About 90 players take the field for the first full squad on-field practice of Salem CC’s inaugural football season; Accorsi: first day “exceeded my expectations”

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The last time we saw the Salem CC football team on this practice field there were eight players running drills and four coaches making sure they were doing them right. That’s a nice ratio for some individual workouts, but it’s not what you really want to conduct a traditional full-blown football practice.

Fast forward to a sweltering Thursday afternoon four months later and there were players and coaches in every corner of the facility where not even the bell of a passing ice cream truck making the rounds could challenge their focus. The Mighty Oaks were going through their first on-the-field practice in program history with a full complement of coaches and players and it was all a football practice was supposed to be.

“It was awesome,” head coach Jay Accorsi said. “It was kind of what I envisioned when I reached out to Dr. (Mike) Gorman about this. It’s what I thought it would be. It’s pretty cool.”

More than 90 players took part in the 2-hour, 15-minute practice conducted in 90-degree heat. 

Practice was schedule for 3:00, but the players started arriving well before that. The early arrivals gathered under the shade on the perimeter of the Twins Field. And then, much of Accorsi’s delight, even before the last busload of players arrived those already on site moved out onto the field and began drills before the practice was even supposed to start.

“We’ve just got to be careful; we can’t burn them out too fast,” Accorsi said. “We’ve got to slow it down a little bit because they were so excited. But I think that’s the fun part. Players who are really excited to be here, who want to be here, are cherishing this opportunity. That’s why I really wanted to do something like this, to provide an opportunity for those who don’t have it. I think all the players here, in their each special story, fit that mold.”

Defensive back Ben Secouler (Cherry Hill West) and running back Brian Pritchett (Bridgeton) were among those intrepid eight who went through spring practice. It was definitely different.

“Multiplied by more than 10 this time,” Secouler said. “It’s like surreal, honestly. When we were here in the spring, it kind of felt hard to believe or even like trust (it was going to happen). I was trying to get them to buy in then for this opportunity then and, look, it’s here, and that was how many months ago and there was nothing. Honestly, it’s crazy, but it’s all coming together.”

“It felt fun, it felt good, it felt intense,” Pritchett said. “It’s felt good to be around some good vibes, to be around football again. It felt good.”

Charlie Shute, a decorated freshman linebacker from Delaware, was taking it in for the first time. The heat, the drills, none of it fazed him. Heading back to his position group from one of the water breaks, he told teammates he had been waiting for this opportunity a long time.

“I really didn’t get a lot of recruiting opportunities in high school (despite being a two-time first-team all-stater) so this is a perfect opportunity, a perfect chance, for me to really show my ability, show my leadership,” he said. “Obviously we’re here and then we’re going to try to go somewhere else after this. That was the memo when we first got here, so I just wanted to come here, fresh start, become a leader. Really, I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. This is exactly where I wanted to be, around the people I want to be around.”

Nobody won a position on this day, but Accorsi said the Mighty Oaks may have come closer to identifying their punter and kicker. There’s still a lot of work to be done – and a lot of players to evaluate – before the Aug. 21 scrimmage at Montclair and definitely the Aug. 29 inaugural game against Hudson Valley at Pennsville High School, but he found a lot to like on the first day of practice.

Just from watching film and seeing the players during three days of meetings Accorsi had a sense his first team would have the right stuff to be competitive right out of the gate, but seeing them move around on the field for the first time convinced him even more.

“I think we’re going to be a very quick team, I think we’re going to be a very athletic team,” the former Rowan head coach said. “I think up front on the offensive line we’ve got  some good size; there’s some inexperience there. On the back end defensively in the secondary and at the wide receiver spot we’re going to have some really good skill players. That’s kind of different for me. At the Division III level that’s kind of the areas that maybe you don’t. I knew here It was; I think we’re very athletic. In the team period, I was really impressed how the running backs ran, how the linebackers ran.

“It’s a long way to go. It’s only Day One. You’ve got to be cautiously optimistic and careful. It exceeded my expectations for the first day, it did; overall, the whole thing did exceed my expectations. The excitement for them to be here and how quickly they want to do things was great, but we had to temper down because we had to make sure they could through a whole practice.”

Of course, it’s only the beginning. The Mighty Oaks will continue to work out in guardian helmets and shorts the next two days. They’ll go in uppers for three days starting Sunday, then go in full pads for the first time Aug. 13. Then it’ll get interesting.

