This season’s football team will definitely be one to beat. With constant play calls such as “Eagle! Eagle! Eagle!” and “Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!” being shouted, one thing is obvious: this team is fast and on the hunt for a winning season. The Pirates walked away from their last scrimmage against Seneca with a winning score of 24-7, ending their preseason on a high note.

After the game, Coach Patrizi was “proud of the effort” that the boys put into the scrimmage, however football is a sport that demands teamwork in order to be efficient. This year’s team seems to have a grip of comradery that could send the team either way but Patrizi claimed that “we’ll come together as a team at the right time.”

Last year the football team ended their season with an 8-2 record. They were knocked out of the playoffs after the first round by an extremely athletic Bridgeton team, 47-26.   However, the next week, the team clinched their third consecutive Patriot Division title when they absolutely shellacked Delran, 42-0 on Thanksgiving.

Although the team lost a hefty amount of seniors to graduation, Patrizi explains that last year “had a good group [of seniors] no doubt but they lead a good example for seniors this year.”

Senior Quarterback and three-year starter, Nick Thevanayagam also feels the loss of seniors will be one that the team can overcome saying, “the seniors this year are definitely going to step up and we’re going to be even better than last year.”

Senior captains Chris Cintron, Aaron Elly, Semaj Diggs, Peter Selnek, Zach Sireci, and Thevanayagam are prepared to help fill the gaps that were left behind by the Class of 2014.  Sophomore running back Dylan Thevanayagam and receiver Shaun Davilla are also carrying the weight of big expectations, hoping to fill the gaps from the graduation of running back Brad Hawthorne and others from last year’s team.

Nick Thevanayagam will definitely be a catalyst to this season. He has deservingly been marked by philly.com as a “QB to Watch in South Jersey,” As a junior Thevanygam ran for 667 yards, with 11 rushing touchdowns, and threw for over 693 yards. Entering his senior year as starting quarterback, Thevanayagam could continue to impress due to his off-season work.

Nick Thevanygam feels that “the season’s going to go great. We look really good defensively and offensively, and we expect big things.”  Patrizi has the same hopes but admits, “We’ll take it one game at a time.”

When football season comes around, the “Pirates” seem to pop up constantly in recent years. Beating Holy Cross last year 37-6 was a big statement for the football team, however, Cinnaminson High School does not appear on philly.com’s “Top Teams: South Jersey Football Top 25” on which Holy Cross is ranked at number 19. One large victory in the eyes of CHS does not mean that the same win is worth as much to the ranking system. The Pirates will have to keep momentum through the season to make it onto the “Top 25” this season.

As the boys headed off the field of their Seneca win, Sireci pointed out, “Just because coach said we did good, doesn’t mean we get off,” this type of captain leadership will promisingly keep the energy and focus of the team alive for the start of the season and on. In the spirit of ‘taking it one game at a time’ Patrizi gave the priority of the Pirate’s goal, “Next week we have one team in mind; Robbinsville.”

The boy’s first game, tonight at Robbinsville will be the first test of the team. This will show them if all their hours of dedication have paid off. Last year, the Pirates lost to Ewing in their first game mired by a one-hour rain delay and a field destroyed by the elements. The rest of the season was very different, however; the boys won seven consecutive games after that. Last year, the offensive coordinator Josh Zagorksi claimed that the loss to Ewing “woke up a monster that couldn’t be tamed.” Hopefully the boys woke up that monster before the season started this year and don’t need Robbinsville to wake it up for them.

To start the season, the boys open tonight at Robbinsville before heading to a rebuilding Willingboro team and hosting a Bordentown team that some have pegged as a “sleeper” for this season.  The boys will host Lawrence before their big rematch with Holy Cross on October 10.  While the early part of the season’s schedule is not daunting, the Holy Cross game looms in about a month.  Lawrence, Pemberton and Burlington City close the regular part of the season before the NJSIAA playoffs and the annual clash with Delran on Thanksgiving.