70 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2020 • TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
INTERSTATE • BROWNSVILLE
COACH RAMONT SMALL
FROM LEFT, AYDEN TEETER, LEONARD HARRIS, PAT SHUMAR, WALLY FURLONG, ROSS SWORDS AND JEREMIAH FORTUNE.
SCHEDULE
Coach: Ramont Small
2019 record: 2-8, 1-6
All-time record: 415-494-34
Date Opponent Time
9.11 East Allegheny* 7
9.18 at Elizabeth Forward* 7
9.25 South Park* 7
10.2 at South Allegheny* 7
10.9 Mt. Pleasant* 7
10.16 at Southmoreland* 7
10.23 Yough* 7
*CONFERENCE GAME
FAST FACTS
• Brownsville won its two
games by a combined seven
points last season. The
Falcons defeated Beth-Center
by one.
• The Falcons return seven
starters on both sides of the
ball.
• The last time the Falcons
won at least the share of
a conference championship
was 1998 when they went
10-2 overall and 6-1 in the
conference.
• Improvements on the defensive
side will be needed as
well as the Falcons allowed six
teams to score over 40 points
last season.
BROWNSVILLE FOCUSED ON
RUNNING, STOPPING RUN
The Brownsville football team hasn’t had a
winning season in quite some time, but firstyear
coach Ramont Small is ready to get the
Falcons pointed in the right direction.
The Falcons finished 2-8 last season with
wins over Bentworth and Beth-Center, but
they haven’t had a season with more than two
wins since 2005 when they went 4-5. Small
and the Falcons are hoping brighter days are
ahead, and they are willing to put in the work
to achieve it.
For 28 years, the new Brownsville coach has
held several assistant coach positions. He’s
been an offensive coordinator and a defensive
coordinator. He’s coached multiple positions,
and he’s coached at the high school and college
level. Now, he’s ready to take over his own team
and bring all of it together.
“There are a lot of coaches I’ve been with,
and I just want to add pieces of what they’ve
taught me about the game,” Small said.
If anything is for certain, Small knows he
wants his team to be hard-nosed, strong and
tough to stop on the ground.
“I look at all the teams that have had success,
and they all run the ball,” Small said. “It’s an
old philosophy, and we want to pound the rock,
and we have a couple good running backs with
an offensive line that is strong.”
With the size the Falcons have in the trenches,
pounding the rock sounds like a good strategy.
Center Wally Furlong (6-foot-4, 258 pounds)
is the lone sophomore on the line, and he’ll be
surrounded by four seniors who have the size
to push guys around.
Patrick Shumar (6-2, 265), Leonard Harris (6-
3, 310) and Ross Swords (6-1, 330) all return. The
Falcons also received a boost when Jeremiah
Fortune (6-2, 280) transferred in from Georgia.
Small said defensive and offensive line coach
Gage Ivory has helped get them ready for this
season.
“He has done a great job with them in the
weight room and working with them on their
feet and stuff like that,” Small said. “We still
have a long way to go, but I have seen a lot of
progression so far.”
The Falcons also have a solid group of athletes
that Small is depending on to make plays
this season.
Senior running back Danny Grant is back,
and so is junior quarterback Hunter Assad,
but Small will rely on junior wide receiver
Josh Bass and senior Ayden Teeter, who is a
6-4, 265-pound tight end that played on the line
last season.
“We call him Baby Gronk,” Small said with
a laugh.
The Falcons aren’t just looking to impose
their will on one side of the ball either. With
the size they have, they are looking to attack
teams on defense as well.
“We are going to clog holes up and let our
linebackers make plays, and our secondary
will do what they have to do,” Small said. “But
we are going to be aggressive and we are going
to try and get to people and stop their running
game or whatever their specialty is.”
As the Falcons get set to play another season,
Small said his team is ready to push the program
to a new level.
“They are tired of losing,” Small said. “They
are trying to be the first group to make the
playoffs, trying to win the conference for the
first time in a while, so they have been working
really hard.”
by GREG MACAFEE