H.S. Football Notebook: Wahconah Winning Numbers Game
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Here's a scary thought for Wahconah's football opponents this fall: Coach Gary Campbell says he is "finally" happy with his numbers.
"We have a pretty good crop this year," Campbell said at Berkshire County's football media night last month. "I finally have some good seniors. I'm not saying the old seniors weren't good, but we had only five seniors last year and six seniors the year before. So we finally have some numbers back, and that's a good thing.
"I'm excited about that. That adds depth for us."
Wahconah did OK for itself the last couple of years without a bumper crop of seniors. In 2012, it went to the last Western Mass Super Bowl played at Gillette Stadium; last year, it went to the state semi-final and came up six points short of a return trip to Foxborough.
On Friday night, 15 seniors will take the field for Wahconah in its annual rivalry Route 9 Rumble at Northampton -- one of six non-league games that dominate the Berkshire County football schedule this weekend.
The only league game on the schedule is Friday's meeting between Pittsfield and Monument Mountain at Wahconah Park. McCann Tech has a league game at Pathfinder while Drury opens on the road and out of the league at Greenfield.
Last year's shortage of seniors notwithstanding, Wahconah is one of the few Berkshire County football programs where numbers are not a major issue. But the area's coaches have been able to make do.
"I think what happens when you have numbers like we have is there's a big dropoff between your first string and your second string team, so you have to be creative in how to give the first-string guys a look [in practice]," Drury coach Bill Bryce said. "The younger guys, they try. They give everything they have. But they're just not as experienced, and they're smaller, so it's easier for the older guys to push them around.
"So we've taken the older guys and done some half line stuff, and when they're subbing out, we have them go to the scout team and try to give a good look. So we get creative.
"It's tough with 30 guys. And a couple of them are a little dinged up so they're not able to practice. But we're making it work."
Drury's preseason scrimmage partner, Mount Greylock, which won three straight Super Bowls from 2010-12, is in the same boat when it comes to roster size.
"Even in those Super Bowl years, it was still 31, 32 [players]," Mounties coach Shawn Flaherty said. "We did have a good sign-up, and we've had good sign-ups, but then when push comes to shove and it's time to start, you dwindle down to that 30-31 mark, and you don't get to practice the way you should practice.
"We're building more for just the first team. And the younger kids have to fill in here or there. It makes it unfortunate for the younger kids."
... At Taconic High School, Jim Ziter reports that numbers are up a little this fall. He had 41 players in uniform in late August and reports there is "a lot of excitement" around the program.
"We're going to be athletic," Ziter said. "Up front, we have some pretty good size on the line, but we're real athletic, fast. Our backs are fast. We're not a drop back and pass team. We're more of a sprint-out team, and I'm looking to do more of that this year."
... Like Wahconah, Hoosac Valley is looking to get back to the state tournament after a narrow loss in the state semi-finals in the first year of the new state playoff format.
Coach Dayne Poirot returns junior quarterback Matt Koperniak and senior wingback Tyler Mach along with a line led by senior captain Zach Wright.
"Last year, we had great senior leadership and a lot of kids who were really hungry," Poirot said. "They had a lot to prove [after the 2012 season]. This year, this group of seniors has to leave its mark.
" It's tough to follow up on [last year[, but that's the expectation that every team has. That's our goal -- to be better and better and better every year, no matter how good they year before was."
... The county's other program returning with post-season experience is McCann Tech, which is looking to build on a 7-1 regular season that produced the Hornets' first home playoff game in program history.
Coach Bob LeClair's squad opens at Pathfinder, a team it beat, 30-0, at home in last year's opener. But the last time McCann made the trip to Pathfinder, it was a 31-6 win for the Pioneers.