Bishop Canevin football ready to go with new coach Lucas

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, January 20, 2018 | 2:20 AM

Bishop Canevin didn't have to go far to find its next football coach.

Chris Lucas, who served as the offensive coordinator for the Crusaders the previous two seasons, was announced as the program's new head coach Jan. 12. He replaces Darren Schoppe, who compiled a 23-28 record with three playoff appearances in his five seasons at Canevin.

“I have coached at a bunch of places and always wanted to run my own program,” said Lucas, who is a teacher in the West Allegheny School District. “I really enjoyed my time with the kids and school at Canevin. The administration was very supportive throughout the interview process. They want the program to be viable moving forward.”

Lucas previously had been on the staffs at Avonworth, West Allegheny, Northgate and Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic — he was on the Trojans' staff in 2013 when they won the WPIAL and PIAA titles.

The new coach said that having experience with the Canevin players should help the transition, and he plans on keeping several members of last season's staff.

“I think it is great to know what players we have coming in,” Lucas said. “It helps in the process moving forward. We have a great core of kids.”

Jonathan Ruffing was a catalyst for the offense, finishing with 784 all-purpose yards and seven touchdowns. Brian De Schon was the top receiver with 207 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw for a touchdown pass.

Alex Shaughnessy was another top receiver with 138 receiving yards and a touchdown.

The defense is set to return some building blocks including Shaughnessy (51 tackles), De Schon (42 tackles) and Allen Green (32 tackles, five sacks).

Bishop Canevin could have low numbers — eight of last season's 24 players will graduate this year. But it is a dilemma Lucas has worked around the last two seasons with Schoppe.

“I think any program in (Class A) has that challenge outside of few teams with goods numbers,” Lucas said. “We might change the way we practice. Some practices might be cut short a few times so we don't beat the kids down too much.

“Working with Coach Schoppe and seeing how he dealt with it was a good way to learn.”

In addition to a new coach, Bishop Canevin will compete in a new conference this season. The WPIAL board of directors revealed alignments for football for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons Jan. 15.

The Crusaders' schedule will feature Cornell, Laurel, Northgate, Our Lady of Sacred Heart, Rochester, Sto-Rox and Union.

“It is exciting playing some new teams,” Lucas said. “We are going from one tough conference to another. Rochester almost best Jeannette in the playoffs. And OLSH played Imani really tough.”

Lucas said the Crusaders will start their offseason weight lifting program in February. From there, he plans on bringing in a speed coach, going to 7-on-7s and having a minicamp at the beginning of the summer. He said the focus of the program is to have the players be successful on and off the field.

“We want to teach them the process of winning and have them buy into it,” Lucas said. “We want to take it one game at a time and build that into winning the conference and getting into the playoffs.

“One of our program's main goals is to help equip our players with the skills necessary to be successful in the classroom, on the field and in life.”

Nathan Smith is a freelance writer.

Tags: Bishop Canevin