5 things we learned in Week Zero: New coaches find success quickly

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, August 26, 2023 | 7:27 PM

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Central Catholic players were kneeling around new coach Ryan Lehmeier in a postgame circle when longtime Vikings assistant Ron Fuchs spoke up.

“A head coach only gets one first victory,” Fuchs announced, while praising Lehmeier’s leadership skills and “infectious” excitement since becoming the team’s coach. “In 25 years, I’ve seen a handful of game balls given away, but we have someone very special here tonight to award Coach Lehmeier his first game ball from winning at Pittsburgh Central Catholic.”

Lehmeier’s mom, Trudy, got that honor Friday night at the Wolvarena, giving her son the football and a hug.

He was one of 23 new WPIAL and City League coaches making their debuts Friday night, and the group collectively had a 14-9 record.

That’s a remarkable stat considering that a year ago new coaches went 8-22 in their Week Zero debuts. Some of the success this fall might be attributable to the quality of jobs that were available.

A number of the teams with new coaches, led by Central Catholic, Mt. Lebanon, Elizabeth Forward, Bethel Park and North Catholic, had success in recent years. All five of those new coaches won Friday.

At Mt. Lebanon, the Blue Devils also awarded a game ball to new coach Mike Collodi after a 28-7 win over Gateway.

The other new coaches to win were Baldwin’s Dana Brown, Bentworth’s David Pordash, Bethel Park’s Phil Peckich, Carlynton’s John Tortorea, Freedom’s Ron Balog, Greensburg Central Catholic’s JT Thompson, Hempfield’s Nick Keefer, North Catholic’s Chris Rizzo, South Allegheny’s Brian Hanson, South Park’s Brian Abbey and West Greene’s Beau Jackson.

Three Week Zero matchups featured new coaches on both sidelines.

Where will Lehmeier’s game ball go?

“I’m probably going to bring it home and my kids are going to play with it,” he said. “I probably should put it in a good place, but if they want to play with it, that’s cool too.”

Home or away?

New South Park coach Brian Abbey said he talked with his players all summer about being adaptable to whatever comes their way.

Their first test was a severe thunderstorm overnight Thursday into Friday that knocked out power at the football stadium, canceled classes at the school and left their season opener in doubt hours before kickoff. At one point their game was called off, until their opponent, East Allegheny, agreed to host the game instead.

Hurriedly, they had to pack up their gear and load the buses.

“It was pitch black in our locker room,” Abbey said, “and kids are getting their uniforms and gathering their equipment. We brought in construction lights and were using flashlights on our cell phones.”

South Park ultimately won 22-16, earning Abbey a first career victory he’s likely to remember forever.

“Definitely,” he said. “Much more so now, under the circumstances.”

West A’s walk-off

Walk-off wins are more common in the spring for West Allegheny baseball coach Bryan Cornell and his son, Brock. But the younger Cornell punctuated a dramatic walk-off win by scoring on fourth-and-goal as time expired.

His 2-yard touchdown run gave West Allegheny a 20-17 win over Moon.

“When we won, the whole team ran down to the student section,” said Cornell, a junior running back. “On film you see coach (Dave) Vestal and my dad (the defensive coordinator) running on the field and pumping their fists at the goal line. Coach (Dave) Schoppe was going crazy. It was awesome.”

Cornell had crossed the goal line earlier on second-and-goal, but his helmet came off first, so officials whistled the play dead. On fourth down, he got another chance when coaches had him take a direct snap.

“Their defense is similar to our defense because they have a couple of guys that coached at West A previously,” Brock Cornell said. “I knew I was going to get inside pressure. I followed (fullback) Jake Bobonski … and the line made a good hole.”

His father, Bryan, is a longtime coach one of the top baseball programs in the WPIAL and Brock plays the outfield for him. But Brock Cornell (5-foot-11, 178 pounds) says he’s confident his future college sport is football. He plays safety on defense and already has offers from Duquesne and Albany.

“Baseball is not my thing,” he said. “Football is definitely my future.”

2nd & Goal and 4th & Goal for the win! Different! pic.twitter.com/pjhd2AN9pr

— Bryan Cornell (@BryanCornell27) August 26, 2023

Dramatic endings

Week Zero wins don’t count toward making the playoffs, but it is clear these season-opening games can be way more intense than a second scrimmage.

West A’s win wasn’t the only dramatic finish Friday night.

• University Prep receiver Daniel Cain caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Max Qureshi in double overtime to defeat host New Castle, 26-20.

• Jeannette senior Austin Emery kicked a 21-yard field goal with 43 seconds left to defeat Burrell, 16-13.

• Central Valley gambled late and converted a 2-point conversion on a Mason Dixon run to defeat Austintown-Fitch, 36-35, in Ohio.

Snapping streaks

Two of the WPIAL’s longest active losing streaks ended when Carlynton and Waynesburg celebrated wins Friday.

Carlynton had lost 14 in a row before defeating Carrick, 46-6. Waynesburg had lost 13 straight before its 35-0 win over Carmichaels.

The longest active streak in Western Pennsylvania belongs to Brownsville, which reached 31 games after Friday’s 42-6 loss to Bentworth. Brownsville no longer competes in a WPIAL conference, instead opting for an independent schedule.

The longest active streak among current WPIAL competitors is Derry at 20.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.