’Stars loaded with enough talent for deep playoff run
Jon Adams is excited to see what his talented Nottingham High football team can do this year; but he will have to watch it perform a little further away than he would like.
Coming off his second knee surgery in as many years, Adams will stand further off the sidelines than usual to avoid any chance of being taken down. His injury has convinced him to give offensive coordinator Ross Maddalon and defensive coordinator Frank Gatto the responsibility of play calling, while Milo McGuire will serve as the active game day head coach.
“I’ll be managing the game, just doing it a safe distance,” Adams said. “Keith Zimmerman will send in the plays, I gave Ross Maddalon total control of the offense within my parameters, just like I gave Gat control of the defense.”
Nottingham, which will play in the WJFL Capitol Division, comes off an 8-2 season in which it lost a wild Central Jersey Group IV playoff opener to Freehold Borough.
Gone from that team is the entire offensive line, which played a huge part in wearing teams down late in games.
Taking over are senior guards Jake Doolittle and Anthony Hreiz, sophomore center Elijah Baldwin, and junior tackles Naeem Rashid and Geordany Alexis. George Hreiz moves from quarterback to starting tight end. Junior Jason Ceria will rotate in at guard and tackle.
“We’ll go as far as the line takes us,” Adams said. “We’re playing some guys that haven’t had varsity experience that were in our program the last couple of years who’ve been waiting their turn. So far they’ve stepped up.”
As usual, the Northstars are loaded with skill players, starting with junior Diontae Nicholson. The record-setting tailback rushed for 1,785 yards and 21 touchdowns last year. Talented sophomore Mark Kauffman will lessen the workload for Nicholson so he can play defense, and senior Dylan John is at fullback.
Junior Logan Barber returns at quarterback and Adams is high on Barber and sophomore back-up Bryan Smolka.
“We think Barber’s going to have a huge year for us,” the coach said. “Smolka is a lefty who we think is going to be a very good player. He’s had a great camp. We expect both guys to continue to push each other.”
Speedy receivers include senior Alix Oge, and juniors Louis Akpadago, who finished fourth in the state in the 100 meters last spring, Ja’ier Nelson and Iverson Newkirk. Oge will also be the place kicker/punter.
“We have tremendous speed in our skill spots, all those guys are track guys with the exception of Logan,” Adams said. “We’re going to be very diverse and try to take the pressure off Diontae a little bit with some of these other guys. We’ve got guys who can go the distance the second they touch the ball.”
Several of the aforementioned players will be on defense as Adams said, “We’ve got more guys going both ways than we’ve probably had in the last 15 years.”
The three-man defensive line will rotate seniors Mario Medina, Na’Zair Rickerson, Alexis, Josh Almanzar and Anthony Hreiz. The team’s strength is at linebacker, where all-conference performer Jerry Andaluz, a senior, returns on the outside and senior Bryan Toro is back on the inside. Juniors Qua’Nell Santiago and Darlensher Henry will start outside and inside, respectively. Senior Dan Cortez and juniors Emilio Selesnick and Nicholson will rotate in.
“We’re excited about our linebackers,” Adams said. “Andaluz goes to the ball and goes to it well. He averaged 12 tackles per game last year.”
The secondary has juniors Jacquel Jupiter and Nelson at safeties and seniors Derick Williams and Robbie Bennett at corners. Senior Jordan Lawery will play nickel and provide depth along with Justin Duarte and Kauffman.
“We have the potential to be playoff team but if we turn the football over or get some injuries, especially up front, we’ll be forced to play young guys who need that JV year to develop,” Adams said. “But I feel very positive about it. There’s no reason we can’t be a playoff team now that we’re back in Group III where we belong.”
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