Ardmore – The Lower Merion High School football team won its first game since 1992 last fall, and LM head coach Joe Augustine and his staff are looking to build on that new winning tradition this fall.
“I think our expectations are about the same as last year – we look at each game as its own challenge,” Augustine said. “We’re very confident this year and the team has a chip on their shoulder – they don’t want last season to be seen as a drop in the bucket, they want to move on and show the growth of our program that we’ve worked so hard on over the last 4-5 years.”
The key players in Lower Merion’s successful season last fall were the older players – most notably quarterback/defensive back Mekhai Smith and linebackers Andrew Cook and Ben Booker – but Augustine points out that many younger players also got valuable playing time for Lower Merion last fall.
“We had a lot of great seniors last year, but we have a lot of great kids coming back this year,” Augustine said. “A lot of our projected starters (this fall) were on the varsity team last year. This year we want to get over the hump to make the (district) playoffs and end that drought.”
Lower Merion has four football captains this fall – senior fullback/linebacker Andrew Payne, junior quarterback Nick DeLuca, senior running back/linebacker Shane Hermosisima and senior wide receiver Jace Rothberg. Payne and Rothberg are returning starters and DeLuca had three starts at QB last fall.
Payne said: “I’m very confident that we can carry the momentum from last year into this season and hopefully build on it.”
Rothberg said: “Last year was fun – I feel like I played more of a quiet role (on the team), but I think I can be more of a leader (as captain) this year and that we can continue what we did (on the field) last year.”
DeLuca said, “We’re going to have a younger team this year, but I think we have a lot of talent, hard work and dedication – I think we’re going to be good. In the offseason, we’ve been doing a lot of 7 a.m. practices and getting good (participation numbers).”
Hermosisima said: “I think the expectations are high this year because last year we had such good (senior) players who moved on. I think we should take the momentum and keep going. I think we will put in a lot of hard work (in preseason) and get it done.”
Augustine noted that Lower Merion has three returning starters on the offensive line – junior tackle Charlie Welgs, junior tackle Kechan Miller and senior guard Sebastian Soto-Ortiz
“Having three returning starters on the offensive line is a completely new thing for us. We’re in a strong position there,” Augustine said. “I’m a big run player, so our backfield will be a focal point for us. If we establish the run, everything else on offense will be a lot easier.”
Another starter returning at forward is senior tight end CJ Morgan, who Augustine said “made some great catches in the red zone for us last year.”
On defense, Augustine considers LM’s linebacker corps, led by Payne and Hermosisima, to be a key factor in the team’s success this fall.
“Our linebackers set the tone on defense – they play very fast and very physical,” Augustine said. “When we need those big stops, they’re the ones that step in for us. We have good linemen in front of them that do all the dirty work so our linebackers can make the plays.”
Key players on offense will be Miller at defensive tackle and sophomore Ethan Jackson at nose guard/defensive tackle. Another key player will likely be versatile junior Paul Mezey-McMahon, who excelled on special teams last fall and can play both linebacker and defensive line.
This summer, Lower Merion players did not rest on their laurels.
“We started lifting weights every day (Monday through Thursday) at 7 a.m. during the summer, a week after the school year ended,” Augustine said. “Every year people tell me I’m crazy to start doing this so early in the summer, but the number of guys that showed up (was good) and they worked hard. We hit the field after lifting weights, running hills and doing agility drills. Later in the evening we did some workouts as a team and hopefully that made us better — we’ve all been waiting for this time (football season) to come.”
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