By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
sullyglorydays@gmail.com
Imagine Mainland Regional High football coach Chuck Smith’s delight when he found out that Rocco DeBiaso had a younger brother coming up through the ranks.
DeBiaso is one of the players who helped build the foundation that won Mainland the 2023 state championship and had the Mustangs playing for another one this past December. He’s the kind of kid who will run through a brick wall — then rub some dirt on his wounds and run through another if it meant his team could win a championship. You could almost envision him playing for Chuck Noll’s Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s.
Rocco DeBiaso will be graduating with honors this spring, having helped build the Mustangs into a championship program again, and younger brother Lucas, a sophomore this year, will inherit that leadership role next fall as Mainland tries to get back to the state championship game for a third straight year.
Rocco played linebacker and as a junior was mainly a running back to spell star tailback Stephen Ordille, who finished with nearly 2,000 yards. He still finished with more than 600 rushing yards and seven touchdowns, but as a senior he really shined, putting up nearly 1,200 yards and 17 touchdowns despite missing some time with nagging injuries. Lucas is following a similar trajectory, as he put up more than 400 all-purpose yards and seven touchdowns in his second season after getting a taste of varsity as a freshman.
“Rocco played as a sophomore then junior year he really had a standout year. Playing in that talented backfield last year, he stepped into a role. (This year) he dealt with a lot of nagging injuries in the middle of the season but was able to overcome them and we rode on his back in the state playoffs,” Smith said. “The kid had about seven hundred yards rushing in the playoffs. He has tremendous heart. He’s been one of our morning lift guys the past couple years in our 5:30 a.m. club. I just can’t say enough about him, and his little brother, Lucas.
“I had really never seen Lucas play football (before high school). He’s a little guy and I would notice him at basketball games. He’s a very talented basketball player and when he came in as a freshman he was a good athlete,” Smith continued. “He hit a growth spurt last year where he must have grown about four inches and put on a lot of muscle weight. He came out this year and ended up earning a spot in the backfield with a talented group of guys. He’s that kid if you asked him to go block a cinder block wall, he would do it at 100 percent. We’re lucky that we have him for another two years.”
“I think I had a pretty good career. When I started we were in a rebuilding phase at Mainland, and sophomore year we came around and had a pretty good year,” Rocco said. “I was getting in the mix at running back and we made it to the state semifinal. Then my junior year is when I really stepped up and got a lot of playing time on both sides of the ball. I really enjoyed that season, we had a great group and won a state championship, which was a tremendous feeling. Senior year was a little rough in the beginning, but we all believed in each other.
“Our coaches kept saying that as time went on we were going to be really good, we just had to keep believing in ourselves, and that’s what we did.”
Rocco’s freshman year, Mainland went 4-6 and got blown out by rival Ocean City in the opening round of the state playoffs. From then on, the Mustangs became a juggernaut. In 2022, the Stangs went 10-2, losing to Millville in the state semifinals. Then last year, Mainland put together one of the greatest seasons in South Jersey football history, going 14-0 and winning the state championship. This past fall the team reloaded and went 10-4, winning four straight postseason games before falling, 28-16, to Old Tappan in the state championship game.
“We had a lot to prove. I know we were a high seed (in the playoffs) but every game it felt like we were the underdog. We had to really believe in each other, and we stuck together,” Rocco said. “Winning all those playoff games was unbelievable. (Winning a state championship) is an unreal feeling. The thing that stuck out the most was that class of 2024, those seniors were like brothers to me. It was great to see them go out the way they wanted to go out.”
“He’s pretty special,” Lucas said of his older brother. “It all started in our backyard, and we’d always talk about what it would be like if we had the chance to play together. But there was a two-year gap so we never really got the chance until we were in high school. My freshman year I was basically on the practice squad, getting the starters ready, but I wasn’t going to be satisfied with just being a role player. I realized I was going to have to be able to contribute to the team if I wanted to play with my brother, and that’s what ended up happening.”
Rocco was one of the catalysts for Mainland’s surge following that embarrassing loss to Ocean City four years ago. He was a mainstay during Mainland’s 5:30 a.m. offseason lifts and helped turn the Mustangs into one of the most physical teams in South Jersey.
“Our culture has been built in the weight room, and most of our leaders live in there year ’round. The young players see that the work you put in from now until August determines what type of player you are from August until the end of the season,” coach Smith said. “I always tell people that if you go into our weight room at 5:30 in the morning you’d think it was 3 p.m. because of the energy in there. It’s unbelievable, but that’s where it all begins. That’s the genesis of the whole thing and guys like Rocco are the ones who have kept this culture going. They have been the soldiers of our standard.”
“My strength coach, Antoine Lewis, he really pushed to get the most out of me and explained what it takes to be a good football player,” Rocco said. “The stuff that we do in the weight room and on the football field carries over into life. That’s just the standard at mainland now, and I really just believed in everything he was saying, everything the coaches said, and we just continued to strive to be the best that we could be.”
To say the DeBiaso boys are competitive would be a huge understatement. They try to out-perform each other in everything, which may explain why they both carry grade-point averages well north of 4.0.
“Those boys do whatever they are coached to do. They are hard workers and they go at it 120 percent. It’s really neat that Lucas got to see Rocco in his role as a big-time football player for us and a Mainland team captain. He’s going to do his best to emulate that,” Smith said. “Rocco has been a great leader for our team in all aspects, not just on the football field, but in the weight room and he’s also a scholar athlete with something like a 4.5 GPA. He’s a great role model for our younger kids, they really look up to him — and not just for his prowess on the field, but his tenacity and work ethic.”
“Our coaches always said the work you put in on the field, in the classroom, everything you do that’s football related is going to eventually pay off in life,” Rocco added. “And I just believed in that. Getting to where we are now, where I am as a person now — it just feels great to look back on and realize what I’ve become as a person.”
“He’s a dog when it comes to working out, he goes at everything 110 percent. You don’t see many people working harder than him,” Lucas said. “My brother set the standard for me. He always raised the bar really high and was always 100 percent committed. I always looked up to him, he’s been a role model to me and he has pushed me harder than anyone ever could. That’s going to be a big reason I’m going to keep contributing to this team, because of him.”
Rocco said there certainly will be a lot to miss about his high school career at Mainland.
“We’ll remember all the games we won, but most importantly, I think over the years we’re going remember those times we were all together having fun off the field,” he said. “Like during the season we would all hit the beach when it was freezing cold out to do a nice little recovery. Just little stuff like that I feel is going to mean the most to all of us.”
Lucas now has two more years to fill up his box of memories and leave his own legacy on Mainland football.
“It was great to be able to play with my brother this year, we really only had one year to do it so we had to make the most of it. It was such an amazing feeling being able to look over and see him as my lead blocker, or vice versa,” he said. “It was a tough ride home (after the state championship) but we were so happy we made it that far. I’m going to try to fill his shoes. I just want to keep trying to help this team win. That’s the most important goal.”
