State of the Program: Here's how Brick Memorial football plans to return to winning ways
Entering last season with veterans in the trenches and a number of talents handing the football, Brick Memorial had reasons to be optimistic that it was going to break its streak of three consecutive losing seasons.
That was not to be.
With much of the 2021 team gone, the disappointment of the past year has ignited a fire in a new group of young burgeoning talents who are determined to return a historically successful program back to its winning ways.
"Our kids are not happy that they were 3-7 last year and they want some redemption. They would like to redeem themselves and show that," coach Walt Currie said. "We're going to play the kind of Brick Memorial football that people are used to us playing, and that's what we'd like to get back to. I think we will with this group, I think this is a great group of kids that are hungry."
Much to their disappointment, the Mustangs went an underwhelming 3-7 last fall.
Despite a lack of varsity experience in certain spots, Currie will be working with a core of players who went undefeated in JV last season and sophomores who went 6-2 when a part of freshman team, in addition to some important returning players.
Despite the inexperience, the veteran coach believes in the talent of the roster and is excited with what he's seen thus far.
"In 16 years, I don't know if we've ever had a first week of minicamp where so many kids have had such a great attitude and had a such a great effort," said Currie.
One more score
While Brick Memorial's record last season may have looked lopsided, they were involved in many nail biters and victims of one-possession losses.
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To reverse this tide, Currie has the same challenge for both his offense and the defense: one more score.
"Just like on offense, where we have to do a better job finishing drives and score more points, on the defensive side we've got to give up less, we've got to give up one less touchdown per game, and we think that's going to give us a good shot to win a lot of games," Currie said.
Currie doesn't only expect the players on the field to improve, but he recognizes the responsibility he and the staff have in improving a defense that gave up more than 25 points per game last year.
"We watched film at an excruciatingly high level in the offseason and we realized there were drives we completely blew. It wasn't anything the defense was necessarily doing, we were making mistakes and when we correct those mistakes we'll get one more score per game," Currie said. "If we can do the same thing on the other side of the ball that 3-7 will flip to a 7-3 and that will give us a better chance to compete for a division title and get back in the playoffs where we were used to being."
A leader under center
Last season Connor Dietz was somewhat of an outlier at quarterback. In a Brick Memorial offense filled with upperclassmen, Dietz as a sophomore was relied upon as a first-year starter.
Now a junior with a year of experience, he's ready to take more of a vocal leadership role.
"Being an upperclassman I get to lead the team a little bit more and I get to have more of a voice in what we do," Dietz said.
Despite some early growing pains, Dietz ran and threw the ball for more than 1,000 yards last season and is hoping to expand upon a productive start to his career this season.
"It's definitely (the game) slowed down a little bit. In my head I can process things a lot faster because the game has kind of come back to me and it's natural," Dietz explained.
Heading into a new year, Dietz not only has high expectations for himself, but from Currie, who is opening up the playbook to a new level as a result of the quarterbacks maturation.
"What I've already seen from Connor is what we expected from Connor and that is that he improved his play at quarterback," Currie said proudly. "Last year he played quarterback, but this year he's really become a quarterback. He's the field general, he's the captain of the offense, he's the coach on the field. He's everything you want and he's improved his quarterback play."
A new offensive line
Protecting the young quarterback last year was an offensive line of five seniors, all of whom were returning starters. Meaning this year, Dietz will have an entire new group in front of him.
"I was a very nervous hearing that we're losing all of our lineman, but these guys are going to be a pretty good replacement," Dietz said.
The group may be new to the varsity level, but all five have experience playing alongside each other on a winning JV team.
"You never want to lose five guys, but at the same time we had five guys behind them that led an undefeated JV team. Not that JV is the same as varsity because it's clearly not, but we have a good foundation, we have a good nucleus of kids upfront," Currie said. "I have absolutely no worry that we'll even skip a beat upfront."
Team capsule
NJSIAA Group Classification: South 4.
Coach: Walt Currie, 16th season, 88-74.
Base offense: Spread Option.
Base defense: 4-2-5.
Last year: 3-7. Defeated Howell, Matawan and Ocean Township and reached end of regular season at 3-5, then lost two crossover games.
Schedule
Sept. 1: at Jackson Memorial, 6 p.m.
Sept. 9: Red Bank Regional, 6 p.m.
Sept. 16: at Ocean, 7 p.m.
Sept. 23: Neptune, 6 p.m.
Sept. 30: Freehold Township, 6 p.m.
Oct. 7: Toms River South, 6 p.m.
Oct. 14: at Central Regional, 7 p.m.
Oct. 22: at Brick Township, 12 p.m.
Summer roster
No., Plyer, Pos., Year, Height, Weight
1 Elijah Benjamin WR, CB Sr. 5'10" 177
4 Ibn Taylor RB, MLB, TE Sr.
6 Devante Noriega WR, CB Sr. 6'0" 160
7 Joey Nolan QB, OLB Sr. 5'11" 175
8 Connor Dietz QB, FS Jr. 6'1" 170
9 Alex Nickerson WR, CB 5'11" 165
11 Michael Dayton WR, CB, FS Sr.
13 Jasaan Whittaker SS, WR Jr. 5'6" 140
15 Matthew Cohrs WR, OLB Sr.
19 Brandon Lieb FS, WR Sr. 5'8" 145
23 Aidan Perry WR, CB Sr.
24 Carlos Obeso WR Jr.
26 Edwin Vargas RB, MLB Jr.
27 James Hoffmann
30 Jake Mooney WR, CB Sr.
30 Kyle Lair WR, SS Sr.
30 Isaiah Crispin WR, CB Jr.
35 Declan Sheehan WR, CB Sr.
38 Joe Albanese DE, TE Jr. 5'11" 180
44 Colin Wernersbach MLB, SB Sr. 5'7" 150
46 Triztian Hollins RB, WR, CB Jr.
50 Richard Gardner DE, G Sr. 5'9" 210
52 Brian Greenfield G, OLB
59 Tommy Nicholls MLB, G Jr.
67 Anthony Del Casale DE, DT Sr.
71 Armando Vazquez DE Sr.
75 Jordan Lizardi C Sr.
75 Jayden Aponte T, NG, DE Sr.
77 Hector Rivera NG, DE, DT Jr.
78 Joe Castellano 6'2"
82 Kyle Sywanycz
84 Nick Dayton WR Sr.
88 Ben Woolley DE, TE Sr. 6'5" 245
Eric Mel C, DT Jr.
Tyler Gonzalez RB, OLB
Drew Wrightington G, T, MLB Jr. 5'8" 167
Connor Sabolchick WR Jr.
Jeremy Campbell 6'4" 280
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Brick Memorial NJ football 2022 season preview: State of the Program
