Norwin football moves forward with ‘chip on their shoulder’ after difficult season

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, November 30, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Lucky bounces can help a football team go a long way. Coaches even say they are necessary to winning in the postseason.

Unlucky ones, on the other hand, can spell doom.

Norwin started 2-0 for the first time since 2014, but a rash of injuries sent the Knights spiraling to eight consecutive losses and a 2-8 year in their return season to WPIAL Class 6A.

They went winless (0-6) in conference play.

“We lost count after a couple of weeks of having multiple starters injured,” coach Mike Brown said. “We left some games out there due to too many self-inflicted wounds. We need to be better in conference play when the games actually matter.

“Some of the guys continued to play for their team when they came back because of intense rehab and determination to get back on the field. One thing is, we will not make an excuse because of our injuries. There is not a football team at any level without injuries. We need to focus on having quality backups so if or when a starter goes down, we can plug someone in and not lose a beat.”

While some key players missed time, backups filled in, which could pay dividends next season.

“The only positive is we got to play a lot of younger players who haven’t had too much varsity experience,” Brown said. “We looked for some of them at the beginning of the season to be junior varsity starters but through injury, they got meaningful reps in big conference games.”

Brown does not like to dwell on what could have been or what the Knights could have done differently.

“We can waste our time thinking as coaches we should have done this or should have done that, but ultimately it does no one any good,” he said. “We have bigger aspects to focus on. There is nothing we can do now about the outcomes of the games, which is what this program is based on. We will continue to work extremely hard throughout the offseason with the outcomes in the back of our mind.

“If the players do not have a chip on their shoulder after this season, then we never will. We are excited to get back to work.”

Brown said the highlight of the season, most would think, was a 26-14 win over rival Penn-Trafford in Week Zero.

But the coach dove a little deeper.

“I believe the highlight of our season was we found guys who want to play football for Norwin High School and have pride in doing it,” he said. “Through the tough times of the season, and there were many, we found a group of guys sticking together no matter what.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin