Experienced Montour aims to contend for Parkway Conference crown

By: Don Rebel
Saturday, August 9, 2025 | 6:01 AM

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The 2024 football season at Montour was a tale of two seasons.

A thrilling Week 8 victory over Aliquippa put the Spartans alone in first place in the Class 4A Parkway Conference with one week left in the regular season.

With a chance to win the conference title outright, Montour lost in overtime at home to West Allegheny to finish in a three-way tie for the conference title with their final two opponents, the Quips and the Indians.

Then, the following week in the WPIAL quarterfinals, the top-seeded Spartans were stunned again as their season ended with a wild, 48-42 loss to visiting Mars.

“We played great the first eight games obviously,” Montour coach Lou Cerro said. “We ran in to some turmoil and injuries the last two weeks of the season that we could not overcome.”

The one thing the Spartans are going to have to overcome this fall is the loss of another stud quarterback.

In 2023, Jake Wolfe finished fourth in the WPIAL in passing with 2,662 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Last fall, senior Trey Hopper made sure the Montour offense didn’t miss a beat as he threw for 2,451 yards and 24 touchdowns to finish No. 5 in the WPIAL in passing.

“We have been very fortunate to have great quarterback play the last four years, and Trey really came into his own last year with a monster season,” Cerro said. “We are fortunate to have some young, exciting talent vying for the quarterback job — Brandon Bennett, a rising sophomore; Dalton Young, a rising junior; and Damien Baron is another rising sophomore.

“We are looking forward to see how this plays out because all are very talented when they want to be.”

The QB job won’t be the only one up for grabs in August after graduation hit the Spartans hard.

“We graduated some really good players, but this year’s group has a different look to it,” Cerro said. “I am mostly excited about how our young talent matures and how they fit into the returning starters we have. When you have some unknown commodities, you get excited to see if they take a step up to be successful.”

However, while the challenges for a starting job can be exciting, it can also cause anxiousness with only three starters returning for Montour on offense and four back on defense.

“We’re concerned about finding players to step up and be ready to play when called upon,” Cerro said. “Players will need to be ready at a drop of a hat and keep the high level we ask for on the field. Not sure if players realize what is at stake on a daily basis.”

One of those starters back on offense is senior running back and outside linebacker Caden Halajcio, a three-year starter who had more than 1,500 all-purpose yards a year ago.

“I trust my abilities to make plays running the football because that’s what my hard work is for, to go out there and do my best, run the rock,” Halajcio said. “Everyone always has things to improve on, but you can still expect us to go out and win games on Friday nights.”

Senior defensive end Dylan Rogers seemed to get better each week on the defensive line. He will add tight end to his resume this fall.

Senior inside linebacker Cole Midili is expected to bounce back with a big season after being injured in the win over Aliquippa, an injury Cerro admits hurt the Spartans.

A couple of linemen getting Division I interest are juniors Jacob Halbedl (6-2, 265) and Abraham Kolodynski (6-3, 265).

Cerro says Halbedl has a high motor and can dominate at times and is also a good wrestler. Kolodynski is strong and physical.

Experienced or not, the Spartans’ players are hungry to get back to the team’s success over the last coupe of years.

“These guys have been working hard ever since we lost in the playoffs,” Halajcio said. “In the weight room, hill sprints, conditioning, extra work outside of football, and it will all show this year. We’ve been playing together for years and years, so we all know how each other play and what we can do to make us win.”

Year in and year out, the Parkway Conference is competitive during the regular season and, for the teams that survive, they are usually successful in the postseason.

“It will be another grind as all teams are improving each year,” Cerro said. “We truly play a brutal nonconference schedule against the likes of Central Valley, Moon, Mars, Trinity and Knoch. It prepares us for the Parkway grind.

“Tri-champions last year tells a story of how competitive the conference really is.”

Montour

Coach: Lou Cerro

2024 record: 8-2, 4-1 in Class 4A Parkway Conference

All-time record: 472-356-20

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.22 at Central Valley, 7

8.29 Moon, 7

9.5 Trinity, 7

9.12 at Knoch, 7

9.19 Mars, 7

9.26 Blackhawk*, 7

10.3 at New Castle*, 7

10.10 Ambridge*, 7

10.17 at Aliquippa*, 7

10.24 at West Allegheny*, 7

*Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Trey Hopper*

121-198, 2,451 yards, 24 TDs

Rushing: Caden Halajcio

184-948 yards, 4 TDs

Receiving: A.J. Alston*

46-739 yards, 8 TDs

*Graduated

FAST FACTS

• It was 14 years ago that the Spartans captured their fifth and most recent WPIAL football championship when they rolled past Knoch in the 2011 Class 3A finals, 42-14. The other four gridiron district titles came during an eight-year period between 1957-64. Montour was co-champs in 1957 after tying Avella in the Class A finals, then won the title outright in 1958 by beating Edgewood. The Spartans repeated as 2A champions in 1963 and 1964 with wins over two A-K Valley schools, beating Freeport in ’63 and Arnold in ’64.

• This is year No. 21 for Lou Cerro as head coach at Montour. The former bread truck driver also serves as the school district’s athletic director. He has won three WPIAL championships, at Montour in 2011 and at his previous coaching stint at Seton LaSalle in 2002 and 2004.

• During Cerro’s first 20 years at Montour, the Spartans missed the playoffs only four times. They did not qualify in his first two seasons in 2005 and 2006, as well as in 2018 and in 2020. However that number could have easily been two misses in nearly two decades. In 2018, they finished in a three-way tie for fourth place and lost the tiebreaker to New Castle. In 2020, the Spartans finished in third place in the Parkway Conference, but only the top two teams and two of the three third-place teams made the shortened playoffs due to covid-19 restrictions. They lost out to Hampton and McKeesport.

• This is the 94th season of Montour football, including preceding schools in the district. The Spartans have an all-time record of 472-356-20.

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