West Shamokin Continues to Prepare for the Season

 

by Jake DeLuca

After wrapping up the state mandated heat acclimation process, the West Shamokin Wolves varsity football team is looking forward to some contact before their tri-scrimage this Saturday, August 20th.

The Wolves finished up their heat acclimation practice, which lasted three hours a day from Monday through Friday. This week, the Wolves will start two-a-days in hopes of finding some new starters.

West Shamokin Head Coach Jon McCullough says that ‘everyone looks good in a helmet and t-shirt’, but two-a-days are when players start to separate from their competition.

“We are making good progress. We have been going since school was out so
we have a good foundation, but we will find out a lot here starting Monday
(today) once it’s live. It’s kind of hard right now when you have a
(padded) shield you have to use. A lot of guys look good right now, but you
won’t know for sure until it’s live,” Jon explained.

The Wolves will have the rest of this week to prepare for their
tri-scrimmage between Union High School (Rimersburg) and Punxsutawney
High School. A tri-scrimmage is very similar to a regular scrimmage,
except between three teams with the teams rotating in and out allowing for
each squad to get equal reps.

Although the wolves have to decide on six starters on each side of the
ball, they do have returning starters who Coach McCullough knows will make
an impact.

“We have our leading tackler back in Austin Harris, Devin Fairman returns
at corner where he was a starter last year, our two defensive ends are
back (Curt Slagle and Austin Mills), our strong side linebacker Aaron Grey
is back. So we have some kids who are returning starters. There are other
kids too I feel will fill in nicely in spots we need to replace,”
McCullough explained.

One player who Coach McCullough expects to fill in is new starting
quarterback Devin Fairman.

“Our quarterback graduated last year, Brandon Stover. We do have a senior
in Devin Fairmen who started split-end for us last season so he’s moving
in (to play QB). I expect Devin to pretty much pick up where Brandon left
off. “

During two-a-days there will be a lot of position battles to determine who
will earn the six starting jobs on both offense and defense. McCullough
explained the different positions he and the rest of the coaching staff
will be looking at.

“We are going to have competition on the defensive line with our defensive
tackles. We are going to have some competition in the secondary.
Offensively; halfback, fullback, so those are the positions that I have my
eyes on to see who develops there,” said McCullough.

After the tri-scrimmage this Saturday the West Shamokin Wolves will be set
for their debut in the Heritage Conference at Blairsville for the first
regular season game.

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