90 • TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
MAC • NEW BRIGHTON
Coach: Joe Greco
2019 record: 8-4, 5-2 in
Class 2A Midwestern Athletic
Conference
All-time record: 553-476-59
SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Time
9.11 at Freedom* 7:30
9.18 Ellwood City* 7
9.25 at Mohawk* 7
10.2 at Beaver Falls* 7
10.9 Laurel* 7
10.16 at Neshannock* 7
10.23 Riverside* 7
*CONFERENCE GAME
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing Jackson Hall*
130-235, 2,105 yards, 25 TDs
Receiving Jacob Francona*
60-1,050 yards, 11 TDs
Rushing NyaSanu Greene
125-850 yards, 11 TDs
*GRADUATED
FAST FACTS
• Last year’s run in the playoffs
was New Brighton’s first
trip to the WPIAL quarterfinals
since 2001 when it reached
the WPIAL Class AA semifinals.
The Lions earned their
first playoff win in 18 years.
• As the No. 10 seed last
year, New Brighton upset No.
7 Apollo-Ridge, 35-21, to set
up a matchup with Avonworth
in the quarterfinals.
• The Lions have two linemen
who are 300-plus pounds this
season and a third who has
weighed in at 295.
• Haddox completed 10 passes
for 131 yards and two touchdowns
last season.
KEI’ONDRE ABERCROMBIE
NYASANU GREENE
NEW BRIGHTON EYES
ANOTHER DEEP RUN
Since making a playoff appearance
in 2015, the New Brighton
Lions have been building toward
a special season.
Although they missed the playoffs
in both 2016 and ‘17, the Lions
qualified the last two seasons
and made a run to the WPIAL
quarterfinals last year before losing
to eventual WPIAL champion
Avonworth.
With seniors such as Jackson
Hall, Jacob Francona, Dylan Hupp
and others, the team was a special
one that scored 26.3 points per
game while allowing 19.3. Despite
graduating that core group of seniors,
longtime coach Joe Greco
is returning a large contingent
of starters that gained a lot of
experience.
“Other than those couple of
guys, we played a lot of sophomores
and juniors,” Greco said.
“Of course, Jake Francona, Jackson
Hall and Dylan Hupp are going
to be tough to replace, but we have
good football players going in in
their places and plus we have a lot
more around them.”
The Lions will look to take another
step this season, and it will
start on the ground. Greco said his
team will field the best offensive
and defensive lines they’ve had
in years. They also have a top-tier
running back in Division I recruit
NyaSanu Greene, who received
an offer from Montana during the
offseason.
The Lions threw for more than
2,000 yards last season, but they
still had four rushers with more
than 100 yards and tallied a total
of 1,768 rushing yards. After getting
his feet wet last year, Greco is
expecting Greene (6-3, 225) to take
another step forward as a senior.
“Last year he kind of made his
bones, but this year, it’s totally different
because it’s not like he’s feeling
it out anymore,” Greco said.
“He was experiencing everything
last year for the first time, but now
he knows he’s a good receiver, a
good blocker and a good runner
and he can do things for us on
defense. He competes at a high
confidence level, so we are looking
for him to up his level of play.”
Greene also is looking forward to
running behind a talented line led
by seniors Matt Jackson and Brad
Rosen and junior Alex Mittner.
“We are big all-around on the
line, and I told them with their size,
they should be out there bullying
people,” Greene said.
Although the Lions have a ton
of experienced players returning,
they still have holes to fill, but
Greco believes they already have
that figured out.
After playing two years of quarterback
on the JV team, junior
Gabe Haddox will take over under
center. He’ll be surrounded
by athletes like slot receiver Mandel
Irving, all-conference kick returner
JoJo Reynolds and fullback
Kei’Ondre Abercrombie. Those
players are looking to pull from
that experience from last season.
“I think that will bring up the
morale and will give us a little
more energy for this year,” Abercrombie
said. “We know that we
were able to get far; it was just that
we made a couple mistakes along
the way.”
There are still a few areas where
the Lions need to improve, especially
building and holding a lead.
“When we got a lead last year,
we didn’t go out and try to extend
it. We let a lot of teams back in the
ball game,” Greco said. “Whether
we won or lost, sometimes it
worked out, sometimes it didn’t.
But we have to have that instinct
to keep our foot on the pedal offensively
and defensively.”
by GREG MACAFEE