Getting in the state playoffs is often a goal, sometimes just the first goal, of a high school football team.
For A.L. Johnson out of Clark, it had been a fairly regular occurrence, but a variety of factors ended a nice run the Crusaders had in 2019, when the team went 4-7. Entering this season, they team had not been back since.
But thanks to a huge 35-9 road win at South River this past Saturday that clinched a berth in the postseason, Johnson is back in the playoffs.
At 6-2, it’s a complete 180-degree turn from last year’s 2-7 season, and indeed from the combined 7-17 of the past three seasons. And as head coach Anthony DelConte explains it, that’s descriptive not just of the team’s record, but its positive change in attitude, mindset and focus.
Now, they’ll take that into a South Jersey Group 2 first round playoff game, when the fifth-seeded Crusaders visit fourth-seed Pleasantville (5-2) at 7:00 Friday night, looking for their first playoff win in four years.
Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Johnson head coach Anthony DelConte:
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