40 teams in 40 days – Day 7: LaSalle (12)

Written by: David Mika on Saturday, July 28th, 2012. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Building a Dynasty

LaSalle College out of the Philadelphia Catholic league is one of the top Class 4A programs year in and year out.

They joined the PIAA in 2008. Since 08 LaSalle has amassed a record of 48-8.

The Explorers have won 11 Philadelphia League Championships, 25 Division I College Scholarships.

They had a 32-game winning streak from 1995 to 1997.

In just their second year since joining the PIAA they won the state title in 2009 and were runner-ups in 2010.

They were the first to win a state title for the Philadelphia Catholic league.

2011 season

They won their third consecutive District 12 title and state semifinal, defeating George Washington, 41-7.

LaSalle finished the 2011 season with a 12-2 record, losing to North Penn in the Class 4A Eastern finals, 21-14.

We sat down with Coach Gordon and talked to him about his team for the 2012?

Q & A with LaSalle College head football coach Drew Gordon

How is your off-season going this summer?

The off-season is going well with the kids.

Who do you have coming back on offense?

We have Luke Persichetti and Patrick Hoffman returning as starters. We also have on the offensive line Andrew Carlin, Conor Resch and David Geppert, who all played.

We aren’t sure who is going to be at quarterback. Gone from last season is Matt Magarity. We have Chris Kane who played a little for us from last year and Jimmy Herron who played a lot of safety for us as a freshman.

The only kid we have back at wide receiver is Sean Coleman. We also have Levi Hardy who is a track guy. Ryan Winslow is another guy. We are hoping with his size (6-foot-5) he will help us out at receiver. After that who doesn’t play quarterback will play some receiver.

At running back we have Jared Herrmann who is back from last season and got better as the season went and we have sophomore Jordan Meachum.

Meachum is talented but not really big and he has the tools to be a good player.

If it works out well we should be really balanced this year.

Who do you have coming back on defense?

Up front we have some experience. Hoffman will get a shot on the defensive line.

Tom Spiteri, Jon Naji and David Losier are back on the defensive line.

Andrew Eidenshink is back at defensive end.

At linebacker we have a junior Zaire Franklin and Trent Simmons who played some linebacker last year for us. Mike Eife is our stud. He is a lot like Tim Wade, a tough hard nosed kid.

Raekwon Caswell is back. We have a couple of young kids, Ryan Calhoun and Nick Buckley.

In the secondary we have three starters back. Sean Coleman and Jimmy Herron ended up playing a lot because of injuries. We have Vito Braccia and Chris Rocco at the other corner. We have a couple of young guys that might get some time.

We look for good athletes back there and guys that can really run.

What do you have coming back on special teams?

We feel we have the top punter in the state in Ryan Winslow. Winslow also does kicking. Winslow is such a big weapon for us.

But look for Matt Raczak to take most of the load at the kicking position.

What about your league?

Roman Catholic is real good this year. St. Joseph’s Prep, Father Judge and Archbishop Ryan are good teams. We only have five teams in our league.

The two times we played Roman last year they were good games. The Prep game we were down 17 points and came back.

To have a successful season you have to?

Develop a quarterback. The running game will be solid.

Up front we are good. At the skill positions we don’t have depth.

Home Opener

LaSalle College opens away against North Penn on August 31st