Aug 29, 2002 By Jim Wexell For The 3 min read

The core members of this year’s Carmichaels football team have been together since they first started playing baseball at the ages of six and seven. The fact was underscored this summer in American Legion baseball. Carmichaels won its conference and played in the Regional 6 tournament all the way up until football season was ready to begin.

“We’re a little behind because of it,” said Carmichaels coach John Menhart. “They went deep into the playoffs. It was a good thing for them, but we didn’t have a lot of coverages in by the time we started scrimmaging. Beth-Center got us on some things we’d usually have drilled into them.”

Menhart lauded the improvement made by Beth-Center, and is hopeful that playing the scrimmage evenly with Beth-Center bodes well for Carmichaels as well.

“It’s a good group of kids,” Menhart said. “They’ve been together since T-ball, a group I’ve coached all the way through. I’ve been with these kids from when they were six and seven years old with baseball. They didn’t start playing football until junior high and I don’t think they lost a game at that level.”

Menhart’s son, Jono, is the team’s quarterback and of course one of the founding members of the group that now heads into its senior year.

“Those seniors spend lot of time at my house,” Menhart said. “It’s just a tight-knit group, but one of the strange things is it’s not a real boisterous group. They’ve played so much; they know what it takes to get things done. They just go out and do it. There isn’t a real screamer among them. Sometimes I wish there was, but you don’t want to change a kid’s personality.”

The players who’ll have the biggest impact on the team’s chances this year are Menhart, halfbacks Colby Giles and Bobby Hathaway, and fullback Justin Zielensky. All four are “easy kids to coach.” But the first three are honor students off the field. Zielensky is one on the field.

“He blows people up when hit hits them,” Menhart said. “He’s incredible the way he hits.”

Giles was the team’s leading rusher with 839 yards last season and its leading receiver with 17 catches for 355 yards. Hathaway rushed for 661 yards. Menhart was asked if it’s possible to have two 1,000-yard runners this season.

“I hope,” he said. “I would like to have three.”

It’s doubtful, however, that Jono Menhart would be the third 1,000-yard runner, although he’s catching up, physically, to his long-time friends.

“Watching him grow up, he was always a head shorter than everyone else,” Menhart said.

“Now they’re neck and neck and they’re all about the same size. He also has speed comparable to the other two. It could be a very good backfield.”

If so, another fine Carmichaels’ season is on the way. The Mikes (6-2, 7-3) finished second to Monessen in the Tri-County South Conference last year.

“We’re not too bad,” Menhart said. “We scrimmaged Beth-Center on Saturday and they were big and strong up front. They gave us problems in places, but our kids reacted well. It was a good start.”