Conestoga

By PETER DiGIOVANNI

cpn11716@comcast.net

The Conestoga offense has been known to feature a wide display of offensive talent and this year’s team should be no different.

The 2014 edition of Conestoga football features senior Division 1 prospect wide receiver Martin Dorsey and and bevy of other offensive talent.

The 6-4, 195-pound Dorsey had 53 catches last season and should be one of the top pass receivers in the area this year.

“Martin is just a special kid,” said coach John Vogan said. “He is so confident in his ability, it makes him think he can get to any ball. He is not arrogant, he is just very confident in his ability. He can really go up and get the football in a crowd. He has good speed and he runs really good routes. He is our key guy now that Andrew DeStefano has graduated. He is getting lot of Division 1 looks and we are really going to need him this season.

“Martin has been getting better every year. He is a very mature and athletic kid and he is ready for the spotlight. He is getting interest from Rutgers, Villanova and a lot of the Ivy League schools. He is just a great kid.”

Vogan feels that Dorsey is just one a returning cast that should make the Pioneers a threat in the Central League.

“I think the strength of our team is our skill players on both sides of the football,” he said. “Our wide receivers are very good, and our defensive backs, led by D’Lyndon Coleman, can run and go get the football. Our defense should be good as we have a lot of people back in our linebacking corps and our secondary. We have to replace all our people up front and we feel that are good players, but they do not have game experience so we will have to see. We feel very good about our linebackers with Eddie Jean and Matt Prespitino. Both are very good at running down ball carriers and we have a deep secondary.”

At quarterback, Vogan thinks Tim Miller is ready to have a great season, but he did not rule out junior John Locheter seeing some action.

“Tim is really coming on and he and John will compete for the job,” he said. Either way, we feel good about our quarterback position,”

Vogan, whose team has not made the playoffs the last four seasons, sees the Central League as very balanced again with Garnet Valley the favorite.

“Garnet Valley is the team to beat again,” he said. “Springfield will be very good and Penncrest should also be very good. Ridley is always Ridley and Haverford really likes their team.”

Before the Pioneers opens Central League play, they open the season with a nonleague game at Owen J.Roberts.