There are good teams, and then there are good programs.
A good team works its way up to success, has one big season and recedes into the background. A good program includes good teams year in and year out and, while slippage might happen every so often, it doesn’t linger.
Upon completing its 21st season of varsity football; Hopewell Valley has become a good program.
After going 10-1 this year — the Bulldogs third 10-win season in 12 years — Hopewell’s record since 2013 is 74-43 (.632 winning percentage) with nine winning seasons, seven playoff appearances, a Central Jersey Group III championship and a berth in the South Jersey Group III title game.
Taking it one step further, the outgoing senior class went 7-0 as 9th-graders on the freshman team and enjoyed a three-year varsity mark of 28-4 with two playoff berths.
Make no mistake. Coach Dave Caldwell has established a good program.
Caldwell was there from the start, nurturing things and guiding it every step of the way. It began with freshman and JV teams in 2002-03 before plunging into varsity ball in 2004. There were growing pains for sure, including from within.
There were no dreams of 10-win seasons back then. Caldwell was just trying to survive.
“I was so focused in the moment, I was learning on the job,” he said. “There was support for the program but behind the scenes there were people that didn’t want it to be as successful. I kept my head down and just tried to coach what I knew and learn what I didn’t know.”
He also got help from the Hopewell Bulldogs Pop Warner teams.
“As the program started to gain some momentum, I looked at the youth program and it was flourishing,” said Caldwell, who became a youth coach himself. “We had some amazing support from youth parents that wanted football to be strong in this community. With their support and the administration’s support, we could see there were going to be some very, very good years for Hopewell Valley in the future.”
It was a clear vision, as Hopewell won it all in 2013 and reached the playoff finals in 2022 when this senior class was sophomores. Folks predicted a drop-off after that year but the Bulldogs went 8-2, followed by this season’s impressive run that ended with a 28-25 SJ III semifinal loss to Seneca.
Rather than sulk about the ending, senior quarterback Milan Desai took pride in his class’s overall body of work.
“Coach Caldwell put it very well,” Desai said. “He said ‘You can’t be sad it’s over, you have to be happy it happened.’ That pretty much encapsulates the season.
“Last year we got snubbed from the playoffs after a devastating loss to Notre Dame. After that game, me and all my senior friends really bought in. We knew this year was our last year to make a statement. All off-season we worked together, went to early-morning lifts, put in extra work. We expected this of ourselves even if other people didn’t.”
There were some bumps along the way.
“We faced some adversity,” Desai said. “Halfway through the season one of our best players walked out on the team. That would have set back a lot of teams, but it brought us closer together and we just moved forward. It was next man up and we kept winning games. That said a lot about our team.”
It helped having a quarterback of Desai’s caliber.
In winning the 12th Man TD Club’s Frank “Mammy” Piscopo Memorial Award as the Mercer County public school player of the year, Desai completed 57 percent of his passes for 1,851 yards and 21 touchdowns while throwing just four interceptions. His efforts landed him a spot with Johns Hopkins next season and helped Hopewell to a school record 426 points. He also rushed for 460 yards and 13 TDs, making him responsible for 204 points..
“Milan is fantastic and phenomenal,” Caldwell said. “And I think having Ben DeCore back there to effectively run the ball and having Gavin Lewis able to coordinate things up front with the rest of the offensive line, it was definitely complementary football.”
Desai, who never played QB until his sophomore season, is the first to admit that.
“My receivers made great plays, my offensive line gave me time, obviously we had the best running back in the county,” he said. “A great run game helps out the passing game. And our defense is the best defense in the county. They get us the ball back when we need it. Everything came together to help me grow and help the team succeed.”
A defensive end/tight end in youth ball and as a freshman, Desai was targeted by the coaches to be standout Tim McKeown’s replacement. They molded him during McKeown’s senior year.
“I was a taller kid, kind of new to the game,” Desai recalled. “A lot of credit goes to our quarterbacks coach (EJ) Nemeth, he taught me everything I needed to know about being a field general, mentally and physically. And my teammates all bought in to help me grow as a young quarterback.”
DeCore rushed for 1,349 points and 16 TDs. He will graduate as the Bulldogs all-time rusher with 2,641 yards and 30 touchdowns. His back-up,
Dylan Yasher rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns while catching nine passes for 111 yards.
“Dylan got some critical first downs, he was a great inside zone-outside zone running back who ran behind his pads and gained those extra yards after contact,” Caldwell said.
An aggressive offensive line was led by left guard Lewis, who became the first player in HVCHS history to become a two-time winner of the 12th Man’s Charles “Fuzzy” Falzone Memorial Award as the county’s top public school lineman. He also played defensive line.
“He has an extremely strong football intelligence,” Caldwell said. “He’s a great leader who plays at full speed.
