Aug 22, 2018 4 min read

The target is associated with the name.

Mike Bosnic knows it.

He will talk about it, but only briefly.

“We always seem to have a target on our back because we are Wash High,” Bosnic, the Prexies’ head coach, said.

But talking isn’t a necessity. It’s not a secret.

“Washington has been an incredible program since I’ve been playing. They’ve continued that tradition. It’s the closeness of it all,” said Burgettstown coach Mark Druga prior to a conference showdown last year.

After the conference realignments were released in January, McGuffey coach Ed Dalton said it himself with the Highlanders returning to the Prexies’ conference.

“Obviously, (Washington) is the defending WPIAL champion. They have a target on their backs,” Dalton said. “It’s only a few miles from McGuffey. I think you always have your eyes set on the top dog. Right now, that’s where my attention has been. If you want to be the guy, you have to beat the guy.”

Washington extended its regular-season winning streak to 38 games last year and won the WPIAL Class 2A championship by topping Steel Valley, 37-10. That will not make the target any smaller.

“Last year was a special season. We had a great group of seniors and great leadership. It all came together,” Bosnic said. “I’m sure this season will be especially difficult as the defending WPIAL champs.”

As opponents circle the Prexies on their schedule, the most difficult part following up a district championship, 13-1 record and trip to the state semifinals will be doing it without a majority of the cast it had a season ago.

It also comes with the expectation of again being one of the top teams in Class 2A.

The Prexies lost a two-way force in Isaiah Schoonmaker, who is a freshman at Miami (Ohio). They are replacing their top three tacklers on defense – Schoonmaker (53), Chance Hightower (45) and Andre Jennings (41 1/2). One of the driving forces that led Wash High to a PIAA semifinal appearance – the Prexies lost to Wilmington 49-42 – was the 36 turnovers forced by its defense.

On offense, Bosnic has to revamp the line, where only Gerald Comedy remains after the graduation of four seniors, thus putting more responsibility on the skill-positions players to even better.

That will start with 6-3, 200-pound junior quarterback Zack Swartz. In his first year as the starting quarterback, Swartz consistently improved to finish the regular season with 1,420 passing yards and 20 touchdowns.

“We are going to have to see how much that year of experience pays off,” Bosnic said. “We have some receivers with experience. It just depends on how everybody matures.”

Swartz’s main target will likely be potential Division I recruit Dan Walker Jr. The two hooked up for touchdowns in eight of the 10 games they played together last season after Walker Jr. was forced to sit out the early portion of the season after transferring back to the school district.

Bosnic also thinks he has another star tailback waiting in the wings as Dylan Asbury takes over as the starter.

“I think Dylan is going to be the next great running back (at Wash High),” Bosnic said. “(Dylan) is a really hard worker. Fortunately for us, all of our running backs have had good instincts. He is the same. He is powerful but also has a lot of speed. I’m excited for him.”

Successful running backs are not foreign to the Prexies. Shai McKenzie, Kurt Adkins, Jordan West and Nick Welsh – the latter led the WPIAL in rushing last year with 2,324 yards and 32 touchdowns – have been the featured running back during recent seasons. All of those running backs had at least one 1,000-yard season.

“We lost a lot,” Bosnic said. “Every year and every team is different, so we have to find our identity. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be difficult.” o