Rockets take aim at weekly improvement
Jonathan Guth/Observer-Reporter
Jefferson-Morgan’s Jaymison Robinsson pulls in a pass while being guarded by teammate Brandon Remmington during heat week practice.
Jonathan Gurth/Observer-Reporter
Jefferson-Morgan’s Eli Hill, left, and Mason Sisler battle during a drill at practice. Hill and Sisler are being counted on to contribute on the offensive and defensive lines for the Rockets.
JEFFERSON – Shane Ziats wants to win at Jefferson-Morgan, but the second-year head coach also knows the challenge that lies ahead for his team.
“Kids like to talk about playoffs and things like that, but we are just concerned with Chartiers-Houston and our first game,” Ziats said. “The playoffs are a long time from now. We will just focus on getting better each week.
“Last year, I was hired pretty early, so we were able to put some stuff in, but at times, to get the kids to buy in was the problem, but for the most part, they bought in to what we gave them.”
The Rockets were 2-5 in the Tri-County South Conference and 4-6 overall last year. J-M defeated Bentworth and Ziats’ alma mater, Beth-Center, in conference play, and topped Waynesburg and Jeannette in non-conference action. The Rockets were competitive in several games they lost.
Ziats doesn’t want to take any team lightly in the Tri-County South. He expects each league game to be a dogfight.
“Mapletown lost Landan Stevenson to graduation, but they had a lot of good players on that team,” Ziats said. “California is always tough. Ed (Woods) is a good coach and West Greene has two really good running backs. You also can’t forget about Monessen, but every game is going to be tough. It is going to be survival of the fittest in this conference. We lost some games we really felt like we let slip away last year.”
Jefferson-Morgan will have a new quarterback in freshman Triton Farabee. The Rockets lost last year’s quarterback Cole Jones to graduation. Jones also played safety. J-M lost wide receiver-linebacker Ewing Jamison, wide receiver-defensive back Jordan Jacobs and two-way lineman Andrew Vessels to graduation.
“He’s (Farabee) a young kid, but we will see what he can do,” Ziats said. “We are confident in his abilities, and there could be some growing pains, but we will continue to battle each week.”
Ziats is eager to see what senior running back Collin Bisceglia can do. Bisceglia, who will also play linebacker, was a receiving threat last year. Juniors Jase Bedillion (6-3, 185) and Johnny Gilbert (5-10, 155) are two additional skill players that Ziats will be counting on.
“We are looking for big things from Collin,” Ziats said. “We have Jase Bedillion and Johnny Gilbert returning. Jase is a big kid, and we are moving him around a little bit. We are looking for him to produce and trying to get some big things out of him. Johnny started for us last year and we are looking for him to be a big contributor.”
J-M will run multiple sets on offense and defense, and because of a smaller roster, will need players to contribute on both sides of the ball.
“We are definitely going to need kids to play offense and defense,” Ziats said. “We are still working the kinks out in what we want to do on offense and defense.”
Mason Sisler (5-10, 290) and Seth Wolfe (5-10, 245) return on the offensive and defensive lines.
“Those guys are going to be seniors for us, and we are looking for something from them, and we got three young guys coming up in twins, Levi and Landon Heath, and Eli Hill,” Ziats said. “No matter what you run, you need to control the line of scrimmage, and that dictates how the game is going to go. We had decent numbers for kids lifting in the offseason.”
Junior Nathan Bauza (5-11, 175) is penciled in to handle the kicking duties.
The Rockets have 28 players on their preseason roster. Ziats, obviously, would like to see the numbers grow, but he and his staff will work with what they have and be ready to go in every game.
“We are still looking for a few more kids, but as a Class A school, numbers can be a problem,” Ziats said.
Ziats will be assisted by Ron Gallagher, Nick Pawuk, Jake Nace, Jake Rush and Brandon Lawless. The junior high coaches are Troy Barnhart and Tom Palko, and Eliki Barner and Brennen Pelzer are voluntary coaches.