Jersey Mike’s Week 2 Shore Conference Football Team of the Week: Lacey

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Every week this fall, Jersey Mike’s and Shore Sports Network will be selecting a Team of the Week based on its performance over the past weekend.

The Jersey Mike’s Team of the Week for Week 2 is Lacey, which opened the season with a 28-14 victory over Brick to give head coach Lou Vircillo his 300th career victory. Shore Sports Network stopped by practice on Tuesday to present the Lions and Vircillo with a special game ball and $250 in Jersey Mike's gift cards.

Junior running back Dominick Perrone erupted for a career-high 173 yards rushing and a touchdown on 21 carries while senior quarterback Noah Brunatti completed 7 of 10 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for a touchdown to lead Lacey's offense. Senior Michael Abode caught four passes for 64 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown reception, and senior Mike Rozell had a 54-yard touchdown catch. Senior fullback Scott Stevens punished opposing defenders with seven pancake blocks.

Defensively, senior linebacker John Dodaro recorded a team-high eight tackles with two tackles for loss, a sack, and an interception, to spearhead the defense. Sophomore free safety Nicholas Stanziani also had an interception.

With the victory, Vircillo joined the late Warren Wolf as the only Shore Conference head coaches to win 300 games. Vircillo is the only head coach in Lacey history since the program's inception in 1981. He has led the Lions to four NJSIAA state sectional titles (1988, 1989, 2006, 2010) and 12 Shore Conference division titles, including six consecutive Class B South titles between 1988-1993. . In his 40 seasons at Lacey, Vircillo's teams have finished under .500 just eight times. Three teams finished with undefeated records, the 11-0 1989 team and the 12-0 teams of 2006 and 2010. Five other teams finished with only one loss.

Vircillo is a member of the New Jersey Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame as well as the Shore Football Coaches Foundation Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was honored by the NJFCA with the Ray McCrann Lifetime Achievement Award. He played at Tarkio College in Missouri, graduating in 1969 and then working as an assistant in the football program until 1982. He started his high school coaching career as an assistant at Red Bank Catholic from 1972-1974 and was then the offensive coordinator at Red Bank Regional for the legendary undefeated 1975 state championship team. He became the Bucs’ head coach in 1976 and remained there through the 1980 season before being hired as Lacey’s inaugural head coach in 1981.

Vircillo will enter Week 2 with a remarkable 300-152-3 career record.

Lacey is back in action on Friday night when it hosts Middletown North in an Independence Division game.

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Week 1