Veteran Pats team has high hopes on gridiron
BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer
Areturn to the basics helped Freehold Township and head coach Dominick Lepore turn its 2006 season around, and is reason for optimism this fall.

JEFF GRANIT staff The Patriots will once again feature one of the top backs in the Shore Conference this year in Kyle Ramos-Herrera, who ran for 825 yards last season.

Lepore gave the spread offense a whirl last fall and after a 0-5 start, he figured it was time to do what Freehold Township does best, play physical football. That resulted in four wins in its final fifth game and plenty of momentum to carry over to 2007.

"Winning four of our last five gives us something to build on," said Lepore, the only coach to lead Freehold Township to the state playoffs. "At this point, we're ahead of where we were last year.

"This is the second year running this defense [odd man front] and we feel good about it," he added. "Offensively, we want to pick up where we left off."

The Pats are looking to their "triplets" to present a dilemma for defenses. The triplets are quarterback Jack LaPietra, running back Kyle Ramos-Herrera and wide receiver Ryan Spadola. Anyone of this trio can hurt a team.

LaPietra, a senior, seemed to benefit the most when the Pats changed their offense. By the end of the year, he was moving the ball through the air.

"Jack has a strong arm and his decision making is a year better," said Lepore. "Overall, he's more comfortable and he'll be more efficient. We don't ask him to do everything, just manage the offense."

LaPietra has a lot of weapons at his disposal, led, of course, by Ramos-Herrera, who is already a two-year starter. He is coming off a season in which he rushed for 825 yards and ran for eight touchdowns. He's not just a grind-it-out-between-thetackles runner, as his 5.2 yards per carry will attest.

"Kyle is a natural, he was born to run," said Lepore. "He has the ability to do great things. He's very shifty. He brings a lot to the table."

Just in case teams think they can put eight of nine players in the box to slow Ramos-Herrera and the Pats down, think again. You have to deal with the strong arm of LaPietra and a wide receiver that can go get it deep in Spadola.

"He makes plays," Lepore said of Spadola, the lone junior of the triplets. "He can go vertical. We need to get him the ball."

In addition to catching the ball, Spadola is the team's punt returner and kicker.

Justin Shaw is the team's fullback with John Bennett, Ramos- Herrera's backup.

Kevin Popek, Chris Santopietro and Vin Verdolino are the receivers who will make up the corps that will start on the opposite side of Spadola at wide receiver. It will be important that they develop into viable options to make the Patriot offense more dangerous.

Up front, the Pats only have one returning starter from last fall, center Kevin Collins. He is the undisputed leader of the offensive line and takes it as his job to get this unit to perform at a very high level.

Matt Faiella and Momoh Bassie are the guards, with Danny Zara and Jeff Koubek as the tackles.

What they all have in common, according to their head coach, is physical play. They look to drive defensive lines back.

Defensively, the Patriots went to the odd-man 3-5-3 last year with outstanding results. They were one of the hardest units to score on and they should only be better this year.

Matt Suppa is the nose guard in the three-man front and he has proven to be too quick for centers to handle.

Ashton Aily and Joe Pivinsky, who also started last year, are the ends.

Township has depth on the line with Matt Claro, Koubek and Collins all seeing action.

In the 3-5 front, linebackers make plays and the Patriots have a very strong unit, led by returning inside backer Faiella, a junior.

"He's a football player," said Lepore. "He's relentless."

Jeremy Lupo, John Quinones, James King, Shaw and Andrew Williams are the other players who make up this formidable unit. Lepore said that he looks for his linebackers to "go find the ball."

In the secondary, Ramos-Herrera will start at corner with Spadola at free safety.

Verdolino, Andrew Esposito and Mike Marino will all see action at the other corner position.

With the odd-man front, the Pats play a very aggressive style of defense looking to blitz and cause confusion for the offense. The Pats proved to have playmakers that could cause turnovers last year, and more can be expected this time around.

With their weapons on offense and a defense that is battle tested, the Pats should go from 4-6 to playoff contender, if not participant.

Freehold Township remains in the American Division of the Shore Conference. The Pats kick the season off at home on Sept. 8 (7 p.m.) against defending division champion Toms River East. They visit Brick Memorial, which made the state playoffs last year, on Sept. 15 and are home again to Toms River North on Sept. 22 (7 p.m.).

If the Pats can negotiate their way through these first three games, they will be in good position for a playoff run.