Lancers ready for year two under Amabile
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

When John Amabile took the head football coaching position at St. John Vianney prior to last year’s season, word spread quickly that he would quickly turn the Lancer program into a powerhouse.

And while the Lancer team was improved last year, and certainly got better as the season progressed, Amabile’s squad was not among the top teams in the Shore Conference at season’s end.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day, right?

Well, don’t expect this to necessarily be the year when SJV takes its place among the Shore powers either. Not because of a lack of progress, or talent for that matter, but due to a lack of overall experience.

“We’re extremely young,” Amabile said. “I’ve got five seniors, and four of them start — one on offense and three on defense.”

The Lancers’ inexperience leads to Amabile’s prediction that his team will continue to be a work in progress this season.

“This team is going to make some mistakes, you can be sure of that,” he said. “But these kids are working hard, so we just need to be patient and get them some experience.”

If you only have one senior on your offense, you hope that it will be at a key position. That is the case here, as Steve Borchard returns at the quarterback position.

“That’s certainly a plus,” Amabile said.

The rest of the offense is not so certain, as Amabile continues to put together an offensive unit that best suits his team’s needs.

In the backfield, freshman running back Dave Whittaker will share time with a junior transfer student, Rob Robertson. Junior Mike Lubrano is the team’s wing back, with junior Kevin McInerney at wide receiver.

The offense line features juniors Ryan Chehanske and Evan Orosz at the tackle positions, junior Joe Melchionna and sophomore Rich Alvarez at the guard slots, and another transfer student, junior Tom Lang, at the center position.

“That’s a lot of underclassmen, but a lot of them have looked good in the preseason,” Amabile said.

On defense, the Lancers return senior defensive end Phil Karnicki and senior defensive tackle Glen Geraghty, while McInerney and Borchard return at the safety positions.

Also playing on the defensive line will be Chehanske and sophomore Ed Johurnick. The linebacking crew includes Eric Geraghty and yet another transfer, Nick Scarillo, while Robertson and Robbie Howell are the starting cornerbacks.

The Lancers open their season on Friday night with a game against another team that struggled a bit last year — Holmdel.

“They’ve got the same kind of club as we do, though I doubt that they are as inexperienced as we are,” Amabile said. “And I think they had a better preseason than we did.”

The Lancers’ preseason certainly helped Amabile recognize what he has to work with, though he’s not tipping his cap at this point.

“We did some good things, but not enough to say I’m overly confident going into Friday night,” he said.

And the coach is stressing to his team the importance of getting a win on Friday.

“A lot of what we’ll do this year will depend on how we start the first game,” he said. “That first game is always critical, especially with a young team.

“As the season progresses, they’ll get better,” he added. “They’re working hard, and they’ll go into every game expecting to win.”

Championship programs are not built overnight. But Amabile, who built Neptune and Wall into state champions, knows exactly what it takes.

In other words, look past the overall inexperience and expect a better St. John Vianney football team this season.

St. John Vianney

2004 Football Schedule

Sept. 10@ Holmdel7 p.m.

Sept. 17Manasquan7 p.m.

Sept. 24Manchester7 p.m.

Oct. 1Pinelands7 p.m.

Oct. 15Red Bank Catholic7 p.m.

Oct. 22Raritan7 p.m.

Oct. 30@ Mater Dei1 p.m.

Nov. 6@ Monmouth Reg.2 p.m.

Nov. 25@ Matawan11 a.m.