09/20/2026
Roman Coney runs wild, scores FIVE touchdowns as St. Augustine dominates Winslow:
BY BRIAN TORTELLA
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RICHLAND — Bill Belton has coached several great tailbacks during his career.
But on Saturday night, Roman Coney may have shown his new coach that he’s the undisputed No. 1.
Coney rumbled 28 times for 248 yards and five touchdowns against his coach’s former program, powering St. Augustine Prep — ranked No. 4 in the latest South Jersey Football Frenzy Show Best 11 Rankings — to a 42-14 rout over No. 2 Winslow in The Stucco Pros Game of the Week.
“He told us before the game that this was going to be one of the difficult games we’re going to have to prevail through,” the University of Cincinnati commit said. “In practice, we work very hard. We know they’re a good team, but we know we can dominate them up front, and that’s what we did. Big shout out to coach Bill. He believed in us, and we believed in him.”
Belton (the former Winslow coach who suffered a knee injury while celebrating Prep’s season-opening win) said he wasn’t emotional coaching from the press box against the team he had led to the last two Group 4 state titles, but for Coney, it was surely a special night after he suffered an ankle injury in the Hermits’ loss to Belton’s Winslow squad last year.
“We had a lot of good backs at Winslow, and he’s right up there with everyone I’ve coached,” Belton said of his senior star. “We’ll see how it plays out the rest of the year, but he’s definitely a special talent, and I’m super excited for him.
“The kids earned it. They’ve been playing their tail off the last four weeks and I’m super proud of them. “They have a long way to go. We have a tough way to go. We have Millville, Washington Township, and a lot of great teams on the back of that schedule, so we have to be prepared this week and go from there.
“No emotion whatsoever. It’s just another game, it’s just another week. Another day in Richland.”
Another day in Richland led to St. Augustine’s best start since the 2016 season with a perfect mark through four games. The Hermits overcame deficits of 7-0 and 14-7 before scoring 35 unanswered points behind Coney’s dominant attack. The momentum shifted early in the second quarter when he ripped his longest run of the night with a 70-yard score.
“I came into this staying focused, believing in my work, and trusting God,” Coney said. “It meant a lot to me.”
St. Augustine quarterback Dylan Dellanoce only needed to put the ball in the air six times, completing two passes for 40 yards and a touchdown. The lone score through the air came on a beautiful 32-yard completion to Zehkiy DeJesus in the first quarter.
Last week, it was a completely different story as Dellanoce threw for a career-high 250 yards and five touchdowns in the Hermits’ 41-7 victory over Holy Spirit.
“Every week is something new, and whatever the week prescribes, that’s what we’re going to do,” Belton said.
The Hermits’ defense recorded three interceptions as they held Winslow (3-1, 1-1 West Jersey Football League American) scoreless in the second half. Elijah White had two interceptions, and D.J. Lewis recorded one of his own at the end of the first half.
Belton’s Hermits (4-0, 1-0 WJFL American) showed out in front of a crowd with an estimated attendance count of 2,500. Not only was it a win against his former squad and Alma Mater, but it put the Hermits squarely in the lead for the American Division championship.
And while he said it was just any other game, he admitted Winslow’s veteran players still mean a lot to him.
“That senior class is like my babies,” he said. “This week I can’t root for them, but last week I was, and I wish them the best the rest of the way.”
Under Belton’s direction, St. Augustine will look to make noise in two months in the Non-Public A playoffs— a bracket that has been dominated by North Jersey powerhouses for years.
If anyone can pull off some upsets, though, it’s the Hermits.
“We’re going to shock Jersey for sure,” Coney said.
