A-K Valley high school football notebook: Mixed results for new coaches in season debuts

By: Michael Love
Saturday, August 23, 2025 | 3:50 PM

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Three head coaches made their debuts with new teams Friday, and two of them went head-to-head in a Week Zero nonconference clash.

Colyn Haugh topped TJ Wiley as Kiski Area shut out Knoch, 21-0, at Richard Dilts Field at Kiski Area High School.

Haugh said it felt good to be able to celebrate his first win with the Cavaliers, but he deflected all the credit to the kids, whom, he said, worked hard through the offseason and preseason practices and fought through some first-game miscues to produce the victory.

“The players were great in responding to us putting them in some tough positions with some of the things we were doing, and they came away with a nice win,” Haugh said.

“We modified the game plan as we went along, but, to their credit, they went out and made plays. They battled fatigue as a lot of them played a lot of football. We have to clean up some things. We had too many penalties. But there were also a lot of positives to build on.”

It was Kiski Area’s first shutout since a 7-0 win over West Allegheny in Week 4 of the 2021 season.

Senior Aven Shirley moved in from his normal wideout position and commanded the offense at quarterback. He threw a touchdown to senior Braden Anderson.

Freshman Ashton Taylor shined in his varsity debut with 22 carries for 121 yards and a score, and senior Austin Beck produced a 38-yard field goal.

Kiski Area goes for win No. 2 Friday at Norwin.

Wiley and his Knights players hope to break through Friday against North Catholic at North Park’s JC Stone Field. He said after Friday’s game that his young team is coming along and progressing with a lot of fight.

Knoch created positive momentum on a 14-play drive in the third quarter that ultimately ended via turnover on downs.

Former Highlands coach Dom Girardi and his Burrell Bucs faced a daunting task in Friday’s opener against defending WPIAL Class 3A champion Avonworth.

Junior Hobbes Omecinski threw a fourth-quarter TD to fellow senior Zack Coudriet to get Burrell on the board, but the host Antelopes earned a 35-6 victory.

Girardi and the Bucs will shoot for win No. 1 Friday at Shady Side Academy.

Streak stopper

Plum and Franklin Regional played to an almost even count over the first 48 games of their series, which dates to 1962.

The Mustangs held a 25-23 edge entering Friday’s Week Zero clash of neighboring rivals.

But Franklin Regional had a stranglehold on the series in recent years, winning the last six, including last year’s 42-7 romp at Mustangs Stadium.

But it was a different story Friday at Franklin Regional.

The Mustangs shut out the Panthers in the first half, building a 21-0 advantage at the break before FR came back with two touchdowns to close the deficit to one score.

But Plum responded with a TD in the third quarter and put the game on ice in the fourth with two more scores.

Junior John Nonnenberg was an efficient 9 of 14 passing for 228 yards and four touchdowns: two to senior Brendan Marston and one each to sophomore Semaj Robinson and senior Sloan Humphries.

Humphries caught five passes for 98 yards.

Senior Elijah Jackson added a 4-yard run to cap the scoring and finished with 72 yards on the ground as Plum scored 42 points for the second time in four games dating to last season.

The Mustangs will look to make it 2-0 Friday when they host Latrobe.

Firing blanks

Freeport and Kiski Area were among eight teams — along with Hopewell, Laurel Highlands, Monessen, New Castle, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and Southmoreland — to pitch shutouts in Week Zero.

The Yellowjackets were stymied through the first half of their opener against Indiana as they were forced to punt several times, but the defense helped keep the game scoreless at the break.

Special teams brought points in the third quarter as senior Amos Glenn returned a kickoff 87 yards for a score.

Points came in all three phases as senior Dawson Gaillot returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown, and senior Drew Ross (4 yards), and Glenn (6 yards) had touchdown runs.

For Freeport, it was the fifth season in a row of posting at least one shutout. The Yellowjackets didn’t give up any points in rolling past Burrell, 42-0, in Week 4 last year.

They shut out Valley and South Allegheny in 2023, Knoch in 2022 and Deer Lakes in 2021.

Freeport will go for two in a row next week against a Derry team which also won Friday, 33-14, over Ligonier Valley.

Valley was on the wrong side of one of the shutouts Friday as it fell to Southmoreland, 40-0.

Back in action

The Alle-Kiski Valley’s Week 1 slate of games features one matchup where there is a guarantee the winner will remain undefeated.

Deer Lakes, which traveled to Dormont Stadium on Friday and topped Keystone Oaks, 23-7, will open the home portion of its schedule against a South Park team that got by East Allegheny, 33-26, in its opener.

Lancers senior running back Ryan Love was a workhorse in his debut as a starter. He carried the ball 28 times for 118 yards, and his 4-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter capped Deer Lakes’ three-TD night.

Junior Dante Mangieri threw his first varsity touchdown, a 6-yard connection to fellow junior Evan Moore, and junior Jack Guthrie returned an interception 55 yards in the first quarter to get the Lancers on the board.

Sophomore Connor Moore kicked a pair of extra points and also booted a 23-yard field goal to extend Deer Lakes’ lead to 10 in the third.

Deer Lakes now has won the past two games with Keystone Oaks in the current series after the Eagles captured the 2022 (19-7) and 2023 (7-6) meetings.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell, Deer Lakes, Freeport, Kiski Area, Knoch, Plum, Riverview, Valley