40 teams in 40 days – Day 16: Scranton Prep (2)

Written by: David Mika on Monday, August 6th, 2012. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

2011 season

Quarterback Tom Timlin completed 64 of 118 passes for 800 yards and seven touchdowns. Griffin DiBileo took over late in the season and passed for 619 yards and six scores.

JJ Fives led all receivers with 43 catches for 481 yards and two scores. Pat Fricke added 271 yards and five scores.

Marshall Kupinski rushed for 702 yards on 190 carries and eight scores. He added 132 yards receiving.

The Cavaliers finished the season with a 7-4 record. They had big wins week eight and nine against Valley View and Delaware Valley.

Scranton Prep lost in the first round of the District playoffs against Dallas, 39-6.

Q & A with Scranton Prep head football coach Nick Donato

We sat down with Donato and talked to him about his team for the 2012 season.

How is your off-season going this summer?

We have had a pretty good season. It’s been a good off-season in the weight room. We are making a lot of progress.

We have about seven kids returning on both sides of the ball. We are excited.

Who do you have coming back on offense?

We have two kids coming back on the offensive line. Noah Beh will play offensive guard. John O’Boyle and Mike Voitek both saw action at tackle position. Mike was a starter and when he got hurt John stepped in. Joe Holmes will play center.

We have a number of players competing for the other spots on the line.

Last season we alternated two kids at quarterback. Griffin DiBilieo is back. He can be a real plus for us. He turned into the starter for the last three or four games. But he got hurt part way through the last game and Timlin took over. He has lots of experience and had a solid junior year. Quarterback will be a strong point for us and we have to keep him healthy. We are looking for him to have a good year.

We returned our starter at running back, Marshall Kupinski. He was a solid tailback. But we didn’t really block well last year for the running game. Our offensive line did a great job pass blocking. But this year we hope to have better balance and run the ball better.

Pat Marino is back at running back. He is going to be a junior and played some last year. We return our fullback, Clem Rinaldi.

We are pretty solid with our quarterback, running back and fullback. They all started a number of games for us.

We lost two all-conference kids at wide receiver and tight end. We do return our split end, Rock Magnotta. Jake Stafursky will play at flanker. We have a couple of other kids like Kevin Bannon and Hunter Mulligan who can compete for some spots, outside.

At the tight end position we have some competition. Senior Aaron Para right now has the inside track. There are a couple of other kids. Junior Zach Brandt is going to push Aaron and will probably be involved when we go two tight end set. I thought about moving Noah Beh out there. Noah is a college prospect. But we need help on the line.

Who do you have coming back on defense?

We return Noah Beh. He was our starting defensive end last season. He is 6-foot-5, 240-pounds. John O’Boyle played off and on at end for us last season. Mike Voitek played too. Brad Shovlin and Aaron Para will see some time. There are a few other kids in the mix. Joe Holmes was a starter last year at tackle. He is back and a good tackle. We are going to rotate a number of kids.

We are returning our two inside linebackers. Marshall Kupinski was a second team all-conference pick at linebacker. In my mind he was as good as any football player in our league last year. He is coming off an injury late in the season and we moved him this year to outside linebacker. Clem Rinaldi will play inside linebacker. We have other kids working the inside like, Owen Perih and Seth Stafursky. Corey Kapicki will be the other outside linebacker. Zach Brandt is another one that will play out there. Marshall and Clem are solid out there and the others will compete for playing time.

Jake Stafursky and Rock Magnotta both return at corner back. Kevin Bannon has the inside shot at the safety spot. Hunter Mulligan can also play some corner for us. Pat Marino will be back. We are trying to develop some kids to backup Bannon at the safety spot.

What do you have to do to be success in your league this year?

Last year we were involved in six games decided by a touchdown or less. We won five of them. We will have to do the same thing this year.

Delaware Valley and Scranton are going to be the pre-season picks. There are going to be a number of teams that are in the mix after those two teams.

That is probably where we are going to be. But we know we are going to have to win a lot of tight games this year.

Here are our non-conference games. We open at Wyoming Area and they are a real good team. They have a real good player, Nick O’Brien. We play Western Wayne up there. They are a handful. Mid-Valley is a team to watch. We have to bring our A-game each week against these teams.

What about special teams?

We should be solid in the return game. We return Kupinski and Marino. Those kids did a great job for us last year.

As far as our kicking game we are working with a couple of soccer players. Rock Magnotta will handle the punting. Kupinski can do some punting too.

To have a successful season you have to?

We have to improve our running game. We are playing a lot of kids two ways and need to keep away from key injuries. Defensively we can’t give up the big plays.

Home Opener

Scranton Prep opens at Wyoming Area on August 31^st

40 teams in 40 days

Day 1 – Mount Carmel Area (4) Day 11 – Scranton (2)

Day 2 – Manheim Central (3) Day 12 – Pottsville (11)

Day 3 – Delaware Valley (2) Day 13 – Cardinal O’Hara (12)

Day 4 – Southern Columbia (4) Day 14 – Shenandoah Valley (11)

Day 5 – Berwick Area (2) Day 15- Central Dauphin (3)

Day 6 – Easton Area (11)

Day 7 – LaSalle (12)

Day 8 – Downingtown East (1)

Day 9 – Council Rock North (1)