ORANGE PARK – St. Johns Country Day School football coach Derek Chipoletti squeezed out about as much as he could when he took over the Spartan program last year with a three win, six loss schedule that was mainly detrimented by his lack of depth.

In Monday’s day one of football 2019, Chipoletti had a new quarterback; baseball ace Mason Davis, and a handful of athletes that seemed riveted to his football words as he rolled out his efficient run-pass-option signals.

With returning coaches Ryan Broskie, line; Steve Reynolds, defense, and Ray Flores, receivers, Chipoletti seemed confident that his young squad would quickly pick up his terminology and make St. Johns football take another step to success.

With just two seniors raising their hands when Chipoletti inquired, the Spartans will look to a larger set of underclassmen to maneuver through his seven game schedule.

Quarterback Max Monroe is gone; off to Ridgeview High, thus bringing in Davis, a strong-arm infielder for baseball coach Tom Lucas, who showed off good trigger and good accuracy in Chipoletti’s 10-15 yard offensive range.

Reynolds commented that the team had a productive summer of weightlifting and conditioning and was impressive in the numbers that showed up.