Pottsgrove planning to stick with identity, stay in district 4A championship contention

Some key players may be gone from a Pottsgrove team that was runner-up in both the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s Frontier Division and District 1-4A playoff bracket last fall.

But the current flock of Falcons don’t figure to skip any beats this season. They have capable replacements stepping up, and a game plan that has proven a consistent winner through four years of current head coach Bill Hawthorne’s tenure, and the better part of three previous decades.

Being a good running team with strong special teams is the ‘mantra’ of the Falcons’ program that isn’t going to change this fall.

The mantra fueled the Falcons’ 8-3 2021 season (4-1 in the division) and rise to the District 1 Class 4A title game, where Bishop Shanahan thwarted their hopes for a title and spot in the PIAA Class 4A playoffs.

Upgrading on that result will be the charge of a Pottsgrove roster that boasts numbers as much as it does talent. It graduated such Class of 2022 members as All-PAC Frontier first-teamers Tyler Kauffman (wide receiver), Landon Shivak (kicker), Shane Caffrey (linebacker/strong safety) and Max Neeson (linebacker), and second-teamers Ryan Sisko (quarterback), Vincent Scarnato (wide receiver/defensive back) and Johnny Crawford (offensive line). Neeson was also accorded second-team honors on offense as a tight end/halfback/fullback.

“We have numbers this year,” Hawthorne said. “Sixty kids, we feel good about that.”

“We have a lot of players back,” Dominic Demeno, a senior being looked to for play on both offense and defense, added. “Everything’s ready. We’re giving attention to things in practice we have to do.”

The Falcons also boast returning several players who were at the forefront of their special-teams play last fall. Junior Bryce Caffrey and senior Amir Brunson grabbed the spotlight with their various punt and kickoff-return touchdowns in the 2021 season’s early going. Brunson ranked third in Pennsylvania in punt returns his sophomore year. Brunson, in turn, had three kick return scores in Pottsgrove’s first five games.

“Our special teams are definitely strong,” Brunson said.

The running game figures to again be a staple of the Falcons’ offensive game plan. Like past years, they have a number of capable players who will vie with Brunson, a PAC Frontier offense second-teamer last season, for carries.

Brunson ranked sixth among PAC rushers with 729 yards and nine touchdowns a year ago. Caffrey and another senior, Xavier Leibensperger, will be part of a configuration Hawthorne describes as “running back by committee.”

“We definitely have a good running game,” Demeno added. “It’s a strong running back corps with guys like Trenton Allen and Xavier Leibensperger.”

Key to that unit’s excellence will be a line opening holes. Demeno, a PAC first-team pick in 2021, will be at guard while classmate Mark White is at tackle.

“With more depth, there’s fighting for spots on the offensive line,” Demeno noted.

On the defensive side, Demeno and White will be big in the trenches. Demeno, a star on Pottsgrove’s wrestling team last winter, was a PAC second-teamer at tackle; and White was a first-team defensive pick at end.

“Our big focus is improving the lines,” White said.

The linebacking corps is headed by Brunson and Leibensperger. In the secondary, Allen and Caffrey will be at cornerback, and senior Gabe Rinda — he was second team Frontier defense, and a league standout in interceptions with three — is at strong safety.

“Our defense has a lot of returners,” Demeno said. “The offense has new people in new spots. Last year, we ran with our seniors.”

Hawthorne is looking for the team’s demographic to achieve its customary goals.

“Our main goal is to win every game in the division,” he said. “The late-season win over Upper Moreland got us a taste of success.

“We want to get back into the (district title) game, but it’s going to be a loaded district with Bishop Shanahan and Upper Moreland.”

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