Blackhawk seeking improvement entering coach’s 2nd season

By: Josh Rowntree
Saturday, August 9, 2025 | 6:01 AM

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Jake Wickline is relieved that all of the newness has finally worn off.

A year ago, Wickline was tasked with taking over a Blackhawk football program that had gone through some turmoil over the previous season with the sudden departure of the program’s head coach, Zack Hayward, just two weeks before the 2023 season began.

“I didn’t even know how to get into the school,” said Wickline of the frenetic start to his time with the Cougars. “Now, it’s a lot smoother, a lot more familiar, a lot more comfortable.”

Blackhawk finished the 2024 season 4-6 overall, with a 1-4 mark in Class 4A’s Parkway Conference.

“Obviously, you look back and you would have done things differently,” said Wickline. “But I just learned a lot. Let’s just say that the first year was a great learning experience for not only the athletes, but myself and our staff.”

The Cougars picked up wins over Beaver Falls, Southmoreland, Yough and Ambridge, while nearly topping a solid North Catholic team in early September.

But the realities of the perennially strong Parkway Conference hit Blackhawk, which lost lopsided games to Montour, Aliquippa, West Allegheny and New Castle in the back half of its season.

Despite the losses, Wickline feels that a foundation was laid to get the program back into contention in the classification, and it’s a one built on the connections between the coaching staff and its players.

“Myself and the coaches that we decided to bring on, we have really good camaraderie amongst ourselves. And we relate to kids well. We have become ultra familiar with those kids. We do a lot of team bonding activities. We’ve been together throughout the whole offseason.

“They are really comfortable around us — as comfortable around us as we are around them. And they know our expectations. And that familiarity is everything.”

On the field, Wickline has been able to identify areas that need to be improved and is flexible to crafting the team’s systems around its personnel and talent. He will have to replace around half of Blackhawk’s starters on each side of the ball.

Offensively, the group will need to find a successor for quarterback Stephen Knally, who passed for nearly 1,500 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior in 2024. Wickline said the Cougars have a young quarterback ready to step in but declined to name names.

In 2024, then-freshman Jack Chevalier backed up Knally, completing 2-of-4 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Blackhawk will return its top rusher from last year in Brayden McCarthy, who racked up 579 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.

“He has every intangible,” said Wickline of McCarthy. “He beats me to the weight room every day. He waits outside at 7:15 in the morning and practice doesn’t start until 9. We saw a list where he was ranked the 17th-best player in Beaver County. And nobody here is forgetting about that.”

Jameson Feeley will also factor heavily into the team’s offensive attack.

“The kid’s a Swiss Army knife,” added Wickline. “He’s like 190 (pounds), but he can fly. He can run block. He can run the ball. I can split him out at receiver and he can catch. He plays everywhere.”

Brady Mayer, Hayden Magill, Lucas Thompson and Jorian Harris will round out a deeper group of skill position players than what Blackhawk had in 2024, according to Wickline, who will also welcome back four offensive linemen with previous playing experience.

Defensively, Blackhawk will be paced by a large group of linemen — both in depth and in physical size — and will be in search of a better showing in 2025 after surrendering 33.8 points per game a year ago.

“We’re pretty big up front,” said Wickline. “We’re looking for our front four in general to do most of the heavy lifting defensively.”

The Cougars will hope that all of the elements will come together to get the team back into the mix in a Parkway Conference that annually features multiple championship-caliber teams.

“We have five weeks of nonconference before we hit the conference,” Wickline said. “And then when we hit our conference, it’s not like other teams. You know, you’re playing the big boys.

“We want to find our identity. And then once we go into conference play, baby, it’s time to compete. You’ve got to try like hell to get a playoff spot, which is a very, very difficult thing to do in our conference.”

Blackhawk

Coach: Jake Wickline

2024 record: 4-6, 1-4 in Class 4A Parkway Conference

All-time record: 335-214-8

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.22 at Beaver Falls, 7

8.29 Beaver, 7

9.5 at North Catholic, 7

9.12 Southmoreland, 7

9.19 at Yough, 7

9.26 at Montour*, 7

10.3 Ambridge*, 7

10.10 at Aliquippa*, 7

10.17 at West Allegheny*, 7

10.24 New Castle*, 7

*Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Stephen Knally*

103-206, 1,495 yards, 17 TDs

Rushing: Brayden McCarthy

81-579 yards, 8 TDs

Receiving: Tyler Heckathorn*

40-399 yards, 4 TDs

*Graduated

FAST FACTS

• Wickline was an all-conference outside linebacker at Slippery Rock who started his career at Edinboro. He played high school football at Riverside.

• Blackhawk has won four WPIAL titles, all coming from 1991-1996.

• The Cougars play nonconference games against Beaver Falls, Beaver, North Catholic, Southmoreland and Yough.

• Blackhawk was a playoff team just three seasons ago and reached the WPIAL semifinals as recently as 2019.

Tags: Blackhawk