Preview of Greensburg Salem Football 2020
Austin Douglas
2019 was the year where Greensburg Salem Football was expected to reach win number 700 in school history. That journey came up short for them after falling to Blackhawk in the first round of the WPIAL football playoffs 36-7. This year’s team is completely different from last year’s because our team is losing a bunch of seniors that range from Cavan Trout to Aaren Putt. Cavan Trout was one of the senior members on the football team and plans on attending the Indiana University of Pennsylvania to major in Secondary Education and play football for the Crimson Hawks under head coach Paul Tortorella and Jeffery Mankins will join him alongside where he plans to continue his golfing career and major in Finance. Next up, Jalen Page will continue his athletic and academic career at California University of Pennsylvania and major in Finance as well and Connor Moore will be attending Lock Haven University to become a Pre-Physician Assistance.
Third, we have Trent Patrick. Trent Patrick was the senior quarterback on the team who lead them back to the playoffs since the year 2000 and has capped off an amazing senior football campaign after finishing 5-5 in the regular season and beating Indiana 49-7 on Senior Night under head coach, Dave Keefer. Fourth and Fifth we have Ryan Thomas and Aaren Putt. Both of them played for Greensburg Salem High School where Ryan played Tight End and Punter for the Golden Lions and Aaren was Free Safety and Running Back with Jalen Page as his backup. You will see both Aaren and Ryan on the football field next year for the Seton Hill Griffins under head coach, Daniel Day.
Daniel Day was a three-year starter and four-year letter winner on the football team for Seton Hill. He helped the griffins advance to the second round of the NCAA playoffs for their very first time in school history and was named team’s Most Valuable Lineman during his senior year. When he graduated from Seton Hill, he earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History where he spent two seasons as the offensive graduate assistant coach and went on to earn his Master’s Degree in Elementary Education while serving as the graduate assistant. This year’s team conference opponents from last year because we were stuck in a heavy section with Thomas Jefferson, Belle Vernon, West Mifflin, Ringgold, South Fayette, Laurel Highlands, and out of section opponents including class 6A Hempfield and class 5A Mars. Now we focus on the 2020 football season with the rival game of the Hempfield Area Spartans vs our Greensburg Salem Golden Lions on August 28th at 7:00 pm at historic Offutt Field who installed a brand new turf field in the offseason last year from the Pittsburgh Steelers who gave us a $150,000 grant from the NFL Foundation Grassroots Program. Our schedule consists of opponents Connellsville, Knoch, Hampton, Indiana, Armstrong, Mars, Mount Pleasant, Highlands, and Plum. Greensburg Salem has four away games this year that include Connellsville on September 4, Indiana on September 25, Mars on October 16 and Highlands on October 23. We still don’t know who will replace Trent Patrick from last year who played Middle Line Backer for a little bit and then switched over to Quarterback after seeing what his arm and leg game could do against Greater Latrobe for their scrimmage last year. Maybe J.C. Wallish IV? Who knows? Just wait and see what happens when the regular season gets kicked off August 28th for WPIAL in the annual week zero game against crosstown rival, Hempfield Area spartans with kickoff at 7:00 pm.
Tags: WPIAL Football 2020, Greensburg Salem, Dave Keefer, Week 0
