Lacey Township
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LACEY TOWNSHIP Fall 1996 1st Edition Alumni and Friends - Souvenir Book $5.00 LACEY TOWNSHIP Go LIONS. elY F OTBALL Fa ATI N, INC. P.O. Box 73 • Forked River, NJ 08731 ....L. Dear Fan, Welcome to the 16th season of Lacey Varsity Football and the 125th anniversary of our township. Lacey Township football has a young but very interesting history. From the Pop Warner youth programs developed in the 70's to the high school varsity begin ning in the 80's, there has been an enthusiastic growth of this great spectator sport. Many believe in the positive experiences derived from sports programs; they offer peo ple, worldwide, opportunities to channel energies into friendly competitions and devel op lifelong values. The #1 spectator sport in America is football. Communities rally around the color, pageantry and competition during a most beautiful time of the year. Athletes perform with great skill, cheerleaders provide spirit and band members con tribute to a great spectacle. Recently alumni and friends met and spoke about the development of a community support group for Lacey Football. The organization of the Lacey Football Foundation was the direct result of these discussions. We are a non profit group whose aim is to engage in promotional and fundraising activities for the promotion, betterment, and overall welfare of football and other athletically related activities . Membership is open to businesses , organizations, and individuals wishing to further these aims. With your support, the Lacey Football Foundation will assist in maintaining the tradition of excel lence which has been associated with Lacey Football Go Lions! Christopher Supsie, Esquire '86 Trustee and General Counsel LACEY TOWNSHIP FOOTBALL FOUNDATION P.O. Box 73 FORKED R IVER, NJ 08731 COMMITTEE LOUIS VIRCILLO SCOTI SCHUBIGER '85 JOHN KILMURRAY Founder MIKE KILMURRAY RICHARD STRATION CHRISTOPHER SUPSIE '86 General Counsel CASEY PARKER DANTE CIOFFI CRAIG CICARDO '83 JOHN CROWLEY BARRY SCHAFER KEITH ELIAS ' 89 JOHN GALLO LARRY SAMPBRI DAVE VAN BRUNT '84 JOHN DONNELLEY '82 JOHN PARKER 2 \91 ~O,,~ "I\C SEPT. '81 LACEY VS PLEASANTVILLE B. Tupper; Stephen son and Burmeist er close in on a Pleasantville speedster. 3 1 T CO FERE CE CHAMPID SHIP' 2 Top Row: Christy, Sabarese, Musselman, Donnelly, Geraghty, Douglas, Tupper Bottom: Ward, Quinn , Pasqua, Fenton , Lundberg, Scafa, Kozak ( 1st 1000 Yard Rusher - Andy Pasqua in action, #19 S. Ward, #55 S. Quinn, #22 J. Donnelly 4 T DE & ASSOC. Anomeys-At-Law Attorn eys f or Lacey Township Board of Education ~Fleet (609) 693-6200 • (609) 693-0121 FAX MfWIWI"F'O!C. fU:H "~ ~«;,lSl1I\lO_Ol' F'UlT r~~ , lie. Richard Ostrowski, D.M.D. LACEY SHELL • Family Dentistry • Cosmetic Dentistry • Root Canal Therapy Emergency Service 102 Manchester Ave. RICHARD E. RITCHIE, PROP. Forked River 930 Lacey Road· Forked River (609) 693-0917 Moat type s of I nsurance Accepted (609) 693-5175 ccess Mortgage Services, Inc. Licensed Mortgage Banker 1-800-571-4040 • 609-971-2700 • 609-971-3344 FAX 5 Erol'llil'''''' TRADITION The Lacey football program has always been competitive. Right from the very beginning the Lions established a winning tradition. In their very first year in the Shore Conference they won the confer ence title and a state playoff berth. Solid progress as both a state and local contender was made from 1988 to present. In total the teams have recorded 8 conference cham pionships, 2 state titles and 8 appearances to the elite state play offs . So what about '96? SEASO OUTLOOK '96 Lions look to take another Head Coach step forward with 14 returning starters. Lacey Township made solid progress from 1994 to 1995. After the graduation of the '94 senior dominated team, very few expected the '95 club to regain the title. The '95 Lions were made up primarily of underclassmen, but their tough style of play helped them through a rugged season, finally winning the title with a Thanksgiving Day victory over Central Regional. Going into 1996 Lacey will bemissing 8 graduated starters. This, as compared to the 17 from the year prior, will definitely make things easier going into pre-season camp. BACKS EXPEC . D TO PRODUCE Vircillo plans to build his offense around veteran running backs Jay Frazee and Greg Elias, who last year combined for a total of 1507 yards. Junior Varsity run ning back Andy Locha will be given an opportunity to play fullback and along with H backs Ed Crowley and Jeff Karaez, as well as, a typically solid offensive line, expects to make great contributions. Lacey plans to improve on it's '95 offen sive numbers that saw the Lions average 270 total yards and 11.8 first downs per game, ranking