Nazareth Area High School 2011 football preview

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Nazareth coach Rob Melosky wants to take his players on a field trip prior to the football season.

The coach has emphasized team speed and figures a journey to nearby old Nazareth Speedway would be fitting.

"I have to talk to some people to see if we can get in or else we'll have to jump the fence," Melosky said jokingly during the first week of practice. "I think it would be neat, though, the old Nazareth Speedway for a poster or team calendar. It's what we preach here, not only being fast on offense because we don't huddle, we need to be a fast, up-tempo team on both sides of the ball."

With speed being priority No. 1 for the Blue Eagles (9-3, 7-2), it's no surprise Melosky enrolled his players in Jason Brader's FASST Football Academy in the offseason.

Melosky, who is friends with the former Liberty High School and Muhlenberg College standout, thinks attending the workouts will benefit his team.

"We felt we needed to get better with our speed overall, and it fits our style of what we do on the field, not only defensively, but with the no-huddle offense," Melosky said. "We want to go fast. We can never go fast enough -- spot the ball and we want to go. Jason was a big part of training us this offseason."

Senior linebacker Dan Shepherd agrees.

"FASST worked us out all summer," said Shepherd, who made 98 tackles last fall. "It's a great program and I think that really helped us."

Jordan Grey runs
Enlarge Jim Middlekauff | The Express-Times Jordan Grey runs as a defender attempts to take the ball during Nazareth Area High School football practice.

Nazareth, which advanced to the Districts 2-4-11 Class AAAA sub-regional semifinals, returns senior quarterback Dan Harding. In his first year under center, Harding turned a lot of heads by completing 136 of his 212 pass attempts for 1,750 yards and 20 touchdowns. He threw just six interceptions.

Harding lost four of his top five receivers -- who caught a combined 101 passes for 1,301 yards and 12 TDs --but the Blue Eagles return the speedy senior Bridgeforth twins. Adam had 24 catches for 319 yards with a team-high six touchdowns, while Andrew caught a pair of balls for 34 yards with one score.

"We already have a great relationship from summer workouts and practices," Harding said. "The young guys are good so they'll be helping us out this year, too."

The biggest loss for the Blue Eagles was running back Chuck Dibilio, who is now at Princeton. The 2010 Express-Times Player of the Year rushed for 2,050 yards with 30 touchdowns, becoming only the second player in LVC history to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark in a single season.

"You don't replace him because his legacy and impact he's made on the younger kids and kids in the program will be there forever," Melosky said. "There are a lot of kids who want to emulate him. There's great competition in the backfield between Kani Camacho, Shabbar Bokhari and Jordan Gray.

"Those guys have pushed each other because they want to do what Chuck has done. Obviously, he's moved on to Princeton, but his impact is still felt."

NAZARETH

Conference: Lehigh Valley

Coach: Rob Melosky (fourth season, 18-15)

2010 record: 9-3 overall, 7-2 conference

Returning starters: Sr. QB Dan Harding, Sr. LB Dan Shepherd, Sr. WR/CB Adam Bridgeforth, Sr. WR/CB Andrew Bridgeforth, Sr. OL/DL Nick Tuerk

Key returnees: Sr. RB Kani Camacho, Sr. OL/DL David Wilke, Sr. OL/DL Joe Walsh

Top newcomers: Sr. WR/FS Kyle East, Jr. OL/DL Aaron Bradley, Sr. WR/FS Ben Schmitt

Home field: Andrew S. Leh Stadium

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