Much is changing at Jefferson-Morgan
By John Sacco
For the Observer-Reporter
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
Make no mistake, Shane Ziats comes to Jefferson-Morgan High School’s football program to compete – every practice, every drill, every play, every game.
The 2022 Rockets will not be waving white flags. They will be trying to find success.
Ziats, in his first season with Jefferson-Morgan, will see to it.
“Competition is the first thing we are talking about and practicing,” said Ziats, who comes to the Rockets after spending last season as an assistant coach to Waynesburg Central’s Aaron Giorgi, a former Jefferson-Morgan head coach.
“Compete each rep. Win the rep and move on to the next. Win each practice. Win each play and win each game. That’s what we are stressing.
“That is the mindset we need here. We’re not going to just hand a team a game. We want to compete and battle 48 minutes.”
Changing the culture after a disastrous 2021 season and some below-par seasons is a difficult task.
Jefferson-Morgan hasn’t had a winning season since 2012. Since then, the Rockets are 25-59 (.298) overall, 23-43 (.348) in conference play and 2-16 (.111) in non-conference games.
Ziats can’t, and won’t, be expected to rebuild Jefferson-Morgan in one year. It, however, won’t stop him from planting important seeds.
“Culture is a big thing,” Ziats said. “It gets kids to come out and stay out. We need to get back to winning football at Jefferson-Morgan. We’re striving for the winning culture of Jefferson-Morgan football of the past.”
To help that cause, a handful of players are being counted on by Ziats to be leaders and top performers.
That group includes senior quarterback-safety Cole Jones; senior receiver-linebacker Ewing Jamison; sophomore running back-defensive back Johnny Gilbert; senior wide receiver-defensive back Jordan Jacobs and senior two-way lineman Andrew Vessels.
“The biggest thing is to compete and not to give up,” Ziats said. “There is no place for putting their heads down. We want them to keep fighting, keep going. We need that kind of mentality. We need to pick each other up.
“We’re building the offense around what we have. We’re running a spread, motion offense. We’re instilling an offense that we think takes advantage of what we have. Defensively, we have some big guys up front so we’re going to be in a four-man front.”
Jefferson-Morgan opens the season Friday at home against Chartiers-Houston – a Class AA playoff team a season ago.
The Rockets will then host rival Waynesburg and then play at Jeannette to round out their non-conference schedule.
Jefferson-Morgan will open Tri-County South Conference play at home against California before battling Class A and conference newcomer Beth-Center in Fredericktown.
“I think everyone in the conference is on equal playing ground,” Ziats said. “It looks like a lot of teams are comparable to one another.
“We haven’t seen Chartiers-Houston. They’re coming down from Double-A and they made the playoffs last year. I haven’t heard anything about Jeannette. I know they were 0-9 last season but that had to be an anomaly. That program is too good for a repeat of that. I’m worried about them because we don’t know that much about them.
“As for Waynesburg, that’s a Double-A team that is bigger and stronger. That’s another tough team for us to play. That’s another big challenge for us,” Ziats added.
“I think to play those types of teams, and have success against those types of teams, we must change minds and the culture. The kids understand it takes work and practice to help us play better and compete harder.”
The last time Jefferson-Morgan qualified for the WPIAL playoffs was 10 years ago. The Rockets’ last conference championship and playoff victory came in 2006 when they advanced to the WPIAL semifinals before losing to Rochester, 14-6.
Ziats is eager to bring Jefferson-Morgan back to respectability and ultimately to the glory of days gone by.
“Becoming a head coach is something I was looking forward to,” Ziats said. “I have been an assistant coach for 15 years. I wanted to be a head coach.
“We want to break from what these kids have been used to. Our mindset must change.”