A-K Valley football coaches eager to get back to normal when camp starts Monday

By: Michael Love
Saturday, August 14, 2021 | 6:29 PM

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At this time last August, high school football teams throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley were wading through a pool of uncertainty as the covid pandemic threatened to eliminate the season.

While the season eventually carried on — with substantial changes and game cancellations — it was unlike any other in history.

Fast forward to this weekend, and despite the spectre of covid still looming in the shadows, football coaches, players and their supporters are looking forward to Monday’s start of preseason camps and a return to a sense of normalcy.

“We’re so excited and looking forward to Monday,” said Burrell coach Shawn Liotta, who will greet a youthful and inexperienced group at the newly installed artificial turf at Buccaneers Stadium.

“For any coach in the WPIAL, it’s like Christmas Eve, and you are excited to see what you got. The kids are ready to go. For us at Burrell, even though we have that youth and inexperience, we are looking forward to getting out there and improving every day.”

The Bucs are one of several teams in the Alle-Kiski Valley hoping to make a run at a WPIAL playoff spot as brackets return to normal. Burrell last year finished 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the Class 3A Allegheny Seven Conference.

“The first couple of practices for every team are exciting as they look to build on what they accomplished in summer workouts or seven-on-seven tournaments and games,” Liotta said. “We probably have about 28 or so ninth and 10th graders on the roster, so there is a lot of youth. Even with our older kids, there is a lot of inexperience with guys who haven’t played. There’s a lot of battles for spots which will no doubt play out over the next few weeks.”

Kiski Area’s Sam Albert can’t wait to get started and get back to a normal preseason routine. The Cavaliers, like other teams, were improving on the fly in games after substantial portions of the preseason, including all scrimmage opportunities, were wiped out.

Kiski finished last season 2-4 overall and 1-4 in the Class 5A Northeast Conference.

“This will be the first time to put pads on, and this really separates who can actually play,” Cavaliers coach Sam Albert said. “We’ve had kids in the past who were All-Americans until they put the pads on, and then they disappeared. Every coach is looking for who can be physical, who is going to be aggressive, and the hope is getting through these early practices injury free.

“Our kids have been really committed all throughout the summer, and now, you want to build on that productivity as you begin to install your gameplan for the season. We’re excited with where we are at right now.”

Deer Lakes was one of 13 WPIAL teams to finish its 2020 season winless, but coach Tim Burk said momentum is on the side of the Lancers, who were a very young group last year, as they hope to seize upon the positives from last season and also the offseason of progress.

“We’re excited and hopeful as we get after it and hope there are no interruptions like last year,” Burk said. “That was always a headache trying to weather the storm. It was tough as we tried to get some really young kids — at times, we had four freshmen on the field — that game experience. But I know our kids — and a lot from other teams — responded in a positive way as they love to play this game.”

Of the 13 AK-Valley football teams, four — Plum, Freeport, Apollo-Ridge and Springdale — qualified for the WPIAL playoffs last year. In some cases, the WPIAL had to select some playoff qualifiers as many conferences finished with unbalanced standings.

The Greater Allegheny Conference, one of only two conferences in the WPIAL to have its teams play every scheduled conference game, saw Plum take home the title with 7-0 record.

Plum advanced to the WPIAL semifinals before being edged by Thomas Jefferson, 20-17.

Coach Matt Morgan said his Mustangs, who lost a sizeable group of seniors from last year’s team, still have a nice group of weapons to contend, not only in the conference but in Class 4A.

Highlands, led by third-year starting quarterback Chandler Thimons, a junior, would have made the Class 4A playoffs out of the Greater Allegheny Conference in a normal playoff situation. But with only eight teams qualifying, fourth place last year wasn’t good enough.

Apollo-Ridge won its first six games last year, including its first-round Class 2A playoff game with a 42-6 rout of perennial playoff contender Washington. The Vikings lost to eventual WPIAL champion Beaver Falls in the semifinals.

“Getting back to normal, it’s been that way all summer after starting late last summer,” Apollo-Ridge coach John Skiba said. “There’s no tension about coming in and having to check temperatures and checking other things and making sure guys are masked. We are actually going to have a normal day of camp Monday. It will be a two-a-day, and they haven’t done that in two years. We are excited to get a lot of things done right away.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Highlands, Kiski Area, Plum, Springdale