Published Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997
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1997 season preview
'Hounds favored to repeat in MCAC AA
With Labor Day and football season approaching, the calendar infers the obvious. But in New Wilmington, it may as well be track season, considering the flying feet the aptly-named '97 Greyhound gridders will feature.
The 3-time defending District 10 Class AA champions will boast speed to spare at the offensive skill positions, complemented by another stifling defensive unit in the tradition of The Hounds' Hammer.
Recently, head coach Terry Verrelli (115-76-3) took a flourescent marking pen, perused his club's roster, and drew a line over the names of six seniors he feels will form the nucleus of this year's edition.
Demetrious Rich, Doug Dudash and Jon Tekac were members of the Wilmington track team that ended in a tie for the PIAA Class AA runner-up spot at last spring's championships. Dudash and Tekac will join veteran signal-caller Todd Smargiasso in the backfield, while Rich will serve as Smargiasso's go-to guy in the vertical passing game. They will run behind lanes provided by guard Justin Koi and tackle Ryan Gargasz.
``Speed is definitely the key,'' Verrelli asserted.
Wilmington led Herald coverage-area squads in scoring (36.8 points per game) and total offense (357.4 yards/game) in '96, as Dudash rushed for 897 yards and Tekac contributed 646 markers. Smargiasso also completed 54 of 94 passes for 950 yards, 8 touchdowns and only one interception.
When one thinks of Wilmington, though, it's difficult to ignore the defense. The Hounds' Hammer produced eight consecutive shutouts to commence the '96 campaign before Sharon scored in the first half of the regular-season finale. That was the lone score Wilmington surrendered until the playoffs.
The Greyhounds permitted only 2.7 ppg. and yielded just 137.5 yards/game en route to a 12-1 mark before being ousted in the PIAA state quarterfinals for the second straight season by Tyrone.
Verrelli, admittedly, again is counting on his defense.
``We certainly hope so, because they have my expectations of going down the road, and you won't go down the road without a great defense. That, obviously, is our No. 1 goal. Even though we've got some great offensive people, you've got to play defense first, and we really expect to have a high-quality defensive team,'' the veteran Verrelli began.
``But, I mean, unscored upon? Trying to match last year? I think that would be the absolute worst thing we could get into; that's sort of creating your own problems (and) my[JU]job's to get rid of (problems).
``That's last year and we're not trying to top that or even compare to that, because that was just an unusual thing. It wasn't anything that we did, I don't believe, as far as being unscored upon. We played good defense. Why we were unscored upon was luck more than anything else.
``We just want to be a good, sound defensive team, and that unscored upon stuff, those are not visions at all.''
What Verrelli envisions is another successful season, a step at a time.
``I think you have to be goal-oriented to really be successful, but there's different philosophies,'' he emphasized. ``We just don't speak too much of `down-the-road' goals. Everybody has them _ they're unspoken _ but they all know what we all are after. But to me, I just want to concentrate on that first game. You're not going down the road without the first game and the second one and so on. But I think, down the road, your goals are achieved by being successful with what you're doing at the moment.
``I don't like to talk about down the road, because that's looking ahead,'' Verrelli continued. ``We've got to play that first game and do well and be ready to go and it'll take care of itself, each game will, and those rewards at the end of the year _ playoffs _ they'll come.''
Last year's Wilmington-Sharon contest was one of Mercer County's most eagerly anticipated epic battles, and approximately 8,000 grid enthusiasts witnessed Wilmington's second-half dominance that produced an impressive victory at Tiger Stadium. Regarding the '97 Mercer County Athletic Conference, Verrelli admitted,
``I think, obviously, Sharon. They're strong every year and there's no reason they wouldn't be this year. They've got some, obviously, real good skill-people coming back, so Sharon's going to be a good football team. But I honestly don't know enough about the returning people from the other teams to be able to say. I think Hickory could probably put together a good football team; I just don't know about Grove City, and some of the other teams, I'm just not certain enough to be able to say.''
One point on which Verrelli is relatively certain:
``We feel great about (this season's prospects). I think our problem is too much talk, too much hype. You've got six great athletes and you certainly ought to be able to win some games with those guys. And we will. It's just _ unsaid _ we want to go further down the road than that, and that's gonna take some work in molding everyone together, more than just those six people.''
Bob Mitcheltree, David Welch, Brian Cooper, Scott Shearer, Alan Kirk, Mike Grimm, Mike Henry and Roger Urey will assist Verrelli.
