ST. MARY’S
year Jason Budroni (16-15), fourth
Marcus Marshall gained around 600 yards last year as Donald Day’s backup, but the line that opened holes for Day is gone, so a new set of linemen will step in to try to provide running room for Marshall and protect whichever quarterback is chosen between junior Cam Tyson and sophomores Chris Golini and Nick Kaufman.
Dhane Blair, Ian Krampf and Alex Wicks, all multi-sport student-athletes, could grab some carries to spell Marshall as Budroni wants to keep the legs fresh with a running-back-by-committee approach.
Tommie McKoy and McCormick Buchner will provide some big frames for the quarterback to throw to when needed.
“If we can, I like to run the ball. We have a smaller line so we’ll see how it goes,” Budroni said. “We had a lot of kids come out for offseason workouts and really put in some good work.”
With Ryan Jones, Cal Hadley and Krampf returning on defense, this is where Budroni thinks the Saints will be the strongest. After surrendering an average of two touchdowns a game.
“I think, overall, we have good team speed on defense,” Budroni said. “We have a lot of kids on defense that saw some considerable playing time, so we should be fairly solid this year.”
Senior Dominic Donohue provides a solid leg as the placekicker and punter, while Blair, who ran back three kicks for scores a year ago, will handle the return duties.
“Dominic did a great job for us last year and he has only gotten better, so he will definitely be a weapon for us,” Budroni said.
OFFENSE: DEFENSE: SPECIAL TEAMS:
After graduating 21 starters from last year’s MIAA B Conference championship team, the cupboards were quite bare for Budroni and his troops. But with a solid defense and an offensive line that is getting better each day, the weapons the Saints have could show their flash and possibly provide a similar outcome as last year.
“Last year we put a lot of points up on other teams so I think they will try to return the favor this year,” said Budroni, whose team averaged 33 points per game. “This year is definitely a rebuilding process and we’ll see how it goes. It will be trial by fire and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
The first four games will tell the tale for
OUTLOOK:
the Saints, as a home game against Episcopal from Philadelphia, then trips to Landon and the reigning Delaware state Division 2 champion Delmar and former MIAA A Conference opponent Loyola are four tough games foe St. Mary’s.
“The way we performed in our scrimmages against Calvert Hall and Friendship Collegiate, we did pretty well. I was really happy with the way we competed,” Budroni said. “We did a pretty good job overall. If we get through those first couple games 2-2 or 3-1, we will have a pretty good season.”