40 Teams in 40 Days – Day 17 – Pius X (11)
Written by: David Mika on Wednesday, August 7th, 2013. Follow David Mika on Twitter.
Pius X (11) 
Conference: All-American Football Conference
Class: A
Nickname: Royals
Coach: Phil Stambaugh
2012 Record: 6-5
Returning Players – Offense: Sr. C Kyle Kokawski; Jr. OG Anthony Greggo; Jr. OT Zach Savelli; Jr OL Ryan Conway; Sr. OL Travis Miller; Jr. TE Jorne Gilbert; Jr. WR Eric Marbury; So. WR Nate Stewart
Returning Players – Defense: Sr. DB Dashon Russell; So. DB Nate Stewart; Jr. DB Eric Marbury; Sr. DB Eric Provosty; Jr. OLB James Randall; Sr. MLB TJ Belle; So. LB Destyn Woody; Jr. DL Anthony Greggo; Jr. DL Jorne Gilbert; Sr. DL Kyle Kokawski; Jr. DL Garrett Irizarry
Special Teams: “Nate Winchilla returns at kicker. Nate did a excellent job for us last year. He had over 30 extra points for us. He will do more of the punting and kicking off this year. Eric Marbury, Dashon Russell, Nate Stewart and Eric Provosty will do the kick return duties. The punting duties are the same kids we have in the defensive back field.”
Top Newcomers: Sr. WR/LB Jewel Gilbert, “He was in our program last year and didn’t play much due to a injury. He has good size and he has shown some good things in practice this summer. Another kid is junior WR/DB Hunter Beck and we have a up incoming freshman, Shon Wilson. He is a natural athlete. He played junior high basketball.”
Coaches comments:
How’s your offensive line?
“Most of my offensive line is back. We start with Kyle Kokawski. He returns at center and is a four-year starter. I have Anthony Greggo returning at guard. He played mainly defense for us last year. Zach Savelli returns at tackle. I had a kid start half the season for us and he is Ryan Conway. The other kid I have is Travis Miller. He will play tackle. I return my tight end, Jorne Gilbert. This will be his second year starting at tight end.”
Who will be your quarterback this year?
“We aren’t sure who will be the starter right now. Tre Jordan is one of the guys battling for the spot. He played different positions for me last year like, running back and wide receiver. Tre can also run the ball well. He is good at running the read option. The other kid is Nick Brotzman. He played half way through the year. He played in some of the league games and did a nice job.”
How’s your running game?
“I have senior Dashon Russell back at running back and TJ Belle. Belle led the running backs with eight touchdowns. In our offense we use multiple guys at the running back position. Eric Provosty will see action.”
How do your receivers look?
“I have Eric Marbury and Nate Stewart back. The other receiver spot is open. We have some young players battling for that spot.”
How’s your defensive line?
“We play a three front and all three of those guys are back. Kyle Kokawski, Jorne Gilbert and Anthony Greggo bring back experience on the line. We have another guy that will fit into the mix. He is Garrett Irizarry.”
How about your linebackers?
“We lost two good ones from last year. I have players that have some playing time. The one that is standing out is James Randall. James is a guy we felt real highly of as a freshman. Last year he really played well for us. He will play outside linebacker. We have our leading tackler back. He is TJ Belle. He will play middle linebacker. Destyn Woody split some time last year. He will be one of the other guys competing inside. The other outside linebacker is a toss up for us. We have a lot of guys we are looking at. But the guy that’s probably leading the way is David LaRose.”
How’s your secondary look?
“We have everyone back in the secondary. We have Dashon Russell, Nate Stewart, Eric Marbury and Eric Provosty. Another kid Nico Palma has done a nice job getting ready to play varsity football. He lettered for us as a special teams guy. He will be in the mix.”
What is your strength on offense?
“I say it’s the experience. You know having the ability last year to play all those guys, as young as we were, we now have experience. There is chemistry with the team because they played a full year. They kind of know what to expect from each other. The maturity level has gone up. Which has increased our leadership. So, there is a lot of good things that will come from what we struggled through last year. Finishing 6-5 was huge for us, winning the league again was huge. They were positive things for us to build on. I think the kids realized that and they want more.”
“If we lost anything last year it was on defense. We lost two good linebackers from last year. Again, we used so many guys last year. Out of the 34 kids coming back, 22 were letterman. I feel really good about this summer.”
What is your key this year?
“I think we need to get off to a better start than we did last year. We started the season 0-4 last year. It really showed early how inexperienced we were. We have tough games early in our schedule. So, it’s important to start off strong. But I think the kids know what we need to do now.”
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August 7th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
Pius beating Dieruff (AAAA) would get them 160 points for the win and then 10 bonus points for each of Dieruff’s wins. Lets just say they get 1 win this year. Pius gets 170 points from them. Now take SCA in week 1. SCA is class A, so they would get 100 points for the win plus any of SCA’s wins, which would be anywhere from 8-9 so Pius by beating SCA gets 180 or 190 points, which is more than beating the AAAA team, plus better competition. I do understand that beating the AAAA teams gives a lot of points, but its not any different than beating a competitive team in a smaller classification that gets more wins. Dieruff won’t be much of a challenge for Pius, but yes they do get good points for beating them.
August 7th, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Dieruff is a AAAA school. Regardless of how they are in their conference, a win means a lot point wise.
August 7th, 2013 at 2:55 pm
This would have been Aj Long’s senior year, what could have been…
August 7th, 2013 at 1:02 pm
playing dieruff won’t give them as much as you think. Dieruff typically goes 1-9 or 0-10 i think.
August 7th, 2013 at 11:32 am
This team is intriguing this year. Can’t wait to see what they can do. Playing Dieruff can give them alot of bonus points for Districts.