Though the 2021-22 school year is coming to an end, the football team is already preparing for their next season for the upcoming school year through planning practices that will start early July. 

“Our first game will be on August 26, at home against Hollidaysburg,” head coach Vince Nedimyer said. 

The entire coaching staff will remain the same as last year. 

“On offense, we have Brian Camberg, Tom Palfey, Andrew Aiken and Patrick McKinney,” Nedimyer said. “And on defense, we have Michael Adams, Paul Picciotti, Mark Harrington and Jason Grassi.”

Some juniors from last year’s team will be continuing to play.

“Some names you’ll hear are Manny Miller, Alex Yost, Sean Bettwy and Tyson Reid,” Nedimyer said. “There will be a bunch. We’re pretty excited about it.”

Yost has been playing since freshman year for high school, but also played in junior high and elementary school. 

“I play running back and middle linebacker. Running back takes handoffs from the quarterback and fights for yards. A linebacker creates the defense and will go and make a play, like a tackle in the backfield or go out and cover a tight end or slot receiver. I probably prefer linebacker; that’s where I feel more comfortable,” Yost said. 

Though in previous years there were selected team captains, this year it will be changed to work a bit differently. 

“We’re going to do captains a little bit differently this year,” Nedimyer said. “We’re going to do different captains each week. As a staff, we just decided to switch it up this year.”

Players have some ideas about how that might work.

“I was a captain my junior year, full time,” Miller said. “There was me, Ethan Stroup, Connor Reimer and Aiden Steinbugl. So it might be like what they did my sophomore year, where there were three season long captains, and then there was a captain that switched in and out.”

The team will play in the Mid Penn Commonwealth Conference.

“In my opinion, we play in one of the toughest conferences in the state,” Nedimyer said. “[The teams] will be more down the Harrisburg way. We’ll play Hollidaysburg in our first game. The first three or four are non-conference, and then we start into our conference games.”

Nedimyer is proud of his players for reasons regarding development and sportsmanship. 

“I’m proud to see the group of juniors becoming seniors and just to see how they developed over the last year, and who really steps up and become playmakers for us,” Nedimyer said. “It’s always good to see that maturation process for the kids as they get a little bit older.”

Miller has been playing football since he was in third grade. He believes that the team has grown to become a family instead of just a team. 

“Our team has developed a lot into more of a winning program and more of a family. When I was freshman, they were 1/9, so we came in and we won D6. I think Coach Nedimyer plays a big role in that too,” Miller said. 

Reid has also been playing since elementary school.

“I’ve been playing since elementary school, fourth grade,” Reid said. “My dad inspired me to play, he played many sports like football, basketball and baseball.”

Nedimyer is confident in the football team’s ability to overcome their obstacles.

“We’re not nervous, we go into every game thinking we can win, but we just know we’re going to have a tough game every week. We definitely have to be prepared,” Nedimyer said. 

Since senior Aiden Steinbugl, the quarterback, is graduating this year, the coaches will need to replace him; however, the coaches are not sure who will earn the position yet.