If there is a team that is anxious to get back to the gridiron it is the 2009 Chatham Cougar football team. Last season a very talented Cougar team was plagued with devastating injuries, iffy calls by referee’s and close loses that could have gone the other way. But this year’s squad has a new coach, new opponents and a fresh new attitude that will help them be a contender in the first year of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference.

Head man Don Morgenroth is new to the scene in Chatham but he's been around the block.  His last gig was in Bagota where he served as head coach and has a resume of being on staff of successful programs such as New Providence, Livingston and Verona. 

Morgenroth brings a hard working attitude and he likes the way his new team is responding. “These kids have trained very hard in the off season and in the summer. I think we have a very good bunch of kids that have been learning a lot this summer.”

OFFENSE

Coach Morgenroth brings his option offense to Chatham which is his specialty.   The guy who will be featured in this set will be third year runningback Kyle McDonough. McDonough is a work horse type of back who likes to run north and south and is on pace to have a break out season.

“Kyle is a big leader for us. He could have a very good year with the way we run our offense.” Coach Morgenroth said of his senior runningback.

Sharing the load in the backfield, will be senior Rob Guida. Guida is another returning letter winner from last season who is a superb athlete and is very versatile carrying the ball.

At quarterback, the Cougars get some experience back with senior Graham Wagner coming back. But Morgenroth likes to mix in different quarterbacks for a change of pace with his option offense.  So look for junior Nick Guida and senior Chris Conroy to get some action at QB as well.

Nick Guida, who is Rob's younger brother, is also a very talented player who may move out to wideout in certain sets. Also playing split end will be senior Kyle Adams and junior Brandon Carione.  Carione has looked really good this summer and has been showing some nice hands in training camp.

Up front, the Cougars will be anchored at center by the 6’2”, 235lb junior Tommy DiVito. DiVito will be supported at line by 6’, 215lb junior Greg DeLade, 6’1”, 225lb senior Jeff Furbish and 6’1”, 230lb Andrew Matt. Chatham is still working out the other line position but Coach Morgenroth feels more than a few guys will be platooning up front.

DEFENSE

Defensively, the Cougars bring a lot of toughness and experience to the table. Linebackers Mack Nestler and Kevin Madura are both physical seniors that started most of last season. Getting into the mix at linebacker will also be senior Jeff Fricke.

Fricke is an interesting story because he is playing his first year of football. However, Fricke is known for his toughness on the wrestling matt and Coach Morgenroth can tell he's bringing that over to the football field.

Playing in the secondary will be the veteran Rob Guida. Assisting him will be fellow defensive backs’ senior Mike Tracy and junior John Byrnes. Byrnes is new to the varsity but has been looking very good in 7 on 7’s over the summer.

Up front Chatham will be getting contributions from DeLade and DeVito on the ends. Helping them on the line will be the 6’4”, 225lb Casey Gill and Doug Cataldo 5’9”, 260lbs.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Playing the role of kicker will be senior Blair Gatewood.  Chatham is still battling it out for who will be the punter.  Returning kicks should be their fastest guys. 

"We have a lot of talented kids so we don't have to have too many two way starters."  Coach Morgenroth said.  "This will help us when it comes to special teams because we won't have to give kids a breather and can have our best kids on the field." 

UP & COMERS

Nick Guida is proving to be a valuable asset to this team. His biggest talent is his ability to play different positions, and play them well. He is smart enough to play quarterback, fast enough to run the ball and tough enough to play defense. Another guy making noise is training camp is sophomore Sam Nestler. He is another athletic kid who may help this Cougar team.

X-FACTOR

The fact that Chatham had so many tough breaks last season could prove to be an X-Factor for this season.  Returning guys like Graham Wagner, Rob Guida and Kyle MacDonough lived through that and don't want that to happen again.  However, probably the biggest X-Factor for the Cougars is McDonough himself.  McDonough is just a great athlete who came to camp in top shape this summer. He's probably one of the toughest and hardest hitting runningbacks in the conference.  If he stays healthy he could break 1,000 yards and help get this squad to the post season.

ROSTER (#, name, height, weight, position, grade)

