Depth is concern as Fort Cherry embarks on Year 2 in Double-A
By Luke Campbell
Fort Cherry junior quarterback Jake Tkach rolls out during practice as coach Jim Shiel watches.
By Luke Campbell
Senior lineman Mark Permigiani, right, practices a pull block on Brennon Smith. Both Permigiani and Smith are returning starters on the line for the Rangers.
McDONALD – Fort Cherry head coach Jim Shiel knows his team is at a disadvantage.
The Rangers are expected to have a 25-player roster this fall, and that number is more significant now than it would have been two years ago.
Fort Cherry is entering its second season in Class 2A, where the quantity of players is of greater importance than in 1A, where the Rangers were for Shiel’s first six seasons as head coach. Fort Cherry’s roster number is what it is and will create a massive challenge for the program in its second season in the Three Rivers Conference.
Before moving up to 2A, Fort Cherry was a winning program. In 2016 and ’17, the Rangers went a combined 16-5 and made consecutive playoff appearances out of the Tri-County South.
With the talent level around it increasing, however, Fort Cherry struggled last year. The Rangers started out well enough, winning their first two games, but they lost out the rest of the way to finish at 2-8 overall, tying for last in the conference with a 1-6 mark.
There weren’t many moral victories for Fort Cherry, either. Of the eight losses, only one was by single digits. On a positive note, the single-digit loss came at the hands of Soth Side Beaver, who would go on to become the 2A runner-up.
Shiel cited a lack of bodies, particularly up front, as a key reason for last year’s rocky debut in AA.
“In making that jump, you have to have depth, especially on the line,” Shiel said. “But we don’t have a lot of depth right now. We only had, I think, eight lineman total last year. Of those eight, three of them were freshman.”
Those freshman a year ago might help the Rangers as sophomores, but Fort Cherry’s line still lacks depth. It was hard to imagine the Rangers being more shorthanded up front in 2019, but it’s looking like it could be the case.
“Unless somebody shows up out of the woodwork on Monday, we’re looking at about seven lineman,” Shiel said. “That’s tough at the Double-A level.”
It isn’t just the line where Fort Cherry is low in manpower. The Rangers will also have to replace their most productive skill-position player, running back Zach Vincenti, who averaged 5.6 yards per carry and scored six touchdowns last season.
Replacing Vincenti will be junior Chase Belsterling, who was a backup as an underclassmen last year. Belsterling, who rushed for 162 yards on 39 carries, will be trusted to carry much of the load on the ground. Shiel said Fort Cherry plans on running its plays in a single-back formation because of the lack of depth.
At the quarterback position, freshman Maddox Truschel was the starter at the end of last year. This summer, however, Truschel tore his ACL playing summer league basketball. Now, junior Jake Tkach, who went 9-for-24 for 113 yards last season, and senior Austin Nardozi will compete for the starting job.
For Shiel, the quality of what last year’s seniors, such as Vincenti, quarterback/wide receiver Brady Whalen and offensive tackle Aaron Baird, brought will be missed.
“Our graduating class from last year wasn’t super large, but every one of those boys were two-way starters and impact players,” Shiel said.
The journey in Class AA doesn’t appear to be a long one for Fort Cherry. Come 2020, Shiel sees the Rangers back in Class A, where they made the postseason in 2017.
“Unless the PIAA really drops that magic number, we should probably be in Class A again next year,” he said.
While this season could be another bumpy one for Fort Cherry, Sheil sees promise in his underclassmen, and hopes that this year will be a successful one in the rebuilding process.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” he said.