8 • TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
BOB PALKO
Coach: Bob Palko
2019 record: 7-5, 5-3
All-time record: 595-281-30
SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Time
9.11 Baldwin* ppd
9.18 at Canon-McMillan* 7
9.25 Hempfield* 7
10.2 at North Allegheny* 7
10.9 at Central Catholic* 7
10.16 Norwin* 7
10.23 at Seneca Valley* 7
*CONFERENCE GAME
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing: Joey Daniels
77-141, 1,307 yards, 16 TDs
Receiving: Evan Jones*
27-422 yards, 7 TDs
Rushing: Mason Ventrone*
72-523 yards, 11 TDs
*GRADUATED
FAST FACTS
• Three Mt. Lebanon WPIAL
championship teams are celebrating
notable anniversaries.
Fifty years ago, the Blue Devils
topped Kiski Area, 35-12, in
the 1970 Class 3A finals. Forty
years ago, Mt. Lebanon beat
Bethel Park, 30-14, for the
1980 Class 4A title. Twenty
years ago, the Blue Devils
edged Woodland Hills, 14-13,
for the Class 4A championship.
• Mt. Lebanon is 7-4 alltime
in WPIAL championship
games. Its first trip, in 1941,
ended with a 7-0 loss to
Johnstown.
• Coronavirus-related schedule
changes have left Mt. Lebanon
with just two home games
on the schedule this year,
meetings with Hempfield and
Norwin.
• The Blue Devils didn’t play
many close games last season.
In their seven wins, they never
gave up more than 21 points.
In their five losses, they averaged
40.6 points allowed.
STRONG JUNIOR CLASS
BOOSTS MT. LEBANON
Mt. Lebanon coach Bob Palko had 14 sophomores
earn a varsity letter in his first season
with the Blue Devils.
That has him excited because those sophomores
are now juniors, so he expects to see a
discernible jump in their performances. For
football players, that transition from 10th grade
to 11th is significant, Palko said.
“No question,” he said. “It’s huge.”
Palko has never shied away from playing
talented underclassmen, but said last year’s
lineup was the youngest he’d ever coached.
As a first-year coach at Mt. Lebanon, that
youth let him lay a new foundation for the
program.
Consider, this year’s quarterback will be either
junior Joey Daniels or junior Jack Smith,
and junior Alex Tecza will play an important
two-way role at running back and safety.
“You’re going to hear a lot about him as we
move forward,” Palko said of Tecza, but he
could have been talking about any number of
Mt. Lebanon’s juniors.
“We just let him play one-way last year but
he’s really, really good,” he added. “He’s extremely
talented.”
The team’s top four wide receivers are all
juniors: Eli Heidenreich, Jacob Munoz, Brendan
Anderson and Matt Wertz. The team’s top
lineman is Cooper Austin, a 6-foot-2, 255-pound
junior who played both ways as a sophomore.
“We think his ceiling is huge,” Palko said.
“He’s going to be another one of these recruits
coming out of Mt. Lebanon.”
Mt. Lebanon went 7-5 overall last season, 5-3
in the conference and reached the WPIAL Class
6A semifinals. It’s clear, if they match or exceed
that success this fall, it’ll be on the shoulders
of their deep, talented junior class.
“We had a lot of sophomores that played last
year, so obviously you’ve got sophomores that
are now juniors,” Palko said. “We like the way
the kids are. It takes time to implement stuff,
get organized and establish a culture that I’m
more comfortable with.
“I think the future looks bright.”
However, Palko stressed that he wasn’t slighting
his seniors. Running back Visawn Pennix
rushed for 493 yards on 65 carries last season,
averaging better than seven yards per attempt.
He’ll see more carries this fall.
The Blue Devils also added a senior transfer
from Thomas Jefferson. Trevor Barrett will
start at inside linebacker alongside seniors
Ryan Martin and Pat Dunn, who both return.
Smith and Dan King, both juniors, also play
linebacker.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the
seniors,” Palko said. “These kids are awesome.”
Last season was Palko’s first at Mt. Lebanon
after 24 at West Allegheny, where he won eight
WPIAL titles and more than 200 games. His
assessment of his first year in blue?
“Great kids, great community, bad head
coaching,” Palko said with a laugh. “I don’t
think I did a great job last year. That’s my
opinion. There’s so much to learn. There’s no
other way to put it.”
But entering Year 2, he sees real progress.
“It takes a while to establish that stuff,” Palko
said. “And then you have more sophomores
this year. It’s interesting to watch the whole
process go.”
by CHRIS HARLAN
CLASS 6A • MT. LEBANON JOEY DANIELS