Lacey Football Goes Under The Lights

There are not too many things Lou Vircillo has not done in his 39 years as the only head football coach in Lacey Township High School history.

His teams have won numerous division titles, made 21 trips to the state playoffs and won four sectional championships.  He is a member of both the NJFCA Hall of Fame and Shore Football Coaches Foundation Hall of Fame and is the second winningest coach in Shore Conference history.

Vircillo has produced a long list of  Lacey players who have gone on to play in college, one in Keith Elias who made it to the NFL and another in current assistant Warren Smith who has played several years in various pro leagues including this past spring for the Atlantic City Blackjacks.

However tonight when he steps onto the field off Haines Street in Lanoka Harbor he will be doing something for the very first time: coaching a night home game.  Vircillo, who has raised tens of thousands of dollars for improvements to the school and football program through the Lacey Football Foundation, will be the first to admit he’s old school and loves playing football on a Saturday afternoon.

However he gave in and endorsed an effort spearheaded by alumni and others that raised the $250,000 needed to install lights this summer.  So tonight for the first time in school history it will be “Friday Night Football” at home as the Lions host Monmouth Regional.  It should be quite a night and kudos to all of those who made it happen.

By the way next Friday our Shore Sports Network will be at Lacey for their game against longtime rival Central Regional as it will be our Jersey Mike’s Game of the Week.  Tonight we are in Wall as the Crimson Knights host Rumson-Fair Haven.

Officially this is week #1 of the season but most Shore Conference teams played last week in what was called “week 0.”  Either way among tonight’s interesting matchups will be Toms River South at Toms River East with the winner emerging as a serious contender in the Freedom Division.

Among other games Point Boro visits Donovan Catholic, Toms River North is at Southern, Jackson Liberty hosts Central and Lakewood is at Barnegat.