September 22, 2004
Right decisions can change directions
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Football coaches are faced with hundreds of decisions every weekend. Who to put on the field? Run or
pass? Left or right? Blitz or not? The choices come at them constantly.
But there are some big decisions that can change the course of careers.
Back in the 1980s, Holy Spirit’s Ed Byrnes welcomed two young freshmen with strong youth backgrounds
as quarterbacks – Al Mallen and Kevin Hallman. Both had the arm and the experience. But, as we know,
there is only one quarterback. Byrnes picked Mallen, moving Hallman to wide receiver. The result? In 1988,
Mallen set the Cape-Atlantic League record for passing yards and Hallman the CAL record for receiving
yards.
A few years ago, Mainland’s Bob Coffey had a talented young quarterback in Dan Cappelluti when another
skilled quarterback, Mike Bradway, transferred into Linwood. Coffey decided to keep Cappelluti where he
was and make Bradway into a wide receiver. The result? Cappelluti set all-time Mainland passing records
and Bradway had a fabulous junior year, stopped from setting records only by a season-ending injury as a
senior.
Gary Degenhardt faced a similar decision in the 1990s when Steffon Davis and Matt LeFever battled for the
quarterback spot. He eventually went with LeFever, who set school records, and used the athletic skills of
Davis as a wide receiver with success.
This year Degenhardt was faced with a similar decision and early indications are that he made the right
one. Jim Crowley, who does pretty much everything for Ocean City in a game but inflate the footballs, was
moved from quarterback to wide receiver. Junior Jordan Torroni took over at quarterback.
The change gives the Raiders a quarterback with a little stronger arm but also an additional running back
and receiver in Crowley. Torroni is among the league’s top rated quarterbacks at this early point of the
season and Crowley is among the top receivers.
Only time will tell if this switch has the impact of those made earlier at Holy Spirit, Mainland and Ocean
City.
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Speaking of decisions, the NJSIAA has made one.
Any varsity team that accumulates three or more player or coach ejections for flagrant, unsportsmanlike
conduct prior to the start of an NJSIAA tournament, will not be permitted to participate in that tournament.
This includes all ejections prior to the start of the tournament for that team, even if the seeding has already
been completed.
In addition, any player with two or more unsportsmanlike ejections in one season, prior to the start of an
NJSIAA tournament, will be ineligible to compete in that tournament.
By the way, during the last school year there were nine schools in the CAL with no ejections in any
sports – Cape May Tech, Hammonton, Lower Cape May, Mainland, Middle Township, Millville, Our Lady of
Mercy, St. Joseph and Wildwood Catholic.
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