Here’s what will be ‘normal’ about this football season
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
This is not your normal football drill that is being conducted at McGuffey.The Highlanders’ Nate Romestan, left, and Phillip McCuen condition by doing pushups after flipping the tractor tire to each other.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Elijah Odom locks onto the ball in a recieving drill for Washington in the preseason. High-scoring games and pass-happy spread offenses have taken over high school football in the area.
A year after the daily worries of COVID-19 virus protocols, social distancing, masks, pods, fear over contact tracing, possible stoppages in play and even forfeits, there was a sense of normalcy in high school football camps this summer.
Teams took the field for summer camp as if life was back to normal, and it was a welcomed and long-awaited feeling.
The 2021 season opens Friday with more clarity and no questions about delaying or shortening the season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
How long it stays that way, nobody knows.
For now, at least, the focus is on football. Every team has the same goal – to win a conference championship. Some are even targeting a WPIAL title.
Today, every team is undefeated. Optimism is high from Mt. Lebanon to Fort Cherry to Belle Vernon to West Greene to McGuffey and all schools inbetween.
So what should we look for in 2021? If football is really back to normal, what will that look like? After checking with 26 high school football teams in the coverage area of the Observer-Reporter and The Almanac, here is what you’re likely to see this season:
n Points, points and more points:
The days of 12-6 or 8-0 games are long gone. That was your father’s and grandfather’s football. High school games today are point/counterpoint.
Last year, sixteen local teams averaged at least 20 points per game. Seventeen gave up 20 points or more per game. Games involving the 26 local teams had an average of 49 points scored.
So why all the scoring?
And what has happened to defenses? Does anybody play defense these days?
Canon-McMillan coach Mike Evans says the scoring outburst is a result of pass-happy spread offenses reaching the high school level, which has boosted offense and created headaches for coaches in charge of stopping them.
“People pass the ball a lot more. When I was playing, everybody was using fullbacks and tight ends. If we threw the ball 10 times, we were considered a wide-open offense,” Evans said.
“The other thing is prep time, or the lack of it. Offenses today are multiple, with a lot of formations and they’re difficult for people to prepare for. It’s difficult for defenses to prepare for a team in two or three days with all the RPOs, passing games and dual-threat quarterbacks. An athletic quarterback can get you out of trouble. It used to be that quarterbacks were there just to manage the game.”
McGuffey coach Ed Dalton points out that teams have more opportunities to improve their passing attacks than ever before.
“There are multiple parts to that. You have to credit the spread and teams are all going to 7-on-7s,” he said. “In the lower levels, if you spread the field, then you’re going to get a favorable matchup.
“Another thing is coaches are afraid to practice tackling the way we did in the old days. We have almost 60 guys, but how many teams have that at our level? So you can’t afford to lose someone in practice to a tackling drill. So how long can you tackle and get better? I would counter argue with, has Thomas Jefferson stepped back on defense? Has Pittsburgh Central Catholic stepped back on defense? The teams that are traditionally great have not stepped back one bit.”
n Special teams will be, uh, special:
This has been one of the richest areas for kicking talent in recent years and the trend should continue. South Fayette returns all-state kicker Justin Caputo. Peters Township’s Andrew Massucci was the Class 4A Player of the Year in boys soccer last season and he doubles as the Indians’ kicker on Friday nights. Massucci didn’t kick many field goals last year, but that was because the Indians were too busy scoring touchdowns en route to their Class 5A runnerup finish in the WPIAL.
The duo can be seen on the cover of this edition.
“Soccer has a lot to do with it,” Evans said. “A lot of kids start in soccer at a young age and move over to football. That’s why you see so many soccer-style kickers. … Special teams are so important. Look at punts. How many other plays can you gain 40 yards of field position with?”
Added Dalton, “There are specialists in football – quarterbacks, punters, kickers, wide receivers. And there are specialist coaches out there all over the place. So your kicker goes to specialist camps, fine tunes, gets his film evaluated, get his plant step evaluated, comes back with good drills. In my time, what did the coach tell his kicker? He said ‘Kick it.’ And they tied his toe up. That was all.”
There are even talented punters in the area. Upper St. Clair’s Ethan Heister is ranked by Rivals.com as one of the top at the position in the state after averaging 38.6 yards per punt last year.
n Rivalries are back:
Last year, because of a unique situation that left Trinity and Washington with a common open date on the schedule, the Hillers and Prexies were able to resume their City Game rivalry that had been on hiatus since the 1999 game.
This year, the Prexies will play a nonconference game against Uniontown on Oct. 8 while Trinity will play at Clearfield from District 9 that same night.
There are are some rivalries that will resume this year. Trinity, for example, will open the season Friday at home against Canon-McMillan. The Big Macs will host Peters Township on Sept. 3.
And Charleroi and Monessen are scheduled to play Sept. 10 in what is the most-played series involving any team from the area.
Mt. Lebanon will open the season Friday at long-time rival Bethel Park and host Upper St. Clair the following weekend. Both of those rivalry games were canceled last year.
n Old faces in different places:
Look along the sidelines and in the pressboxes this fall and you might find some coaches you who haven’t seen in years.
There’s 80-year-old Tony Ruscitto, who is returning as head coach at Beth-Center, where he held the same position for the Bulldogs in 1989 and ’90.
And former Washington and Canon-McMillan coach Guy Montecalvo will be an offensive consultant on the staff at McGuffey.
Yes, McGuffey.
Montecalvo will be working side by side with Highlanders head coach Ed Dalton. Twenty years ago, who thought that would ever be possible?
You just never know when it comes to high school football.
Observer-Reporter sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.