“I think it’s going to be even better,” Shute said. “I think the intensity is going to rise, the competitive level is going to rise. Everybody is going to be loud, everybody’s going to be aggressive, everybody’s going to be competitive, but at the end of the day we’re a team, so we’re going to do what’s best for the team. But it’s going to be absolutely awesome out here, so explosive. It’s going to be double the energy we had today.”

Accorsi ‘super excited’ with the coaching staff that’s come together for his first Salem CC’s football season

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Jay Accorsi is “super excited and pleased” with the group of assistants he’s been able to put together for his first coaching staff as Salem CC’s head football coach.

The Mighty Oaks took the field for the first time Thursday with their full complement of coaches in the fold.

They had three assistants to get them through the spring, but the confirmation Thursday of offensive assistants Nick Santosuosso (offensive line), Ojay Harris (tackles/tight ends), Sharif Glaud (receivers) and Lonnie Rice (running backs), and defensive coaches Earl Simmons (corners) and Dimir Leftwich (defensive line) gives them nine to man all position groups going through their inaugural season.

Defensive coordinator Joe Dougherty (linebackers), offensive coordinator Chris Crowley (quarterbacks) and Damon Troy (secondary) helped Accorsi take the Mighty Oaks through the spring.

“I think we really lucked out,” Accorsi said. “Chris Crowley was able to get two really good coaches, especially (on the) offensive line, because we had some at one point – it was going to be me. That was OK, but I think we lucked out with him getting Nick and Sharif, and then once Dimir gets here Sunday … I’m super excited and pleased. I’m really kind of surprised how quickly and late we put this together.”

South Jersey football observers might be familiar with some of the newer assistants. Harris and Simmons played for Accorsi at Rowan. Glaud was a high school standout at Winslow.

Accorsi said he knew he was attracting the right type coaches for his startup program after one of their first conversations.

“Just seeing them in meetings, I’m super excited,” he said. “Because it’s just not about football.

“All of those I don’t know, before we even had a conversation they were like, coach, why are you doing this? I said, what do you mean? They were like, I looked you up, you had a great career at Rowan, why are you doing this? And as soon as I said I want to help young men, they were like, sign me up, I want to do this. I don’t care how much you pay me, I don’t care what I do, I want to be involved in that.

“That’s the part I’m most excited about it. Not the greatness on the field for them, but it’s all the life lessons and everything off the field. I’m super excited about that.”

Top photo: Offensive line coach Nick Santosuosso (R) and tight ends coach Ojay Harris direct their charges through a drill during Salem CC’s first day of on-field practice Thursday.

Salem CC coach Accorsi welcomes nearly 100 players – with more expected – to the first day of the Mighty Oaks’ first preseason camp

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Jay Accorsi stood in front of the room eagerly awaiting his chance to address his players for the first time and as he watched them file in and take their seats he couldn’t help but crack a smile.

He had spoken to them individually over the last 10 months as he put together Salem CC’s first football team in school history, but this was the first time he had them together as a group. The head coach and his staff checked in 95 players Monday on the first day of the Mighty Oaks’ first preseason camp.

“It was an athletic looking group,” Accorsi said. “You meet them and you talk to them and you watch film and you do an open house and all that, but when they were in the room walking around in between meetings just my impression is we’re going to be pretty athletic. I was looking around, like, man, we’ve got some players.

“We’ve got a lot of impressive young men, I’m very excited. We had some people in and they came over and said the guys are nice, they’re polite, they’re very well spoken. Those things matter to me. Those were kind of the foundation of what we want to build with this team, not just football players, but good young men who want to work hard in a lot of different things. I’m looking around like I think we’ll be competitive.”

The Mighty Oaks had anticipated an initial group of 118 players. Experience has taught Accorsi not everybody was going to make it that first day for various reasons. Some who didn’t show Monday are expected to arrive Tuesday. And there were even some surprises among those who did.

“Pretty much what I thought it would be,” Accorsi said. “But the nice part is a couple guys showed up that I didn’t know, and there were a couple other guys we were in contact with today that we’re working on that will be pleasant additions. I told you it’s going to be a very fluid situation, but we had like 94 or 95, which I’m ecstatic about.

“I know when (president) Mike Gorman talked to the team this morning he was really excited to see that many in there ready to go. It was a great day, it really was.”

Monday was the first of three administration days to open camp and Accorsi said they accomplished everything they planned to do on Day One. In addition to checking in, the players went through an orientation that included presentations from Gorman, athletics director Bob Hughes and other administrators, a nutritionist and the coaches. They broke out in meetings with their position coaches and got in a little more football than the head coach anticipated.

