South Jersey Football: Delsea's back from the dead and right on time

FRANKLIN TWP. – The weather’s started to turn a tad chiller as the playoffs inch a bit closer and wouldn’t you know it, Delsea High School’s football team looks as alive as ever.

In October, it’s fun to wonder about ghouls, goblins and creatures of the night. Yet, the only ghosts Friday came in the form of those who attempted arm tackles of star Crusaders’ running back Aidan Borguet.

He went for 226 yards on 27 carries for four touchdowns in a 38-16 Homecoming win over Cedar Creek.

More:Borguet and No. 12 Delsea run over Cedar Creek, 38-16

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No. 12-ranked Delsea (4-3, 4-1 West Jersey Football League Constitution) resembles a mass of zombies, arms outstretched up and through the thick sod here at John A. Oberg Field.

This triumph came six days late of a 13 on the calendar, a Friday in which the Crusaders extended their win streak to three. It occurred four weeks after a 45-15 beatdown Camden offered under these same lights.

And, just a week before Burlington Township’s 22-8 win here.

New life isn’t caused by voodoo or all-black uniform magic. This is a simple potion Delsea’s taken – hard work and good, old-fashioned daily improvement.

It began in the trenches.

“I think early in the year they weren’t ready,” coach Sal Marchese said of his offensive line. “We lost five or six linemen due to either transfer or injury.

“They were kind of thrown into the fire. They’re just getting better physically, technically and just sounder now when they come off the ball.”

Borguet sniffed no room back when the Panthers were in town. I know. I was here. Camden boasts an excellent defense, but there wasn’t a push to be had from the line of scrimmage.

In offensive coordinator Mark Deal’s tried-and-true triple option, that’s a poisonous recipe.

Now, Borguet’s got a yard to hit the line, another couple to reach the linebackers and good luck to those who are left.

“I think the thing with him is he’s really starting to get confident with the offensive line where he wasn’t early in the year because they were blowing assignments,” Marchese said. “You blow assignments in the triple option and you get nailed when you’re not expecting it.”

Jake Smith’s been a part of the surge.

The junior right tackle saw change a few weeks ago.

“I think we really started to practice hard,” he said. “We realized we needed to buckle down and practice like we mean it.

“After losing guys to injuries, we realized we really needed to step up our game, especially the offensive linemen. We just have to put the trust in each other, put the trust in the line.”

Now, that three-game skid doesn’t look so shabby. The Panthers are unbeaten in state play, the Falcons entered Saturday in the same boat and West Deptford’s played some of the area’s best recent ball.

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A 54-0 blowout of Camden Catholic on the heels of the slump presented some positives.

“A lot of times, the line was missing more assignments than usual but then the Camden Catholic game, we really tried to clean it up as much as possible, then build upon that against Woodrow Wilson and again tonight,” Borguet said. “The offensive line is progressively getting better.

“We’re building trust. It’s a whole new unit. We have not a single senior on the line this year. It takes some time and we try to get better every single day. As you can see, we’re getting better. Plays are becoming drives, which are ending up in scores.”

The 56-14 rout at then-No. 1 Wilson last Saturday added more confidence. On Friday, the Crusaders oozed their tradition.

They wore down the Pirates with that inevitable force that pushes 2nd-and-long to 3rd-and-short or 3rd-and-long to big plays. It’s a system that destroys a foe’s morale.

With even the slightest weariness, Borguet becomes as dangerous as any runner in South Jersey.

“My mindset is to not let one man bring me down,” he said. “… I’m just running through the hole, getting more yards and as soon as I get through I see an opening.

“I try to run as fast as I can to get through that opening. If an arm gets in the way, I try to run right through it.’

He succeeds most of the time. Then again, so does Delsea.

It seems a mystery outside of these parts, but Marchese knows there is no elixir, nor secrets.

“We kind of get off to slow starts and I think it’s just a matter of our coaches doing an outstanding job coaching kids and getting them better every single week,” he said. “Also, the kids buy into getting better. It’s a process and they know it’s a process.

“In the beginning of the season, we’re not going to be anywhere near where we are in the middle. Our kids get better and that’s kind of what we do.”

His Crusaders have claimed sectional titles in five of the past six seasons.

In that span, they’ve gone a total of 13-15 in the first four weeks.

For the remainder of those campaigns – this one included – Delsea’s been 47-4 after the first four tilts.

Temperatures drop this time of year and the Crusaders heat up. Right on schedule.

Kind of spooky, huh?

Mark Trible: @Mtrible: (856) 486-2424; mtrible@gannettnj.com