A Major Move As Bill Belton Hired As St. Augustine’s Football Coach
The South Jersey high school football scene saw one of the biggest coaching moves in recent memory when St Augustine hired former Winslow Township head coach Bill Belton as its new head football coach.
If anybody didn’t realize how committed St Augustine was to competing for a state title, this move clearly is an indication of the Hermits’ determination.
Earlier in the offseason, St Augustine made an announcement that the school and Lancetta had “parted ways.”
In nine seasons at St Augustine the Hermits went 59-34 after going 6-4 this season.
The Hermits lost to St Peter’s Prep, 31-17 in an opening round Non-Public A state playoff game.
That is a solid record at St. Augustine, but the school is looking for being better than solid.
St. Augustine has one a single state title in football but that came in 1995 when there were four Groups – Non-Public 1 through Non-Public 4. (Today there are two Groups, Non-Public A for the larger schools and Non-Public B).
St. Augustine won a Non-Public Group 1 title in 1995, the smallest of the four enrollment Groups. Things have changed drastically since then and now St. Augustine is considered a big school with big ambitions.
In 26 seasons at Hammonton, Lancetta won 215 games and four sectional crowns. (Public schools in NJ have only competed for state titles during the past four years but there have been Non-Public state championships since 1993).
The past two years the Hermits finished behind Belton and Winslow Twp in the WJFL American Division.
In four years guiding his alma mater, Belton went 42-9 and won state Group 4 titles in each of the past two seasons. Belton was also a star player at Winslow Township before playing at Penn State.
During this past season after his team lost 41-14 to traditional state Non Public A power Bergen Catholic, Belton talked about how he would like to close the huge gap between Winslow Township and the Non-Pub juggernauts.
Now he will get the chance because St Augustine is a Non-Public A team, but one that has struggled when facing the heavyweights in North Jersey.
Lancetta hasn’t lost his fastball as a coach, and it would not be surprising if he surfaced elsewhere. It is just that St Augustine apparently wanted to go in another direction.
Belton may not be a miracle worker. After all, he went 6-4 during his first year as Winslow’s head coach, but after that he got things rolling. The Eagles went 10-3 during his second year and won a sectional title and then was 14-0 and 12-2 the previous two seasons in winning state crowns.
It will be fascinating to see if the Hermits can make the massive leap from South Jersey power to state power.
The hiring of Belton indicates that the Hermits want to compete with the elite of the state.
Bill Belton / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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