Countdown to kickoff
LH-Uniontown clash, new coaches, Rockets highlight Week Zero
All high school football coaches get pumped up by the start of the season but there are eight among the local contingent who will likely have a little extra adrenaline going into Week Zero which kicks off tonight.
Eight teams will take the field under new guidance, including both Laurel Highlands and Uniontown, who clash at Bill Power Stadium.
The slate will see 14 of the 16 area squads in non-conference action, including Jefferson-Morgan which hosts Chartiers-Houston. The Rockets, led by explosive senior Deakyn DeHoet and third-year coach Shane Ziats, have the longest current regular-season winning streak among local teams at 11 and are 15-1 in their last 16.
All games kick off at 7 p.m. except Beth-Center which plays a 12 noon game Saturday at Riverview.
As for the rest of tonight无毛视频檚 schedule, playing at home will be Frazier, vs. Summit Academy, Waynesburg Central, vs. Greene County rival West Greene, Albert Gallatin, vs. Greensburg Salem, and Mount Pleasant, vs. Jeannette, while on the road are Brownsville at Bentworth, California at Serra Catholic, Connellsville at Latrobe, Mapletown at Avella and Southmoreland at Valley.
Making their debut as a high school head coach will be the Mustangs无毛视频� Aaron Raffle, Frazier无毛视频檚 Tony Battaglini, Brownsville无毛视频檚 Cody Castor, Southmoreland无毛视频檚 Dustin Shoaf and Beth-Center无毛视频檚 Tim Trump.
Veteran high school head coaches who will be on the sidelines with new teams are the Red Raiders无毛视频� Tim Bukowski and Waynesburg无毛视频檚 Joe Kuhns.
Belle Vernon, under first-year coach Scott Bryer, and Carmichaels both opted to open their seasons in Week One.
Uniontown will be looking for its first win over LH since 2016 when coach John Fortugna led the Red Raiders past the Mustangs, 27-10. Laurel Highlands has won the past five meetings with the crosstown rivals not facing each other from 2018 to 2020.
无毛视频淲hen you play a rivalry game everybody is going to be fired up no matter what week it is,无毛视频� said Bukowski who guided Southmoreland to a 49-13 win at LH last year before leaving the Scotties to take over for the departed Keith Jeffries at Uniontown. 无毛视频淧robably with us being new coaches, you无毛视频檇 like to maybe see this game later in the season just because the players would be more adjusted to what we无毛视频檙e doing by then. But it无毛视频檚 definitely going to get the juices flowing to play Laurel Highlands right out of the gate.无毛视频�
Raffle, a Laurel Highlands graduate who most recently was the head coach of George Mason无毛视频檚 club football team, recalls the Mustangs无毛视频� rivalry with the Red Raiders.
无毛视频淔irst off it无毛视频檚 good to be back,无毛视频� Raffle said. 无毛视频淟aurel Highlands-Uniontown has always been the big game so to me it无毛视频檚 exciting to open up with that. When I was playing at LH, Uniontown was always the last game of the season and you sort of looked forward to that.
无毛视频淚 think this is a great game to open up with because it will get the kids and the community excited for the season.无毛视频�
Both coaches are eager to see how their new teams have picked up the new systems they无毛视频檝e implemented.
无毛视频淎ll the coaches are anxious to see how they respond and how much they无毛视频檝e picked up,无毛视频� Bukowski said. 无毛视频淥ffensively we have probably 50 percent of what we无毛视频檇 like to have in. Defensively as well, you hope they get the right call and go to the right spots.
无毛视频淟ike I tell everybody, a year from now we无毛视频檒l be a totally different team because our systems will be in and they无毛视频檒l know them a lot better.无毛视频�
Raffle feels his team has adjusted to the changes well.
无毛视频淚 think we无毛视频檝e got a good energy going into it,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淭hey players are all bought into our new systems I feel like. It无毛视频檚 just a matter of being out there and executing.
