Hitting the Ground Running
Matt Kreider has tackled his new job as Lenape’s head football coach with unbridled enthusiasm. The only thing that Kreider wishes is that there were more hours in the day.
While excited to be the new coach of what has been a strong program that annually plays one of the more difficult schedules in South Jersey, Kreider wasn’t exactly hired at the most ideal time. He was appointed in late June to replace Joe Wojceichowski, who resigned as special education teacher and football coach to take a job in sales.
Less than two weeks after Kreider was hired, he was already overseeing Lenape’s two teams that were entered in the West Deptford Summer League.
“Going 100 miles per hour is a great way to define it,” Kreider said.
He spent his first month on the job learning as much about his players as possible.
“I am trying to practice what I preach,” said Kreider, who will also be a special education teacher at Lenape. “We tell these guys all the time that they need to handle adversity, and they need to handle one thing at a time.”
This is an exciting time for the 35-year-old Kreider since it is his first head coaching position, but he has extensive coaching experience.
Kreider spent the last eight years as the defensive coordinator at Kean University, where he was with the program for 10 years.
Before that he was the defensive coordinator at New Jersey’s Lakeland High for two years.
“When you are a coordinator, you always have visions that ‘if this was my program, I would do this way or that way,’” he said. “It’s exciting, it’s awesome, it’s so much fun, but I am really trying to do one thing at a time.”
Lenape’s opener is Aug. 30 at Passaic Tech.
Last season Lenape went 3-7 but as recently as 2022, the Indians reached the Central Jersey Group 5 championship game, losing to Edison 28-14.
This schedule is always challenging, and this year is no different. Lenape will compete in the West Jersey Football League Colonial Division, which also includes Shawnee, Camden, Rancocas Valley and Camden Eastside. Other non-division games besides the opener are against Cherokee, Ocean City, Washington Township, and St. Augustine.
As for playing such a tough schedule, Kreider, says to bring it on.
“I think it’s awesome because we always want these guys to see challenges as opportunities, not obstacles,” he said.
Kreider certainly knows the South Jersey scene. He is a 2007 graduate of Delran. He then played at the College of New Jersey, eventually earning all-conference honors as a safety.
With all his experience as a player and coach, Kreider says the master’s degree he earned in special education has had a major impact on his coaching career.
“That master’s degree in special education has taught me more about teaching football than I can ever imagine,” he said. “The differentiated instruction and how you teach your seniors different than you teach your freshmen, it couldn’t have more application to what we do as football coaches.”
For Kreider, this first year especially will be a race against time, but he’s willing to make the sprint.
“Everything is happening so fast,” he said. “The No. 1 thing that is my job and that of my coaches is to develop relationships with these kids and let them know that we’re in their corner.”
Photo Lenape's Matt Kreider / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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