Tackling the giants
JACKSON TWP — Playoff spots in the Northern Seven Conference come the old-fashioned way — by earning them.
Entering his third season as head football coach at Seneca Valley, Don Holl knows nothing can be taken for granted.
“I know it sounds like coach speak, but there are no gimmies in our conference,” said Holl.
Last season, the final four in WPIAL Quad A featured two Northern Seven teams in North Allegheny and North Hills.
NA went on to win both the WPIAL and PIAA title, closing 2010 with an overall record of 15-1.
McDowell and Pine-Richland also made the postseason a year ago. Shaler and Butler round out the conference field.
“It's as good a section as any and we don't want to be anybody's week off,” Holl said. “The teams that can stay relatively injury-free are normally the ones that are successful.”
SV made the district playoffs in Holl's first year, but slipped to 3-6 overall (1-5 in conference) last season.
The team's spread offense returns a solid group of skill players in Jordan Brown (QB), Forrest Barnes (RB), David Hall (RB), Troy Witt (RB/WR) and Oliver Philogene (WR), but Holl is also confident with his offensive front.
The line returns starters Kevin Locke (6-1, 245) at center, Seth Dehart (6-1, 245) at left guard and David Miller (6-5, 305) at right tackle.
“That's a good group of starters we have back,” said Holl. “They know what they're doing and they have had a great offseason. We trust them.”
Left tackle and right guard will be filled by a combination of Matt Koerper, Dean Ketterer, Nick Dahlstrom and Nate Piedimonte.“For us to be successful, we need to be proficient in both run blocking and pass blocking,” said Holl.“(Offensive line coach Jim Lucot) is always telling us that a good lineman makes one block and great ones make two,” said Dehart. “We've spent a lot of time working on that.”The Raiders return a lot of experience to their 4-2-5 defense.Seniors A.J. Gilmore and Koerper and junior Dahlstrom all received starts at defensive tackle in 2010.Linebackers Carson Kessler and Joe Duggan also return while cornerback Gabe Edwards and safeties Ryan McCauley and Brad Gresock bring experience to their positions.Special teams could feature two new faces at placekicker and punter with Michael Denny and junior Ryan Conn, respectively.“We are young in the kicking game,” said Holl. “Both of those guys can do the job, but they don't have experience at the varsity level. That's a bit of a concern.”
