2019 Team Previews: Great Valley Patriots (3)

Written by: David Mika on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Head Coach: Jeff Martin

Assistant Coaches: Mark Fischer, Hank Coyne, Marquis Weeks, Matt Palubinski, Dave Clarke, Scott Smiley, Chuck Chiccino, Jeff Moyer

Team Name: Great Valley Patriots

2018 Record: 3-7

Twitter: @greatvalleyfb

Hudl Highlights:

Key Starters lost: Jake Prevost, Josh Burgess, Tim Dyer, Andrew DiSanto, Brendan O’Donnell, Amani Christopher, Dawson Rhodes, Warrick Parvess, Joe O’Neill, Adam Brophy

Offensive Starters Returning: (3) (10) Sr. RB James Thompson, 5’10”, 165; (77) Ian Rodriguez OT, 6’1”, 277; (54) Graham Muscella G, 5’10” 190.

Defensive Starters Returning: (7) (54) Graham Muscella LB, 5’10” 190; (3) Jake Ruppert LB, 6’0”, 200; (77) Ian Rodriguez DT/DE, 6’1”, 277; (56) Eduardo Neri, DT/DE, 5’9”, 240; (10) James Thompson SS, 5’10” 165; (2) Ryan Banavitch DB, 6’0” 155; (13) Myles Maurer DB, 5’8” 155.

Key Newcomers: (8) (78) Brandon May DT/OT, 6’3” 290; (5) Jake Snyder RB/LB, 6’0” 170; (4) Riley Craven WR/LB, 5’10” 150; (11) Andy Talone QB, 5’11”, 155; (6) Michael Corrigan RB/LB, 5’10” 180; (16) Connor Lewis WR/DB, 5’10” 145; (88) Ryan Magargal TE/DE, 6’0” 210; (8) Nate McKay K, 6’1, 174

D1 (FBS & FCS) Prospects: (2) James Thompson and Jake Ruppert

2019 Outlook: We will need our young players to step up and contribute early. Particularly on offense, we will be replacing 8 starters from last year’s team. We will have an underclassmen starting at QB. On the offensive and defensive line, we will have several first time starters. James Thompson will be relied on to carry the ball at RB and we have several promising young receivers. Defensively, we return 7 starters from last year. Our strength on defense should be our linebackers. Graham Muscella will be a 3 year starter at LB and Jake Ruppert is a second year starter and all conference player last year. James Thompson and Ryan Banavitch are strong on the backend at DB. We have 3 other underclassmen DB’s who saw plenty of varsity action last year. We will need to stay healthy and our young players will need to step up early to compete in a strong Ches Mont League Schedule.

Offense: We will need to control the line of scrimmage and young linemen will need to step up early. We have two underclassmen competing for the QB position. We have depth and experience at RB and promising young receivers.

Defense: We will rely on the defense as we return 7 starters from last year’s team. We will be replacing Josh Burgess at LB who had 135 tackles last year. Graham Muscella and Jake Ruppert return this year and combined for 150 tackles last year. We have promising young DB’s and James Thompson and Ryan Banavitch provide experience as returning starters from last year. Eduardo Neri and Ian Rodriguez provide experience at defensive line as returning starters.

Special Team: Nate McKay is a soccer player and will be doing our kicking this year. In the preseason, he has demonstrated that he has an extremely strong leg which should help with field position and scoring points. James Thompson, Ryan Banavitch, and Myles Maurer will be relied on in the return game.