New Moorestown coach wants physical play

Beau Sherry knows the way the Moorestown football team has been perceived by people outside the program.

He didn't agree with it.

He didn't like it.

But he understood it.

"I think people saw all the formations and the trickery and the way we played offense at times and they thought, 'finesse team,' " Sherry said.

In his first season as a replacement for former coach Russ Horton, Sherry wants Moorestown to be known as a physical, hard-hitting team that plays the game with an edge.

Sherry, 32, was a bruising running back and linebacker at Haddon Township. He also played linebacker at Muhlenberg College.

He never was known as a finesse player.

"That's not my personality," Sherry said. "I want us to be a tough football team. We've been viewed as a finesse team in the past. I want us to be tough, relentless."

In 11 seasons under Horton, now an assistant at Paul VI, Moorestown went 75-43, made the playoffs nine times, and reached the sectional final three times. Horton's 2007 team went 12-0 and won the Central Jersey Group 3 championship.

The Quakers couldn't have won that many games without playing tough football. But because Horton was such an innovative and daring offensive coach - specializing in trick plays such as that stunning behind-the-back fake that resulted in a long touchdown run by quarterback Tyreek Robinson in an upset of Camden Catholic last season - Moorestown sometimes was perceived as a team that relied more on outflanking opponents than outhitting them.

"Coach wants us to be a physical team, and that starts with the defense," senior linebacker Shayne Lawless said. "We feel like we can set the tone on defense."

Sherry spent seven years as an assistant under Horton. He will direct the Moorestown defense, while veteran defensive coordinator Bill Donoghue will switch over and guide the offense.

The Quakers likely will look familiar on offense, with a spread attack that capitalizes on the skills of Robinson, who passed for 1,069 yards and 12 touchdowns and ran for 395 yards and five TDs as a sophomore.

But with several starters back on defense, led by Lawless as well as Robinson at safety and senior Trevor Allen, junior Tyreek Smith, and sophomore Niles Turner along the line, the Quakers could begin to establish a new identity in the highly competitive West Jersey Football League Constitution Division as well as the South Jersey Group 4 tournament.

"This is an awesome opportunity," Sherry said of taking over the Moorestown program. "We're just trying to pick up where Russ left off because he had so much success here.

"Every coach tries to do a few things differently. I want us to be known as a team that plays hard and plays downhill."