“It was good to start to do football things for a change instead of all the necessary things that have to be done,” Accorsi said.

The Mighty Oaks are expected to hit the field for the first time Thursday and go in full pads for the first time the following Thursday. They have a scrimmage scheduled for Aug. 21 at Montclair and open their inaugural season Aug. 29 against Hudson Valley at Pennsville High School. The ticketing process went live through Pennsville’s electronic ticketing app earlier today.

“You want to try to do all the team building things, which are really important, and it was really cool to see them meet other players and sit and have lunch and laugh, all the socialization things you just don’t think about that you plan for,” Accorsi said of the first day. “That was just really cool today.

“That’s probably the thing I missed the most when I decided to retire and wanted to come back and do this, just being around young men and having them talk about football but then laugh and joke and have a good time. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see. I’m going to imagine if you asked any of them they had a great day. That’s all I really want out of today. They had a great experience and that they want to come back and be here tomorrow, which I think will be the case.”

Accorsi, staff prepare to welcome nearly 120 players to Salem CC’s first football training camp; players report Monday, hit the field Thursday; ‘it’s pretty incredible what we’ve done’

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – After 30 years in coaching Jay Accorsi knows what the first day of football practice feels like. He remembers what it felt like his first day as a head coach. This one feels a lot like that, but with a different level of anticipation.

Every first day has a special feeling, but this is the first time the Salem Community College head coach is going into a season with a team, a program, that’s starting – he started — from scratch.

After a little more than a year of researching, planning and putting it all together, the former Rowan head coach will open the doors for the first time to the full complement of players for the Mighty Oaks’ first football team.

Accorsi and his staff will welcome nearly 120 players when they report Monday for the school’s first ever training camp. They’ll have 18 days before their first live scrimmage at Montclair and 26 days before the first game in program history Aug. 29 against Hudson Valley CC at Pennsville High School.

“Even all my years at Rowan when I was an assistant and a head coach and even my years at Nichols when I was an assistant, it always feels like the first day of school,” the 62-year-old Accorsi said. “There’s just a newness about it. It’s a beginning. It’s a start of another season. New players. It always felt like it was the first day of school. This one’s different though.

“I’m probably more nervous than I’ve ever been because this is something started from scratch. Really, last August, I was just a consultant sitting in a room figuring out could we do this and now, a year later, we’re actually doing this and I’m nervous. It feels different. I’m really nervous. It kind of feels like my first year at Rowan. I think K.C. (Keeler) prepared me really well to take over, but, again, when you’re the person in charge … I was really nervous at the beginning at Rowan and I feel the same way, but even more so. Everything was kind of created and done, so it’s a similar feeling, but much more different.”

Accorsi brought the idea of playing football at Salem to college president Mike Gorman last May. He was armed with extensive research on why it would flourish in a region known for good high school football and loaded with players who either had to go out of state to play or simply abandoned the idea of going to college and playing because there were no other options available to them.

Gorman brought it to the board in October, it passed in November with consultant Accorsi installed as acting head coach and the program officially launched in January, making it only the second junior college in New Jersey to offer the sport. There have been some growing pains, of course, and there will continue to be as the Mighty Oaks move forward, but they’ve made steady progress and, ready or not, the season is upon them.

“Sometimes when I get frustrated or whatever I have to kind of step back and think, listen, this was an idea you proposed to President Gorman last June and all of a sudden now you’re doing it,” Accorsi said. “I need to step back sometimes and understand the challenges and understand the start of it, but you know as a competitor you want it to all be perfect.

“I need to make sure I step back at times, and I did that yesterday when we had most of the coaching staff there and they were in meetings and they were talking and I was just sitting there looking around thinking, ‘wow this is pretty awesome; all this collection of individuals last year at this time were doing something completely different.’ I need to make sure I check myself at the door and maybe not get too frustrated or too quick to judge because it’s pretty incredible what we’ve done.”

The Mighty Oaks’ first three days together will be administrative days. The players report Monday at 9 a.m. and then meet with administrators and coaches. Tuesday is a day for academics and getting fitted for their gear and Wednesday it’s physicals and more meetings.

It’s the hope to hit the practice field adjacent to the Carney Point Rec Complex Thursday, but there’s still a lot to do there to have it ready. As much as coaches don’t like disruptions, if it doesn’t happen that day, it won’t necessarily set them back

“I wanted three admin days because I knew these things were going to happen and I wanted to take our time before we rushed into practice to have everything cleared,” Accorsi said. “I think we’ve put a lot of things in place to do it the right way; take our time, go really slow, but make sure everybody is safe and sound, is protected. That’s the part I’ve been very, very excited about, it’s all been done the right way and the safe way, too.

“Those first three days it’s 9-to-5 and it’s just a lot of stuff, but it’s probably, and I don’t want to take away from the football part, but it’s probably the most important things we will do in the program for the whole year. I’m hoping Thursday is the first day. I think we’ll be all right to start that day, but I built it into the schedule that Thursday ends up being a catch-up day or a walk-through with some other things. The coaches are going to hate me for saying this, but it’s not the end of the world if we don’t have a full practice that day. I’m hoping we will, but I’ve got to go slow to make sure everybody’s cleared to go.”

The Mighty Oaks do have their full complement of coaches on board, but won’t announce them until top administrators return to campus at the start of the week and officially sign off on them. The program has been going through its beginnings and a limited spring practice with assistants Joe Dougherty, Chris Crowley and Damon Troy.

Once they get on the field, the first three days will be in helmets and shorts. The next three days they’ll be in shells. Aug. 12 is a scheduled off day with the 13th being their first day in full pads.

With all the things they had to worry about to get the program off the ground, one element Accorsi never doubted was the program’s ability to attract players. They are expecting 118 players from at least seven states to report Monday. Some ultimately will be grey-shirted, some will be redshirted and some, Accorsi said, are “really dynamic players” who have the potential to play at the highest levels of the college game.

When the program announced their signees on social media, most were listed as “ATH” to avoid being pigeonholed into specific positions before they are seen, but the coaching staff does have a preliminary depth chart. There are 29 defensive backs, 21 wide receivers, 12 running backs and “four and maybe five” quarterbacks.

“I knew junior college football would be different, I just didn’t realize how different it would be,” Accorsi said. “Coming from Division III, we had some players, don’t get me wrong, but not like the players we’re going to have here.

“The defense was talking about all the DBs and the defensive coordinator (Dougherty) was talking about we may be able to play man a lot. You usually can’t say that at a lot of places, but I think the athleticism and the talent is even higher than what I thought it would be and I thought it would be pretty high. We’ve got some guys.”

ANNOUNCED SALEM CC FOOTBALL SIGNEES

PLAYER	HOMETOWN/SCHOOL
Aiden Alexander	Kingsway/Kutztown
Rabiou Alidou	Philadelphia/Audenried
Jayden Ali-Ward	Lawnside/Sterling
Maxwell Batten	Wilmington, Del./St. Marks HS
DJ Binck	National Park/Gateway
Jerrell Burks	Bridgeton
Quyan Cade	Pleasantville
Zahir Cobbins	Jersey City/Delran
Jadon Cowan	Baltimore/North County
Travon Crapps	Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas
Robert Daly	Pittsbrove/Schalick
Sam DaSilva	Delran
Jayir Davis	Camden/Eastside
Jeremiah Days	Mount Laurel/Lenape
Jordan Dozier-Pinkett	Wildwood
Josiah Evans	Collingswood
Sean Ferebee	West Deptford/Williamstown
Sean Gresham	Fairfax, Va/Falls Church
Ryan Goodmond	Newark, Del./Newark
M.J. Hall	Woodstown
Jacob Hand	Pennsville
Aidan Hill	Wilmington, Del./Brandywine
Kaden Hood	Swedesboro/Kingsway
Xavier Lee	Newark/William Penn HS
Jermar Jones	West Deptford/Chestnut Hill
Eric Jordan	Wildwood
Darion Joyner	Blackwood/Washington Twp.
Kahmaj Kearney	Smyrna, Del.
Stephen Little	Bridgeton
Ke-Marley Mason	Marlton/Cherokee
Lamar McCoy	Millsboro, Del./Cape Henlopen
Zaahir McNair	Wilmington, Del./Brandywine
Jamere Metts	Philadelphia/Clearview HS
Hayden Miller	Glendora/Triton
Andrew Mosley	Bridgeton/Cumberland
Jahfarri Payne	Wilmington, Del./John Dickinson
John Pettigrew	Bellmawr/Triton
Brian Pritchett	Bridgeton/Sussex CC
Jovanni Rios	Salem
Jack Robinson	Maple Shade
Kaleb Ross	Elkton, Md./St. Elizabeth HS
Sam Rowley	Penns Grove/Haddon Heights
Jeremiah Russell	Bridgeton
Jayden Sanchez	Sewell/Washington Twp.
Ben Secouler	Cherry Hill
Brody Selfridge	Sewell/Clearview
Noah Shields	Blackwood/Highland
Charlie Shute	Newark, Del./Conrad HS
Jamar Smith	Glasgow
Moses Tassy	Cherry Hill West
Raheem Tomoney	Philadelphia/Hudson Valley CC
Deven Tompkins	Bridgeton/Cumberland Reg.
William Torres	Willingboro
Tyler Walker	Manalapan/New Haven
Quaddi Walls	Clayton
Jamaad Washington	Pleasantville
Demere White	Millville
Demetris Williams	Clayton
Kielle Woodard	Bridgeton/Cumberland Reg.
Erik Worley	Sicklerville/Winslow HS

Other in-state program says emerging Salem CC program good for conference, region and JUCO football, days before opening of camp, AD who provided guidance says Mighty Oaks have ‘done everything they need to get this thing moving’

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

When Todd Pottersdorf heard there was another junior college on the other end of the state exploring the possibility of starting a football program he got genuinely excited.

The idea that Salem Community College was going to bring a program online this year was an opportunity not only to find a reasonably close opponent to fill another spot on Sussex CC’s schedule but provide a competitive partner to help fill the 500-mile void that was JUCO football between New York and North Carolina.

It’s not just an idea anymore. The Mighty Oaks are just days away from opening their first preseason football training camp with their inaugural game in an eight-game Year One schedule set for Lou D’Angelo Stadium in Pennsville the end of August.

The response has been overly favorable locally and beyond.

“I think it’s great for the region and the conference; it gives us another opponent to play,” said Pottersdorf, the Skylanders’ head coach when they launched and now the school’s athletics director. “In junior college football you’re either D1 or D3. Since 2019 we were a Division 1 program. That included Lackawanna, Monroe – those schools were relatively on the East Coast – but now that Lackawanna went four-year school, Monroe went four-year school, we decided to go down to Division 3 status, where now Hudson, Nassau, Erie, they have to play us. They can’t dodge us.

“Adding Salem really has helped us. It’s been kind of nice to have somebody else in the mix, to be honest with you. From our perspective it’s been great to have. It’s great for the Garden State Athletic Conference, it’s great for Region 19 and it’s great for NJCAA football.”

Jay Accorsi, the long-time Rowan head coach who would become the Mighty Oaks’ first head coach, called on Pottersdorf several times during Salem’s exploratory phase to pick his brain about all that was in store for starting a program from scratch.

Accorsi often wondered why there wasn’t a local junior college option available to players in a region that was filled with players who had the ability and desire to play but either went out of state to play or fell through the recruiting cracks without a place to land. He knew Pottersdorf from the days his Rowan teams scrimmaged Sussex in camp and acknowledged his insights many times in earlier interviews.

The Skylanders were the first junior college in the state to have football when they launched in 2019 with the big-picture aim of increasing student enrollment. They were ready to hit the field with a 90-man roster in the fall of 2020, but then COVID hit and disrupted the world. They played a five-game schedule when normalcy returned and have been on the field every year since. (Salem’s plan will have taken 10 months from the time they first brought the proposal before the board to Opening Day).

“It wasn’t hard for us to get it up and running; it was a pretty smooth process, as far as finding kids to play,” Pottersdorf said. 

The biggest questions Accorsi had were the ability to secure a practice facility and playing venues. During the process, the Mighty Oaks acquired a piece of property adjacent to the Carneys Point Rec Complex for their practice facility and will play games this first season at three of five Salem County high school stadiums. They are still trying to finalize the coaching staff.

Since their initial conversations, Pottersdorf has watched with interest as Salem has navigated the same issues Sussex did when it started and he’s been impressed with what he’s observed from afar.

“We haven’t talked in a while, but I understand things are going pretty good,” he said. “(Accorsi’s) got good numbers and is just going through the internal stuff now.

“I think they’re in a good spot. They’re ready to roll. I think they’ve done everything they need to do to get this thing moving. it’s a lot work behind the scenes and not a lot of people realize how much of that there is, but everything we see it seems like they’re going to be in a really good spot.”

The addition of Salem to the landscape opens a world of possibilities for JUCO football in the region. The Mighty Oaks will play their first season as a Division 3 independent, but Pottersdorf, who recently was voted onto the D-3 football board, is about to introduce a proposal for a conference that would include the two New Jersey schools, Hudson Valley, Nassau and Erie.

In a perfect world, they would play home-and-home within the conference so they wouldn’t have to hunt for games and have eight guaranteed JUCO games that would qualify them for the playoffs. The Mighty Oaks play the other four teams in its inaugural schedule – Sussex twice — plus have games with the service academy prep schools and a technical college. 

“My goal this year is to create a Division 3 junior college football conference where we each play each other twice,” Pottersdorf said. “I want to try to get some credibility so we can be in the national polling so we can compete for a national title, somebody from our conference.”

Single-game football ticket prices set, softball coach nearing milestone, Mighty Oaks hire full-time strength coach

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – It’ll cost you a little something to follow the Salem Community College football team on its tour around the county during its inaugural season this fall.

The athletics department has set single-game ticket prices for the Mighty Oaks’ four home games at $7. Children under 12 and SCC students with valid ID are free. 

“It’s a little bit higher than the high school one, (but) not too high that it’s a crazy amount,” SCC assistant athletics director Angel Rodriguez said Wednesday. “Our goal (in setting the price) was just to kind of find something that was like a happy medium and just to kind of get started.”

Their four home games are the historic inaugural game Aug. 29 at Pennsville (vs. Hudson Valley CC), Sept. 12 at Schalick (vs. Nassau CC), Sept. 19 at Penns Grove (vs. Thaddeus Stevens) and the Homecoming game Oct. 17 at Pennsville (vs. Sussex CC). 

There is no season-ticket package since the Mighty Oaks will play at multiple venues. All of their ticket transactions will be conducted electronically and will be available at the gate. The school is hoping to start marketing its ticketing procedures “within the next few days.”

“We’re going to use some of the high school processes right now just to make it an easy transition,” Rodriguez said. “Maybe something in the future, when we kind of move maybe to our own ticketing system, we’ll probably have that option, but right now it’s just the smooth option to kind of get going.”

Administrators at three of the Mighty Oaks’ road opponents – Erie CC, Sussex CC and Navy Prep (game at the U.S. Naval Academy) – said they do not charge for home football games with one saying they “wouldn’t recommend “ doing so. Their other road game is against Army Prep at West Point.

By comparison, the two four-year football-playing colleges closest to Salem CC – NCAA Division III Rowan University and Division I Delaware – sell single-game general admission tickets for $10 and $15-$30 (depending on opponent), respectively. The high schools are $5 for adults.

Head coach Jay Accorsi opens training camp Aug. 3 with practice getting underway Aug. 6. In addition to getting their new practice facility ready, the Mighty Oaks recently unveiled their game-day uniform combinations (top photo). They also recently ran their list of players to 100.

“We’re definitely excited to get football going,” Rodriguez said. “Having an actual game and that we’re going to have a season is first and foremost the most exciting part of what we have going on … We’re pretty confident that we’re ready from a game-day perspective, so now it’s just the countdown.”

NEARING A MILESTONE: Rodriguez enters his fifth season as the Mighty Oaks’ softball coach on the cusp of a milestone. He’s six wins shy of 100 for his career.

YEAR	W-L
2026	28-20
2025	19-25
2024	31-14
2023	16-18
TOTAL	94-77

The 29-year-old coach is 94-77 with four straight region playoff appearances since coming aboard in 2022 to restart the program. The milestone could come as early as March 16 at Delaware Tech if the Mighty Oaks can find an earlier season opener, but likely will happen on their Southern swing.

“When you think of where we were five years ago and coming into a program and starting it from scratch after 13 years or whatever it was, I think it’s very meaningful,” Rodriguez said of the milestone. “Who would’ve thought we would’ve gotten here?

“Hats off to, No. 1, the first group that started here to make this happen – and there were only two of us (coaches), we probably zoomed with 5-600 players in a six-month span. It was such a fun time to talk to so many people and get it started and then to look back and think, holy cow, five years later were about to hit 100 wins.

“I’m excited, but I did the minimum work. The players do all the work, so really the 100 wins are really for them. I hope they take it meaning something, too. It’s definitely not just mine alone, I can tell you that.”

BULKING UP: The Mighty Oaks have hired former Kingsway baseball standout Justin Szestowicki as their full-time strength and conditioning coach. After starring at Kingsway, Szestowicki played collegiately at North Carolina, Elon and finished up this spring as LaSalle’s starting shortstop. He starts working with the Mighty Oaks’ athletes Monday.