Aug 22, 2018 5 min read

Legendary Marquette University basketball coach Al McGuire once famously quipped that the best thing about freshmen is they eventually become sophomores.

Chartiers-Houston’s Terry Fetsko, who is in his 14th season as head football coach at the school, is hopeful that this concept proves true for this season’s edition of the Buccaneers.

The 2017 campaign was not exactly fruitful for Chartiers-Houston as it finished 0-10 overall and was outscored 467-46. However, there is good news on the immediate horizon as Chartiers-Houston moved out of the tough Class AA Century Conference and will now compete in the Class A Tri-County South.

Adding to the good vibes, many of the young players who took their lumps last season gained valuable experience and should be better prepared to do battle this fall.

“We played a lot of freshmen and sophomores last year and it showed,” Fetsko said. “We were 7-3 in 2016 and made the playoffs with a nice, big group of seniors. Especially at the Double-A level, playing with a lot of very young kids makes it difficult to do as well as you would with a lot of seniors.”

As a result, the pain of inexperience, which led to the winless 2017 campaign, could pay dividends going forward.

“All offseason and into the summer workouts, we’ve had very good turnout, which is good,” the coach added. “We’ve been working hard in getting stronger, faster and better as individuals and as a team. I feel good where we are at headed.”

Though the Bucs do not seem to have one position group that could be considered the team strength, they also do not seem to have a group that could be deemed its weakness, said Fetsko.

“What would I consider the best part of our team? I would say our overall experience with what we went through last year would definitely be an advantage, especially heading into a new conference,” Fetsko added.

One of those sophomores who will become a junior this fall and is expected to become a leader for the Bucs is Robbie Ward, who played at running back and quarterback last season. Ward is expected to fill a similar role this year, taking the snaps and maybe seeing some action at running back.

“He’s one of those young guys last year who had to play a lot and did a little bit of everything for us,” Fetsko said. “He’s probably our most experienced player and has worked very hard in the offseason. I’m looking forward to see what he does … because he’s shown a great deal of work ethic in the weight room.”

Junior Tyler Blumen also showed promise last year at wide receiver. He is also expected to be a leader for this edition of the Bucs.

“Tyler is no doubt one of our team leaders,” the coach added. “He’s a returning starter and got a lot of experience last season. He’s really worked harder this summer in getting stronger, faster and running cleaner routes. We’re going to have a lot of young guys at that spot so he’s going to have to lead them by example.”

Another skill player, Sam Dewalt, saw time at receiver and running back last season as a sophomore. He is expected to step in at running back and carry a heavy load in the ground game.

The Bucs should also benefit from having a young offensive line growing and jelling into an experienced unit. Austin Kuslock and Zach David are expected to man the tackle spots while senior James Dillie, Ethan Opfer and Joey Christie will play at guard and center.

“The good thing here is our offensive line saw a lot of time last year even with their youth,” Fetsko said. “Austin and Zach were freshmen. But again, we spent a lot of time in the weight room and got a lot stronger there up front.”

In terms of offensive philosophy, Fetsko said his group would like to be more of a spread attack, but will add in elements of a power ground game. How that shakes out will be determined in fall camp.

“By trade, we are a spread team, but we will have to go through camp to see what works best,” he said.

Defensively, Fetsko said he expects junior Shawn Wheeler, at inside linebacker, along with senior lineman Brandon Stopperich and Julian Miller to be forces.

“We have some guys who can be a physical presence up front defensively, for sure,” Fetsko said.

Also contributing will be linebackers Colton Craig, Jake Piatt and Nathan Cavullo. Craig and Cavullo are freshmen, adding to the youth-will-still-be-served theme for the Bucs.

As for the schedule, the Bucs will not need to worry about jousting with Washington, McGuffey and Burgettstown in the Century Conference. Their opponents this fall will consist of Tri-County South opponents such as Jefferson-Morgan, West Greene, Bentworth, Mapletown, Monessen, Avella and California.

“For our program, we match up a bit better here than what we did in the Century,” Fetsko said. “It’s not too travel intensive. Our junior high teams have competed against these schools as well. It’s still going to be hard. California was outstanding last year and you had West Greene go 7-3 and make strides. We are looking forward to it for sure.” o