Football Preview: Chamberlain Chiefs

Chamberlain High School's football team is tired of being overlooked.

The Chiefs finished 2-8 last season but after a shift in districts and a shake up in the team, Chamberlain is eyeing a playoff appearance this season. Coach Joseph Severino doesn't want to play into the disrespect his team has received, he's simply looking to shock people starting Sept. 2.

"It's a good district to be in because I think it's a tossup," Severino said. "The newspapers pick their favorites and don't seem to notice last year's scores. I truly believe it's up for grabs, but I don't want to pay too much attention to the fact that no one mentions us, I just want to be there at the end."

The Chiefs were dealt a blow this summer after their spring preparations were rendered useless with the departure of quarterback Mitchell Norden to Tampa Catholic. Sophomore Joshua Bennett has taken the reigns and captured the confidence of Severino.

"He's coming around and looks capable of being a starting quarterback," Severino said. "If we'd of known that our other quarterback was going to leave us we would have had Josh (Bennett) playing 7-on-7 during the offseason."

Kicker and punter Neal MacInness is one of Severino's strongest assets and special teams will play a key part in whether or not the Chiefs attain success this year.

Junior running back Xavier Johnson has a crucial role to play for the Chiefs this season as the focal point of this offense, but it'll be up to the rest of the team to provide diversity in the Chamberlain offense.

"We don't have a lot of depth but we have a lot of speed and skill in the squad," Severino said. "I think this will be the best year since I've been here. We had a lot of really close games last year in which late game execution and crucial mistakes were the difference between losing and winning."

Strategically speaking, the wide receivers that Severino has combined with his faith in his new quarterback means that Chamberlain can line up differently than in the past.

"I think we're more versatile this year instead of just lining up in the same formation and running the ball up the middle," Severino said. "We're multi-dimenstional now. We can spread out, play out of the shotgun and do some different types of things now and I think people are going to be surprised by us."