Aug 19, 2023 By Chris Dugan sports Editor dugan@observer-Reporter.Com 4 min read

Like any department, in any business, there are slow times of the year and then there is the busy season.

The sports department of the Observer-Reporter is no different. While there are slow times, such as the mid-June to mid-July period, when many of the high school athletes are participating in camps, the college athletes have gone home for the summer and the Pirates begin playing out the string. There are, however, plenty of busy seasons. For example, the high school basketball and wrestling postseasons make for a February Frenzy that leads to March Madness.

The busiest, and best, time of the year for the O-R sports staff is August. Nothing we do compares to these days. That’s when high school and college football teams begin camps, the world – and rain – comes to Washington for the Pony League World Series, the Wild Things continue to chase that elusive Frontier League championship and we prepare another season of fall sports. The work, it seems, never stops. There’s always a story to write and a deadline to meet.

For the 46th year, we are providing football fans with what you need to know about the high schools, colleges and Steelers with the Observer-Reporter’s annual Football Preview. For more than three decades, this publication has been in cooperation with The Almanac, a sister publication of the O-R. Our staffs and correspondents have visited area schools, interviewed coaches and players, gathered all the information and bold predictions you need to know to get you ready for the football season.

There are plenty of storylines to follow.

Can Belle Vernon and all-everything – including cover boy for this publication – Quinton Martin repeat as WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A champion? Will Martin continue to put up video game-like numbers and solidify his ranking as the top recruit in the state?

Who will be the season’s breakout player, like Fort Cherry quarterback Matt Sieg was last year as a freshman? For years we had heard about a young phenom who was coming through the youth leagues in Fort Cherry. Sieg did not disappoint in his first year with the varsity.

Can Mt. Lebanon’s new coach Mike Collodi pick up where Bob Palko left off and win big with the Blue Devils?

Which team will be the feel-good story, like Mapletown was last year, when it had its first undefeated regular season since 1968 and won 11 games for the first time in school history?

After a season like the Maples enjoyed, most coaches would have retired or moved on to another coaching job. Not Mapletown’s George Messich. He’s back for his 41st season as head coach, all of them at Mapletown, his alma mater. This is Messich’s second stint at Mapletown. The second go-around started in 1987, about 20 years before any of his current players were born.

“It always bothered me when coaches would quit after having a big season,” Messich said. “They lose a few good players and they’re gone. That’s not right. You’re supposed to be in this for the kids.”

There are only three first-year head coaches at the schools included in this edition. They are Dave Pordash at Bentworth, Phil Peckich at Bethel Park and Beau Jackson at West Greene.

There are two former head coaches who have returned to their old gigs. Mark Druga is back at Burgettstown and Ryan Krull returns at Carmichaels.

In the colleges, Penn State has lofty goals and will start the season ranked in the top 10. Pitt could be a surprise in the ACC. West Virginia plays both Pitt and Penn State this year, which is a win for the fans. Washington & Jefferson will make another run at the Presidents’ Athletic Conference title and Waynesburg should continue to show improvement. California had the misfortune of having its season opener cancelled after Alderson-Broaddus announced late in the summer that it is shutting down its athletic programs.

The Steelers might be playing in the best division in the NFL and Pittsburgh’s hopes for a title rests on the development of second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett.

We will follow the local teams through the regular season, the WPIAL playoffs and the PIAA finals. Based on our visits to training camps, we should have plenty of good stories to write this fall.

Observer-Reporter sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com