After four straight seasons hovering around the .500 record mark, a new look Newton Braves football team could surprise some opponents in the 2009 season. They leave the SCIL which was stacked with bigger opponents and enter a new Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference ready to battle it out with teams that are more in line with Newton’s size.

“Its going to be a new world because our former conference was extremely tough, almost every year you would see a state playoff birth or a State Championship come out of the SCIL.” Coach Tom Brennan said of the new NJAC conference. “We did retain four familiar teams, Lenape, Kittatinny, Walkill, and ourselves, all of them very good. I actually coached against one or two of the new teams in the conference so it’s going to be an interesting year if nothing else”

OFFENSE

While coaching at Butler High School, Brennan picked up the Mouse Davis Run & Shoot and fell in love with how it gets all his talented position players involved in the offense. One of those talented players is last year’s 1,000 yard rusher James Nance 5’8”, 192lbs. Nance will get the bulk of the carries in this offensive set.

At the wide receiver position, Brian Winfield is a steady receiver with reliable hands. At 6’5”, 210lbs he’s a big target for any quarterback. Winfield has several Division 1 coaches following his progress this season so his talent is not going unnoticed.

For Newton to be successful this year, th  ...Read More