Mike Copper's Crawford County Calls
Week One Football Previews
Non-region
Friday
Maplewood Tigers (0-0) at Cochranton Cardinals (0-0), Cochranton Field, 7 p.m.
Maplewood coach Matt Crocker would never admit it, but the Tigers’ 2-7 season of 2006 was a success. The team not only ended a 33-game losing streak during his first season, but also was in District 10 Class A playoff contention through mid-October.
The Tigers return starting quarterback Andrew Hamilton, who threw for 764 yards last season, but lost three receivers to graduation. Hamilton does have ground gainers Nick Garcia and Nick Bancroft, an all-Region 2 selection last year, back behind him.
Cochranton lost its entire backfield to graduation, which included all-Region 1 running back Jason Jamieson, who rushed for 1,012 yards and nine touchdowns. Expected to take over for Jamieson are seniors Joe DeWitt and Shane Hites.
Andy Harkness is the Cardinals’ probable starter at quarterback. Whatever inexperience the junior has, at least he’ll have experience in front of him.
Cochranton returns four starters on the offensive line.
Prediction: Maplewood 20, Cochranton 8.
Saegertown Panthers (0-0) at Conneaut Lake Indians (0-0), Conneaut Lake Field, 7 p.m.
The Panthers felt good about themselves last year. They finished 7-3 during the regular season and netted a District 10 Class A playoff berth.
Saegertown also has a reason to feel good about 2007. Actually, it has three of them.
The Panthers return senior quarterback Zach Beatty and running back Kyle Crum, both all-Region 2 picks in 2006, plus junior running back Ian Price. Beatty passed for 1,065 yards and 13 touchdowns during the regular season.
Conneaut Lake only won five games during coach Ray Collins’ first four seasons. The Indians nearly matched that total last year when they went 4-6.
A lot of their success was the result of District 10’s top returning running back. Cash Horne was the fifth-leading rusher in 2006 with 1,270 and seven touchdowns.
Prediction: Saegertown 26, Conneaut Lake 16.
Conneaut Valley Indians (0-0) at Linesville Lions (0-0), Linesville Field, 7 p.m.
The Jeff Dahlstrand era begins in Conneautville, less than a month after the Erie police officer attempted to swim across Lake Erie. Dahlstrand, who took over for Rob Glus, is the only new head coach in Crawford County this season.
The Indians must replace Ronny Spottswood, one of District 10’s best running and receiving threats last season. Dahlstrand expects to go with juniors Mike Leonard and Kyle Welker out of the backfield.
Linesville also lost a top producer on offense in Doug Williams. The all-Region 1 selection rushed for 1,204 yards and scored 15 touchdowns.
The Lions do return quarterback Trevor Litwiler, who started as a freshman. Litwiler will have passing targets back in wide receivers Evan Smith and Matt Laird and tight end Cory Davis.
Prediction: Linesville 20, Conneaut Valley 14.
Cambridge Springs Blue Devils (0-0) at Union Knights (0-0), Vidunas Stadium, Rimersburg, 7 p.m.
Expect Cambridge Springs to look for payback against Union, even though the teams play in different districts. The Knights ended a 30-game losing streak with a 6-0 season-opening victory at Baird Memorial Field.
The Blue Devils recovered to finish 5-5 and clinch a berth in the District 10 Class A playoffs. They hope to achieve the latter for coach Walt Nottingham’s silver anniversary season.
Justin Shader is expected to replace Josh Hobson in the Blue Devils’ backfield. Hobson rushed for 1,282 yards and eight touchdowns last season.
Steve Kargol returns as Cambridge Springs’ quarterback, with his brother, Mike, blocking for him.
Prediction: Cambridge Springs 14, Union 6.
Meadville Bulldogs (0-0) at Harbor Creek Huskies (0-0), Paul J. Weitz Stadium, 7 p.m.
There’s nowhere to go but up for the Bulldogs, the only 0-10 team in District 10 last season. Meadville head coach Mike Pendolino added Jack Kosnac, who led the Bulldogs from 1981 to 1992, and ex-Maplewood head coach Harry Zurawsky to his staff.
Meadville must replace all-Region 5 picks Dom Knapp and Ben Kittka in its backfield. Jon Roncolato and Nick Fedorka are expected to be their replacements.
Harbor Creek shared the 2006 Region 4 title with Fairview. The bad news is that the Huskies lost five all-region players from that 8-2 team.
The good news is that they return five all-region players, which included quarterback Josh McAnulty and running back Eric Divell.
Prediction: Harbor Creek 24, Meadville 8.
Saturday
Non-region
Corry Beavers (0-0) at Titusville Rockets (0-0), Carter Stadium, 7 p.m.
The Rockets begin defense of their Region 5 championship against a team that handed them one of their two regular season losses. Titusville proceeded to shut out seven other opponents.
Linebackers David Stewart, Ben Vincent and Marc Bodamer all graduated from that team. Stewart and Vincent were all-District 10 Class AAA selections.
The Rockets do return talent on offense in all-region quarterback Andrew Clark and running back Derek Carr.
Corry also made the District 10 Class AA playoffs. Like Titusville, the Beavers were hit by graduation of some of their best players.
Coach Homer DeLattre must replace two starters at linebacker (Paul Flick and Kyle Gates) and at wide receiver (Brandan Eck and Bob Cummings). The Beavers do have all-region quarterback Aaron Gluvna back behind center.
Prediction: Titusville 23, Corry 13.