New-look Vikings look to keep momentum
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

Above, South Brunswick players work on some running drills during a practice on Wednesday at the high school. Below, Angelo Vitale hauls in a pass during a drill.

The South Brunswick football team hopes it's true what they say about how success breeds success.

The Vikings, who suffered through back-to-back 2-8 seasons in 2003 and '04, finally had a breakout season last year when they went an impressive 7-3 to finish third in the GMC Red Division, and just missed qualifying for the state playoffs.

In fact, South Brunswick tied Hillsborough for the eighth and final spot, but lost out on a tiebreaker.

Now the Vikings hope to ride the momentum of last season into the 2006 campaign, which begins tonight at 7 with an out-of-conference home game against Monroe.

"That's what we're hoping for," fourth-year head coach Mark Prelewicz agreed. "We hope the players who didn't get to play much, watched some of the things that happened last year so they know what they have to do to keep it going."

PHOTOS BY SCOTT PILLING staff

It won't get any easier after this weekend's game, since over the next two weeks, the Vikings will be on the road, taking on the GMC's two top-ranked teams, Sayreville (Sept. 15) and Piscataway (Sept. 21).

Prelewicz is the first to admit duplicating last year's success will not be an easy task by any means. Not after South Brunswick lost a host of talented players through graduation, the most talented of whom was All-GMC Red Division tailback Vince Davidson, who scored 28 touchdowns and rushed for over 1,700 yards last season.

When the Vikings weren't running the ball, senior QB Mario DeFelice was throwing it to lead a potent offensive attack in the air and on the ground.

"We lost a good senior class," Prelewicz, in his sixth year overall with the SBHS football program, said. "But we still have some experience back. We have some guys who didn't play much last year but who have waited their turn. Now we'll see if they're ready for it.

SCOTT PILLING staff South Brunswick quarterback Muhammed Sanu pitches the ball to Kenny Felton during a drill at Wednesday's practice at South Brunswick High School.

"It will be interesting to see who steps up."

One player Prelewicz is expecting to do so is returning starter Joe Clancy, a 6-0, 210-pound senior fullback who complemented Davidson in last year's backfield. Now Clancy will be the main ball carrier.

Two more players Prelewicz is counting on stepping up are senior linemen Joe Mecca (6-2, 290) and John Viotto (6-1, 260), both starting two-way linemen last year.

But after them and Clancy, the Vikings are looking at new players at virtually every other position.

"We have a lot of guys who are unproven that are just coming into the system," Prelewicz said. "They're all still trying to find themselves."

Which is why Prelewicz stopped short of naming too many other starters. A little more than a week away from the 2006 season opener, he's not even sure who's starting.

"Last year's JV and freshman teams were a couple of solid programs, and we're hoping players from those teams will now step up into starting roles and perform," Prelewicz said. "But we have a lot of questions, and only time will tell if they can handle Friday nights."

One such player the South Brunswick coach hopes can handle it is sophomore quarterback Muhammed Sanu, who didn't play either freshman or JV ball last year.

"He was up on varsity," Prelewicz pointed out. "He didn't get in any games, but he was good enough to be up with the varsity as a freshman.

"He's been doing all right so far this preseason, too," Prelewicz added. "He's done nothing terribly bad and he's done nothing unbelievably great yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing where he fits in."

The Vikings may be hard-pressed to go 7-3 again with so many young and unproven players on the varsity level. But don't expect South Brunswick to fall back on tough times again and go 2-8, either. Instead, they will probably land somewhere in between.

"It's all up in the air right now," Prelewicz said. "It's too tough to predict."