HS football preview: Southmoreland
Shoaf confident heading into first season with Scotties
Dustin Shoaf has taken his first high school football head coaching job head on at Southmoreland.
鈥淔irst year as coach, first summer, it蘑菇视频 been good,鈥� said the former Yough star. 鈥淭here are a lot of new things, a lot more responsibilities and roles that you鈥檝e got to take care of. But to be honest, you don鈥檛 learn unless you get thrown into the fire and that蘑菇视频 the kind of philosophy I have with that, just embracing it.
鈥淚鈥檓 really enjoying it and I鈥檓 happy with my staff. The kids are getting along well with them. Transition can be tough at times but I would say it蘑菇视频 gone pretty well so far. We鈥檝e had a lot of players showing up during volunteer workouts. They鈥檙e doing everything we鈥檝e asked. It蘑菇视频 been a great start to the summer.鈥�
The Scotties were 7-4 overall and 3-2 in the Class 3A Interstate Conference a year, finishing in a three-way tie for second place and qualifying for the WPIAL playoffs. Coach Tim Bukowski left Southmoreland and is now the head coach at Uniontown with Shoaf taking over the Scotties鈥� program.
Southmoreland does have a surplus of talent returning with several players taking on leadership roles for the 2025 season.
鈥淒awon Wolfe, who蘑菇视频 going to be a junior, has done really well stepping up as a leader, and Gage Kubasky is another, coming back as a senior, who has stepped up,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淥thers are Stanley Chapman, a junior who has shown a lot of growth as a leader, Makel Darnell and Ty Whoric are both seniors who have shown a lot of leadership also.
鈥淥ur seniors for the most part have done a really good job in that area.鈥�
Wolfe will be one of two players vying for the starting quarterback job.
鈥淒awson will be in the running. He played some there last year when he was a starting inside linebacker also,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淭hen we have a freshman, Nick Carbonara, who has shown a lot of upside.鈥�
Jackson Mickens and Cam Lee lead the way at the running back position.
鈥淛ackson is a sophomore who will be one of our running backs and play outside linebacker,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淗e蘑菇视频 another kid who has a lot of upside who had a pretty good year last year. Cam is another, a senior that we鈥檒l expect good things from defensively and from a running back position as well. Avveryon Darnell is another one who鈥檒l compete at running back. He蘑菇视频 a sophomore.鈥�
Shoaf is confident in his pass catchers.
鈥淲e expect big things out of Makel Darnell,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淗e had a productive year last year as a receiver. We expect good things out of Ty Whoric. He蘑菇视频 been pretty successful on both sides of the ball for his three years so far. Chapman will play tight end and inside linebacker. We鈥檙e real excited to see what he can do this year.
鈥淪tanley Betters, who蘑菇视频 going to be a junior, had a really good summer and we expect big things out of him. Kubasky is a kid that蘑菇视频 coming back from injury who蘑菇视频 had a really good offseason and summer and has shown a lot of upside as well.鈥�
Shoaf will run a similar offense to what the Scotties did last year.
鈥淲e鈥檒l be a base spread,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淲e believe we have a handful of guys that can contribute to us being successful. We鈥檙e really excited to lean on our offensive line as well.
鈥淛ustin Hribal, David Sager and Jake Govern are kids who have played and have some experience up front. Jake will be a senior that蘑菇视频 played all three years. Harrison Bechtold and Austin Jones are some other kids who鈥檝e played some valuable time who we expect to compete up front, alongside Kaden Shannon who is wrestler who蘑菇视频 coming out for football for the first time. He蘑菇视频 a heavyweight so we鈥檙e excited to have him out to play both sides.
鈥淲e won鈥檛 rotate much with our guys up front offensively for the most part. But defensively we have a good rotation that we believe will help us to spell some guys.鈥�
Wolfe is expected to be one Southmoreland蘑菇视频 top defenders.
鈥淒awson is lights out as a linebacker,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淜ubasky and Whoric will be our safeties. Our corners will be Cam Lee and Betters with the Darnells there as well.鈥�
Southmoreland will again be in the Class 3A along with defending champion Elizabeth Forward, Mount Pleasant, Greensburg Salem, Derry and Shoaf蘑菇视频 alma mater Yough.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to look at Elizabeth Forward as the frontrunner,鈥� Shoaf said. 鈥淕reensburg Salem is a tough team that had a really good year last year. Mount Pleasant always has a tough team as well. We鈥檙e in a tough conference also with Derry and Yough, but for us, we expect with the experience we have coming back, to make a run.
鈥淲e believe we have an opportunity to win our first conference title since 1979 but we鈥檝e got a lot of work to do to achieve that. We feel confident we have the guys to compete.鈥�
Shoaf蘑菇视频 coaching staff includes AJ Blasco, Rich Kolesar, Jaylen McNair, Frank Muccino, Max Malis, Joe Pergar, Terry Qushnock and Scott Wood.