Valley, Burrell relish experience at annual WCCA 7-on-7 tournament

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, July 19, 2018 | 7:36 PM

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Valley’s RSVP to the Westmoreland County Coaches Association’s seven-on-seven tournament came late after the invitation apparently got lost in the mail — or, more specifically, email.

Ultimately the two sides sorted out the miscommunication in time for the Vikings to participate in the annual event, which took place Thursday morning and afternoon at Latrobe.

The Vikings were all too happy to make the trip for five games against county opponents, a summer ritual since the event began in 2011.

“We’ve always belonged to this because I think it’s good for the whole area,” said Valley coach Muzzy Colosimo, who watched the proceedings from the sidelines. “I’m sitting here looking at Burrell, and I’m looking at Latrobe, and I don’t know anything about Latrobe. But I can see talent, so it’s easy when a recruiter comes in to say, you need to go to Latrobe and see this tight end or whatever. That’s the kind of things it’s good for.”

The seven on seven brought in 11 schools — Hempfield fielded a second team to provide even numbers — for five games each of pool play. Burrell, with new coach Shawn Liotta, attended for the first time.

“Anytime we can get out here and compete and throw the football against good competition, it’s great for our kids to get better for that learning process,” Liotta said. “That’s why we like the seven on sevens. We like to take part in them. And we certainly wanted to get back out here in the county event.”

Both Burrell and Valley, who didn’t play each other Thursday but will meet in a Week Zero nonconference game at Burrell, are trying to break into the WPIAL playoffs after an absence of several seasons. Valley last qualified for the postseason in 2013, Burrell a season before that in 2012.

“Our kids have to learn how to win,” Colosimo said. “I think we’ve been preaching about that probably since last year ended. In the weight room, we’re telling them they have to learn how to come together because they’re the first ones to get on each other whenever someone screws up. It’s hard to coach through that because what happens is, the guy that says something sets the other guy off and he gets off his game.

“We’re working on trying to get rid of that. That’s one of the harder things to overcome.”

Valley showed signs of its bounce-back ability last season, winning two of its final three games after a 1-5 start, and it was on display again Thursday. After a last-second drop cost the Vikings a potential victory against Derry, they posted an impressive win over perennial playoff team Franklin Regional. And after a loss to Norwin, they came back to end the day with a win over Greensburg Salem.

All told, Valley won three of its five games on the day.

“It shows that we can come together when things get rough,” said rising senior quarterback Tyler Green. “A lot of games are pretty close, and it’s building a bond.”

Green is in his third season as Valley’s starting quarterback, allowing him plenty of time to mesh with skill players that include Deonte Ross, Noah Hutcherson, Malique Richardson and Vaun Ross. That chemistry was on display Thursday.

But Valley also used the seven on seven to break in some of its younger players on both sides of the ball.

“I feel like one of the older guys now, and I get to help the younger dudes,” Green said. “When the JV comes in, (I can) show them how to make their reads and stuff.”

Burrell is learning a new up-tempo spread system under Liotta, the former coach at Albert Gallatin, breaking in a new quarterback in rising junior Logan Phillips and some new skill players, as well. The Bucs, who went to a seven on seven last week at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, are using those competitions for development reasons.

“The experience is probably most important for our team right now because we’re a little young,” Phillips said. “We don’t have many seniors.

“That’s why it’s so important to come out here and compete against these big schools.”

After a last-second loss to Yough — a result Burrell disputed somewhat for clock reasons — the Bucs showed their own ability to rebound by beating a larger school in Latrobe. They then had a spirited tie against Mt. Pleasant, a new conference opponent this season.

“A lot of the teams here are much bigger than we are, so it’s good for experience-wise,” rising senior wideout Andrew Bigler said. “The new teams that are in our section are here, so we can compete with what we’re going to see during the season, as well.”

For a team that finished 1-9 last season, closing the season with a nine-game losing streak, Liotta is looking for constant improvement over the summer and season. Thursday represented another opportunity for that.

“I’m seeing good progression,” he said. “You see out here, we just beat a 5A school (Latrobe) and competed with these other teams very well. We’ve been able to move the ball very well at these seven on sevens against some really good competition, some really good talent. … The more we can do, the better.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.