Varsity Football: Building on Success

Last season the Milford Scarlet Hawks’ football team wasn’t supposed to and make it into the first round of the playoffs against Nashoba, but they did; overcoming a tough Mid Wach A League thanks to a solid class of hardworking seniors who bought into what head coach Tom Cullen and his coaching staff were trying to teach them.

This year, Cullen and his staff are back at it, and though the hardworking class of 2010 has since graduated, their leadership and team-building should carry over to this season.

“It was really a class of overachievers and I said it to that team," Cullen said. "They weren’t the most talented skill-wise, but I’ll tell you what, they were one of the hardest working teams I’ve had in 28 years of coaching."
He continued: “If you looked at the beginning of the year you’d probably say that’s a 3-8 team, but those guys started lifting and running with coach Pat Cornelius after their junior year and they bought into what we were telling them and I think that carried over into this year because we had 40 to 50 guys lifting in the offseason. So for them [the Class of 2010] I’ll always be kind of grateful for passing on the torch.”

Though Milford has some solid-skill players back, they did lose 11 seniors from last years’ team and none were more important than the four captains: offensive/defensive linemen Kyle Morgan, Brian Sanchioni and Brian Skerry, as well as running back/defensive lineman Tyler Asam. The loss of Morgan, Sanchioni and Skerry may prove evident this season, as the Hawks look to rebuild most, if not all, of their offensive and defensive lines.

“We lost everybody, so the guys that have been vying for the offensive spots are (senior) Jake Stallone, [Justin] Strapponi — who got hurt last year and hasn’t played offensive line for us, maybe 10 snaps in varsity games — sophomore David Pyne and junior Matt McIntire are vying for the center spot — and neither one of them has played a varsity down,” Cullen said. “At the other guard we have Mike Shea, who has played some defensive and offensive for us, but he’s had a taste of it, and Pat Corcoran, who started at tackle for us last year, so those guys are in the mix.”

The Hawks will also get some help from some solid blocking tight ends in senior captain Timmy Curtin-White, senior Ruben Encarnarcion and junior Gabe Caetano. Encarnarcion and Caetano will also look to help out at the defensive end position this year, along with senior Alex Wasik and Shea, a senior nose tackle, rounding out the defensive front.

Though the line may be inexperienced, particularly on offense, Cullen is confident those guys will be ready to go. “I really believe coach Cornelius does a great job with our line every year, both sides of the ball, and he’ll have those guys ready to play,” Cullen said.

The rest of the offense will once again be led by senior quarterback Steve Morganelli, as well as captains and wide receivers Jared and Chris Casey, senior captain and running back Jonathan Branch, junior running back Tommy Hytholt, junior wide receiver Mike Tarolli and Wasik, who plays wide receiver. With these skilled players back, Cullen looks to change up the Hawks’ offensive approach this year by “spreading things out.”

“Last year, my philosophy was control the clock and be opportunistic [offensively] and we did that a lot, but this year we want to spread them out a little bit — we are not going to try to pound [run] people — we want to get out on the edges a little bit, do a little bit of misdirection, a little bit more of a spread offense, which I’m not a big fan of because come November when it’s snowing here it’s pretty hard for the spread offense,” he said. “I’m kind of going against my beliefs a little bit, but I think you have to change somewhat of what you got — and not like we’re totally getting away from it — we’re just kind of adding it, so we’re still going to have the capabilities to do what we’ve done, we’re just branching out a little more. We’re trying to give our guys a better chance.”

With this spread offense, a lot of what the team will try to do offensively will depend on Morganelli. “Morganelli is the trigger guy. He can’t just go out there and throw it up. He has to make the right reads, so that’s why the pressure is on him a little bit, but I think we do have the potential to have some bigger plays than last year,” Cullen said. “I think we were more bang-it-out, move-the-ball, but this year we have to make some plays.”

Defensively, due to the key losses of their bigger defensive linemen up front, the Hawks will try to move around more, having more flexibility to do what they want against opposing offenses. Behind the d-line will be linebackers Branch, Curtin-White and Hytholt, with junior Kyle Kirby in the mix and in the secondary will be Chris (corner) and Jared (free safety) Casey, and senior James Sanchioni at corner. “When you have those veteran guys there and the ball's in the air, I don’t get as nervous as I used to,” Cullen said. “Last scrimmage, against Foxboro, we got a couple of picks on them and we were in good position, but I was really impressed with our line … defensively I feel a little sounder right now.”

The Hawks will play all of their games on the road this season due to the construction of However, the team will have four home games, but they will be played at Medway High School. Milford will face a tough schedule as they go into their last season in the Mid Wach A playing St. Peter Marian, Holy Name, Fitchburg, Wachusett and St. Johns before League next season.

Milford opens its season Friday night at 7, at Franklin, under the lights.