Dahl Aims to Bring Dragons Back to Elite

As a former Brick Township Dragon football player, new head coach Robert Dahl is aware of the great gridiron tradition that Brick has been known for over the years. Now, it is his job to bring the Dragons back to greatness.

The first year head coach appears ready and energized to take on the challenge.

"We just want to get the program back to where it was," said Dahl, "Coach Wolf had built up a great program. The opportunity to give back to the town and program after they have given so much to myself is something I'm very happy to have. We want to make coach Wolf proud."

Dahl went on to mention much of his staff consists of former Brick players who will be taking pride in building the program back up.

"When I was first talking to the board about potentially coming back to coach, I made a few calls to some of my assistants and they were without a doubt excited to be a part of this," said Dahl.

"I'm not so worried about how things have gone the past few years," added Dahl. "It's a lot like losing a game, I told the boys. We have to close the chapter on what happened and just look ahead."

After back-to-back 4-6 seasons, the current seniors have not been a part of a plus-.500 varsity squad, yet the coach commented positively on their work so far.

"They really seem to have the goal in mind to bring back times of some of the prouder days," said Dahl. "They have always came in to work, not talk about the last few years."

Despite the positive attitude all around, it does not remove the fact that will have the toughest opening of the schedule in the Shore Conference, opening against and Lacey.

"We are going to focus on one game at a time," said Dahl, on the pressure of potentially starting 0-2 to the the Dragons and Lions, two red-hot squads. "They are easily two of the top five programs in the Shore, and have great coaching – especially Brick Memorial with (Walter) Currie."

"Our goal is to just do our best to properly prepare our kids to battle and put ourselves in the best position possible to win every game." said Dahl.

If the players buy into Dahl's philosphy, the same might be able to be said about his coaching staff as well.

"I believe football is doing the right thing on and off the field, in every aspect of life," said Dahl. "In the classroom we want our boys to be scholars and gentlemen and it carries out onto the field."

A simple phrase has been the rallying cry for the Dragons this year when they come together to break: rather than scream 'Brick' or 'Dragons' the players have yelled 'hard work,' to remind themselves of the work they have done, and still have ahead of them.

Dahl is also bringing something new to the Dragons in regards to the last few seasons – the spread offense.

Senior quarterback Brandon Kieslor will be leading the way, as Dahl was happy with how he has performed in offseason 7-on-7 drills and expects "big things."

Junior halfback Doug Cuccinello is coming off a sophomore season rushing for over 900 yards, and is the type of runner Dahl described as "downhill" and "hard nosed."

Senior Brian Murphy will be expected to anchor the offensive line.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Dragons will be deploying a balanced 4-3 look consisting of four down linemen with three linebackers and four defensive backs.

Tom Winters will play a big role as the middle linebacker with Joey Bench playing strong safety.

"We want to get better with every game we play," said Dahl, "The kids have been buying in, if we are working hard, good things are going to happen," said an excited coach.