Beaver motivated to move past rare losing season

By: Don Rebel
Monday, August 31, 2020 | 11:17 PM

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For a 10-year span, there were few football programs in the WPIAL consistently better than Beaver.

From 2010-18, the Bobcats were a combined 70-27. Although they never made it to a WPIAL championship game, they never won fewer than seven games in that nine-year stretch.

Then the dam of success broke on Beaver last season, as the Bobcats finished in seventh place in the eight-team Class 4A Northwestern Eight Conference with a 2-8 record.

“(Last year) was disappointing from a win-loss perspective,” Beaver coach Jeff Beltz said. “But our team’s morale remained positive throughout the difficult season. It catapulted us into a strong offseason.”

The Bobcats were young last season and return seven starters on both sides of the ball.

“Our expectations will always remain high, regardless of our team’s composition,” Beltz said.

Three returning starters missed half or all of the 2019 season due to injury.

Senior starting quarterback Brady Hansen and senior wide receiver James Finch missed the entire season due to injury while junior running back and defensive back Wyatt Ringer was injured and missed the second half of the year. Ringer was averaging 4 yards per carry when he was hurt and finished second in rushing and tied for first in scoring despite missing half the season.

“Missing last season was heartbreaking,” Hansen said. “My knee feels great, though, and I had a lot of support through my recovery process, so I’m feeling confident.

“James and Wyatt are great athletes and hard workers. Both have overcome their injuries, and you wouldn’t even be able to tell they were injured coming into this season.”

Senior wide receiver Marco Marmone is back. He led the Bobcats with 15 catches for 250 yards and a touchdown.

Up front, senior linemen Scott Wilson and Anthony George bring some experience in the trenches.

As camp begins, one aspect Beltz loves, especially after a tough 2019 season, is the positive attitude his team has coming into a new year.

“It was great to see our players return to summer conditioning with a smile on their faces, ready to work out,” he said.

Hansen agrees with his coach’s optimism.

“Our football team is held to higher standards, and we plan on meeting those standards this year, regardless of last season’s outcome,” Hansen said. “We just need to continue to push ourselves at practice every day to earn the respect of others we lost. We need to take care of ourselves and stay healthy.”

While there will be no Highway to Heinz this season, the travels in the Parkway Conference are always challenging. Six Class 4A teams will take those weekly trips as Beaver battles familiar conference foes Blackhawk, Montour and New Castle, along with Chartiers Valley dropping from 5A and perennial power Aliquippa up from 3A.

“Our 2020 schedule is filled with quality opponents,” Beltz said. “The competition is really tough and will be very good. We hope that our dedication to the offseason can translate into a better season.”

Schedule

Coach: Jeff Beltz

2019 record: 2-8, 1-6 in Class 4A Northwest Eight Conference

All-time record: 649-407-55

Date, Opponent, Time

9.11, at Blackhawk*, 7

9.19, Western Beaver, 7:30

9.25, at Seton LaSalle, 7

10.2, Aliquippa*, 7:30

10.9, at New Castle*, 7

10.16, at Chartiers Valley*, 7

10.23, Montour*, 7:30

*Class 4A Parkway Conference game

Statistical leaders

Passing: Tyler Ziggas

45-120, 532 yards, 7 TDs

Rushing: Jackson Thomas*

102-296 yards, 4 TDs

Receiving: Marco Mamone

15-250 yards, TD

*Graduated

Fast facts

• Jeff Beltz begins his 21st season as head coach at Beaver after starting his coaching career as an assistant at Robert Morris. He is in the Beaver County Hall of Fame after a great football and baseball career at Freedom and Geneva College.

• Only four schools have won back-to-back WPIAL football championships in two different classifications. North Braddock Scott won the AA crown in 1934 and then AAA gold in 1935. Central Catholic and Thomas Jefferson both repeated, winning AAAA and AAA championships in 2015 and 6A and 4A titles in 2016. Finally, Beaver won the 1981 Class AAA title with a 12-7 triumph over Knoch, and then won the 1982 Class AA district championship by beating Jeannette, 18-13.

• The 50th anniversary of the Bobcats’ first WPIAL football title is coming up. The Bobcats defeated Freeport, 20-14, to win the 1972 Class AA district crown.

• Beaver was a model of consistency before last year’s tough season. From 2010-18, the Bobcats won nine games twice, eight games three times and were victorious in seven games four times.

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