthy is probably the most important thing for us,” he said. “We’ve been bit by the injury bug a little bit over the past few years, and when you lose one kid, it’s like being down in three positions because you have to make up for him.”