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Football: St. Joseph to play Maryland power

St. Joseph's football team will play Maryland state power Mount St. Joseph on Oct. 10 in Baltimore, Wildcats coach Paul Sacco said Friday.

St. Joseph's football team will play Maryland state power Mount St. Joseph on Oct. 10 in Baltimore, Wildcats coach Paul Sacco said Friday.

Mount St. Joseph, an all-boys private school with an enrollment of around 1,000 students, was 8-3 last season.

"It should be a good experience," Sacco said. "We'll go down a day early, maybe go to the Inner Harbor, go out to dinner.

"They're a good team. Playing a game like this will help us."

This will mark the second season in a row that St. Joseph will play a road game against an out-of-state team. The Wildcats beat Steubenville, Ohio, 25-23, last season in the Big Red's stadium.

St. Joseph has an opening for a nonleague game because the Cape-Atlantic League schedule provides the Wildcats with just eight American Division games.

Sacco said St. Joseph officials were in contact with several other schools but settled on Mount St. Joseph.

Sacco said St. Joseph could resume its series with Steubenville in the future.

St. Joseph was No. 1 in The Inquirer's final South Jersey rankings last season. The Wildcats went 11-0 and won their sixth straight Non-Public state title.

St. Joseph projects as one of the top teams in South Jersey again in 2015 with the return of junior twins Salaam and A'Laam Horne as well as top juniors Chris Carey and Derek Lomax, among others.

St. Joseph has won 21 games in a row.

Tapeh resigns at Woodrow Wilson. After three seasons, former Eagles fullback Thomas Tapeh has resigned as head coach at Woodrow Wilson.

Tapeh's teams were 6-24 but were much more competitive after an 0-10 season in 2012.

"My whole focus was on trying to teach the kids that the things that will help them in football will help them in life," Tapeh said.

Woodrow Wilson athletic director Will Hickson said Tapeh had a positive influence on his players.

"Thomas is a good guy," Hickson said. "He cared about the kids. His focus was always on the kids."

Tapeh said he's likely to "take a year off" from coaching before deciding whether to resume his career.

Hickson said he hopes to have a new head coach in place by the end of February.

Former Woodrow Wilson stars Preston Brown and Melik Brown, brothers who are now assistant coaches at Camden, loom as top candidates to return to their alma mater.

Kutztown Connection. At least five South Jersey players plan to sign with NCAA Division II Kutztown (Pa.) on Wednesday.

Timber Creek linemen Daren Sherif, Kennedy Harris and Dashon Thomas all plan to sign with the Golden Bears, who compete in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference with programs such as West Chester, Millersville and Shippensburg.

Collingswood defensive back Jordan Wallace and Holy Cross lineman James Chattin also plan to sign with Kutztown.

This and that. Camden junior defensive end/tight end Ron Johnson picked up an offer this week from Notre Dame, Panthers coach Dwayne Savage said. . . . Cedar Creek junior athlete Ahmir Mitchell, who might be South Jersey's most highly-recruited player in the class of 2016, this week tweeted out his Top 8 colleges, in no order: Ohio State, Florida State, Rutgers, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Michigan, Michigan State and Virginia Tech.

Delsea running back Isaiah Spencer, who helped the Crusaders to South Jersey Group 3 titles in his junior and senior seasons, will enroll in Garden City (Kan.) Community College, with an eye toward transferring to a four-year program after two years. . . . Holy Cross center Tim Wagner will sign with Lehigh while quarterback Brandon Simmons will sign with Division II Shippensburg (Pa.).