By Rich Chrampanis
COLTS NECK COUGARS
Head Coach: Matt Ahearn (seventh season)
2023 Record: 6-4, lost to Mainland in South Jersey Group 4 semifinal
Offense: 30.4 points scored per game
Defense: 22.2 points allowed per game
COLTS NECK – With 10 starters gone from the offense and eight more from the defense, Colts Neck will have a new identity in 2024. Running back Chris Scully ran for nearly 3,000 yards in his high school career with 37 trips to the end zone. He’s beginning his college football career at Ithaca. Replacing an all-time great Cougar is not going to fall on one player. A trio of juniors will combine forces and there’s a pretty good chance there will be holes to run through.
“We definitely breed a hard-hitting O-line down in the mud,” senior quarterback Brady Tormey said. “We got a bunch of good backs coming in after Scully. They’re working behind them. They learned a lot from him. I’m excited to see what they could do.”
Jack Lefkowitz is the lone returning starter on offense. The bruising fullback will also make his mark on the defensive side of the ball. Tormey will run the offensive quarterback. If the Cougars can establish a strong ground game, play action will set the table for stretching the field through the air, something we’ve seen work quite a bit for the Cougars in recent years.
“We love when we get a nice post route or a nice go,” senior wide receiver Mike Petruzzi said. “We break loose and we just see the ball coming over and we beat them and we’re like, yeah, it’s go time.”
James Bertan will be the ringleader of the Colts Neck defense. He was fantastic in his junior year with 75 tackles and has the ability to quickly get to the football. Bertan is showing the new players the Colts Neck way when it comes to defense.
“We’re coming in, we’re there. The front seven always is there,” Bertan said. “It’s definitely a new defense but we’re working hard and we want people to run up the middle. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
The Cougars open the season with five straight Saturday games, starting with Week 0 at Marlboro. Games against traditional powers RBC, Middletown South and Rumson Fair-Haven give Colts Neck one of the toughest schedules in the Shore Conference. Power points and playing against the best should serve coach Matt Ahearn well when the postseason rolls around.
“It really does help and you don’t like it during the season when it’s the SEC and you’re going through everybody,” Ahearn said. “But during the postseason, then it helps you out a little bit and hopefully you get a good seed and hopefully we get enough wins and everything to get in there.”
Colts Neck has become a consistent winning program in recent years. The 2024 Cougars are excited about the challenge of maintaining that high standard.
“The guys when we were freshmen, they started it,” Tormey said. “Those guys came in and they started winning games then, after them, the Class 2024. They upheld that standard and now we’ve got to keep it going.”
Colts Neck 2024 Football Schedule
Saturday, Aug. 31 at Marlboro
Saturday, Sept. 7 vs. Wall
Saturday, Sept. 14 vs. Middletown South
Saturday, Sept. 21 vs. Red Bank Catholic
Saturday, Sept. 28 vs. Long Branch
Saturday, Oct. 5 vs. Point Pleasant Boro
Friday, Oct. 18 at Raritan
Friday, Oct. 25 at Rumson-Fair Haven
The article originally appeared in the August 22 – 28, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
