New St. Joe’s quarterback Chad Kelly moves to avoid the rush during the Marauders’ scrimmage against Cathedral Prep last Saturday. Kelly, a junior, was the winner of the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick competition in January and is the nephew of Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com 2010 will be a year of new beginnings for the St. Joe’s Marauders’ football team.

For the first time in 29 years, St. Joe’s has a new head football coach as Dennis Gilbert takes over for the legendary Bob O’Connor, who retired following the 2009 season.

Also new is starting quarterback Chad Kelly, a junior who transferred in from Pennsylvania last school year and has already made a name for himself by winning the National Football League’s Punt, Pass and Kick National Championship in the 14- to 15-year-old boys division at the Jets-Chargers playoff game last January. He also happens to be the nephew of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly.

There also happens to be a lot of roster turnover, as just six seniors return from last year’s squad that went 6-5 and lost to Canisius in the Monsignor Martin Association League Playoffs at Ralph Wilson Stadium in November. It’s a new and exciting era for St. Joe’s, but Gilbert says the one thing that has to remain constant is hard work.

“I want to see us play hard every game, week in and week out,” said Gilbert, who takes over after spending 20 years as the Marauders’ JV coach and varsity assistant. “We have an extremely tough schedule. We’ll have our hands full.”

Gilbert will have his hands full as well as he tries to fill the shoes of O’Connor, who won 169 games and 13 league championships during his 29-year tenure as head coach at St. Joe’s. He retired as the winningest coach in school history. O’Connor made a major impact on Gilbert’s life as both a mentor and a colleague. O’Connor was named St. Joe’s head coach in 1981, when Gilbert was a sophomore on the Marauders’ football team. Shortly after graduating in 1984, Gilbert came back to St. Joe’s to coach the JV team. He did so for 20 years and won 16 Monsignor Martin JV titles. After a one-year stint as head coach at St. Mary’s of Lancaster, Gilbert returned to St. Joe’s as a varsity assistant for the past two seasons. This season will be different for Gilbert just by not having O’Connor around.

“Other than the three years I wasn’t coaching, he was a constant,” Gilbert said. “He’s been a major influence just with his experience and knowledge of the game. I like to think that I have some knowledge of the game though, too.”

One of the biggest things Gilbert will preach this season is to continue the tradition O’Connor was such a big part of. He’ll have a new leader to carry on that tradition in Kelly, who transferred to St. Joe’s last year from Red Lion High School in York, Pa. Gilbert said Kelly has the strongest arm he’s seen in all his years of coaching. Kelly showed off that talent with his 71-yard toss to win the Punt, Pass and Kick competition last January. It was the fourth time Kelly had won his age group at the Punt, Pass and Kick Nationals.

In addition to a cannon arm, Kelly also possesses tremendous accuracy, as Gilbert said Kelly completed more than 60 percent of his passes during St. Joe’s scrimmage against Cathedral Prep (Pa.) on Saturday. He said that three more passes were caught by receivers who were just barely out of bounds.

“He has tremendous skills,” Gilbert said about Kelly. “He’s super-competitive. He wants to get better. He does all the hard work. He’s had an effect on the whole team. His work ethic is tremendous. He has great field vision. He has a sixth sense when running out of the pocket and anticipates everything. If we can give him time, he can throw it.”

The responsibility of protecting Kelly and giving him time to throw falls on the shoulders of offensive linemen Patrick Papia, Jack Cambria, Connor Davin, Jordan Sanders and Joseph Adinolfi. They will also look to open holes for St. Joe’s other offensive star, running back Nick Hall. Hall, a senior, runs a 4.49 40-yard dash and was named running back MVP of the Rochester Recruiting Combine.

At wide receiver, the Marauders will feature seniors Mike Arena and Kent Greer along with sophomore Elo Noble. Gilbert plans on running a spread offense and using seven or eight wide receivers to take advantage of the talent he has at the passing game.

The defense is anchored by senior leader Dominic Bargnesi, who had 102 tackles as a junior and makes all the calls in the defensive huddle. The linebacker also plays fullback in one-back offensive sets. The defense will see a big change as Hill will move from defensive back to outside linebacker to bring more pressure from the outside of the Marauder defense. Gilbert hopes his defense can make the big plays to keep his explosive offense on the field.

“We need to stop people,” Gilbert said. “If we do that, I have confidence our offense can score.”

Though the Marauders will field a much younger squad than the team they had last year, Gilbert believes his team can overcome that because the roster is loaded with young leaders. The young guys bonded during the offseason in the weight room as well as in passing leagues, a 7-7 tournament and Buffalo State’s football camp. The combination of strong character along with big play potential on offense make for an exciting season in Gilbert’s first year as coach.

“We ’re going to come at you in waves and go down swinging,” Gilbert said.

e-mail: mmigliore@beenews.com