Aug 22, 2014 5 min read

With the WPIAL football regular season nearing, coaches across the area are anxiously awaiting their final preseason scrimmage before touchdowns matter and results dictate standings.

Players finally strapped on shoulder pads and snapped into helmets last Saturday to face an opponent other than their teammates in the first round of scrimmages. Like any endeavor, the first try was the messiest. Assignments were missed, blocking was shaky, defensive alignments were imprecise and questions arose about depth.

As McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton begins his third year as head coach, he is accustomed to taking the results of the first scrimmage with a grain of salt. Mistakes are inevitable, but correcting them is critical.

“You see a lot of improvement from the first scrimmage to the second scrimmage and the first game to the second game,” Dalton said. “It’s almost like a dress rehearsal before the first actual performance. There’s a big learning curve in those four weeks.”

McGuffey, which is embarking on its first season in the revamped Interstate Conference, hosted Elizabeth Forward, a Class AAA opponent, last Saturday at Highlander Stadium. With a running game that will rival any in Class AA, spearheaded by senior James Duchi, and promising senior lineman Ryan Stienstraw, expectations have not wavered.

Dalton wants to see the rest of the pieces fall into place as McGuffey faces Uniontown tonight at 6 p.m. Finding more linemen is at the top of the list as McGuffey preps for its season opener next week at conference rival Mount Pleasant.

“We are going to play a couple of sophomores and a freshman,” he said. We’ll put them in the heat of the battle and see if they are ready yet. We’re going to play them a bit and see how they handle it. We’ve been (working) since the second week of June so once you get into pads, you just get used to tackling people – that’s the big difference.”

One team that will need to quickly acclimate to tackling at game speed is Peters Township. The Indians open the season against Southeastern Conference rival Woodland Hills, which features the best backfield in the WPIAL with Penn State recruit Miles Sanders and senior Arthur Thompkins, who committed to Toledo.

Peters Township head coach Rich Piccinini saw enough from his team in its Week 1 scrimmage against Montour that he’s more optimistic. Traveling to face another top Class AAA opponent – Thomas Jefferson – in the second scrimmage should help prepare senior quarterback Cory Owen and a young roster for the rugged landscape of the Southeastern Conference.

“We look at who can block and who can tackle,” Piccinini said. “You can’t really get 1,000 percent evaluation of that in practice. We want to see who can do it in a game with game speed. Who is going to hit, who knows what they’re doing, who knows their assignments? We always tell the kids that if you are willing to play and you know your assignments, you’ll get on the field.”

Plenty of underclassmen will play in Peters Township’s final prep for the Wolverines. After losing eight starters on offense and seven on defense, the Indians will need to find answers with their youth.

Unlike Piccinini’s task at a Quad-A school, Avella head coach Ryan Cecchini is tackling a different issue. For the third straight year, the Eagles did not play a scrimmage in Week 1. Avella was set to face Hundred (W.Va.), but four days before the scheduled start, the Hornets announced their program would be discontinued.

Regardless of the change, the majority of Avella’s players are in 4-H and participate in the Washington County Fair’s annual livestock auction, which runs the same day as the area’s first football scrimmages.

Now, with 12 seniors graduated and five players dealing with injuries during camp, the Eagles have practiced with 20 players, making their first scrimmage tonight against Serra Catholic at 6 p.m. a pivotal one.

“It can be beneficial for a school with small numbers such as us,” Cecchini said. “You prevent injury by not having it and really, you want your kids ready and healthy for the regular season. We have positions up for grabs, and we’ll see how the kids respond.”

Regardless of the situation, whether it be a small school with the

All teams use these scrimmages with the same goal: prepare for the marathon that is the WPIAL regular season.

“You have to see other teams coming at you and how you react when the pressure is on,” Piccinini said. “You can tell who is a good player and who knows what they’re doing. It has to be done in the scrimmages so we make sure we get all of our guys in. No one is left behind. We make sure we evaluate everybody.”