MEADVILLE —
The wait is finally over.
After months of being confined to the weight room, or hoofing it through conditioning drills, today is the official start of high school football camp.
“For two weeks, it’s just football,” said Cambridge Springs head coach Clint Rauscher. “You’re just drenched in it for 12 hours a day. You get up, do it all day long, go home and rest, get up and do it again. The school day isn’t involved so much. You just do football.”
It’s an exciting time for coaches and players alike. Those Friday night lights are just weeks away.
“We have been in helmet and pads for a week now,” said Scott Salvo, who is entering his eighth season as Titusville head coach. “We are anxious to get out there and are ready for contact.”
Many coaches around the area agreed with Salvo’s excitement.
“We have been just doing a lot of paperwork and organizing,” said Pat Gould, who heads the newly formed Conneaut Area Senior High football team. “We are ready to get things started.”
Gould will have more on his plate during this year’s camp than most coaches. He and his staff are trying to condense rosters from three schools into one.
Conneaut Lake and Linesville converged into one team last year. This season, the new look Conneaut Area squad adds Conneaut Valley to the mix.
“I am not used to having this many kids on the field,” Gould said. “Our biggest challenge as a coaching staff is to make sure everyone understands the way we do things.”
There are also four schools in the area who have a first-year head coach. They may also go through a span of uncertainty at the start of camp.
Meadville, for example, will be without legendary head coach Ken Achenbach.
Achenbach, who won 97 games in 18 seasons with the Bulldogs, is now coaching tight ends and offensive tackles at Allegheny College. Filling Achenbach’s big shoes this year will be his former assistant coach, Mike Feleppa.
“It is definitely a different type of perspective,” Feleppa said. “It is going to be a challenge like every year. All eyes are on you now as a head coach. I’m in good spirits though. We have had a good turnout in lifting and conditioning programs and can’t wait to get the ball rolling.”
Elsewhere, Randy Gunther will take over for Union City after Joe Sanford lasted just a year at the Bears’ helm. Bryan Borkovich, who was an assistant at Meadville last season, will now lead Maplewood following the resignation of Matt Crocker. And Nathan Liberty is the new head coach at Cochranton, replacing long-time leader Tom Haynes. Haynes had been the Cardinals’ coach for the past 16 seasons.
“I am excited for this opportunity,” Liberty said. “Our goal this season from a coaches’ point of view is to be competitive. I am looking forward to our intensity and seeing the team come together throughout the next two weeks.”
One team that seemingly has little to worry about from year to year is General McLane. The Lancers have built a reputation under head coach Jim Wells of always being a championship caliber team. Wells doesn’t expect things to be different during this year’s camp.
“It is that time of year where we are all anxious to get back on the field,” Wells said.
Wells remains hopeful even after losing the key ingredients to his offense, including quarterback Josh Ponsoll and running backs Matt Astorino, Brian Suminski and Chad Kulka. All four ran for 600-plus yards last season.
“It is the process of the year that we lose guys from graduation,” Wells said. “We need other guys to step up. We are optimistic that the young guys will step up and add to their legacy.”
The biggest issue going into camp year in and year out is position battles, and seeing who shows up and who doesn’t. However, another main concern for coaches at every level is safety. Practicing twice a day in the summer heat can take a toll on some of the players, and the coaches make sure they do everything in their power to maintain the health of their players.
“We will have a cooler out there full of ice with towels in case the players need to put them on their necks,” coach Liberty said. “We will break after every individual and group station. Also, camp is from 1 to 8 p.m. so only a couple of hours will be during the hottest part of the day.”
Local Sports
Camp kicks off official start of football season
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