“Milan, Gavin and Ben definitely had a significant impact, but there were a lot of parts that just fit right to make us successful.”
And each deserves recognition, starting with receiver Owen Lengle (34 catches, 700 yards, 10 touchdowns). Caldwell felt he and Notre Dame’s Wyatt Moore were the county’s top receivers and Lengle was also a kicking weapon. He was 5-for-8 on field goal attempts with a long of 35, went 52 for 54 on PATs and averaged 35 yards per punt.
The rest of the offensive line had first-year starters Colin Turnbull at left tackle and Chris Heyman at right guard, two-year starter Ryan Tackacs at right tackle and three-year starter Jon Trainer at center. All are seniors but Tackacs, who’s a junior.
“Trainor was the vocal leader of the line, he brought a lot of tempo and energy to our practices,” Caldwell said. “Heyman was a physical player who loved to pull and play full speed. Tackacs continued to play better and better and play more physically with better technique and Turnbull continued to improve as well.”
Junior tight end Lucas Hemmer had to fill the big shoes of John Michael Vlasac and did so by catching 12 passes for 145 yards while also blocking well.
“He did a fantastic job,” Caldwell said. “He really turned into a big double threat. He can catch the ball in the seam or flat and turn it up for extra yardage, he can lead in our run game, kick out or block things up front.”
The defensive line was spearheaded by Lewis (47 tackles), whom Caldwell called “a menace, a relentless pursuer of the football.” Rotating nose guards Hemmer and Elliott Scherbekow combined for 36 tackles while occupying linemen. “Elliott has great balance and uses his hands well. He sacrificed a lot for the team and did a fantastic job,” Caldwell said.
The ends were Dan Pszczolkowski (19 tackles) and junior Carter Horvath (35 tackles, 4-½ sacks). “Dan is a smart player, a really good pass rusher off the edge,” Caldwell noted. “Carter played full speed all the time. He just made a difference when he was inserted in the game. He’s got a bright future.”
Linebackers included Joe Demareski (25 tackles), Johnny Ellis (86 tackles, 16 for loss, 4 sacks) and juniors Ryan Ottobre (53 tackles) and Ethan Barker (53 tackles).
“Joe continued to soar and get better, he set the edge and lined up on the strong side of an opponent’s offense,” Caldwell said. “Ellis is a vocal and physical leader, he’s a natural leader who loves the weight room and led our defense in physicality. Ryan is a big weight room guy who’s able to go through his reads and fill downhill. He’s a solid tackler. Ethan is a quiet leader, he plays physical, likes to play downhill. He can set the edge and cause some fumbles.”
Leading the secondary was Caldwell’s son Luke, arguably one of the top five all-around athletes in HVCHS history. He finished as Hopewell’s all-time interceptions leader (7) after a school-record six this season, and leaves as the second all-time tackler with 245-½ (team-leading 98 this year, with 5 forced fumbles).
A district wrestling champ who is headed to Washington & Lee College for lacrosse, Caldwell was the defensive quarterback.
“He set up the coverages, understood what offenses were trying to do,” his dad said. “He watched hours of film and was like a second coach on the field. He could also cover the pass well.”
Kyle Yadamiec (32 tackles) was the other safety and “was a guy that had to go down and cover guys in the slot or rotate back and play free safety. He did a fantastic job.”
Caldwell called his cornerbacks — sophomore Cooper Briehler and junior Jude Berman — “two of the best athletes in the county.” Briehler had 25 tackles and two interceptions and Berman made 22 tackles with two picks.
“Briehler was a lockdown corner, tall and athletic, he should be able to play man coverage on anyone next year,” Caldwell said. “Berman was a second-year starter, he should be a lockdown corner. He was typically a guy we matched up on the opponents best wide receiver. He can play man or zone coverage and he’s not afraid to come down and stick his nose in there.”
It is young players like that, plus others on the JV, that make Caldwell enthusiastic for the future.
“Our goal is to reload, not rebuild,” said the coach, who also heaped heavy praise on his coaching staff. “We feel like we have the right mix to be good next year and in the future as well, especially with the incoming players we have, and a youth program that’s strong. We’re united as a community around football and our student-athletes. There’s a lot of success to be had in the future.”
As for the guys leaving — most of whom did not start football until ninth grade — there’s a lot of success to look back on.
“Our coaching staff has been amazing building us into the players we are,” Desai said. “Obviously you don’t want the season to end like it did, but we’ve accepted it at this point. It was a helluva ride.”
The kind of rides players get in good programs.
Ben DeCore looks to evade a defender in the 45-13 victory over Allentown, Sept. 27, 2024. (Photo by Mike Schwartz/mssphoto.com.),
