Raiders Test Their Lineup During First Football Scrimmage

After completing its first scrimmage Tuesday at home against Bishop Ahr, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood football team knows what it's like to line up against a very challenging opponent.

Now the Raiders have to master how to run an offense and tackle properly on defense with a roster that is heavy on players who will be cutting their teeth on the varsity level for the very first time.

"Our offensive line has some question marks, so we have to find that out and we knew that coming into camp," said head coach Steve Ciccotelli, who is in his 19th season at the helm and sports a 92-90 (.506) mark in his first 18 campaigns. A 1967 Johnson Regional graduate who was the head coach at the Clark school for eight seasons from 1980-1987, Ciccotelli took over as head coach at Scotch Plains-Fanwood in 1991.

"Like in any scrimmage, we did some things well and this being our first scrimmage there are plenty of things for us to work on," said Ciccotelli, who is now the second longest-tenured coach at the same school in Union County, behind New Providence's Frank Bottone. "The kids made some mistakes which we have to evaluate and correct, and also we have to evaluate personnel and make sure we have the right guys out there."

While the Raiders have to rebuild at many key positions, they are in good hands at quarterback with senior signal-caller Gary Binkiewicz (6-2, 190) returning for his second year as the starter.

"I think he could be one of the best around," Ciccotelli said. "He's got great arm strength and great leadership and he's a good athlete, very competitive."

Binkiewicz has the ability to drop back and also run east-west. Also one of the top pitchers in the state, he has the kind of arm that can get the ball down the field both accurately and in a hurry.

"We'll take advantage of what the defense give us," Ciccotelli said. "It was tough going into this scrimmage because we didn't know exactly what they were going to run, we never got together with their coaches to go over what they would run, so we ran a little bit on the fly."

Bishop Ahr of North Edison scored on both offense and defense and had the better of the play in the first scrimmage for both.

"Practice is going pretty good, people seem to know what they're doing, maybe not in this scrimmage so much," Binkiewicz said. "I think we're ready and know what to expect."

Binkiewicz realizes how important it will be for the offensive line in front of him to mature as a unit.

"Offensive line, definitely, is what we're working on," Binkiewicz said. "We have a little more freedom this year, running plays and stuff. We're able to call audibles this year. Sometimes we run a spread, but we're really a Power-I. Except for two guys, our offensive line is new and at running back those two guys (Javen Hawkins and Quinton Blackwell) didn't really get much time last year, so they're going to get a lot of time."

Binkiewicz is excited to get under center again for another gridiron season and is working on many elements of his game.

"Reads, definitely reading defenses before the play develops is one thing," Binkiewicz said. "I also need to stay composed and not rush things, don't try to force things."

"No way as a coach would I expect us to be as good as we're going to be in our first scrimmage," Ciccotelli said. "That's unrealistic."

Scotch Plains-Fanwood will next scrimmage at Union Saturday at 10 a.m., with East Orange Campus also included in the competition. The Raiders will then host Elizabeth in their game-scrimmage Sept. 4, also at 10 a.m.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood will not face Union and Elizabeth and two-time defending undefeated Watchung Conference champion Irvington this year, with the Blue Knights now in the Super Essex County Conference. However, the Raiders will be facing formidable non-Union County schools such as Warren Hills, Immaculata and Phillispburg in consecutive weeks, not to mention very challenging county teams in Cranford, Linden, Westfield, Summit and Rahway. The Raiders will conclude their regular season with a game at Hunterdon County foe North Hunterdon, never an easy opponent.

Gone are Thanksgiving Day games against either Union or Elizabeth. Scotch Plains-Fanwood plays nine straight weekends this season, with its Oct. 31 contest at Rahway being the last one that will count toward the Raiders trying to qualify for one of the eight playoff berths in North 2, Group 3. Scotch Plains-Fanwood last qualified in 2007 when the Raiders reached the semifinals.

In order to be prepared for a tough schedule, Ciccotelli needs his team to go up against quality scrimmage competition such as Bishop Ahr, Union, East Orange Campus and Elizabeth.

"These are matchups against good programs, that's why we scheduled them," Ciccotelli said. "We want to make sure we get evaluated against good people. I think you get bad habits or bad techniques when you're not playing people very good. Our scrimmage schedule won't allow us to do that."

Scotch Plains-Fanwood is situated in the Watchung Division of the newly-formed Mid-State 39 Football Conference. The Watchung Division includes Scotch Plains, Westfield, Plainfield, Union, Linden and Elizabeth—all Union County schools—with Scotch Plains the lone Group 3 school in the six-team field and the other five Group 4.

The conference consists of 39 teams spread out into seven different divisions. There are schools from Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties. Gone are the Watchung, Mountain Valley and Iron Hills conferences as a result of most—not all—of the state landscape being revamped in order to facilitate a more level playing field and bring about new rivalries.

