High school football preview
LH travels to Huntingdon as most local teams start season on road Scott Knee remembers his first game as Laurel Highlands head football coach last year like it was yesterday.
The opponent was Huntingdon, a team that would go on to win the Big Eight Conference in District 6.
“It was 7-7 at halftime, then they came out and blitzed us in the second half,” Knee recalled of the 35-7 loss. “We had too many penalties that killed some of our drives. It looked like a typical game from a team learning a new system. They weren’t in game shape, yet.”
A year later, the Mustangs open against that same Huntingdon team, except this time, instead of on its home turf, Laurel Highlands must make a long road trip.
The Mustangs are one of 14 local teams who begin the high school football season tonight, and one of five who open on the road against playoff teams from last year. The other four are Uniontown (at West Mifflin), Brownsville (at Clairton), Albert Gallatin (at Baldwin) and Belle Vernon (at Thomas Jefferson).
The rest of Friday night’s slate has only two local teams at home with Connellsville hosting Trinity and Jefferson-Morgan hosting Beth-Center. Traveling are Geibel Catholic (at South Allegheny), Frazier (at Cornell), Carmichaels (at Burgettstown), Southmoreland (at Yough), Waynesburg Central (at McGuffey), and Mapletown (at Bentworth).
Laurel Highlands’ game kicks off at 7 p.m., while the rest of Friday’s contests begin at 7:30 p.m.
Two more area teams open on Saturday as California travels to Riverview (noon) and Turkeyfoot Valley hosts Clay-Battelle (1:30 p.m.).
Knee feels his Mustangs are all on the same page now, as opposed to a year ago, and in better shape as well.
“We’re working very hard on our conditioning to make sure we can go 48 minutes,” Knee said. “Last year we wore down in the second half against Huntingdon.”
Unfortunately, Knee will see a familiar face running the Bearcats’ offense in senior quarterback Geoff Kozak.
“They’re quarterback is back, and he’s their playmaker,” Knee said. “We have to contain him and keep him from breaking the big play.”
Kozak did just that last year, scoring on touchdown runs of 10 and 25 yards, and also throwing a 15-yard TD pass.
Huntingdon is being touted as one of top teams in the state this year by at least one poll.
“They’re a great team that has had a lot of success,” Knee said. “This will be a good test for our team to see how far we’ve come.”
Neither team has avoided key injuries in practice.
The Bearcats will be without fullback/linebacker Damien Gresko and center/defensive end Jeremy Stanowski, both of whom may miss the entire season.
It was Gresko who may have turned in the key play of last year’s contest. With LH down 14-7 and on offense, Gresko intercepted a Matt Humbert pass at midfield, which eventually led to another Bearcat TD and a 21-7 lead.
Out with a hamstring injury for Laurel Highlands is offensive guard/defensive tackle David Friend.
While Kozak leads the Bearcats, the Mustangs key offensive players figure to be wide receiver-turned-quarterback Andre Ramsey and running back Corey Nesser, who was held to just 18 yards on 13 carries in last year’s game.
“That was Corey’s first year back in football after a long layoff,” Knee said. “He’s gotten stronger, bigger … he’s such a good athlete. I think he’s ready to turn it on. I haven’t seen the true Corey Nesser in practice yet this year, but I think he’s going to show up on Friday night.”
Ramsey has competently taken the reins of the offense from Humbert.
“It’s been a pretty smooth transition,” Knee said. “He got in a game last year and gained some experience there, leading us to a win on the road (19-9 at Ambridge). Andre is the type of kid who’s very cool under pressure. He’s the same off the field as he is on it. He doesn’t throw the ball with the same velocity as Matt, but the kids really rally around him and respond to him as a leader on the field.
“I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people this year.”
Knee hopes for a different ending to this year’s opener, but even if LH falls, the Mustangs have proven they can rebound from a rough start. They opened 2002 with three straight losses by a combined score of 107-27 before storming back to win four of their last six to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 1989
“The seniors stuck with us when we were 0-3 and the team came together and made the playoffs,” Knee said. “That’s still what your goal always is. When you’re playing a significant 10th game, you’ve accomplished something in a season.”