After 2nd straight playoff trip, Burrell coaches, players continue to push program forward

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, November 20, 2022 | 1:09 PM

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Burrell football coach Shawn Liotta isn’t going to try and cram any square pegs into round holes. Twenty-four years of coaching experience has shown Liotta the way to properly structure a program requires coaches and cultures evolving to their environments.

For the 13 seniors on this year’s team, they’ve seen changes during their tenures, which ended with a 48-6 loss to Neshannock in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs. When Liotta initially came to Burrell, the Buccaneers featured a more pass-heavy attack.

Senior lineman Ian Quinn, who is being recruited by Grove City, Westminster and Allegheny, said the changes extended on and off the field.

However, the teams in the past few seasons weren’t equipped to do that. So Liotta made changes, which Burrell adapted to well.

“It’s definitely different,” Quinn said. “My first two years, we were pass-heavy. Doing a lot of kickbacks and pass protection stuff at practice. Since we’re more run-heavy now, we don’t do that anymore. I know, personally, I changed how I worked out in the offseason and how I did my training.”

The Buccaneers finished this season 6-5 and made their second straight playoff appearance.

“We’ve undergone a metamorphosis of sorts,” Liotta said. “Two years ago, we had a local kid set the local passing record and threw the ball 50 or 60 times a game. We’ve adapted to the kids we have and moved to a Slot-T the past few years. It’s a complete 180, where now we run 50 or 60 times a game and only throw once or twice.”

Burrell, which dropped a class for this enrollment cycle, was able to build confidence heading into Allegheny Conference play by beating Jeannette, Deer Lakes and Valley to start the year 3-0.

The wins over the Lancers and Vikings were narrow, one-score victories. Quinn said getting off to a hot start made a world of difference.

“It was nice,” Quinn said. “I felt like everyone was in high spirits. I remember when we were 0-6 at the start of the year last year.

“It was hard to keep kids at practice and get good work weeks in. It was hard to find good matchups for first-team offense and defense. We never had that problem this year.”

The Buccaneers, who finished 3-4 and in fifth place in the conference, took their lumps in conference play, which included defending WPIAL champion and PIAA runner-up Serra Catholic along with still-undefeated Steel Valley.

Liotta and the Bucs have helped turn the program around by mining the school for talent. Two players, starting center Cam Martin and tight end Gabe Ziccarelli were named first- and second-team all-conference, respectively.

There’s no secret to getting players like Martin and Ziccarelli to come out and play. Liotta said he doesn’t need to roam the hallways and beg kids to come out for football.

“It’s not a hard sales pitch,” Liotta said. “When I got to Burrell, we had 19 kids on the roster. Since then, we’ve averaged in the mid-40s every year. We treat the kids right.

“They are able to come out and have a lot of fun. We are proud of that. They can become instant contributors to the program.”

Burrell had 10 players selected for the all-conference team. Quinn and Antonio Cook were chosen for the first team. Devin Beattie, Tyler Maglisco and Ryan Croushore were chosen for the second team. Chase Fennell, Tristan Brothers and Aaron Mele were selected as honorable mentions.

Quinn said the Buccaneers hope the next group of players can continue to push the program forward.

“It’s a big deal,” said Quinn about going to the playoffs. “I know this is the end of the road for me, but it was exciting. The program is looking forward to trying to go forward. They can’t be satisfied. I know that our mentality was we wanted to go further, but it didn’t end the way we wanted it to.”

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