Mercury Football Preview: Pottsgrove’s seniors hope to instill winning attitude
The Pottsgrove football program seemed to work like a clock for many years. Constant. Always turning.
The COVID-19 pandemic last year stopped the ticking.
Now, the Falcons’ job includes getting the hands moving again.
Pottsgrove football endured as challenging a time as any other in the fall of 2020 when the school delayed the start of the season a month, ultimately resulting in the team playing a four-game season that included two COVID-related cancellations.
It was a roller coaster and not an especially fun one.
“We didn’t have as much time to bond with each other. And everyone was still concerned about whether we were going to play or not so no one really had the best attitude the whole time,” said senior fullback/linebacker Shane Caffrey. “It was hard on our mental state.”
The Falcons went 2-2 while battling through many injuries, a byproduct of the lack of offseason work and abbreviated preseason.
It’s been an uncharacteristically lean couple years for the Falcons, who went 5-6 in 2019, the team’s first losing record since 2002. Consecutive seasons without a winning record in Lower Pottsgrove hadn’t happened since the late 1980s.
The last link to the Falcons’ PAC finalist and District 1 Class 4A championship team of 2018, the Class of 2022 is determined to get head coach Bill Hawthorne’s squad trending upward again.
“It’s huge. The last two years we have kind of strayed from it, you could say,” said returning starting quarterback senior Ryan Sisko. “We didn’t have as great of seasons as we wanted. Us seniors were there our freshmen year when we won districts, and all those seniors from three years ago instilled that (winning mentality) into us. I think it’s pretty important to put that into the younger guys because we were some of the last ones to be able to witness it first hand. We’re trying to push it for the younger guys so they know the way.”
Pick up The Mercury’s Thursday (Aug. 26) edition for the 2021 High School Football Preview
Sisko will be joined in the backfield by senior fullbacks Max Neeson and Caffrey and senior running back Amir Brunson. Along with lineman Alex Degler and wide receiver Vinny Scarnato, it is only a six-man senior class for Pottsgrove.
But the group makes up for what it lacks in numbers, according to Hawthorne.
“We have a small senior class but if I was able to hand pick six individuals, it would be these six,” the head coach said. “They know what it takes to win, know what it takes to be successful at Pottsgrove. They embody the heart and soul of what it is to be a Pottsgrove football player.”
Even without the typical maturation process, Scarnato says he and his classmates feel well-equipped to lead.
“We don’t see it so much as a challenge but as an opportunity to show the younger guys who haven’t seen the older guys play and compete for district championships,” said Scarnato. “In this offseason we’ve been able to put in their minds what Pottsgrove football really is and what it should look like day in and day out.”
Read the Methacton football team preview next here
That group will be charged with trying to make up for the losses of All-Area first team running back/defensive back Rylee Howard and kicker/punter Luke Kaiser, plus second team lineman Manny Allen. Also, running back/defensive back Kayden White transferred to The Hill School.
The Falcons won’t be veering from a run-heavy offense and will look for Degler and juniors Mark White, Dom Demeno and Nico Marchionne to pave the way on the offensive line. They’ll go both ways, as well.
“We always prioritize our line and our offensive and defensive lines will be our key,” Hawthorne said. “We know that we will only go as far as they take us. I think we have potential on both lines. If we can reestablish the Pottsgrove mentality in those two spots, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Pottsgrove opens the season against a pair of Philadelphia Catholic League opponents, West Catholic in its home opener on Aug. 27 before meeting Lansdale Catholic in Ocean City, N.J., on Sept. 4.
Visits from Schuylkill Valley (Sept. 10) and Boyertown (Sept. 17) round out the non-league schedule before beginning its PAC Frontier Division run.
The PAC’s small-school division is practically starting anew after five of the six schools started late in 2020 and did not play a league schedule. It creates more question marks than usual.
Every team is desperate for a return to normalcy, a return to the way things have been.
Pottsgrove wants that and more, namely the on-field success that so many past Falcon teams have experienced.
“With (last season) being so short, I think it makes all the people who were there last season want for it to be good this season even more because of the lack of opportunity,” Sisko said. “I think we bring that from last year, wanting to play, wanting to compete, wanting to win some games and championships along the way.”
Pottsgrove
Head Coach
Bill Hawthorne
Assistant Coaches
Bill Bradford, Brent Haring, Josh Ford, Devon Fink, Mitch Bradford, Cody Robbins, Mike Wilkie
Top returners
(2020 stats in parentheses)
Offense
QB – Ryan Sisko, Sr., 5-11, 180 (13-for-33, 169 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT; 85 yards rushing, 1 TD)
FB – Max Neeson, Sr., 6-0, 210
RB – Shane Caffrey, Sr., 5-9, 165
OL – Alex Degler, Sr., 6-2, 230
OL – Mark White, Jr., 6-3, 240
RB – Amir Brunson, Jr., 5-10, 185
WR – Vinny Scarnato, Sr., 5-10, 150
WR– Trenton Allen, Jr., 5-11, 165
OL – Dom Demeno, Jr., 5-10, 210
OL – Nico Marchionne, Jr., 6-2, 280
Defense
LB – Ryan Sisko, Sr., 5-11, 180;
LB – Max Neeson, Sr., 6-0, 210
LB – Shane Caffrey, Sr., 5-9, 165 (26 tackles, 3 TFL)
DL – Alex Degler, Sr., 6-2, 230
DL – Mark White, Jr., 6-3, 240 (23 tackles)
LB – Amir Brunson, Jr., 5-10, 185
DB – Vinny Scarnato, Sr., 5-10, 150
DB – Trenton Allen, Jr., 5-11, 165
DL – Dom Demeno, Jr., 5-10, 210
DL – Nico Marchionne, Jr., 6-2, 280
