By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
RICHLAND — A week ago, Winslow put up more than 250 yards and three touchdowns against St. Augustine Prep’s defense, as the Eagles handed the Hermits their first loss of the season.
It seems as though Pete Lancetta’s group hit the reset button immediately following that humbling defeat.
St. Augustine Prep — No. 3 in the South Jersey Glory Days/South Jersey Football Frenzy Show Best 11 Rankings — handled No. 4 Mainland Regional with relative ease on Friday night, beating last year’s state champion 21-3 in our Bunting Family Pharmacy Marquee Matchup. The Stangs, playing without injured top running back Rocco DeBiaso, were limited to just 46 rushing yards on 20 carries, and the Hermits picked off four passes while keeping Mainland out of the end zone all night.
“Matt Lenguadoro is our defensive coordinator and he’s been with me since I’ve been a head coach. He does a great job. He and coach Tony Iaconelli and Ricky Mauriello — the three of them work every week, and our defense has been outstanding,” said coach Lancetta. “I hate to say it, because nobody wants to lose, but sometimes a loss straightens some things out and makes you see that you have to practice a little better. Things happen for a reason.”
“We work hard every week. I think we have one of the best defenses in South Jersey, and I don’t think that gets talked about enough,” said Hermits senior Julian Turney, the team’s best running back but also a pretty solid defender in the front seven as well.
Only one of Mainland’s five ball carriers recorded more than 15 yards, and only Jake Blum had more than 20 yards as St. Augustine limited Mainland quarterback John Franchini to just 95 yards on 5-of-20 passing.
“The defense was great today. We had four interceptions, so our (defensive backs) were just strapping on the back side,” said defensive lineman Damari Simeon, who has picked up more than 20 NCAA Division I offers so far, including Texas A&M two days ago. “It feels great to make all those plays because that puts our offense in better position to score, and it build momentum. That’s how you win.”
It was a slow start for the Hermits, who had a punt and a turnover on downs on their first two possessions, but early in the second quarter Prep started taking control. Quarterback Ryan Stoehr connected with Kyle Helphenstine on a big play that led to a 5-yard touchdown run from Turney a few plays later, giving the Hermits a 7-0 lead.
Mainland (3-2, 1-2 West Jersey Football League American) answered on its next possession with a 32-yard field goal from Nate Kashey, but that’s all the offense the Stangs could muster. A huge kickoff return by Ty McLeer following the field goal set the Hermits up at midfield, and a few plays alter Stoehr hooked up with Liam Flynn on a 26-yard scoring strike. Flynn broke two tackles along the right sideline and waltzed into the end zone to put Prep up, 14-3, with 2:15 remaining in the first half.
The Hermits (4-1, 2-1 WJFL American) scored again on their first possession of the second half as a couple of big runs from Turney helped set up Roman Coney’s 26-yard scoring run around the left side. That pushed the lead to 21-3, and from there Prep’s big offensive line leaned on the Mustangs and began chewing second-half clock.
“We made some adjustments. They were really good at slanting and running some things that were messing up our blocking assignments, so we fixed that up and made sure we were making the right calls up front. We had to get our calls right and make sure we were seeing the right stuff, and from there we started wearing them down,” Simeon said. “Last week was a disappointment for us, but this week was a huge confidence booster.”
St. Augustine Prep racked up 223 rushing yards — including 136 on 17 carries from Turney — and the Hermits relied on five different ball carries. The Hermits had 21 carries by guys not named Turney, and that was by design as Lancetta looks to keep his best back from wearing down. Coney had 55 yards on nine carries, and McLeer added another seven carries.
“We went in with the idea that we were going to get more guys involved in the offense than we did last week,” Lancetta explained. “(Winslow) was obviously very good, they beat up on Millville tonight. We pride ourselves on being a physical team, and I thought tonight we were more physical. We threw the ball well in the first half, make some nice completions.”
“This was a big game. Last week hurt, but we practiced really hard this week,” Turney said. “The big focus was we knew they were going to stack the box, like every team tries to do against us, so we had game planned for that, and our game plan worked really well.”
Lancetta said he was happy with how his players responded from their first setback of the season in last week’s 21-7 loss to Winslow — now the No. 1 team in South Jersey after the Eagles rolled past previously top-ranked Millville, 35-7, on Friday night.
“Adversity is the best teacher — I always say that. You find out a lot about yourself. And sometimes it ain’t pretty,” Lancetta said. “But I told my guys that I don’t think we were practicing well enough, and it caught up to us (in last week’s loss to Winslow). We certainly could have played better last week, and that’s on me. But I told them, ‘this is what we have to do.’ They did it, and these are the fruits of their labor. Now they know what it takes. And sometimes it takes a loss to figure out that we have to tighten things up.”
Said Turney, “the vibe around this team is ‘brotherhood.’ We all come together as one every game, that’s our vibe.”
WHAT’S NEXT: St. Augustine Prep travels to Holy Spirit on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. Mainland hosts Ocean City on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
