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By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
The Hollidaysburg Area football team, coming off the high of beating rival Altoona last week, will be entering an atmosphere packed with even more emotion on Friday when it travels to Cupples Stadium in Pittsburgh to take on Taylor Allderdice.
The Dragons won their season opener over Fox Chapel and will be playing their first home game without longtime coach and athletic director Jerry Haslett, who died at 59 this summer.
"They are playing at a very emotional high right now," Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said. "This will be their first home game without their head coach, who passed away in July. Jerry Haslett was a good friend of mine. He was a director in the coach's association. He's been a head coach in the city for a long time and is a legend in the city. He passed away on his way to a 7-on-7 this summer. His team is definitely playing inspired and played some really good football in their first game."
Haslett, the brother of former NFL coach Jim Haslett, helped put this game on the schedule after Allderdice's game against Altoona for this week was canceled due to the Mid Penn Conference's realignment.
"I'm very grateful for (Altoona AD) Phil (Riccio) and the State College athletic directors for contacting me to let me know in time to get it set up almost immediately," DeLattre said. "Jerry and I knew each other well, so once Phil let me know, I called Jerry right away and we set it up."
With that first-week victory, Allderdice has already matched last year's win total.
"They are fast and physical and quick," DeLattre said. "We have to limit the big plays. We have to possess the football. Big plays will be hard for us to come by, because of how fast they are."
Hollidaysburg did a good job of that in its season-opening win over Altoona, but a year ago, the Golden Tigers beat the Mountain Lions, went on a long road trip, and lost. DeLattre is hoping to avoid a repeat of that.
"Last year the same thing happened," DeLattre said. "We shouldn't have lost to Allegany at Allegany last year. We had a let down. We had the lead and had a let down there. We can't let that happen this year. We have to have intensity to start the game."
DeLattre expects his team to be focused from the kickoff.
"It's going to be tough for them, the first home game without Jerry," DeLattre said. "The first couple minutes of the game are going to be very important. Talking to our guys, getting a good start is going to be critical because of the emotional high they will be playing off of."
5,000 plays?
Claysburg-Kimmel coach Chuck Kassick has a lot of respect for Northern Bedford coach Garry Black, and as the Bulldogs prepare for the Black Panthers to come to Bulldog Stadium this Friday at 7 p.m., he's seeing plenty his team will have to prepare to face.
"They keep you off balance," Kassick said. "They don't have 5,000 plays, but they've got a good amount of them and they run them out of every formation under the sun."
Northern Bedford did it in Week 1 with a lot of new players than the squad who won a District 5 Class 1A title last season.
"I was really excited," Black said. "One of the unsung guys was Joey O'Brian. He's a starting offensive tackle and defensive end. He had a couple sacks and batted a ball down and played well offensively. I'm really excited with him, and Vaughn Schleinkofer played a great game at quarterback. He hit six different wideouts, and I couldn't be happier with him."
Claysburg-Kimmel got a big performance from quarterback Mason Campagna against Berlin Brothersvalley the first week. Campagna did play last year, but missed the last part of the season due to an injury.
"Their quarterback is an outstanding player," Black said. "Their team last year was a different team at the beginning of the season when they had him. Things changed whenever he got injured. We know he's vital to what they do. The start of the game against Berlin, they didn't have an answer for him, and then they kind of solved the puzzle as the game went on. He's a tremendous football player we have to look out for."
The Bulldogs are in the midst of a tough slate to open the season.
"When you start off with two bangers back-to-back, it's hard to catch your breath," Kassick said. "As soon as you start getting something going, you have to deal with something pretty tough. Northern Bedford is tough, Glendale played Windber to the end and pulled that one out, Juniata Valley brings back a lot of kids. We don't have an opening cakewalk, that's for sure, but it will prepare us for the long haul."
Despite starting with a loss, Kassick liked what he saw against Berlin, an Inter-County Conference power.
"Our kids had a good, positive attitude from start to finish," Kassick said. "When the game was getting out of hand a little bit, they kept playing and fighting. Even after the game, I told them that we are still a young team with not many seniors. Going into that environment, against a team like that with veteran leadership, especially up front, we played hard."
BG ready for rival
Bishop Guilfoyle Academy has dominated rival Bishop McCort over the past decade, and that has continued through McCort's co-op with Bishop Carroll.
But BG coach Justin Wheeler was impressed with what he saw out of the Crushers in their Week 1 win over Central Cambria.
"They are big up front and physical and definitely have some skill behind them," Wheeler said. "They are really an improved team this year and look pretty impressive on film."
McCort compiled 442 yards in its opening win, but the Marauders used an impressive defensive performance to blank defending District 6 Class 2A champion Bald Eagle Area.
"Any win in Week 1 is good, but when you get a shutout against a very good team, you're extremely happy," Wheeler said. "Overall, our effort to the ball was very good. Our guys got to the ball and caused turnovers. We're a fast defense, and I was happy with them as a group after the game."
Wheeler credits his team's success to its athleticism.
"We have some basketball kids out that have really helped us," Wheeler said. "Taurean Consiglio, (Tyson) Lestochi and of course the Kissells (Chase and Jake). You're starting to really see some of that athleticism from BG basketball, which has been so good, and now we have some of those kids. You're seeing more athletes coming out, and as the season goes on, we'll get the chance to showcase them even more."