Football: St. Augustine Prep hires Pete Lancetta

In a major development on the South Jersey football scene, Pete Lancetta has been hired as the new football coach at St. Augustine Prep.

Lancetta was introduced by the school on Wednesday.

Lancetta spent 26 seasons from 1989-2014 as the head coach at Hammonton. His teams went 215-65-1 and captured four sectional crowns and the Blue Devils were universally regarded as one of the top programs in South Jersey.

Lancetta spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Rowan University.

Lancetta replaces Mark Reardon, who resigned abruptly early this month after five seasons as St. Augustine's coach. Reardon's teams were 42-9 and dominated South Jersey competition in recent seasons.

The Hermits currently have a 25-game winning streak against South Jersey teams.

In a statement, St. Augustine athletic director Mike Rizzo said, "St. Augustine Prep is extremely excited to announce and welcome our new head football coach, Mr. Pete Lancetta. We are fortunate to have a coach of his caliber and we are confident he and his staff will continue the upward trajectory of the St. Augustine Prep football program.

"This is a great day for the community, not only our schholar-athletes but the entire St. Augustine Prep family."

Lancetta has been a teacher in the business department at Hammonton High School but is expected to joiun St. Augustine's teaching staff.

Lancetta's teams at Hammonton were renown for their conditioning, strength, toughness and execution. The coach was regarded as a great motivator whose athletes played with great enthusiasm and displayed deep commitment to the program.

Hammonton under Lancetta also was a team known for precise execution of a Wing-T style offense with heavy emphasis on a strong ground game.

Lancetta is a graduate of St. Joseph of Hammonton. During his time at Hammonton, the Blue Devils and Wildcats played every season on Thansgiving weekend in one of South Jersey football's best rivalries.

That series ended when Hammonton joined the Tri-County Conference before the 2014 season. St. Augustine and St. Joseph are scheduled to play this season and the two programs compete in another way -- in trying to attract top student-athletes to the non-public school to play for the football program.

-- Contact Phil Anastasia at panastasia@phillynews.com

-- Follow @PhilAnastasia on Twitter

Click HERE to read more Jersey Side Sports posts.