SJ Sports: Tri-County Preview

The Tri-County football conference is taking on a new look, but the same old contenders appear ready to once again battle for league supremacy. First of all, the Tri-County has expanded by three teams, with Overbrook and Highland coming over from the Olympic Conference and Wildwood moving in from the Cape Atlantic League.

That forced the league to expand to three divisions. The big-school Royal Division will still have nine teams, while the 10-team Classic Division will be split into two divisions.

Despite the changes, Delsea still remains as the team to beat in the Royal Division, while defending champion Glassboro and Gloucester will battle for the title in Division B of the Classic Division. Salem and Woodstown appear to be the frontrunners in Division A.

Since 1997, either Delsea or Kingsway has won the Royal Division. Once again they are the top two contenders. Delsea is the defending champion and has won two in a row and four of the last five Royal Division titles. Kingsway, which shared the title in 2000 with Delsea and Gloucester Catholic, is the defending South Jersey Group 2 champion and appears well equipped to defend its title.

Delsea has four of the top players in the conference, all seniors. They are James Stevenson, 6-3 240-pound tight end and defensive end; running back-defensive back Darnell Elie; fullback-linebacker D.J. Talvacchio and two-way lineman Jeff Tyler (6-6, 285).

Kingsway is led by running back-defensive back Dorien Bryant, one of the most gifted and fastest players in South Jersey. Last year Bryant scored 20 touchdowns and averaged 11 yards per carry in gaining 1,200 yards.

"I think people underrate our conference," Bryant said. "Our teams seem to do well in the playoffs and that is a credit to the competition in Tri-County."

This could be much more than a two-team race in the Royal. Deptford went 6-4 last year and won its final four games and many consider the Spartans to be a viable contender. Junior Mike Green is entering his third season as a starter at running back and linebacker and he is among the best players in the league.

Clearview, which lost its first two games, but then rebounded to make the playoffs during a 7-3 season, is considered an outside contender. After that, the rest of the teams, Gloucester Catholic, Highland, Overbrook, Cumberland and Williamstown, will all battle for respectability.

Glassboro has won the last four Classic Division titles and the Bulldogs won’t relinquish their championship easily. Herb Neilio replaced veteran coach Bob Cleary at Glassboro. Neilio will rely heavily on senior running back Isiah Graves, who rushed for 1,018 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. Isaac Chapman, a 6-0, 310-pound two-way lineman is among the biggest and best players in the league.

Gloucester coach Leon Harris has guided his team to six Classic Division titles since 1989. Last year the Lions began 10-0, which included a Group 1 playoff win over Glassboro. Gloucester then lost to Glassboro the next week, giving the Bulldogs the Classic Division crown. Then Gloucester ended with a 55-6 loss to Paulsboro in the South Jersey Group 1 final.

Vince Londino, who returned four kicks for touchdowns, will be the featured running back, replacing 2000-yard rusher Mike Blankenship. Junior defensive lineman Joe Hartzel and senior quarterback Keith O’Donnell were first-team all-conference choices.

The Division A title could come down to the winner of the Thanksgiving game between Salem and Woodstown. Salem has the league’s top sophomore, running back-defensive back Corey Smith, who rushed for more than 900 yards last year.

Woodstown moves over from the Tri-County Royal and despite being hit hard by graduation, the Wolverines should contend. Pitman, with senior running back Keros Cooper, also looks to challenge for the title.

For more Local Sports features, visit our Sports page.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: Marc Narducci