Jaguars chasing down another title
Season opens tonight at Southern Regional
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

Senior tailback Mark Schiavone will be looked upon to lead the Jackson offense this year, as the Jaguars look to remain one of the top programs in the state, despite heavy losses to graduation from last year's state championship team.

The last time we saw the Jackson Jaguars on the football field (in anything other than a preseason game that is), they were celebrating a thrilling 30-28 win over Brick Memorial in the Central Jersey Group IV championship game at Rutgers Stadium.

Joe Reggio had just made a dramatic catch on fourth-and-1 with three seconds to play off a pass from quarterback Cory Lavin as time expired, setting of a wild celebration that capped the Jaguars' perfect 12-0 season.

And while the memories from that classic game remain fresh in the minds of many Jackson High School football fans, this year's Jaguar team has moved on, and is ready to put together another strong title run, only with quite a few new faces making the trip.

The Jaguars graduated well over 20 players from last year's state championship team, including seven starters on offense and six on defense, and many of them were the play-makers head coach Mike Smith relied on in crunch time last year. Gone are Lavin and Reggio, as well as wide receiver Joe Arneth and Bobby Cole.

"We go nine straight weeks, with no bye week. So obviously, staying healthy will be the most important thing." - Mike Smith

Both the offensive and defensive lines feature newcomers to the varsity game, while the Jackson defensive unit as a whole needs to overcome the loss of several key players, among them Reggio, John Cella and Asil Mulbah.

But what the Jaguars do have coming back is one of the most explosive offensive players in the state in senior tailback Mark Schiavone. The bruising tailback came back last year after suffering a broken collarbone in 2004 and put together a brilliant junior season, capping it off with 150-yard effort on just 14 carries against Brick Memorial in the state final, which included a pair of touchdowns (from 29 and 35 yards).

"We feel Mark's a very good tailback," Smith said.

"Last year we needed him so much on defense that he kind of took on a secondary role on offense, but he still ran for 995 yards. This year it's his time to pace the offense."

As Schiavone goes this year, so will the Jaguars as Smith's squad prepares for another grueling season against a tough schedule.

Starting at quarterback will be junior John Cirri, who transferred from Edison High School, where he threw for over 1,110 yards last year.

"He's got nice size, and a strong arm," Smith said. "And having Mark will help take some of the pressure off of him early on."

In the backfield with Schiavone is junior fullback Donald Murphy and senior Dario Jefferson, while seniors Dan Hopkins and Jim Erdmann are the tight ends.

At the wideout spots are senior Amhad Stokes, senior Maurice Taylor and junior Mark Bergery.

The offensive line features senior Tim Nolan and Anthony Necci at right and left tackle respectively, while senior Dan Schuster and junior Chris Rae are the guards.

The center position is still up in the air, according to Smith, with two players battling it out for the starting spot.

Many of the same players will be starting on defense, with Stokes and Taylor manning the corners, and Schiavone and Jefferson at the safety positions.

The linebackers are Hopkins, senior Joe Avigliano and junior Dan Murphy, while the defensive line consists of seniors Jake Sherry and Joe Gaboff at the defensive ends, and Nolan and Rae at the tackles.

"Honestly, a lot of these guys have some varsity experience for us," Smith said. "With a lot of guys playing both ways last year, a lot of these guys got experience spelling some of the starters."

After opening up with an improved Southern Regional team tonight in Jackson, the Jaguars will travel to Marlboro next week, followed by games with Toms River East, Freehold Township, Toms River North, Howell, Delsea Regional, Brick Memorial and Manalapan.

"We play six or seven teams that were in the state playoffs last year," Smith said. "And we go nine straight weeks, with no bye week. So obviously, staying healthy will be the most important thing when you play that kind of schedule. Our main concern is our depth."

As for Southern, Smith expects a battle.

"They were hurt by graduation, just like us, but that's a program that qualified for the state tournament for the last two years, and I'm sure they're expecting to get back there once again."

Despite their significant losses on both sides of the ball, Jackson is still being talked about as one of the top teams in the Shore Conference.

As one competing coach said during a recent interview, "Every time you face them, they just seem to have a whole new group of players ready to dominate."

"We expect every year to qualify for the state tournament, and once you get there, anything can happen," Smith said.

This year's group has a tough act to follow. Tonight's game with Southern is just the tip of the iceberg. Game time is 7 p.m.