BARNESVILLE — Often imitated, but never duplicated.
That phrase perfectly describes the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Media Day.
The 11th annual event, held Wednesday for the first time at Mountain Valley Golf Course, has been the model for similar preseason football events held in recent days in Northeastern Pennsylvania. And while the event has been tweaked and the venue changed a few times, it still stands out as the perfect way to kick off the upcoming high school football season.
Wednesday’s gathering featured 16 teams — each of which was represented by their head coach and four players — and a whopping 31 members of the media. The deck at Mountain Valley provided the perfect scenic backdrop for television stations to tape interviews with coaches and players, while the spacious dining hall gave newspaper reporters and radio personalities plenty of space to work the room and complete the necessary preseason paperwork.
The first official day of preseason practice is Monday, although teams must go through three days of PIAA-mandated heat acclimation practices this week.
You could tell by talking to the coaches and players that they can’t wait to put on the pads and begin hitting, and are already looking forward to the opening night of games Friday, Aug. 29.
The SCFCA Media Day is always full of newsy tidbits of information. Here’s a sampling:
Spartans top AFL
preseason poll
North Schuylkill received 111 points and seven of the 11 first-place votes in Anthracite Football League Coaches Preseason Poll conducted Wednesday.
The Spartans, who went 8-4 last season and lost to Northwestern Lehigh in the Eastern Conference Class AA championship game,
return nine linemen who started at least one game last season, along with quarterback Bobby Grigas and standout linebacker Major Jordan.
They are followed in the poll by league newcomer Lehighton, which gained two first-place votes and 104 points, with defending District 11 Class A champion Schuylkill Haven in third with one first-place vote and 103 points.
Blue Mountain was fourth with the final first-place vote and 91 points, followed by Marian (80 points), Tamaqua (64), defending league champion Jim Thorpe (60), Mahanoy Area (38), Panther Valley (30), Minersville (27) and Shenandoah Valley (18).
Wabby honored
The SCFCA honored former Eastern Football Conference and District 11 chairman Jack Wabby for his contributions to football in the Schuylkill County area.
A 1964 Saint Clair graduate, Wabby played football and baseball for the Saints before going on to play four years of football and one year of baseball at Kutztown State College. He played for the semi-pro Schuylkill County Coal Crackers before getting into coaching.
Wabby served as a coach with the Coal Crackers and semi-pro Chambersburg Cardinals and Scranton Miners before entering the high school ranks, where he was an assistant at Saint Clair and Danville.
An educator, Wabby was an assistant principal at Williams Valley and principal at Saint Clair and Blue Mountain high schools. He was the Schuylkill League president, chairman of the Eastern Football Conference and District 11 Committee and served on the PIAA board of directors.
Four coaches top
Hall of Fame class
SCFCA public relations director Doyle Dietz announced the association’s 2014 Hall of Fame class.
This year’s class includes Tom Bonner of Panther Valley, the late Barry Hackenberg of North Schuylkill and Kevin Keating of Pottsville as the inductees from current schools, and the late Pat Droskinis of Cass Township as the at-large inductee. They will be inducted during halftime ceremonies of the organization’s annual all-star game set for Wednesday, Nov. 26, at Schuylkill Haven’s Rotary Field.
Bonner compiled a 43-18 record in five seasons at Panther Valley and a 26-19 record in four seasons at Tamaqua for a career total of 69-37. With the Panthers he won one District 11 Class A title, had two Eastern Conference runners-up squads; and guided the Blue Raiders to one Eastern Conference title game.
Hackenberg compiled a 27-25-2 record in five seasons at North Schuylkill and an 18-22-4 record in five seasons at Jim Thorpe for a career record of 45-47-2. He later became a key member of the staff at Marian, where he helped coach his sons Erick and J.D., who is now an assistant for the Colts.
Keating coached a total of 24 seasons at Pottsville in two terms, becoming the all-time winningest coach for the Crimson Tide with a 166-110-7 record and is a past president of the SCFCA. He coached the Tide to a pair of PIAA Class AAA Eastern championships, three District 11 Class AAA championships and one Eastern Conference title.