"We know it's going to be competitive, but I don't, personally, know a whole lot about everybody because we haven't seen them play," Ciccotelli said. "Some teams that we are familiar with are Linden and Westfield. We have to do our homework as coaches to find out what these teams are about."

With schools such as Summit, Rahway and Cranford leaving the Watchung Conference to enter the Iron Hills Conference and the Mountain Valley Conference going back to 1996 when Summit left for the IHC, Ciccotelli saw that it was time for a change.

"It just got to the point that we lost teams in the Watchung, it used to be two divisions and then became one," Ciccotelli said. "We had won it and were champs in one division and then they combined everybody. I think it had to be done and I think there is going to be more balance and competition with the combination they came up with."

"The schedule is no joke, they really gave it to us this year," Binkiewicz said. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens. We'll have to work hard in practice. You can't do much more."

Coaches come and go, but Ciccotelli is wrapping up his second decade at the same school. With his visor on and arms folded as he intently watches his team perfom on what is now a FieldTurf surface, Ciccotelli said he is not quite ready to call it a coaching career.

"I like watching these guys coach," says Ciccotelli with a big smile as he points to his assistants in the coaching room. "Seriously, when I don't enjoy coaching I'll step down. I still enjoy it and I love being with the kids."

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD'S MULTIPLE-1 OFFENSE

T Mitch McNamara, senior, (6-0, 300)

G David Kreps, senior, (6-0, 240)

C John Howarth, junior, (5-10, 180)

T Matt Manns, junior, (6-4, 245)

G Mike Tufaro, junior, (6-0, 260)

WR Doran Nelson, senior, (6-3, 175)

QB Gary Binkiewicz, senior, (6-2, 190)

RB Javen Hawkins, senior, (5-7, 165)

RB Quinton Blackwell, junior, (5-9, 150)

FB Neville Hall, junior, (5-10, 230)

FB Kyle Berwick, junior, (5-10, 175)

TE Alex Graham, senior, (5-10, 175)

WR Mike Marsan, senior, (5-11, 175)

PK-P Mike Burke, senior, (6-3, 180)

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD'S 4-4 DEFENSE

NG Mitch McNamara, senior, (6-0, 300)

T David Kreps, senior, (6-0, 240)

E Mike Tufaro, junior, (6-0, 260)

E Matt Manns, junior, (6-4, 245)

ILB Neville Hall, junior, (5-10, 230)

ILB Kyle Berwick, junior, (5-10, 175)

OLB Javen Hawkins, senior, (5-7, 165)

OLB Alex Graham, senior, (5-10, 175)

CB Doran Nelson, senior, (6-3, 175)

CB Mike Marsan, senior, (5-11, 175)

CB Quinton Blackwell, junior, (5-9, 150)

S Gary Binkiewicz, senior, (6-2, 190)

S J.C. Davidson, junior, (5-10, 160) 

On offense, returning players include Binkiewicz, Nelson, Marsan and McNamara.

New players include Hawkins, Blackwell, Kreps, Manns, Tufaro, Howarth and Burke. 

Key players lost to graduation include running back Anthony Taylor to Division 1-AA Hampton University and linebacker Marcus Green to Division 1-A Temple University.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood has the fifth best winning percentage (.583) in Union County this decade, with a record of 56-40 in nine seasons from 2000-2008. The top four are 1-Elizabeth (73-23, .760). 2-Brearley (72-23, .758). 3-New Providence (71-25, .740) and 4-Johnson (60-35, .632).

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS

IN THE 2000s (56-40, .583)

2008 - (4-6)

2007 - (7-4)

2006 - (4-6)

2005 - (3-7)

2004 - (6-5)

2003 - (10-2)

2002 - (6-4)

2001 - (8-3)

2000 - (8-3)

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS

2009 SCHEDULE

Scrimmages

Aug. 25 Bishop Ahr

Aug. 29 at Union and also vs. East Orange Campus, 10 a.m.

Game-scrimmage

Sept. 4 Elizabeth, 10 a.m.

Regular season

Sept. 12 at Cranford, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18 at Linden, 2:30 p.m.

Sept. 26 Warren Hills, 1 p.m.

Oct. 2 at Immaculata, 7 p.m.

Oct. 10 Phillipsburg, 1 p.m.

Oct. 17 Westfield, 1 p.m.

Oct. 24 Summit, 1 p.m.

Oct. 31 at Rahway, 1 p.m.

Nov. 26 at North Hunterdon, 7 p.m.

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS (4-6)

2008 RESULTS

(H) Irvington 24, Scotch Plains 7

(H) Scotch Plains 28, Newark East Side 14

(H) Plainfield 28, Scotch Plains 6

(A) Union 49, Scotch Plains 14

(A) Scotch Plains 48, Kearny 24

(H) Linden 27, Scotch Plains 8

(A) Westfield 35, Scotch Plains 12

(H) Scotch Plains 26, Warren Hills 20

(A) Scotch Plains 43, Shabazz 21

(A) Elizabeth 48, Scotch Plains 20