2 BRYNES, JOHN 5' 10" 160 RB/DB 11
3 WEISMANTEL, BRIAN 5' 6" 150 WR/DB 11
4 WAGNER, GRAHAM 6' 1" 160 QB/DB 12
5 ADAMS, KYLE 6' 0" 170 WR/DB 12
7 WOODS, ANDREW 6' 1" 180 WR/DB 11
8 BEATTIE, JACK 6' 0" 180 WR/DB 12
9 CHRIS CONROY 6' 2" 205 QB/LB 12
10 GOLDSTIEN, MARK 5' 9" 145 WR/DB 11
11 SWEETIN, AJ 6' 2" 165 WR/DB 11
13 FAILLA, SAMMY 6' 0" 150 QB/DB 10
14 ZACHARIADES, CHARLIE 6'2" 160 WR/DB 10
15 HUELSENBACH, BRETT 5' 6" 140 WR/DB 10
16 GUIDA, NICK 5' 6" 150 QB/DB 11
17 CARIONE, BRANDON 6' 3" 185 WR/DB 11
18 MIKE TRACY 5' 11" 160 WR/DB 12
20 MONK, ALEX 6' 1" 155 WR/DB 12
21 GUIDA, ROBERT 5' 5" 160 RB/DB 12
22 HEIDARON, CORY 5' 9" 175 RB/DB 10
23 ADAMS, DYLAN 5' 8" 140 RB/DB 10
24 NESTLER, SAM 5' 8" 160 WR/DB 11
25 FRICKE, JEFF 5' 8" 165 RB/LB 12
26 GATEWOOD, BLAIR 6' 0" 165 WR/DB 12
27 BABAKIAN, MATT 5' 9" 160 RB/LB 10
28 DIAZ, DARIUS 5' 8" 135 RB/DB 10
29 FENWICK, ANDREW 5' 10" 190 RB/LB 10
30 HALLIDAY, CHRISTOPHER 5' 8" 155 WR/DB 10
31 DAMATO, JAMES 5' 9" 185 RB/LB 11
32 SCHWENCK, JOHN 5' 9" 165 RB/LB 10
33 MADURA, KEVIN 5' 10" 180 WR/LB 12
34 MCGINLEY, JACK 6' 0" 200 RB/DL 11
35 PALMER, NICK 5' 7" 160 WR/RB 10
36 ADAMS, CHRIS 5' 7" 130 RB/DB 10
37 PITONYAK,JASON 5' 8" 140 WR/DB 10
38 FONTANA, CHRIS 5' 11" 180 RB/LB 12
40 NESTLER, MAC 5' 9" 180 RB/LB 12
41 MCCARTY, JOE 5' 11" 175 OL/LB 11
42 MC DONOUGH, KYLE 5' 9" 190 RB/LB 12
43 BROWN, COLIN 6' 2" 160 WR/DB 10
44 BLACK, SEAN 5' 11" 170 RB/LB 12
47 AHSLER MAC 5' 11" 180 RB/DB 12
49 DUANE, PATRICK 5' 8" 170 RB/LB 10
50 DELADE, GREG 6' 0" 215 OL/DL 11
51 DEVITO, TOMMY 6' 2" 235 OL/DL 11
52 COSGROVE, MACK 6' 1" 225 OL/DL 10
53 GILL, CASEY 6'4" 225 OL/DL 12
54 SOUZA, SCOTT 5' 10" 180 OL/DL 10
55 FRITTS, COREY 5' 6" 150 OL/DL 10
56 ARUNK, JAMES 6' 0" 180 OL/LB 10
57 GILL, GEOFF 6' 2" 175 WR/OL 10
58 JOHE, STEVE 5' 10" 180 OL/DL 10
60 CATALDO, DOUG 5' 9" 260 OL/DL 12
61 HERBERT, RALEIGH 5' 10" 175 OL/DL 11
62 BALL, NICK 6' 0" 190 OL/DL 10
65 LYNCH, RYAN 5' 10" 200 OL/DL 11
68 PHILLIPS, JOEL 5' 8" 170 OL/DL 11
70 FURBISH, JEFF 6' 1" 225 OL/DL 12
71 BRASK, JOHN 6' 1" 250 OL/DL 10
72 HANLEY, JAKE 6' 0" 230 OL/DL 11
74 MATT, ANDREW 6' 1" 230 OL/DL 12
75 PENN, TOM 5'9" 175 OL/DL 10
76 SOLOMON, GREGORY 6' 3" 250 OL/DL 11
77 SALINARDI, JAMES 5' 10" 165 OL/LB 12
78 SLEEP, JOHN 6' 1" 205 OL/DL 10
79 SULLIVAN, NEIL 6' 3" 175 OL/DL 10
87 KNIGHTLY, JAKE 5' 11" 170 WR/DB 11
89 SWITZER, SEAN 6' 1" 170 OL/DL 10

COACHES

HEAD COACH DON MORGENROTH
ASST. COACH JASON HURTA
ASST. COACH MARC BRIEN
ASST. COACH MATT LAZZARI
ASST. COACH MIKE CARBONE
ASST. COACH TONY CALANDRA
ASST. COACH STEVE MILLER

SCHEDULE

Week 1 @ Hackettstown
Week 2 Wallkill Valley
Week 3 Caldwell
Week 4 Parsippany
Week 5 Lenape Valley
Week 6 @ Madison
Week 7 Newton
Week 8 @ Hanover Park
Week 9 @ Kittatinny

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