has maintained one of the best defenses in the area this season. A large reason for that has been the play of senior defensive end Joe Lockley, 6-foot, 195-pound speed rusher who leads the Cougars with six sacks.
“Joe is not the biggest kid, but he makes up for that with how relentless he is and how fast his hands are, he uses his hands to separate himself from blockers,” Springfield coach Tom Kline said. “We preach that up and down with our defensive lineman about separation, and he definitely does that.
“I thought Joe had a slow start last year and he came on at the end, so he’s fulfilling our expectations right now. The one thing he did was he came to me and asserted himself last year when he asked me if he could become a captain. He became a very vocal kid in the off-season and it really impressed us on Joe that he was coming out of his shell. He’s been such a good vocal leader and a leader on the field. Now he’s becoming a two-way player for us as a defensive end and an offensive tackle, rotating him on the field right now.”
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Lockley and the Cougars, who are 6-0 overall, will gear up to play at Upper Darby this Friday at 7 p.m.
