Westmoreland County football notebook: Ligonier Valley hopes to shine in ‘Friday Night Lights’ contest

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, August 21, 2025 | 6:01 AM

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Ligonier Valley is the latest Westmoreland County school to enter the school spirit-driven T-Mobile 5G Friday Night Lights competition.

Latrobe and Derry took part in the season-long contest, which recognizes small towns and their fondness for high school football.

Top schools are awarded each week, starting with $5,000 in the first round. The nationwide contest will give $25,000 to semifinalists, with $1 million going to the overall winner at season’s end.

Latrobe and Derry won $5,000 last year.

Prize money is intended to help with improvements to athletic facilities — lights, turf, scoreboards and weight room upgrades, for example.

T-Mobile will evaluate teams based on social media posts and likes.

“We think the Friday Night Lights promotion is a great opportunity to rally our community and bring attention to not only our football program, but our athletic department as a whole,” Ligonier Valley athletic director Wesley Siko said. “It could potentially provide us with grant money to improve our athletic facilities. It’s a fun and engaging way to showcase the pride, hard work and dedication of our student-athletes, coaches and supporters.”

Ligonier Valley entered too late to get into last year’s competition.

“This year, we made sure to apply earlier so we could give ourselves a real chance to compete,” Siko said. “Seeing how successful Derry and Latrobe were last year definitely showed us a blueprint. I’ve already shared information through our social media channels to get the word out, and we’re hoping that with the support of our coaches, athletes, teachers and community members, we can make a strong push to win, something that would benefit our whole athletic department.”

QB1

Most county teams have named a starting quarterback for Friday night’s opening games.

Several teams will have first-year starters under center. They include senior Nate Desmond at Penn-Trafford, senior Dom Scarton at Latrobe, sophomore Dom Devola at Franklin Regional, junior Dawson Wolfe at Southmoreland, junior Aidan Shaffer at Yough, senior Dane Firmstone at Mt. Pleasant and junior Kaier Payne at Monessen,

Payne takes over for junior Dennis Hawkins, who transferred to Ringgold.

Greensburg Central Catholic could start sophomore Bobby Smithnosky for the first time. He was competing for the starting job with last year’s starter, standout senior Samir Crosby. GCC coach JT Thompson said it will be a game-time decision Friday.

On the flip side, Norwin will go with senior Tristyn Tavares, who will start for a third year.

Other local starters: senior Dom Detruf (Hempfield), senior Curty Wade (Belle Vernon), junior Anthony Sacco (Derry), junior Brody Chismar (Greensburg Salem), senior Bowie Schreyer (Ligonier Valley) and senior Kymon’e Brown (Jeannette).

Honoring the champs

Belle Vernon has new turf at James Weir Stadium, also known as “The Beach,” as well as renovations to the bleachers and the press box.

On Sept. 26, during its fourth of six home games, the district will honor the 1995 WPIAL championship team. It has been 30 years since the Leopards defeated Franklin Regional, 22-6, to take the Class 3A title.

Belle Vernon will host West Allegheny in a scrimmage at 5 p.m. Friday.

Detruf shirts

Those who purchased T-shirts as part of a fundraiser at Penn-Trafford for T.J. Detruf, a junior varsity coach in the district who died July 26, can pick them up at 6 p.m. Friday when the gates open at Warrior Stadium for the season opener between the Warriors and Norwin. A table will be set up at the lower entrance to the stadium.

More than 1,200 shirts were sold with proceeds going to the Detruf family.

The shirts say, “Warrior Army” on the front and “Rally to the ball” on the back — one of Detruf’s noted sayings.

Bostard at P-T

Penn-Trafford has added a coach to its staff with plenty of knowledge of the 5A Big East Conference.

Tim Bostard, who was the head coach at Woodland Hills for six seasons, joined John Ruane’s staff as an assistant.

Bostard went 30-35 with five playoff appearances with the Wolverines. When he was hired, he was just the second head coach in Woodland Hills history behind the legendary George Novak.

Extra points

Ligonier Valley and Derry will play Friday in the fourth annual “Riot on the Ridge” game, instituted in 2022 to resurrect a rivalry that had been dormant for more than 60 years. Ligonier Valley won 20-7 last year to take a 2-1 lead in the revamped series. … Southmoreland will go against its former head coach in Mark Adams, who now leads Valley. … Norwin coach Mike Brown is a Penn-Trafford graduate and will face his alma mater at his former home stadium. … Running back Brody Hutter, who transferred from Mt. Pleasant to River Valley, took his first carry in last week’s scrimmage 60 yards for a touchdown.

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

Tags: Belle Vernon, Derry Area, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Jeannette, Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland