With new coach, Bristol back on the gridiron, sans Simmons

BRISTOL BORO – With a first-year coach, it would be nice to have some experience carrying the football going into any campaign. Unfortunately, Bristol head coach John Greiner doesn’t have that luxury.

Gone is Donte Simmons, who rushed for nearly 6,100 yards during his career with the Warriors including over 2,000 last season.

Bristol has a cast of characters who will act in his stead including junior Rodney Courtney, senior Eli Moore, junior Parker Kelley and Eric Bell, a sophomore.

“The beauty of it is we have a bunch of kids who can run the ball,” said Bristol quarterback R.J. Collins, who is back to complete his final year in a Warriors uniform.

“All of them can pick up the slack for what he did and do it just as good as he did it.

“What he produced out on the field as one, they can all do together as a unit.”

It will be a shared responsibility, said Greiner, who plans to operate a Wing-T offense instead of the spread offense that former skipper Leo Plenski ran last year.

“These guys have a lot of tenacity and they’re all working hard,” added Greiner. “They have brainpower, ability and the capability to understand what we’re trying to do.”

With the Wing-T in place, Greiner thinks Collins will be more successful passing this year.

“This is going to help him throwing the ball because passing is predicated off the play-action pass,” explained Greiner.

Unfortunately, the Warriors have lost the services of offensive linemen Jeremiah Haywood, Robert Jones and Robert Bryson. The only experience Bristol has returning on the O-line is center Danny Collins and junior Arren Pulinario, a returnee at right guard. First-year starters on the unit include sophomore Frankie Vickers at left tackle, classmate Elliot Rivera at left guard and sophomore Xavier Corbin at right tackle.

The Warriors have some size at center in Danny Collins, who is returning at 6-1, 262 pounds. Their tackles are big too with Corbin at 6-1, 221 and Vickers at 6-1, 198. And Pulinario puts 192 pounds down on the scale. The group has to gel in time to take on Kensington Charter 3 p.m. Friday at the Simon Gratz SuperSite in North Philadelphia.

Collins thinks they can.

“I believe that they’ll be right on pace and we’ll have a good game,” said Collins. “And hopefully, pull out a win.”

Last year was Bristol’s third straight season in the district championship game. However, after winning the previous two District One crowns, the Warriors lost this one, 15-14, to Suburban One League rival Springfield. A 317-yard rushing performance by Simmons wasn’t enough to overcome three turnovers and 60 yards in penalties that night at Truman High School.

Really, it seemed like Bristol lost the game long before the contest began. After winning their first six games in 2014, the Warriors lost three of their last four in the regular season. Losses to Middle Township and Buena were sandwiched around a heartbreaker suffered at the hands of Montgomery County rival Academy of the New Church (ANC).

Of the three, it was the loss to ANC that hurt the most, said Collins.

With only 6:44 to go in the game, Simmons broke Steve Slaton’s Conwell-Egan rushing record in a memorable way, on a 6-yard touchdown jaunt that put Bristol up 27-14.

ANC rolled up 14 unanswered points however on a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Charlie Coyle to tight end Carnel Harley and got a key interception in the closing seconds, preventing Bristol from capping Simmons’ big night with a win.

“We were so excited about that record that we forgot we still had (seven) minutes in the game left to play,” stated Collins.

“It’s something that I wish we could have gotten back.

“We would have won the IFL and we would have been on a pretty solid roll too.

That’s a lesson learned, said R.J.

“We have to learn to shut the door,” said Collins, “and not ease up on an opponent.”

“We got all excited on the sidelines and that was fueling them.

“Learn to stomp on them – if you have an opportunity to score, score. Don’t go too easy on them because something like that will happen.”

The Warriors will have 11 chances to step on their opponents’ throats beginning Friday, Sept. 4. Then, it’s on to Pennington Prep in a big inter-state rivalry battle for Bristol (2 p.m. Sept. 12). On Friday, Sept. 18, the Warriors travel to Kennett High for a third straight road game then back home Friday Sept. 25 for the home opener against Calvary Christian.

NOTES: Collins plans to play college football. He’s visited Juniata and attended a combine at Albright … Kyle Slivka-Fralin is playing wideout at Lycoming … Jeremiah Haywood is playing defense at Ursinus.

BRISTOL OFFENSE (projected starters)

QB: R.J. Collins (Sr.)

RUNNING BACK: Rodney Courtney (Jr.), Eli Moore (Sr.), Parker Kelley (Jr.), Eric Bell (So.)

TIGHT END: Adrian Ellerbe (Sr.)

SE/WR: Samir Brisbon (So.), Trevor Johnson (So.), Austin Knox (Jr.)

O-LINE: LT Frankie Vickers (So.), LG Elliot Rivera (So.), C Danny Collins (So.), RG Arren Pulinario (Jr.), RT Xavier Corbin (So.)

BRISTOL DEFENSE

STRONG SIDE DE: Adrian Ellerbe (Sr.)

STRONG SIDE TACKLE: Hayden Cush (Sr.)

WEAK SIDE TACKLE: Frankie Vickers (So.)

WEAK SIDE DE: Tommy Wallick (So.)

STRONG SIDE LB: Chandler Monach (Fr.)

MIDDLE LB: Arren Pulinario (Jr.)

WEAK SIDE LB: Lucas Bogarde (Fr.)

CB: Eli Moore (Sr.)

CB: Eric Bell (So.)

STRONG SAFETY: Parker Kelley (Jr.)

FREE SAFETY: Samir Brisbon (So.)