Fort Cherry pushes on after season-ending knee injury to starting QB

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, August 17, 2019 | 9:46 PM

A lot of different factors influence where athletes line up for the Fort Cherry football team.

Unfortunately for Rangers coach Jim Shiel, attrition is one of the largest influences on his team over the past two seasons.

Long before Fort Cherry steps on the field for its opener Aug. 30 against visiting Chartiers-Houston, the Rangers will have lost their starting quarterback.

Sophomore quarterback Maddox Truschel, who started as a freshman and had the offense tailored to his dual-threat talents, tore his ACL playing summer league basketball and will be out for the season.

Fort Cherry, which last season finished 2-8 overall and 1-6 in the Three Rivers Conference, will have seven healthy offensive linemen to start the year. The Rangers, who had low numbers to start with, will be forced to innovate.

“Numbers-wise, we only have 25 guys on our roster,” Shiel said. “Even though we are in double-A, we are a single-A team. We have one big class with 55 boys but only seven of them play football. Our freshmen class has less than 30 boys.”

Shiel and the coaching staff are hoping to utilize a quick-passing attack to help with the lack of big bodies up front. Senior Austin Nardozi and junior Jake Tkach are battling to replace Truschel at quarterback.

Nardozi was one of the team’s best receivers and can be utilized out of the slot receiver position as well. Noah Babirad, Nasier Sutton and Dylan Rogers give the Rangers plenty of targets in the passing game.

Improvising with linemen is also something Fort Cherry is used to. Last season, the Rangers only had eight available linemen and ended up converting one of their fullbacks into a center by the end of the year.

“We’re trying to convert a couple guys to line,” Shiel said. “They don’t have the size to play line, but it is what it is. We have to play the depth we are dealt. We are conditioning the guys to understand they are going to be on the field a lot.”

Finding an Ironmen mentality will be a necessary evil. There will be reinforcements coming midseason for the Rangers. They will need to adapt their offense and stay healthy to hang tough.

“Obviously, I want to be competitive every game,” Shiel said. “We want to be competitive. I think if things go our way, we’ll do OK. A few key injuries here and there, and we could be scrambling.”

Schedule

Coach: Jim Shiel

2018 record: 2-8, 1-6

All-time record: 342-240-15

Date, Opponent, Time

8.23, Chartiers-Houston, 7

8.30, at Carlynton*, 7

9.6, at Burgettstown*, 7

9.13, Brentwood*, 7

9.20, at South Allegheny*, 7

9.27, Seton LaSalle*, 7

10.4, Neshannock, 7