To a man, everyone on the Marcellus football team has focused on one topic since the 2015 season ended with a 4-5 record and no post-season appearance.
“Our defense needs to get more aggressive and more physical,” said Tom Fiacchi.
Last fall, the Mustangs had little trouble finding the end zone on a regular basis. The problem was that opponents got there far more often and piled up more than 300 points. Marcellus could not let that happen again.
To that end, head coach Joe Fiacchi tapped Nick Patterson as his defensive coordinator. Patterson, a former head coach at Tully and Nottingham, has brought, in Tom Fiacchi’s terms, an “aggressive, in-your-face” style to the team.
“That’s definitely our focus,” said Joe Fiacchi. “We’ve got to stop people.”
Patterson, in laying out his defensive philosophy, said that, in years past, Marcellus would get caught up in trying to create proper schemes to counter the formations it would face and forgot about the fundamental parts, like blocking and tackling.
“We had to get back to basics,” said Patterson. “Defense is an attitude, and has one objection – get to the ball.”
Once the parameters were established, the task turned to finding a new alignment. It’s now a 4-3 look, which Patterson said was based on the personnel at hand and a need to be more flexible and “get more athletes on the field.”
Nick Femano, Joe Morton, Kyle Denka and Corey Garvey all expect to start on the defensive line in front of Kern Linder, Shane Rohe and Nate Lukins, who form a strong trio at linebacker. Marcellus has also established its secondary, with Nick Patterson Jr. and Matt Reich at cornerback flanking safeties Conner Wixson and Chris Patterson.
But it’s not that the Mustangs have forgotten about putting points on the board. Tom Fiacchi and his teammates took part in plenty of off-season seven-on-seven camps at Syracuse University, Ithaca College and St. John Fisher, among other locations, to fine-tune an already strong passing game.
Marcellus doesn’t lack for targets for Fiacchi to throw to. When he isn’t backing up Fiacchi, Nick Patterson Jr. will join Rohe, Alex Clark and Chris Patterson at the wide receiver spots. At times, they may all be on the field when the Mustangs to four-wideout sets, giving foes plenty to think about.
A large part of the confidence in the passing game stems from the threat of the run from Nate Garlow. All that Garlow did in 2015 was gain 1,227 yards on the ground and catch 24 passes for 538 yards.
Joe Fiacchi said a primary factor in Garlow’s effectiveness is that dual threat, able to pile up carries and take hits while at the same time giving the Mustangs yet another prime receiving target. Garlow should get some help in the backfield, too, as Quimone Bell-Hunter takes on a larger role this fall.
There’s more experience on the offensive line, where three starters return. Linder (245 pounds) is at left tackle, joined by Luke Norstad (254 pounds) at guard and Chad Casler (240 pounds) at center. Garvey (223 pounds) and Martin (228 pounds) add further size and experience, with 227-pound senior Alex Henderson joining the group.
Marcellus does sense opportunities, both in the Class B West division and the larger picture. Westhill (whom the Mustangs face in Thursday night’s Kickoff Classic at the Carrier Dome), Solvay and Chittenango all have new coaches. Not only that, but defending state champion Cazenovia lost most of its top players.
This means that the sectional race could prove a bit more wide-open for someone to step up – and that just might be Marcellus, though it all depends on whether a defense that got pushed around in 2015 pushes back a year later.