无毛视频淚 never really get nervous but I get excited for the game. You work the entire offseason to get to this point.无毛视频�
Battaglini, who had great success on head coach Bill Cherpak无毛视频檚 staff at Thomas Jefferson before taking over at Frazier, wants his Commodores to be fired up for their opener against visiting Summit Academy, to a point.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e just trying to keep the kids in the right mindset going into this game,无毛视频� said Battaglini, who is a Frazier graduate. 无毛视频淭hey无毛视频檙e super-excited about what we have going on but you don无毛视频檛 want the moment to be too big, and on the other hand you don无毛视频檛 want to minimize it either.
无毛视频淲e want to keep them level-headed and focused on the task at hand and not have them get out of character with their emotions running high.无毛视频�
The Knights won at Frazier last year, 20-16, also in Week Zero.
无毛视频淚 think Friday should be a pretty good barometer of where we are and what we have to work on as we move forward,无毛视频� Battaglini said. 无毛视频淚 told them from the beginning, you get out of this game what you put into it. They无毛视频檝e put all this work in for eight-nine months so for them to finally be able to hopefully see that pay off Friday night is what I无毛视频檓 excited about, especially for them.无毛视频�
Castor无毛视频檚 first game with the Falcons is against a Bearcats team that won at Redstone Field, 48-0, a year ago but he无毛视频檚 been adamant that this is a new year and a new team.
无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 excited and nervous,无毛视频� Castor said. 无毛视频淚 think myself and my coaching staff have done a great job of coming together as it无毛视频檚 getting close to that first game. The coaches have put in a lot of work with their position groups so I无毛视频檓 hoping to see that translate in game one.
无毛视频淭he message is compete. Compete every play, try to go 1-0 every play, when that play is over, turn the switch on for the next play, and don无毛视频檛 get too high or too low throughout the course of the game.
无毛视频淏entworth looks very similar to us so I无毛视频檓 excited to see what transpires.无毛视频�
Castor already has his players involved in the community.
无毛视频淥ur kids are going to help out with open house at the school (which was scheduled for Thursday night),无毛视频� Castor said. 无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 going to have the team there and we无毛视频檙e going to greet and walk kids to classrooms with their families. Then we无毛视频檒l have our team pasta dinner to follow that up.无毛视频�
Shoaf, a former Yough star now coaching one the Cougars无毛视频� biggest rivals in Southmoreland, is thrilled that the season is finally here as the Scotties prepare for their trip to Valley.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 exciting. We无毛视频檝e been working since February for this exact moment on Friday at 7 p.m. for kickoff,无毛视频� Shoaf said. 无毛视频淭here无毛视频檚 a new staff, a new program. We无毛视频檙e excited, the kids are excited, the community is excited. Everybody is fired up to be there.无毛视频�
Shoaf compared preparing for the first game of a season from a player无毛视频檚 perspective and a coach无毛视频檚 perspective.
无毛视频淭he big difference is as a player you无毛视频檙e preparing yourself and concentrating on yourself to be one of those arrows but as a coach you无毛视频檙e preparing almost 50 arrows for all your players and coaches so obviously that无毛视频檚 a much wider scope. But I feel you handle it how you handle life, in my opinion. If you无毛视频檙e calm, cool and relaxed and not willing to be afraid of any challenge or uncomfortable situation, then you无毛视频檒l be OK.无毛视频�
Shoaf noted how far his team has come and the support it无毛视频檚 gotten since he took over as head coach.
无毛视频淚 wouldn无毛视频檛 be necessarily in a comfortable situation without having a really good group of kids and assistant coaches, and support from the administration as well,无毛视频� Shoaf said. 无毛视频淭here are a lot of pieces that had to be put into place to be where we无毛视频檙e at today and we still have a lot more to go.无毛视频�
Shoaf admitted he may have a few nervous moments heading into his first game as a head coach.
无毛视频淣erves are a part of it,无毛视频� Shoaf said. 无毛视频淚f you don无毛视频檛 have at least some nerves for that first game then I don无毛视频檛 know if you无毛视频檙e human. When you do feel a little of that it means you truly care about something and your passion is all in.
无毛视频淏ut once we kick off and get rolling I think we无毛视频檒l all be just fine.无毛视频