At Pitman, underclassmen try to keep football alive

It's a rainy Tuesday morning in the middle of August, and the few and the proud and the undeterred members of the Pitman football team are hard at work on the practice field off Edgemore Avenue.

The Panthers are doing the same drills as other teams across South Jersey and across the country — shuffling across the wet grass in their shoulder pads and helmets between shouts and whistles from their enthusiastic coaching staff.

But while other teams are preparing for varsity seasons and perhaps dreaming of late-autumn glory, Pitman's players are on a different kind of mission. Their goal isn't to win games or contend for titles but to keep the sport alive in the leafy little Gloucester County town.

"At first I was upset, but now I'm prepared to do this," Pitman junior linebacker and wide receiver Alex Mennella said. "We're going to keep this program alive and maybe even make it stronger when it comes back."

Mennella and fellow junior Griffin Clark are leaders of a 16-man roster with zero seniors and nine freshmen. Pitman has cancelled varsity football for this season and next — although the Panthers hope to play a game or two at the varsity level in 2018 — with the goal of rebuilding the program and re-joining the West Jersey Football League as a full member in 2020.

"We looked at this year, and we had so many freshmen and sophomores we couldn't in good conscience put those young kids in a varsity situation," Pitman athletic director Dave Suiter said. "The feeling was that rather than keep putting band-aids on the program, take a step back and make a commitment to restoring the program in the future."

Suiter said that struggles in the win-loss column in recent years — Pitman was 1-8 last season and 6-33 over the previous four seasons — had contributed to limited interest in the program in the small school, which has 316 students in grades 10 through 12. Pitman is the sixth-smallest public high school in South Jersey.

"Our numbers had been declining in recent years," Suiter said.

The program also lost a few players who transferred in the spring, including quarterback Nick Kargman and receiver Nick Harmer, who formed a top pass-catch combination as sophomores for the Panthers last season. Kargman transferred to Woodrow Wilson and Harmer to Sterling, while a few other experienced athletes also left the school or decided not to continue to play the sport.

"There had been a lot of rumors," said Clark, a two-way lineman who started for the varsity as a sophomore. "My dad [Len Clark] is the president of the Board of Education, and he sat me down at the dinner table and told me it was true. We weren't going to have varsity football this year.

"It might be the most adverse situation I've dealt with in my 16 years. But I think we're handling it phenomenally."

Pitman coach Chris Thomas is a 2003 graduate of the school and was a standout athlete in football and wrestling. In his third season, Thomas oversees a program that is re-starting from scratch with a heavy emphasis on creating interest in the lower classes and strengthening connections with the town's youth football program.

"I've tried to stress to these kids, 'See this this as an opportunity,' " Thomas said. "We're going to tear the building down and do it right.

"This is the kind of stuff they make movies about. You watch a movie about something like this, and you're can be like, 'Oh, that's kind of cool.' Well, now you can be a part of it."

Thomas said Pitman can become a competitive football program. He knows that from experience. In his senior season, the Panthers were 7-3.

"This is where I'm supposed to be," said Thomas, a special-education teacher in the high school. "I grew up across the street from our home field. My parents still live there. I've experienced some success. I have to give it back."

Woodstown football coach John Adams was a standout three-sport athlete at Pitman, graduating in 2000. He played football at Temple University. Adams said the trend in youth sports towards specialization is a factor in declining participation.

"It's sad to hear they won't be fielding a varsity team," Adams said. "I was with a few of my former teammates over the summer, and we were talking about how much it has changed since we were playing there. Overall, the school numbers are down, and I get that. But more kids are specializing in a certain sport these days, and I hate that.

"At a small school you have to have multi-sport athletes. I cannot name one person I played with growing up that only played one sport."

Thomas, Suiter, and other school officials met with this year's juniors when it became apparent the athletes might not play another varsity game in their careers.

"I'm thrilled to death with how these kids have stepped up," Suiter said. "They've assumed a leadership role. They are going to be the guys who help bring this program back."

Mennella said he has been playing football for 11 years. He said he loves the sport and relishes the opportunity to play a lead role in keeping the game alive in Pitman.

"The main approach for us upperclassmen is to make this program as good as it can be for the guys below us," Mennella said. "These guys have been my teammates my whole life. I love them to death. I would do anything for them.

"As long as I can keep this program alive for them, that's all I can do."

Clark is a burly athlete who hopes to play football in college, earn his degree and come back and coach for the Panthers. He has been playing the sport since middle school.

"Something like this, it teaches you leadership. It makes you responsible," Clark said. "You want to try to do what you can for Pitman football in the future."

Pitman will play a junior-varsity schedule this season and next. The goal, Thomas said, is to play a varsity game or two next season — maybe against a team such as Wildwood, or perhaps in the annual Thanksgiving Day game against rival Clayton.

Suiter said the school hopes to play an abbreviated independent schedule in 2019 before re-joining the WJFL in 2020.

Pitman football has a rich tradition. Former Eagles general manager Harry Gamble played for the Panthers and was renowned in town for making the game-saving tackle in the team's 19-18 win over Clayton in a famous game in 1946.

For years, Gamble made a point of returning to Pitman for a breakfast chat with players and coaches and officials from both schools before the annual Thanksgiving Day game with Clayton, where he started his coaching career.

"They've got the right coach and a great administration backing them up," Adams said. "They just need kids to come out and make a difference. We were never the biggest, fastest or strongest but we cared about Pitman. We wanted to play, have fun and represent our town."

Mennella prefers to look at the bright side of his unique situation.

"We've got really supportive people around us, coaches, family, other teammates," Mennella said. "A lot of adults in school, a lot of people in town really want to see this program come back and see us get back on our feet.

"It's a game I love. As long as I get chance to play I'm happy."