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鈥檚 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鈥� Aaron Raffle, Frazier鈥檚 Tony Battaglini, Brownsville鈥檚 Cody Castor, Southmoreland鈥檚 Dustin Shoaf and Beth-Center鈥檚 Tim Trump.
Veteran high school head coaches who will be on the sidelines with new teams are the Red Raiders鈥� Tim Bukowski and Waynesburg鈥檚 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.
鈥淲hen you play a rivalry game everybody is going to be fired up no matter what week it is,鈥� 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. 鈥淧robably with us being new coaches, you鈥檇 like to maybe see this game later in the season just because the players would be more adjusted to what we鈥檙e doing by then. But it鈥檚 definitely going to get the juices flowing to play Laurel Highlands right out of the gate.鈥�
Raffle, a Laurel Highlands graduate who most recently was the head coach of George Mason鈥檚 club football team, recalls the Mustangs鈥� rivalry with the Red Raiders.
鈥淔irst off it鈥檚 good to be back,鈥� Raffle said. 鈥淟aurel Highlands-Uniontown has always been the big game so to me it鈥檚 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.
鈥淚 think this is a great game to open up with because it will get the kids and the community excited for the season.鈥�
Both coaches are eager to see how their new teams have picked up the new systems they鈥檝e implemented.
鈥淎ll the coaches are anxious to see how they respond and how much they鈥檝e picked up,鈥� Bukowski said. 鈥淥ffensively we have probably 50 percent of what we鈥檇 like to have in. Defensively as well, you hope they get the right call and go to the right spots.
鈥淟ike I tell everybody, a year from now we鈥檒l be a totally different team because our systems will be in and they鈥檒l know them a lot better.鈥�
Raffle feels his team has adjusted to the changes well.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e got a good energy going into it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey players are all bought into our new systems I feel like. It鈥檚 just a matter of being out there and executing.
鈥淚 never really get nervous but I get excited for the game. You work the entire offseason to get to this point.鈥�
Battaglini, who had great success on head coach Bill Cherpak鈥檚 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.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to keep the kids in the right mindset going into this game,鈥� said Battaglini, who is a Frazier graduate. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e super-excited about what we have going on but you don鈥檛 want the moment to be too big, and on the other hand you don鈥檛 want to minimize it either.
鈥淲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.鈥�
The Knights won at Frazier last year, 20-16, also in Week Zero.
鈥淚 think Friday should be a pretty good barometer of where we are and what we have to work on as we move forward,鈥� Battaglini said. 鈥淚 told them from the beginning, you get out of this game what you put into it. They鈥檝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鈥檓 excited about, especially for them.鈥�
Castor鈥檚 first game with the Falcons is against a Bearcats team that won at Redstone Field, 48-0, a year ago but he鈥檚 been adamant that this is a new year and a new team.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited and nervous,鈥� Castor said. 鈥淚 think myself and my coaching staff have done a great job of coming together as it鈥檚 getting close to that first game. The coaches have put in a lot of work with their position groups so I鈥檓 hoping to see that translate in game one.
鈥淭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鈥檛 get too high or too low throughout the course of the game.
鈥淏entworth looks very similar to us so I鈥檓 excited to see what transpires.鈥�
Castor already has his players involved in the community.
鈥淥ur kids are going to help out with open house at the school (which was scheduled for Thursday night),鈥� Castor said. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to have the team there and we鈥檙e going to greet and walk kids to classrooms with their families. Then we鈥檒l have our team pasta dinner to follow that up.鈥�
Shoaf, a former Yough star now coaching one the Cougars鈥� biggest rivals in Southmoreland, is thrilled that the season is finally here as the Scotties prepare for their trip to Valley.
鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting. We鈥檝e been working since February for this exact moment on Friday at 7 p.m. for kickoff,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a new staff, a new program. We鈥檙e excited, the kids are excited, the community is excited. Everybody is fired up to be there.鈥�
Shoaf compared preparing for the first game of a season from a player鈥檚 perspective and a coach鈥檚 perspective.
鈥淭he big difference is as a player you鈥檙e preparing yourself and concentrating on yourself to be one of those arrows but as a coach you鈥檙e preparing almost 50 arrows for all your players and coaches so obviously that鈥檚 a much wider scope. But I feel you handle it how you handle life, in my opinion. If you鈥檙e calm, cool and relaxed and not willing to be afraid of any challenge or uncomfortable situation, then you鈥檒l be OK.鈥�
Shoaf noted how far his team has come and the support it鈥檚 gotten since he took over as head coach.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be necessarily in a comfortable situation without having a really good group of kids and assistant coaches, and support from the administration as well,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淭here are a lot of pieces that had to be put into place to be where we鈥檙e at today and we still have a lot more to go.鈥�
Shoaf admitted he may have a few nervous moments heading into his first game as a head coach.
鈥淣erves are a part of it,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have at least some nerves for that first game then I don鈥檛 know if you鈥檙e human. When you do feel a little of that it means you truly care about something and your passion is all in.
鈥淏ut once we kick off and get rolling I think we鈥檒l all be just fine.鈥