Irish see path to winning record
With strong running backs and an alllocal regular-season schedule, the Notre Dame High School football team is hoping it can get back to being what it regularly was for years.
Namely, be a dominant force in Mercer County.
“If nothing else it does make traveling a lot easier,” said coach Marc Lordi of a schedule that no longer includes the likes of Rancocas Valley and Lenape. “It will be a lot different.”
The strength of Notre Dame will once again be at running back where it returns juniors Coleon and Cortaz Williams. Although he was slowed by injury last year, the hard-running Cortaz Williams was still able to rush for over 1,170 yards and 10 touchdowns.
“There has been some college interest in both of them,” said Lordi. “This is a big year for both of them because they are juniors.”
Another big plus is the return of senior quarterback Rob Buecker. He is starting for the third straight year and his experience will be a key behind a largely rebuilt offensive line and a brand new set of receivers.
It all starts up front, of course, and it’s the development of the Irish offensive line that will largely determine how the season plays out.
“We lost a lot on our line, but our new linemen have worked very hard, and put in a lot of time and effort,” said Lordi in reference to a weight room run by former assistant coach John McKenna. “We’re anticipated they will have a good year.”
The lone returnee up front is Tristan Tritt, a senior who will start on both sides of the ball. Senior Evan Collins has returned as well and is part of a linebacker group that includes junior Ryan McCabe.
Notre Dame is also solid in the secondary with players such as senior Sam Ponticello, senior Pat Jones and junior Tim Jones.
The Irish will find out a lot about where they stand when they open their season on Sept. 7 at Allentown. This will be followed by a string of games in which on paper at least it should have a pretty good shot of returning to its traditional winning ways.