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| Justin Harris is part of a Delaware Valley defense which has intercepted 21 passes through 11 games. Photo by Tom Nettleton, d3photography.com |
By Joe Sager
D3sports.com
Delaware Valley owns the nation’s best defense.
The Aggies rank first in yards allowed on the ground and through the air as well as fewest points allowed.
But, you wouldn’t be able to tell that by the looks on the players’ faces.
That’s because the only ranking they care about is being No. 1 into the Top 25 poll once the playoffs are done.
“Week in and week out, we just execute the game plan. We never get complacent,” Delaware Valley senior linebacker Anthony Tedesco said. “We’re never happy. We’re just trying to get better and we’ll get complacent once we win a national championship.”
Really, the No. 9 Aggies are thrilled with what they’ve done. But, they still don’t think they’ve reached their potential on defense.
“Every week, you can see improvement. You see the results on Saturday. What people don’t see is Sunday through Friday and the amount of time these guys put in the film room with the defensive staff or all the time they spend watching film on their own to try to see what we’re getting into,” DelVal defensive coordinator Nick Brady said. “Practice is competitive and they enjoy it. Sunday through Friday has been a lot of fun and a lot of improvement comes from that.”
The result has been a defensive group that yields 112.8 yards per game – nearly 87 fewer yards per outing than the nation’s second-ranked defense. Teams trying to run muster just 30.6 yards per game, while squads trying to pass average 82.2 yards through the air. Getting in the end zone has been tough, too, as the Aggies (11-0) give up 6.09 points per game
“It’s been really fun to watch,” Brady said. “They are a tight-knit group – a lot of guys are multiple-year starters. They have had success in the past, but to see it all really coming together is great. The goals have been so high this year. As the year has gone on, every week they are hungrier and want to do better than before. That’s the drive they have. They want to be the best they can be and, so far, they have been.”
According to senior cornerback Justin Harris, the dominance of the defense isn’t really apparent to the players until they sit down and review the game video.
“It’s fun to watch. Me playing corner, I don’t really get to see the guys up front. When I sit back and watch it all on film, it looks like art. It looks like a portrait being painted,” he said. “Everyone doing their job at 1,000 miles per hour. When you get a defense that has a hot hand from the jump and doesn’t let it go until the final whistle blows, it’s tough to have any accomplishments offensively.
“I don’t think I have been part of a defense this good before. Week in and week out, teams are trying to figure it out. But, there’s really no key. You can’t really key on any one person because that whole 11 is coming at you with full force,” he continued. “It’s fun. That’s another thing we all talk about, making sure we have fun with it. We can’t be out there playing like robots. That’s when issues start coming into play.”
Depth has been important for DelVal. When the starters come out, the substitutes aren’t exactly giving up much ground, either.
“We’re really excited about our second group; I think it’s pretty talented. Those guys could be playing at a lot of other schools,” Brady said. “It’s great to have those guys get experience. We try to play a bunch of different personnel on third downs and some of our second group guys come in then. We play a lot of defensive linemen each game; it’s good to give those guys experience. They have done a good job of doing their job when they’ve had opportunities.”
Depth became a necessity when junior defensive end Mike Nobile suffered a season-ending leg injury early in the team’s sixth game. It wasn’t just losing a key starter, but one of the nation’s top players. Nobile is a two-time All-American and led the country in tackles for loss, was the East Region Defensive Player of the Year and the Middle Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season in 2019.
Despite the stinging loss of one of their best defenders, the Aggies won that game, 61-7, and then allowed three points in their last four regular-season games.
“We all know Mike is one of the best players in the country. There wasn’t one guy that was going to replace Mike,” Tedesco said. “We all banded together and worked even harder. We have had some guys step up that weren’t supposed to step up. Just as a crew, we are going to step up and show the country that we’re still the team. We want to be the best. We want to be No. 1 in everything. Every week, we’re trying to suffocate teams and break their will.”
The team rallied around Nobile.
“It was a tragic loss for us. With losing Mike, it gave everybody more of an edge and we felt as though we all had to fill those shoes,” Harris said. “In the game we lost him, I didn’t really lose any hope within the defense. I looked in my guys’ eyes and I knew we’d good. As long as everybody is doing his job, there’s no way any offense can go toe to toe with us.”
Nobile’s brother, Anthony, slid over to defensive end to help fill the void, while Sebastian Montlouis, Shaun Balkcom and Ben Camarano have seen more time on the defensive line in Anthony’s old spot.
“When Mike went down, a lot of guys stepped their game up,” Brady said. “His brother, Anthony, took his game to a new level. He is playing out of his mind.
“I think those other guys rallied together to take a step and stay together. They have done a really good job holding it down. They want to win for No. 7 this year.”
The defense changed its approach a little, too, switching between a 3-4 and 4-3 alignment.
“The first five weeks or so with Mike in the lineup, we went with four down linemen a lot more. We’ve stayed with an even front, but started working in some odd front principles,” Brady said. “Each week, we see what the opponent is doing and base our game plan around that. Being able to go three down linemen and four linebackers has helped us be even more versatile. We have been odd-based over the past few years and had been a 3-4 defense until this year. In camp, we installed both an odd front and even front. It’s a credit to those guys being able to adjust and adapt and staying in the playbook and film room and doing a good job being bought in.”
The Aggies are looking forward to spending another Thanksgiving together. But, they are really eager to battle Muhlenberg, which ended the team’s run in 2018 with a 20-13 decision.
“Muhlenberg is a great team. They do a lot of great things. We’re up for the challenge,” Tedesco said. “For me, I was here in 2018 and that loss still stings me. I am taking it personally. It’s revenge.”