Still a lot of hurdles facing Waynesburg
Holly Tonini
Holly Tonini
The three keys to success for Waynesburg High School’s football team will be patience, composure and development.
Patience is key for a youthful group trying to improve on a one-win season of 2017.
Composure is important because the Raiders are in a new conference and will face some fierce competition.
Development might be the most important because, despite a hefty number of returning starters, it is still a young team.
“We’ll definitely be competitive,” said Chad Coss, who had the word interim removed from his head coaching title in the offseason. “These kids have been starting since they were freshmen in Triple-A football so experience is not a (problem) for us. They are ready to play some football. I think we have a real good core of athletes here. I took this job because I thought we had potential here.”
Waynesburg was the surprise choice to move into the Tri-County West Conference when the WPIAL realignment was announced earlier this year. The conference is home to such powers as Aliquippa, Beaver Falls and Central Valley.
Not only that, but the travel time to some of these away games is extreme.
“Personally, it doesn’t bother me,” said Coss. “We don’t have control over the schedule so why let it bother you?”
Waynesburg said goodbye to the Interstate Conference with slightly more reasonable trips to such opponents as McGuffey. Still, the Raiders were only able to defeat winless Southmoreland last season.
Waynesburg lost just one senior out of a backfield from an offense that managed 109 points, last in the conference, but it was an important piece: quarterback Dylan Scritchfield.
His spot will be taken by junior Caleb Shriver, who was the Raiders’ leading rusher last year. Shriver says he is looking forward to the move.
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“I’m going to do whatever the team needs,” he said. “I played quarterback in eighth grade and I did pretty well.”
Shriver has speed – 4.4 in the 40-yard dash – and elusiveness. Those will be key if Waynesburg is to chalk up a few more victories.
“It was a little frustrating last year” Shriver said of the losing season. “We have a lot of young players and they are only going to get better.”
But Shriver will get the bulk of the work. Nate Stephenson, a freshman last year and the team’s second-leading rusher behind Shriver, will move into the No. 1 running back spot.
“We’re going to try to use a lot of read stuff with him,” Coss said of Shriver. “We want him to touch the ball every time. He runs well, he throws well and he’s an all-round athlete at that position.”
The Raiders’ offense is going to go wherever their offensive line takes it. Four of the five starters return and they have size and skill.
“Our offensive line is going to be the strength of our team,” said Coss. “We’ll run a lot of different formations.”
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Sophomore Luke Maley returns at left tackle and junior Trey Fiori is back at left guard. Junior Aaran Hinerman anchors the line at center and junior Colten Slifko returns at right tackle. The right guard position will be taken care of by junior Brandon Tretinik, who missed last season with a knee injury but received a substantial amount of playing time as a freshman.
“We’re going to depend on their experience,” Coss said. “They are hard workers. They worked hard all winter and all spring. They dedicated themselves to the weight room. We’re pretty big (along the line).”
Junior Tommy Garrison returns as a starting tackle on defense, and he will be joined by most or all the offensive line. Senior Spencer Lesinski heads a potent group off linebackers that include junior Justin Goodman and junior Avery McConnville, who was a defensive end last season.
Junior Trevor Stephenson, an undersized linebacker last season, is being shifted to cornerback to play opposite senior Jimmy Straight, a wide receiver on offense.
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Junior Luke Robinson, senior Caleb Stephenson and Shriver will rotate through the safety positions.
Coss knew what the problem was last season and hopes he has the answers to it this year.
“Last year, we played real good first halves,” he said. “Then, maybe because of our size and everyone was playing both ways, it seemed we wore out in the third and fourth quarter. We just need to play four quarters. If we can play four quarters, we’ll be good.”
Coss will have two former high school head coaches on his staff. John Coss coached at West Greene and Derek Bochna was at McGuffey. o