Leechburg aims to maintain new standard of success

By: Jerin Steele
Sunday, August 20, 2023 | 9:51 PM

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The last two years of Leechburg football have been the program’s best in four decades.

There were back-to-back postseason appearances after a 32-year absence and a playoff win at their home venue, Veterans Memorial Field, for the first time ever in 2021.

Now some of the key members of the Blue Devils’ renaissance — 4,000-yard rusher Braylan Lovelace and the top two in receiving yards in school history, Tyler Foley and Logan Kline — have graduated.

They set a new standard, and now the current group will try to keep the recent run of success going.

“Braylan was a fantastic football player and an even better person, but we lost some other really good players, too,” Leechburg coach Randy Walters said. “Tyler Foley and Logan Kline were small school all-state last year, so we have more than just Braylan to replace.”

The Blue Devils will look to juniors Jayden Floyd and Jake Cummings to be catalysts for the offense. Floyd was the starting quarterback last year. Cummings plays tight end. Floyd passed for 1,360 yards and 17 touchdowns a season ago.

Walters said both Floyd and Cummings recently performed well at summer camps at Lehigh and Bucknell.

“Jayden did a great job last year, but I’ll tell you and he’ll tell you that it wasn’t even close to what he can do,” Walters said. “He just needs to relax a little bit. He puts too much weight on his own shoulders sometimes. He’s a typical athlete quarterback, and my son did the same thing, where he gets bored sometimes with taking the things that are there and wants to try to make some things happen. He’ll get more dialed-in. He’s as tough as they come, and he’ll be running the ball a little more this year for us. That will be a bigger part of our offense.”

Aside from the athletic talent the last couple years, Walters said a major reason for the success was the team culture. The 2023 team is still working on that part of the puzzle, but Walters is confident that they’ll figure it out.

“I’ve told the kids this, I’m a big message guy and I’m trying to teach them things about life, not just football, but through football and the hard work that comes with it,” Walters said.

“To be honest, I’m not happy with where they are right now as far as coming together as a team. That’s what the guys did in the past. They totally believed in everything we said and did their best with it. These kids are trending that way. The culture is in place. We have good leaders. We just need a few younger kids to step up.”

The Blue Devils have several senior leaders in place, including Brandin Gilmer, Sebastian Nuttal and Sebastian Mason.

Gilmer is in line for the starting running back job, replacing Lovelace, who’s now at Pitt.

“This is Brandin’s time to play,” Walters said. “He’s been sitting behind Braylan the whole time, so we’re going to see what he can do.”

Leechburg is once again in the Class A Eastern Conference with Clairton, Riverview, Springdale, Jeannette, Frazier, and Greensburg Central Catholic.

Editor’s note: Due to production scheduling conflicts, the preview for Eastern Conference team Frazier will appear later this week.

Leechburg

Coach: Randy Walters

2022 record: 7-4, 4-2 in Class A Eastern Conference

All-time record: 416-521-38

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.25 Apollo-Ridge, 7

9.1 Summit Academy, 7

9.8 at Bentworth, 7

9.15 at Springdale*, 7

9.22 Clairton*, 7

9.29 at Frazier*, 7

10.6 Jeannette*, 7

10.14 at Riverview*, noon

10.20 at Shenango, 7

10.27 Greensburg Central Catholic*, 7

*Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Jayden Floyd

88-145, 1,360 yards, 17 TDs

Rushing: Braylan Lovelace*

131-1,369 yards, 29 TDs

Receiving: Tyler Foley*

35-626 yards, 11 TDs

*Graduated

FAST FACTS

• Leechburg won WPIAL football titles in 1953, ’65 and ’66.

• It will be the 77th year that the Blue Devils will play their home games at Veterans Memorial Field.

• The Blue Devils will host neighboring rival Apollo-Ridge for Week Zero, Aug. 25. It’ll be National Guard night and Leechburg will wear camo uniforms.

• Braylan Lovelace, who’s now at Pitt, was the first Division I football recruit from Leechburg since his father, David Lovelace, who went to Rutgers in 1973.

ROSTER

No., Name, Pos., Ht./Wt., Cl.

1, Brandin Gilmer, TB/LB, 5-11/185, Sr.

2, Jesse McMillen, WR/DB, 5-10/170, Sr.

5, Tristan Zalenski, WR/DB, 6-1/165, So.

6, Rocco Vigna, WR/DB, 5-10/160, So.

7, Jayden Floyd, QB/LB, 5-11/180, Jr.

8, Sebastian Mason, H/LB, 5-8/160, Sr.

9, Matt Williams, TB/LB, 5-10/180, So.

10, Brice Gilmer, H/DB, 5-9/175, So.

11, Gabe Santiago, WR/DB, 6-1/160, So.

13, Jaxson Vargo, QB/DB, 5-3/145, Fr.

18, Ryan Shaw, WR/K, 5-10/155 Sr.

21, Tim Andrasy, RB/DB, 5-4/140, So.

23, Lucas Gamble, H/DE, 5-9/185, Jr.

29, Tyler Villa, H/LB, 5-11/175, Sr.

51, Zane Iuzi, OL/DL, 5-10/170, Sr.

52, Brady Shearer, OL/DL, 5-11/215, So.

55, Owen Nuttall, OL/DE, 5-11/185, Sr.

58, Ben Talerico, TE/DE, 6-0/175, So.

60, Lucas Oldfield, OL/DL, 5-9/210, So.

62, Dyan Long, OL/DL, 5-10/250, Sr.

63, Chris Guthrie, OL/DL , 5- 9/225, Fr.

64, Tim Skeel, OL/DL, 6- 2/185, Fr.

70, Geno Granata, OL/DL, 5-11/195, So.

73, Jayden Rosenberger, OL/DL, 6- 3/275, So.

74, Nick Hilty, OL/DL, 5- 11/170, Fr.

75, Tyler Lucas, OL/DL, 5-11/240, Jr.

76, Philup Rearick, OL/DL, 5-10/220, So.

79, Eric Guo, OL/DL, 5-7/145, Jr.

85, Kaedyn Joris, TE/DL, 5-9/170, Fr.

88, Jake Cummings, TE/LB, 6-1/205, Jr.

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Leechburg