Rebuilding project put on hold at Wissahickon

Wissahickon’s new head coach Paul Noon’s philosophy for this upcoming season is “win now.”

Noon has had success in his two prior head coaching positions with the same belief as he takes over a Trojans squad that he and the team know underperformed a season ago.

The reason for the slogan is to send a message to the seniors and upperclassmen that a new coaching staff doesn’t mean a rebuilding process.

“This isn’t a rebuilding project,” Noon said. “If we give everything that we have everyday I know that we can execute this playbook and learn it and come together as a team we can win football games this year.

“That’s my experience as a varsity head football coach. I know football and this team can win, there is no doubt in my mind. This isn’t a ‘we’ll see in three years kind of deal, let’s take our time’. I don’t care what the record is this year. It matters this year, we except to win.”

With the start of a new regime Noon placed an emphasis on how important the leadership of the senior class will be to success of the program as most of the players on the team have a better report with each other than the new coaching staff.

The leadership role will fall on key seniors such as quarterback Mike Marino, offensive and defensive lineman Yondel Dudley, linebacker and fullback Rick Pons, defensive end and tight end Devontae Allen, and linebacker Deshawn Newman.

“It’s something that every successful program has,” Noon said. “We talked to the seniors about it early and no matter what, whatever I say they have to have my back for this thing to work and they’ve really bought in.”

Noon was not left a roster devoid of talent despite what the previous year’s record might have suggested. He felt that implementing his new pro-style offense and moving away from what he called an “old school” offense in a Wing-T can better suit the players skill sets that he’s inheriting.

“We are changing the system around from an old school wing-t system to a more pro-style, quick step, spread them out system,” Noon said. “I believe (it is) more advantageous to our kids who are smaller, more athletic. We are breaking not the bad habits but the old habits of a wing-t style offense into a pro, spread out, quick throw type of team and that takes time to break.”

Top Photo:  Darryl Baldwin takes a handoff from Mike Marino at Wissahickon football camp on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. (Bob Raines/Montgomery Media)