Camden Catholic sporting a winning new look

IN ANOTHER TIME and in another place, Camden Catholic coach Rick Brown might have been a poet.

"The winter was a dark, tough time, but then when March came around, the spring definitely washed everything away," Brown said. "We were a new team, and it also helped we got new uniforms that helped get last year out of our minds."

Highly touted at the start of the 2009 season and being ranked the preseason No. 1 team by several publications, including the Daily News, the Fighting Irish found the target on their backs to be an ill fit en route to a 4-6 campaign. The answers weren't easy as a bit of malaise had hit the program, and things didn't change over night for the once powerful Fighting Irish.

"Last year wasn't just a learning experience," Brown said. "It was a life experience.

"A lot of kids, coaches and so forth went through the motions. Luckily, that's all changed."

For starters, the Irish are 4-0.

Gone are the green-and-gold uniforms Brown inherited from the previous regime, replaced by green-and-white uniforms with a green shamrock on a white helmet that many previous generations had come to know as Camden Catholic. Gone, too, is the expectation that just walking on the field is enough, and gone are the easy wins that marked a decade of Irish football.

"The reality is we have just three seniors that see a significant amount of time," Brown said. "The schedule is tougher and with just three seniors, we needed some of the younger guys to step up, and they have."

Granted, quarterback/outside linebacker Anthony Townsend, inside linebacker/running back Ryan Graves and nose guard Tyler Faiola are a good place to start for any program. That said, the Irish will have their hands full when Delsea (5-0), ranked No. 8 in the Daily News' South Jersey poll, comes to town tomorrow night.

EXPECTING TO WIN

Simply put, Pennsville (5-0) is no longer an easy W on anyone's schedule, a fact not lost on the rest of Group 1, including tomorrow night's opponent, perennial power Glassboro (5-0).

"We haven't had much luck with them in the last few years, but that's not going to change what we do as a team," Eagles coach Ryan Wood said. "We're going to try to pick up the tempo. We want to set a fast tempo and after that, we want to go even faster."

The approach has worked wonders for the Eagles, who are missing two key components in quarterback Ken Emmons (hairline fracture in his left fibula) and wideout Matt Drummond (high-ankle sprain). Both are expected back by the end of the season, but won't play against Glassboro.

"First of all, we expect to go out and win," Wood said. "That doesn't change.

"But all week, we've been stressing that this isn't our Super Bowl. Yes, this is a big game and, yes, it's exciting, but it's not our season. Right now, we're playing for our Group 1 seeding. The goal is to win Group 1. If we win, we can't see this as all we need to do. If we lose, we can't see this as the end of our season."

Certainly not now, as the Eagles still have 2 months yet to play and the return of Emmons and Drummond on the horizon.

BACK ON BOARD

The Atlantic City football program is a part of Tom Kelly, so naturally, when he heard the coaching job was available, he made an easy decision to return to the game.

"I stopped coaching 3 or 4 years ago," said Kelly, a 1992 Atlantic City graduate and a former assistant. "It's not like I went away. I was involved with my family, but I still came to games and was still involved at the high school."

His return couldn't have been better timed, as Kelly and the Vikings are 4-0 and ranked ninth in the Daily News South Jersey Top 10. Behind senior quarterback Jamal Anderson and senior linebacker Ben Allen, the Vikings ran off four straight wins, including 20-6 over preseason darling Absegami on Sept. 24, when they scored 14 fourth-quarter points.

"That was definitely a confidence boost for us," Kelly said. "No coach will tell you they think they will be undefeated after four games. I thought we could be successful and we have a core group of 20 guys that have bought into what we want to do and have us at 4-0."

Life doesn't get easier as the Vikings have the always dangerous Egg Harbor Township to play tomorrow night.

"We've opened some eyes, but we also know we have a long way to go," Kelly said.

WORTH NOTING

At 9 a.m. today, Holy Spirit linebacker Anthony Sarao is expected to be announced as one of 90 players in the country named to play in the 2010 U.S. Army All American Bowl . . . The top teams in the weekly power point rankings are Glassboro (68) in Group 1; 4-0 West Deptford (63) in Group 2; 5-0 Lacey (82) in Group 3; and 4-1 Shawnee (68) in Group 4. No. 2 Cherokee (4-0) is fourth in Group 4 with 58 points, but has played one fewer game than the Renegades, Oakcrest and Egg Harbor Township . . . Woodbury quarterback Anthony Averett scored three touchdowns in a win over Audubon last week. The Herd (3-1) remains a threat in Group 1 in large part because of the sophomore quarterback's six touchdown runs and two passing touchdowns. *

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