22
Central Continued from Page 21 candidates for the slot positions in Daley’s offense. Jones averaged 23 yards a grab in 2012. Murphy and Barber will serve as the backups. Aleks Porreca and Johnny DiCarlantonio, both seniors, will see plenty of time at split end. Also in the mix are sophomore James Howard, Barber and sophomore Seth Potenzini. “We have good hands coming back and good speed,” Daley stated. “We don’t have the size we had a split end last year but as a group, our skilled guys have better speed overall.” Central’s running game will be “more by committee” in 2013. A season ago, Doug Maslowski burst upon the scene, gaining 884 yards and scoring 15 times. Daley indicated junior Stone Romano, who had 32 carries as a sophomore, Murphy, Fletcher and Jones all will “get touches.” Sophomore Cedro Parise also is in the hunt. “We don’t have that explosive get to the edge and outrun people type guy like we did with Doug,” Daley explained. However, we should be better when it comes to running the ball between the tackles.” When Central goes to a two-back set, Daley noted he’ll be able to add senior Luke Potenzini “to the mix.” Potenzini, 6-4, 220, also will see time at tight end. Three starters return to the offensive line. Seniors Jake McCann and Marty Engle are back at tackle while junior Jonathan Shrieve will again man the center spot. Seniors Jimmy Joe Mort, M.J. Marchetta and Mark Dettorre along with junior Jake Karovic are battling for time at the guard spots. Dettorre, 6-1, 255, is a transfer from Carrollton. Senior Tony Godich and junior Cam Lupinetti will provide support at tackle. Junior Nate Neely will backup Shrieve. “We’re better on the line this year,” Daley said. “At this point, the line is really coming together. You can only put five out there at a time and we have eight guys in the mix. McCann, Engle and Shrieve are going to be there so we have five other guys battling for two positions. “If you look at us across the front, we are 200 pounds or more per position. We’re going to be a lot bigger up
front that we have been the last two years.” Daley added that overall, the 2013 Crusaders will have “better speed” than they had last year. “We don’t have that one guy like Doug who had just great speed, but overall our team speed is better and that should help us on both sides of the ball. “One problem we had last year offensively was slowing the game down. We did a great job with our uptempo attack but there were times when that actually wore us down. We’ve put some things together we can use when we need to take our foot off the pedal. We’ll be better at that this year.” Defensively, Daley has seven starters back in the fold. Central again will use the 4-3 as its base D but also can employ multiple looks. McCann will again man a defensive end spot. L. Potenzini, Howard, Engle and senior Gabe Erickson are fighting for time opposite McCann. Engle, who started on the line in 2012, will bounce between end and tackle. Marchetta and Mort, both parttime starters last season, top the list of candidates at tackle. Dettorre and Karovic also are candidates. Romano and Murphy return to their linebacking spots. Senior Louis Fallon is looking to nail down the third position. Godich and Parise are fighting for time also. Fletcher and Porreca, both starters in 2012, man the safety positions. Jones returns to his cornerback post. Barber, DiCarlantonio and sophomore Robbie LeFever will see time at the other corner. Daley pointed out Colabella may also appear in the defensive backfield in some “situational” moments. “We don’t go real deep at the defensive skilled positions,” Daley stated. “We like our offensive depth but we can’t rest of our defensive guys. These are our guys. We might have a backup here or there, but our defensive starters won’t be resting much. “We have a veteran and good group returning but they can’t come off the field defensively. We’ll work to get them some rest on offense. It bodes See CENTRAL Page 72
➪