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Schools

Timber Creek Working to Stay on Top

The Chargers are using last year's championship season as motivation for another long run.

The Timber Creek Regional High School football team ended its season it the best possible way—, in the Group 3 State Championship. The Chargers reached the top of the mountain.

Now the players that return, along with a few new faces, want to make sure the program stays there.

Timber Creek has been hard at work during training camp over the last few weeks, doing its best to maintain the incredibly high standard the program has set for itself. So far, head coach Robert Hinson has come away impressed.

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“Just the guys’ effort is what has stood out to me,” Hinson said. “We’ve been grinding pretty hard the last couple of weeks and the guys have responded mentally and physically.”

Timber Creek graduated a few high-profile players last spring but returns a roster full of experienced players. Khalil Pierce and Eric Church will be back to lead the offense in the ground game, while linemen and Dajuan Drennon are back for their senior seasons, ready to cause havoc on opposing quarterbacks.

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Hinson said his veterans have come back hungrier than ever, determined to play for another championship.

“These guys were a part of what happened last year this senior class doesn’t want to be the guys to relinquish the title,” Hinson said. “There will be new guys that will step in, and that has kind of been their motivating factor for them.”

Timber Creek will take another step towards the regular season on Monday when it takes on Vineland in a home scrimmage. Below are a few things to look out for between now and opening day.

- Who will be the new quarterback: The Chargers have a host of returnees at the skill positions, but have a big hole to fill with the graduation of quarterback Calvin Lowe. The Patch Fall Athlete of the Season, Lowe had a strong, accurate arm, quick feet and had great football intelligence. Senior Myles Nash, and juniors Jagger Green and Dan Williams are currently competing for the job.

“The big thing is leadership and commanding the offense,” Hinson said. “Myles started for us a little last year so he has some experience and Dan and Jagger have had a tremendous offseason. We have three or four guys that can run the ball and four or five tall receivers, so we don’t need every pass to be right on target. We need guys at that position to be leaders and game managers.”

Replacing Quanzell Lambert: It will be no easy task attempting to replace the production lost with the graduation of the current Rutgers linebacker. A tackling machine, Lambert was the complete package, gifted and physical player that could shed blockers, wrap up running backs and even drop in coverage.

However, if anyone would be able to fill the giant shoes left behind it is Taliq Chambers, who stepped up when Lambert was injured in the second half of last season and performed at a high level. Chambers, who will be the captain of the defense, has the full faith of Hinson.

“Taliq is a kid that was a Star Ledger Third-Team linebacker and somehow despite that he went unnoticed. He has been leading our defense. He was one of the least noticed guys we had and he was a leader.”

-  Maintaining a high level of conditioning: One of the things that made the Chargers so difficult to compete against for four quarters last year was the teams overall conditioning. Rarely did players tire late in games and the same could not be said with the Chargers opponents. There is no doubt the coaching staff will be expecting the same from this year’s group, and if the players can reach that level, the Chargers will once again have a chance at a great run.

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