them 4th in the county. The emphasis on Lacey's running game is nothing new. The Lions have produced some fine rushers over the years, including five seasons where individual running backs rushed for over 1,000 yards. However, key to Lion's offensive expectations o will be a development of a Q.B. With the graduation of a well groomed 3 year quarterback, Mike Granato, all will be watching closely to see who will win this year's position. Summer camp and passing tournaments have helped to shed some light on this situa tion, but nothing will be certain until after pre-season. Jim Toner, returning after a year lay-off has become the front runner. Jim was a standout in youth football and as a fresh man. The big question will be how fast he can overcome that year of inactivity. Junior Varsity starter, Matt Slota and last year's freshman, Q.B. Kyle Schafer are also developing. RECEIVERS SOLID Help for the potential productivity of the quarterback will be in the hands of the receiving corps. This year's group boasts a pair of exciting players in Jerry Yorke and Steve Maloney. These hard workers will bring speed, ability and experience to the position. Other fine young players include Junior Varsity standouts Jeff Marques and Willie Reilly. The tight end position is a question mark, but plans are being made to fill this slot with junior Shawn Kearney who started at fullback last season and is presently the strongest member of the team. A rugged blocker and sure handed, he along with Mike Wright (6' 1" - 210) and John Wehner (6'3" 215) will round out the tight end possibilities. THE CENTER FOR ORTHOPEDICS & SPORTS MEDICINE, P.A. DANIEL E. Fox, M.D. _ 388 Lakehurst Road • Toms River, New Jersey 4fiiy:- 908-505-8844 7 THREE REGU ARS BACK ON OFFENSIVE ~INE . A solid offensive line will be led by senior returning center, Jared Burke (6'1" 270) and junior returning starters guard, Joe Roberts (6'1" - 250) and tackle Chris Natoli (6"5" - 245). The other two positions are wide open, but the potential front runners are: John Sherwood (6' I" - 232), Kyle Kelly (5' 10" - 210), Ron Torres (5'11" 310) and Dave McAuliffe (6'3" - 225). There are sure to be some battles in the "pit" before the first five will be decided . Coach Vircillo hopes to keep defenses from keying on the Lion's running attack, as he has done over the recent years, by lining his backs up as receivers at times and spreading the offensive formations . This mul tiple formation philosophy, along with a good mixture of plays, has been able to thwart many opponent s. The bottom line, however, will always be to go to what works and not what may look good. 8 DEFENSE LOOKS TO RETURN TO DOMINANCE On defense the Lions plan to better the chemistry they devel oped as the '95 season pro gressed. Historically, the Lacey defense has been one of the toughest around and last year was no different. However, the Lions yielded an average of 219 yards per game which is not typical of teams that have won championships. Always hovering around the top of the county defensively, this past year was no exception with a ranking of 5th. SECONDARY INTACT The secondary produced 9 inter ceptinons and 16 deflections overall in 95. Every player returns, but some shifting may produce changes. Senior corner backs Jerry Yorke and Steve Maloney as well as safeties Jeff Karacz and Ed Fitzpatrick are back . The changes that may occur are because of how well Karacz and Fitzpatrick played at linebacker positions in theLions "Nickel and Dime" defenses of a year ago. Karacz ended up lead ing the team in tackles with 86 and Fitzpatrick was not far behind with 62. Secondary voids could surely be filled by athletes like Greg Elias and Jay Frazee, and certainly J.Y. standout Mike Maloney is eyeballing a home at either of the safety positions. 9 TWO LIl .EBACKERS RETU N The linebackers do not boast massive size . However, seniors Bob Nassaney and Ed Crowley are both very active and experienced. To increase the size, Shawn Kearney is being given a strong look and so is John Wehner. Hard working junior Tom Budija and sophomore hopeful Hector Berrios are being considered as well. This adds up to what promises to be another competitive unit FRONT FOUR TO BE ENTIFIED The "front four" is still a big question mark. Only one starter returns, but a few play ers did see Varsity action last season. Senior nose tackle Jack McClean returns to the front. Juniors that had some varsity experience a year ago include John Sherwood, Bo Nemeth and Mike Wright. Demetri Demopolous and Dan Norton are contenders as well. Plans to beef up the line are being strongly considered and the size and strength goes to three linesmen in Jared Burke, Joe Roberts and Chris Natoli.