St. Augustine places 3 on first team

St. Augustine, with one of the most explosive offenses in the area, has three players on The Inquirer's first-team all-South Jersey offensive football team.

Quarterback Dustin Thomas is joined by wide receiver Gabe Voumard and kicker Chris Gough.

Thomas completed 87 of 159 passes for 1,620 yards, 23 touchdowns, and five interceptions. He also rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns and finished with a South Jersey record 69 career touchdown passes. He also had 5,916 career passing yards, which according to football historian Chuck Langerman, is second in South Jersey history and 12 yards shy of Cherry Hill East's Kevin Foley, who threw for 5,928 yards. Thomas has accepted a scholarship to Villanova.

Voumard caught 34 passes for 494 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also had 51 tackles and eight sacks from his defensive end position. Voumard has committed to the Naval Academy, where he plans to play lacrosse.

Gough was a second-team selection as a sophomore last season. With one of the strongest legs in South Jersey, Gough had 10 of his kickoffs go for touchbacks. He had three field goals and 36 conversion kicks. He also averaged 32.2 yards on 23 punts.

In addition to offensive player of the year Austin Medley of Delsea, the other first-team running backs are Cherokee's Sean Farrell and Moorestown's Sebastian Jaskowski.

At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Farrell was one of the most punishing running backs for the South Jersey Group 4 champions. He rushed for 1,070 yards on 238 carries (4.5 average) and 21 touchdowns. Among the colleges he is considering are Lehigh and Lafayette, along with Ivy League schools, according to coach P.J. Mehigan.

As a senior, Jaskowski rushed for 1,578 yards and 19 touchdowns on 164 carries and caught 17 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown. At linebacker, he recorded 68 tackles. Jaskowski will continue his football career and education at Penn.

Joining Voumard as a receiver is Pemberton's Corey Reeder. This season, he had 65 receptions for 989 yards and 10 touchdowns. Among the schools he is considering are Iowa, Maine, Albany, Maryland, and Central Michigan.

The all-purpose back is Hammonton quarterback Nick Crescenzo, who rushed for 900 yards and 15 touchdowns on 96 carries (9.4 avg.) and threw for 605 yards and seven touchdowns for the South Jersey Group 3 champions. He also returned kicks and punts and was the long- snapper on punts and short snapper for field goals and PATs. Crescenzo will attend Rider and play baseball.

The offensive line consists of Kingsway's Jordan Kain, Delsea's Kyle Jones, Eastern's Jarred Williams, Timber Creek's Bill Bilo, and Shawnee's Reece Johnston.

Kingsway's 6-6, 290-pound Kain has been playing football for only three years and missed the majority of his junior season with a knee injury. As a senior, he played left tackle and helped Kingsway's offense produce a 1,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard passer. He has made visits to Boston College, Syracuse, and James Madison, coach Tony Barchuk said.

Eastern's Williams was a two-way lineman. Coach Dan Spittal called him "the best lineman we have coached," and that includes former University of Florida standout Phil Trautwein, now with the St. Louis Rams. On defense, Williams recorded 43 tackles. He has received interest from Division II schools such as Bloomsburg and Lock Haven.

Timber Creek's Bilo graded out at 92 percent this year, according to coach Rob Hinson. He had 18 pancakes, and at 6-3 and 285-pounds, physically overmatched most opponents. Hinson said Bilo is attracting interest from the schools in the Mid-America Conference. Junior college also remains a possibility.

Delsea's Jones was the center on the offensive line that helped the Crusaders rush for 4,674 yards and 69 touchdowns.

"In my 17 years as head coach, he is the best center we've ever had, and we have had some good ones," Delsea coach Sal Marchese Jr. said of Jones.

According to Marchese, Jones is looking at some Patriot League and Division II schools.

Shawnee's Johnston was a two-year starter at offensive guard. Very strong at 6-3 and 280 pounds, Johnston was the leader on a young team that returned to the playoffs despite key losses to graduation from a 12-0 squad in 2008.

Monmouth, Wagner, Penn, Colgate, and James Madison are among the schools that Johnston is considering.