East Stroudsburg South football will have something to prove in 2024

Of all the playoff football teams from Monroe County last year, East Stroudsburg South 's 2023 season will live in local lore for a long time, going undefeated the entire month of October and snatching the last 5A District 11 playoff spot during the final week of the regular season.

The Cavaliers' run ended in the semifinals against Southern Lehigh, but head coach Matt Walters thinks that five-week stretch will serve his team well in 2024.

"I know the schedule says we just played one playoff game, but we had to win out starting in October. Our kids were able to play really well under a lot of pressure situations," Walters said. "Our kids just need to mold that into everything that we do. Not just in games, but in the way we practice, the way we lift weights, the way we are in meetings. If we can have that same focus and that same energy and everything that we do, I think that's going to lead us into a more successful October and November."

With only a few weeks before the season, Walters' has seen his team maintain that passion, saying that "we're extremely happy with where we are, but we're not satisfied. We're hungry. We've been ever since last season."

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South will be an experienced team in 2024, returning nine offensive starters and 10 defensive starters from last year's playoff team. Unfortunately, that doesn't include running back Nathan Gray, who decided to transfer to St. Thomas More in Connecticut and reclassify to the recruiting class of 2026. Gray was an EPC North First Team All-Star who ran for 1,684 yards and 16 touchdowns on 197 attempts, averaging 8.6 yards per carry.

When asked about Gray's departure, Walters said "We're focused on the 2024 Cavaliers. We love the culture that we built here and we take a lot of pride in the former, current and future players of this program. We're a homegrown team, and we're very proud of the culture that we established. We're proud of the players who have gone through this program and who are playing at the collegiate level. And we're focused on the guys that are here."

With Gray's departure, senior Charles Capers will undoubtedly be the first option on the ground this season. As a junior, Capers carried the ball 53 times and ran for 348 yards and seven touchdowns on 6.6 yards per attempt while splitting time. He's also a cornerstone in the Cavalier secondary, so there will be a lot on his shoulders this fall.

"I've definitely been waking up earlier and lifting more," Capers said about preparing for this season. "Also just working with my offensive line and working this entire offseason. Everything seems like it's going in the right path."

There was more pressure on the running game in 2023 as Walters opted to go for a Wildcat offense, where Capers and Gray took direct snaps and literally ran through the competition. That won't be the case in 2024. Instead, expect to see the usual offensive from South, which is moving the ball through the air.

A passing offense means junior quarterback Ivan Laubach will get to show how much he's improved after starting for the first time as a sophomore.

"He put on really good weight and dived into the playbooks this offseason," Walters said about Laubach. "We went to an East Stroudsburg University camp where we went up against one of the best programs in the state over there, and he held his own. We knew it was going to be a timing thing with him starting as a sophomore last year. He's at the point now where he has the keys to the Cadillac. He's ready to drive this thing."

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Laubach was well aware of his shortcomings as a first-year starter last year, namely with adjusting to the pace of varsity. But he's made it a mission to address those issues ahead of his junior season.

"A big thing for me is my arm strength," Laubach said. "Especially on the deep ball, I wasn't getting it out to my receivers last year, instead just getting it to a spot where I hope they could catch it. Now, I'm actually able to put it out there. Another thing is my pocket presence. Last year I was like a statue. So I'm hoping this year I'll be able to move around a little bit with pressure."

Another name to keep an eye on for offense is senior wide receiver Xavier Pusateri, whom Walters said is a big target that gives him confidence to take shots down field. Even when the offense was run-heavy last year, Pusateri was the team's triple crown receiver, leading the Cavaliers in receptions (23), yards (344) and touchdowns (6).

"He's a long and lengthy wide receiver who can vertically stretch the field," Walters said. "We love to be the aggressive side of the offense. We want to dictate what the defense is going to do. So hopefully we can get that offense back to where it's been a couple of seasons ago."

Pusateri also plans to apply that aggressiveness to the secondary, where he and Capers will be playing both sides of the ball.

"I think we're the best secondary on the mountain," Pusateri said, "Honestly, I don't see any team competing with us in the secondary."

The South defense also expects some improvements from the rest of the defense from new-ish defensive coordinator Dan Burns. Burns was most recently the head coach of Pocono Mountain East for four seasons, and was the defensive coordinator during Walters' first season at South.

"You can see the mentality of our defense become more aggressive," Walters said. "We kind of sat back the last couple of seasons and let the offense dictate how we were going to play. Similar to our offense now, we want to dictate what the other team is going to do. As you said, our secondary is probably our strong point. We're very excited about our back five.

"In terms of our front six, we have our middle linebacker Nasir Blount, our top tackler, returning. John Adjin-Tetty, a junior this year, was an animal last season. He was an Second Team EPC defensive end and he had a tremendous summer where he went up against some Division I-level offensive tackles."

Not only has East Stroudsburg South been aggressive on the field, but they've picked an aggressive schedule this year with the EPC allowing open scheduling, which means teams could play whoever they want for the first three games. They open the season against Abington Heights, followed by Northampton in Week 2. The most intriguing choice, however, is Whitehall in Week 3.

Class 5A in District 11 only has four teams - Whitehall, South, Pleasant Valley and Pocono Mountain East. The Zephyrs are the favorites to make it out of districts, so this will be an early test to see if the Cavaliers have a chance to fight for a spot in the state playoffs.

"We want to play top quality competition. We're not looking for easy victories," Walters said. "I don't think that's, that's gonna get you to where you want to be in November. So we wanted to keep some Lehigh Valley schools. So we kept Northampton who has been a 6A power down there, and we kept Whitehall, who's 5A power they won the district title last year. We have a great rivalry with them going back to the 2021 district championship game. It's fun to play a school like Whitehall because they're similar in school size. They have that Lehigh Valley mentality and it's going to be a great test for our kids here at the Purple Pit."

It won't take long to see if the aggressiveness pays off for the Cavaliers, but one thing is for sure: they have something to prove in 2024.

East Stroudsburg South 2024 Football Schedule

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: East Stroudsburg South football will have something to prove in 2024