It was no surprise to the Bordentown Regional High School football staff when Calvin Nice said yes to another major position change.
Nice does a bit of everything for the Scotties, and not just in games.
“He’s the first one on the field,” said Scotties head coach Skip Edwards. “He’s always helping to put things away. He’s working with other kids. He’s the last to leave the field. And he’s always making sure that the locker room is clean when he leaves.”
Nice tries to help in any way possible. It’s one reason that he was named a captain as a junior this year after accepting another position move that helped Bordentown enjoy another solid season.
“I’ve always tried to be the guy who’s there to help out and get things done,” Nice said. “Like cleaning up our stuff into the shed at the end of our practice or whatever. Or trying to get water in from the game. By being a captain, it meant that I can’t just be a guy volunteering to help out with that, I’ve got to make sure the whole team’s organized to get everything done. So it was a definitely a change of responsibilities. I had a lot more I had to deal with. But in a way, it almost felt like I was doing the same thing, just on a bigger scale. So it wasn’t that unfamiliar trying to work and handle the team.”
Nice handles changes and responsibilities seamlessly. It was preseason when Bordentown coaches asked Nice to move inside from tight end to right tackle, just two years after he entered high school as a quarterback. And he’d already made a big move last year on the defensive side going from outside linebacker to defensive end. The switch to tackle was just the latest request.
“I said, ‘OK, whatever you need,’ and started playing right tackle,” Nice said. “So that’s where I was all season.”
It wasn’t a hard sell to Nice. He wasn’t a big pass catcher, and his 6-foot-4 frame was filling out to almost 200 pounds.
“I had one preseason game to get used to the idea of playing that tackle spot, to get used to whatever slight differences there are,” Nice said. “But I had a really good season playing tackle. I had a lot of fun in every game. It was a lot of fun.”
Bordentown also had to make a slight adjustment after a slow start with a team dominated by young players. The Scotties opened the year 0-2. They didn’t score a touchdown in the first game and then lost on a two-point conversion in the second game of the season.
But the Scotties were tough to score on and tough to beat the rest of the year as they rattled off wins in seven of their final eight games to finish 7-3.
“Our defense really started to gel,” Edwards said. “Rich McGlynn, who runs the defense, did an outstanding job getting kids ready for games.”
The defense held four teams to a single score over their last eight games. The veteran players and captains took the lead and the young players started making more plays on both sides of the ball as well as special teams. Their first win over Lawrence was highlighted by an 82-yard kickoff return by Jose Santiago and a fourth-quarter goal-line stand. Momentum picked up with each successive game in a big run down the stretch.
“I don’t know that we changed very much,” Nice said. “We were fighting hard through all those games, even those close losses at the beginning. I think what really happened was we were able to finish more of those games. We started finishing drives on offense, getting to the end of the game, instead of losing in those last minutes in the fourth quarter, carrying on and keeping our lead to win those games and eventually we just started getting more and more accomplished, especially on offense. Defense carried us through those first couple of games.”
The late stretch enabled Bordentown to finish with seven wins. It’s their best year since they won 10 games in 2021 when this year’s seniors were freshmen. Not all of them saw playing time that year, so it was special to go out with a great season. Harrison Kertes, Ken Brophy, Mohammed Gumus, Roger Chapdelaine, Tristian Decavalcante and Wyatt Kovac were the only seniors on this year’s roster that had 54 players.
“The small class that we had, they were all kids that had played and had experience,” Edwards said. “They gave their best in practice, but when it was game time, they just really turned it on, and they took over.”
Kovac led the Scotties with 206 receiving yards and three catches for scores, and Kertes did a little of everything including being a captain along with Brophy. The others helped lead and fill the less glamorous but important roles.
“Our offensive line became very, very well coached and they started tipping things up and doing things like we had in 2021,” Edwards said. “Like pulling both guards or pulling the guard and tackle. Mohammed Gumus, the center, has played the last two years. Roger, this is his third year playing for us. So we had some experience on the line.”
Underclassmen filled many of the top skill spots. Sophomore quarterback Trey Lee passed for 364 yards and Santiago, who is also a sophomore, paced Bordentown with 850 rushing yards. Junior Tahji Hill rushed for another 212 yards, sophomore Carter Stumpf also had more than 100 yards on the ground and junior Larry Hart was a capable runner as well.
“We had a good season this year, and we could have an incredible one next year because there are some amazing guys coming back in both the junior and sophomore classes from this year,” Nice said. “We’re all going to have that extra year of experience. We’re going to be that much more confident. We’re going to be that much stronger coming back onto the field. So I could see us going some amazing places next year.”
Nice will return with experience on both sides of the ball. He made several plays on the defensive side down the stretch of the season, and grew to enjoy being a part of an offensive line that came together to become more dominant. He adjusted to his new spot and learned the nuances of his new blocking schemes.
“I really enjoyed being able to get up there, get in the trenches and getting physical with the other team,” Nice said. “I feel like I’m doing something more important, blocking as a part of the whole offensive line than just blocking as a tight end.”
The move this year was easier than when he moved from outside linebacker to defensive end last year.
“I remember that one took some more getting used to,” Nice said. “It’s quite a different role. That was some of my first time playing on the line.”
Nice has made the transitions look easy to become a contributor in his new spots. He figures to be even better in his final season of high school football because he has this year’s experiences.
“I think having the confidence of knowing that I’ve done all this before is going to really help me out there on the field,” he said. “And especially knowing that I’m going to have a whole other offseason of training behind me going into that.”
Nice is committed to getting into the weight room and being a leader there to motivate others. He has made time outside of football to direct plays and enjoys acting. Nice is the only member of the Bordentown football team who is homeschooled. His mom has been teaching him for the past seven years.
“It’s really nice to have the flexible schedule,” Nice said. “I can organize my day around football so I can get work done before I come to the school to do football and then come back and finish my work. So that’s always been good to work around, but I think the way we study doing home schooling involves being able to really repeat and really understand what it was we just learned which helps in learning football, knowing what to do in a certain situation in game or helping me learn the playbook.”
Nice has his eye on trade school following high school, and is weighing options with welding, HVAC or construction. Edwards is just happy that the Scotties get another year out of Nice.
“You don’t get too many of those kids,” Edwards said.
Nice is part of a huge group of players that is returning with valuable experience from this year, and a good understanding of what it takes to win. He is determined to make sure that the Scotties take another step in the offseason.
“In the weight room, I want to be on everyone trying to make sure we’re all working, making sure we can be a stronger, better team,” Nice said. “So I’ll be trying to keep us focused, keep us locked in, working from the winter on to make sure by the time we come next fall we have grown, we’ve become stronger, we’ve become a better team.”
Nice has always tried to do whatever he can to help the team. He switched positions this year and took a larger captain role, and relished the Scotties’ breakout season. He will be more familiar with his roles next year as he looks to close out his career and lead Bordentown’s football team again.
“We all know what it’s like to win now,” Nice said. “We all know what it’s like to have a strong team to come in and expect to win games. So I think we’ll be expecting to come in and do that again and to do even better this time. I think we’ve all got some high expectations for this next season.”
Calvin Nice in action for Bordentown football.,