Droskinis is best known as head coach of the legendary “undefeated, untied and un-scored upon” 1957 Cass Township team. That year the Condors finished 10-0 and were Eastern Conference co-champions when the title game was cancelled because of a flu epidemic.
In 1958, the Condors had a 7-1 record, allowing just one touchdown that season in a 6-0 loss to Mahanoy Township. Droskinis went on to coach at Schuylkill Haven, Pottsville and Minersville.
On the move
Several players who started in 2013 have switched schools for the 2014 season.
Angelo Maskornick, who was a three-year starter at Shenandoah Valley, has transferred to Marian. Maskornick caught 20 passes for 328 yards and two scores a year ago after catching 39 passes for 725 yards and five TDs in 2012.
He adds another weapon to a very talented Marian offense, which returns sophomore Ethan Kuczynski at quarterback and will move junior K.J. Snerr to tailback.
“We have six wide receivers who have caught passes in varsity football, not including him,” Marian coach Stan Dakosty said. “Angelo is a great kid and a very hard worker. We think he’s going to be a very good player for us.
“He’s a great addition. We know he’s a great athlete. We’re anxious to see what he does.”
Danny Lozada, who started eight games at quarterback last season as a freshman at Nativity, has transferred to Schuylkill Haven. Lozada completed 68-of-168 passes for 990 yards and 11 touchdowns a year ago as the Green Wave went 4-7 and reached the Eastern Conference Class A semifinals.
Lozada joins a Hurricanes backfield that already includes quarterback Ryan Fink and tailback Will Casella, who combined to rush for 3,640 yards and 50 touchdowns last season.
“He adds another skill guy to my team,” Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr said. “Danny has really done a lot of work making himself bigger and stronger and throwing the football.
“He gives us another athletic guy to put at quarterback.”
Farr was quick to say, however, there’s no quarterback controversy on the horizon at Haven. Fink is the starter, no questions asked.
“Ryan has put so much work in to get himself to the place where he is today,” Farr said. “Basically, he runs the show. Ryan wants to be the leader of this team.
“Until Ryan Fink comes to me and says ‘Put Danny in,’ this is Ryan’s team. Ryan is my quarterback and will play multiple positions. Danny will play quarterback when Ryan is not.”
Other players on different rosters in 2014 include Damian Richards, who went from Marian to Jim Thorpe, and Joe Nahas, who went from North Schuylkill to Marian.
Blankenhorn opts
not to play football
Pottsville will be without the services of talented wide receiver/defensive back Travis Blankenhorn, who decided not to come out this season.
Blankenhorn has been a three-sport starter the past three years at Pottsville, and has verbally committed to play baseball at the University of Kentucky. He spent most of the summer playing baseball in the southern U.S. for various travel organizations.
In football, Blankenhorn was the 2011 Republican-Herald Rookie of the Year and a first-team selection as a sophomore and junior. Last season, he led the area with 800 yards receiving, catching 35 passes and scoring six touchdowns, and picked off five passes on defense.
With Blankenhorn not returning, the Crimson Tide will have to replace all 11 starters on defense from last year’s team.
“The way I’m thinking about it is like he’s a senior and he graduated,” Pottsville coach Tom McGeoy said. “He played three great years for us, and I wish him the best of luck. He’s trying to get drafted.
“I kind of saw it coming, so it wasn’t a shock. Obviously, it hurts. It would have been nice to have him. But as a coaching staff, we basically were planning on not having this year.”
(Boyer is sports editor and covers high school football for The Republican-Herald. Follow him on Twitter @pubsportsboss)
AFL preseason poll
The 2014 Anthracite Football League Coaches Preseason Poll. Teams received 11-1 points in descending order. First-place votes in parentheses:
1. North Schuylkill (7) 111
2. Lehighton (2) 104
3. Schuylkill Haven (1) 103
4. Blue Mountain (1) 91
5. Marian 80
6. Tamaqua 64
7. Jim Thorpe 60
8. Mahanoy Area 38
9. Panther Valley 30
10. Minersville 27
11. Shenandoah Valley 18