Former defensive coordinator Matt Cilento has officially been approved as Point Boro's head football coach.

Cilento, who was named acting head coach for the remainder of the 2015-2016 school year after Sean Henry resigned in early June, is the sixth head coach in Point Boro history. Cilento was officially approved by the Point Pleasant Board of Education at its June 20 meeting.

Under Cilento's direction as defensive coordinator, the Panthers have finished in the top 10 in the Shore Conference in scoring defense each of the past two seasons. Last season Point Boro went 8-2 and claimed a share of the Class B South division title, its first since 2008. The Panthers were eighth in the Shore Conference allowing 12.2 points per game.

A 1997 graduate of Colonia High School in Middlesex County, Cilento was a three-sport star and an all-county football player under coach Ben LaSala. In 1997 he was honored by the Home News Tribune with its Gene Haley Athlete of the Year award, presented annually to the best male athlete in its coverage area.

Cilento is also an assistant for Point Boro's baseball team. He was previously an assistant and then head coach at Colonia, and the head coach at A.L. Johnson. Cilento also coached at the collegiate level as an assistant for New Jersey City University. He is a former four-year standout at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, where in 1998 he helped lead the Bucs to their first ever trip to the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament.

Cilento's hiring fills the final coaching vacancy in the Shore Conference.

 

Football editor Bob Badders can be reached at badders@allshoremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights. 

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