Oct 4, 2021 4 min read

MONESSEN — A little more than halfway into this high school football season, the Monessen Greyhounds find themselves with a .500 record at 3-3 and are 2-1 in the Class A Tri-County South Conference.

Monessen, which suffered a tough, 15-8, loss at Mapletown Friday night, is miles ahead of last season when it forfeited out the season with three games remaining.

While there is not a “signature type” victory among the three wins, reality says the real victory is that the Greyhounds are playing football games at all.

In addition to that, they are maintaining a roster of more than 20 players and are coming along quite nicely under first-year Coach Wade Brown, who stresses paying attention to details, behaving appropriately and being a team more than Xs and Os.

In the preseason, Brown was adamant: “We can’t skip any steps.” He’s holding to that theme.

The Greyhounds, who had won three straight with victories over Class AA rival Charleroi and conference wins over Bentworth and Jefferson-Morgan, played like the young team they are against the Maples. Special team snafus, an inability to move the ball and Mapletown’s ability to control the pace led to defeat.

The next few steps are more than challenging. They are in line to claim one of the five playoff spots in the WPIAL Class A Tri-County South Conference.

But they’ll need to play more like they did in the conquests of Bentworth and Jefferson-Morgan, which they won by a combined score of 100-14.

Monessen’s losses came against undefeated Class AA Washington and Imani Christian.

“I’m pleased but we have a long way to go,” Brown said. “We’re not where we need to be, but we are trending upward.

“We do have athletes here. Now, we have kids working harder, believing in the program and in each other. Yes, they do know where we are right now. We’ve stressed one practice, one drill, one game at a time. That must be the mindset. We’re not good enough not to have that mindset.”

With three wins in six games and having shown signs of explosiveness both offensively and defensively, no one is taking the Greyhounds lightly now.

George Messich, the long-time coach at Mapletown, sees the improvement and the reasons why.

“We (programs in the Tri-County South) were just hoping Monessen would get enough kids out to start playing again,” Messich said. “Truthfully, they are in the battle for the playoffs. They do a lot of good things. Wade has come in and taken control. I’m really impressed.”

Players are emerging. Offensively, freshman Anthony Crews is a threat and has provided a spark rushing and receiving. Sophomore quarterback Lorenzo Gardner continues to improve and junior receivers Omarion Rainey and Nigier Foster are favorite targets. Senior Dayton Carson is working his way into a bigger role offensively.

Defensively, the Greyhounds are led by junior edge rushers Jemere Majors and sophomore Jamar Bethea. Senior Aiden Bittinger has also performed well along the defensive line. Bethea had five-plus sacks the last three games and Majors has been a force all season.

That twosome also plays running back.

“We’re more disciplined as a team,” said Foster, who also serves as a running back and a returner. “People come to practice and work at practice and that leads to more reps, which is good for everyone.

“We’ve come together. We believe in ourselves and our team. The coaches helped bring us together and they know us outside of football. It was disappointing last year, not being able to finish the season. Everyone was crying, upset over not being able to finish the season. Last year we were just trying hard to get points on the board. Now, we’re playing to win and are serious about it.”

Brown warns that the Greyhounds are far from a finished product. To continue a winning path, he said the offensive line needs to get better and the team must overcome a below average kicking game.

With Carmichaels, West Greene and California looming, taking the next step will not be easy.

“The task is at hand,” Brown said “We can’t take anything for granted. If we look past anything, it will hurt us. We still have young guys and sometimes they act young.

“Part of this process is being focused in film study, practicing with purpose and to believe in the process. We can’t skip on anything. The way things are going bode well. We have five games to play and we must stay focused on the next game and then the next practice. It’s the only way to do this.”