Coaching inspiration, experience spark Canon-McMillan in 2025

By: Don Rebel
Tuesday, August 5, 2025 | 6:01 AM

One of the big WPIAL football stories this offseason involved the coaching situation at Canon-McMillan.

Ten-year veteran Big Macs coach Mike Evans is battling cancer for a second time.

While he remains optimistic for his long term health following surgery to remove his tumor in July, he realized he would not be able to commit the time needed to coach this fall, so he is taking a one-year hiatus and has turned the reigns over to his freshly minted offensive coordinator Brian DeLallo. The former Bethel Park head coach will serve as interim head coach.

Will the health of their head coach be a distraction or a driving force for the 2025 Big Macs?

“Definitely the latter,” DeLallo said. “Our older players have a great relationship with Mike, and they are determined to make him proud. Our effort and leadership throughout our offseason program has reflected that.”

With eight players back with starting experience on both sides of the ball, there is optimism for success this fall for Canon-McMillan.

“We will have competition at many key positions, especially on our offensive and defensive lines,” DeLallo said. “We have good depth, and there will be great battles for playing time at many positions. However, we need some of our younger players to develop and to avoid injuries at the skilled positions.”

Leading the way for the Big Macs is Buffalo commit T.J. Sabatucci, a tight end, H-back and edge rusher.

“He is our best player,” DeLallo said. “He is the hardest worker on the team. He is physical with deceptive speed. He reflects the toughness and grit we seek to embody in our program.”

Also back for the Big Macs is junior quarterback Ty Jansma. As a sophomore, he completed 159 of 289 passes for 1,668 yards and six touchdowns.

“Ty has worked very hard this offseason,” DeLallo said. “He is a very accurate passer with quick feet. His athleticism lets him keep plays alive. He is among the smartest quarterbacks I have coached in my nearly 30 years of coaching high school football.”

Some of the players to watch with a comment from Coach DeLallo include:

• Senior wide receiver and defensive back Ethan Campoli — “He is a great leader. He led team in receptions and receiving yards last year. He runs great routes and can run after catch. He has several D-II offers.”

• Senior H-back and linebacker Logan Logsdon — “He is fast, smart and a physical player with a great work ethic. He’s a big-time leader in the weight room and on the practice field. Not many know his name yet, but our staff feels he is poised for a great season.”

• Senior running back and linebacker Marco Faieta — “He will be a four-year starter on defense, was a unanimous all-conference defender last season. He is just a football player who is always around the ball.”

• Senior offensive lineman Ben Gottschalk — “Morehead State and several D-II offers have come his way. He’s the leader of our offensive line unit. He’s big, strong and smart. He is like having a coach on the field. He is a model for how you want your older players to treat your younger guys. I just can’t say enough good things about him.”

• Junior tight end and linebacker Brayden Collins — “He is a throwback player who is tough, smart and aggressive. He’s not afraid of anyone. He is a great wrestler, which we love at Canon-McMillan. Eastern Michigan has offered with more certainly to come.”

• Junior wide receiver and defensive back Braelon Wingfield — “He is maybe our best athlete. He is a smart, tough, physical player. He has several FCS schools interested, including Bucknell and Holy Cross. His older brother holds many of our school rushing records. We have high expectations for Braelon this season.”

• Junior wide receiver and defensive back Roman Cimarolli — “He just finds ways to get open. He has great hands and a great football I.Q. He was among the team leaders in receptions last year as a sophomore.”

• Junior running back and safety Troy Stimpson — “He is a versatile, two-sport athlete (baseball) who can run, catch and block on offense. He is also a great tackler from the safety position on defense. Troy will be one of our leaders and most important players this season.”

DeLallo expects Class 6A to be competitive with improvements from Mt. Lebanon, Seneca Valley, Hempfield and Norwin, as well as powers North Allegheny and defending champion Central Catholic.

“If I am being 100% honest, I have been much more focused on Canon-McMillan than our opponents,” DeLallo said. “Fortunately, we don’t play a conference game until Week 5, so we’ll have ample film on all of our 6A opponents.”

Canon-McMillan

Interim coach: Brian DeLallo

2024 record: 3-7, 2-4 in Class 6A

All-time record: 401-546-43

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.22 at Peters Township, 7

8.29 at Upper St. Clair, 7

9.5 South Fayette, 7

9.12 Armstrong, 7

9.19 Mt. Lebanon*, 7

9.26 at Hempfield*, 7

10.3 Seneca Valley*, 7

10.10 at North Allegheny*, 7:30

10.17 at Norwin*, 7

10.24 Central Catholic*, 7

*Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Ty Jansma

159-289, 1,668 yards, 6 TDs

Rushing: Evan Morris*

125-715 yards, 12 TDs

Receiving: Ethan Campoli

42-536 yards, 1 TD

*Graduated

FAST FACTS

• While Mike Evans takes a year off for health reasons in what would have been his 11th season as head coach at Canon-McMillan, Brian DeLallo is the interim head coach. DeLallo was a head coach at Bethel Park for four seasons between 2019-22. He compiled a record of 21-18 in leading the Black Hawks to the playoffs in three of his four years. He oversaw a turnaround in which Bethel Park was winless in 2000 and finished 10-2 two years later in 2022.

• Since the expansion to six classifications nine years ago, Canon-McMillan is a combined 14-31 against the other Class 6A teams in both regular season and postseason games. The Big Macs are 3-7 against Mt. Lebanon and 2-5 matching up with Seneca Valley. Canon-McMillan is 9-1 in 6A conference games against Norwin (5-0) and Hempfield (4-1) with the loss to the Spartans coming in overtime in Week 5 last year, 33-27. However, there has been zero success against the two heavy hitters in 6A as the Big Macs are 0-7 against Central Catholic and 0-11 going up against North Allegheny.

• In missing the WPIAL football playoffs by one game last year, Canon-McMillan saw a three-year district playoff run come to an end. It might not sound like much, but it was the second longest postseason run in program history. The Big Macs qualified for the playoffs five straight seasons between 2000-04. That run included the program’s first WPIAL playoff victory, a whitewash of Belle Vernon in the 2004 Class 3A first round, 22-0.

• This is the 119th season of Canon-McMillan football, including preceding schools in the district. The Big Macs have an all-time record of 401-546-43 and picked up win No. 400 on Sept. 20, 2024 in a 17-14 overtime victory over Mt. Lebanon.

Tags: Canon-McMillan