Aug 17, 2024 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

CANONSBURG – Football at Canon-McMillan will have a different look this season.

First, there is a change to the venerable old stadium, where seats have been added, bringing the capacity to about 5,000, and a second pressbox has been erected.

Head coach Mike Evans is back for his 10th season, but you might not recognize the guys playing for the Big Macs. The roster is much different after graduation hit the Big Macs hard for the second consecutive year.

“The last two years, we’ve lost a ton,” Evans said. “If you had a Canon-McMillan Football Hall of Fame, we would have graduated 10 or 11 kids the last two years who were hall of famers. Not just good players, but record-breaking guys. We have to replace that.”

That shows where Canon-McMillan football had been for a long stretch of time and where it has been taken under Evans’ guidance. The Big Macs have qualified for the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs each of the last three seasons, which means the current senior class has never missed the postseason.

There are some big holes to fill this year. Chief among the graduation losses are Geno Calgaro, one of the best linebackers in the WPIAL a year ago and now at St. Francis (Pa.). Also missing are three-year starting quarterback Mikey Evans, who is at California, 1,000-yard rusher Zach Welsh and every wide receiver who caught a pass in varsity games last season.

That would make many coaches reach for the panic button, but not Evans.

“We’re young,” he said, “but they’re a confident group. I tell people that I don’t know if we’ll win one game or 10. What I do know is there is a good feeling in that locker room. It was like this in 2019. We lost a ton of players that year, too. But this year doesn’t feel like that. We have a chance to be a good team. We can be good young.”

The Big Macs have some good building blocks. Senior guard Matthew McMahon, a Naval Academy recruit, has started more than 30 games and leads an offensive line that also includes guard Daisean Lacks and Jayden Boeltz, a returning starter who will move from guard to center. The Big Macs have to find two new tackles.

Junior tight end T.J. Sabatucci is a strong blocker who will be used more in the passing game and the Big Macs like the potential of sophomore Brayden Collins, who will give C-M an option for multiple tight end formations.

Evans is high on sophomore running back Troy Simpson, who could be the Big Macs’ next 1,000-yard runner. They’ve produced seven 1,000-yard running backs in the last nine years.

‘He’s a stud,” Evans said of Stimpson. “He has really good speed. He’s only a sophomore but spot-started on defense last year. If you want to play running back, then you should play here. We think he’s the next one.”

Directing the offense will be quarterback sophomore Ty Jansma, who started two games a year ago and brings athleticism to the position.

Defensively, the Big Macs improved last year when they went 6-5 and lost to North Allegheny in the first round of the WPIAL Class 6A playoffs. Canon-McMillan’s defense had two shutouts and held two other opponents to single-digit scoring.

Junior strong safety Marco Faieta was the leading tackler in the state among sophomores last year, according to Evans. The front seven should be strong again with Lacks, McMahon and Sabatucci on the line and Collins, Stimpson and juniors Logan Logsdon and Ryan Blynn at linebacker.

The Big Macs will play in a larger conference as Class 6A will have seven schools, with Central Catholic and North Allegheny again expected to be the favorites to win the conference title. The Big Macs will play nonconference games against Peters Township, Upper St. Clair, South Fayette and Armstrong before getting into conference play.

“Our goal hasn’t changed,” Evans said. “We want to win a playoff game and have a home playoff game. That’s something we haven’t had. It gets frustrating but we’ve been building a foundation.”