OLYPHANT — The Lackawanna Football Conference opens Friday with three brand-new head coaches, each an experienced assistant in his first assignment leading a high school program.
By the time the LFC wraps up in late October, it could have three new champions, an uncommon occurrence in the conference’s history.
The LFC, which has had three or four divisions throughout, has had at least two teams successfully defend titles each year since 2019.
Delaware Valley, Dunmore and Riverside are regarded as favorites in each division. And each has a clear top threat, which is not the defending champion.
Lackawanna Trail is expected to push Riverside in Division 3 where the Vikings finished second a year ago. Scranton Prep is the top threat to Delaware Valley after the two teams tied for second in Division 1. Western Wayne is regarded as the second-most likely team to emerge as champion in Division 2 where it finished ahead of third-place Dunmore last season.
Defending champions Valley View, Lakeland and Old Forge appear to be next in line in Divisions 1 through 3.
Scot Wasilchak will try to keep Valley View on top and continue the family success in coaching, starting with his late father, Jerry, and continuing with his older brother and current assistant, Jeff. Jerry Wasilchak was inducted into the Pennsylvania State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame for his work in making Lakeland into a powerhouse.
Shane Grodack takes over at Western Wayne and Mose Perry is the new Susquehanna coach.
A look at each division, in order of projected finish:
DIVISION 1
Stanford commit Aiden Black, a mobile 6-foot-3, 235-pound tight end/defensive end/linebacker, is back for his fourth season at Delaware Valley.
Justin Kalitsnik, last season’s leading tackler, and Ryder Machado, who picked off six passes, ran for 719 yards and scored 13 touchdowns, are also back. Kalitsnik is another four-year player while Machado is a three-year starter.
The Warriors have other key players back from the District 2 Class 5A championship, including 6-foot-6, 270-pound lineman Jacob Albaugh and leading receiver Jayden Ramirez.
Even with the district title and the second-place division finish, 2022 was a down year by the standards set during former Penn State tight end Keith Olsommer’s tenure as coach. The 7-6 overall record was the worst since the 2009 team.
Defending District 2 Class 3A champion Scranton Prep is led by the return of Louis Paris, who gradually took on more quarterback duties as the 2022 season progressed and wound up producing 1,865 yards and 22 touchdowns combined rushing and passing as a sophomore.
Quinten Palermo took over when Penn State’s London Montgomery was lost for the year with a preseason knee injury. He ran for more than 1,000 yards.
Lineman Nyeem Gonzalez, linebacker Andrew Summa and wide receiver/defensive back Liam Barrett are all returning division all-stars.
Wasilchak takes over at Valley View after serving as offensive coordinator on last season’s championship team.
“I think most of my coaching style comes from my dad,” said Wasilchak, a former running back and defensive back for the Cougars. “Then I played for coach (Frank) Pazzaglia. My dad told me, ‘You listen to everything he says.’
“Obviously, I started coaching under my brother after that. The game evolved at that point a little differently defensively so we kind of changed some things. Then most recently under coach (George) Howanitz, I think I learned a lot about how to build a program.”
In addition to his time at Valley View, Wasilchak has been an assistant at Lackawanna Trail and Lakeland.
Dominic Memo, whose game-winning touchdown catch-and-run in the last 90 seconds lifted Valley View over Scranton Prep for the division title, is back. Linemen Jerry Wasilchak and Steven Halloran are also back, along with receiver/defensive back Chris Savkov.
Javon James, who may have been the division’s top lineman a year ago, returns at Scranton.
Billy Maloney is also back. The dual-threat quarterback also made a big impact in the secondary. Maloney passed for 1,451 yards and 19 touchdowns while running for 912 yards and eight scores. He intercepted six passes and broke up 11 more.
The passing combination of Shawn Theodore to Mason Fedor returns at Abington Heights, which started 1-6 overall before knocking off contenders Scranton and Delaware Valley. The Comets disrupted the Division 1 race and finished 3-3, tying Scranton for fourth in the seven-team division.
Theodore passed for 1,565 yards and 12 touchdowns. Fedor caught 49 passes for 660 yards and six touchdowns.
North Pocono and Wallenpaupack will need to improve defensively to bounce back from off seasons.
North Pocono slipped to 2-4 in the division and 4-7 overall, allowing 29.5 points per game. Wallenpaupack lost its last nine after winning the opener.
DIVISION 2
Leading tackler Nick Donvito is one of nine defensive starters returning for Dunmore, which went 8-4 and reached the District 2 Class 2A final.
The Bucks also return nine starters on offense, including four-year quarterback Thomas Bowen and his top three receivers in terms of yardage – Domenic DeSando, Danny Pigga and Lorenzo Mitchell.
Grodack takes over at Western Wayne, which was 9-3 and played in the District 2 Class 3A final. The Wildcats lost dynamic wide receiver/defensive back Sean Owens for the season with a back injury. Fullback Carter Mistishin is the top returnee.
“I think anybody that coaches football always has it in the back of their mind how they would do things if they were to be the head guy,” said Grodack, who also coached in the Marine Corps before spending the last 15 seasons as an assistant at Western Wayne. “I was lucky enough to serve under three head coaches (Butch Keller, Donnie McDonough and Randy Wolff) that really ran good programs. When the opportunity arose when Randy decided to step down and I saw the returning starters that we had, I said ‘maybe, it’s time to me to step up and take the reigns’, and I did.”
Grodack takes over at a good time in the program’s history.
“There’s no hiding that,” he said. “These are players that Randy recruited. He’s not the type of guy that wants all the credit or accolades, but he deserves it. I learned a lot from him.
“Imitation is the finest form of flattery and a lot of what he has down the last seven years at Western Wayne, I’m going to emulate. I feel it was done right and the proof is there.”
Lakeland suffered heavy graduation losses from a team that won its first 12 games as well as division and district titles.
Leading tackler Andrew Gelderman returns for the Chiefs, the LFC’s top-scoring team a year ago at 41.8 points per game. Tackle Lyndon Bello is the only full-time starter back from that offense that also returns Riley Rovinsky, part of the receiver rotation from a pass-first attack.
Honesdale will try to continue its progress after reaching .500 overall in the regular season last year.
West Scranton broke a 21-game losing streak in last season’s opener, the debut of former Old Forge player Jake Manetti as head coach. Though showing improvement overall, the Invaders picked up just one more win the rest of the season.
Mid Valley slipped to 2-8 overall and was winless in the division. Quarterback/defensive back Jordan Chmielewski returns to lead the Spartans.
DIVISION 3
Riverside returns record-setting receiver Reese Gaughan and much more from a team that finished second in the division. Gaughan was District 2’s leading receiver, catching 61 passes for 1,055 yards and 12 touchdowns.
All-star linebacker Robbie Garvey and all-star defensive lineman Zack Chilek are also back for the Vikings along with quarterback Chase Taddonio, versatile back Casey O’Brien and linemen Richie Kostoff and Ed Snee.
Lackawanna Trail also returns most of the key players from the team that defeated Old Forge in overtime for the District 2 Class A title and then added a District 1-2 Subregional championship.
The Lions bring back their top six rushers, their quarterback and several top linemen and defenders.
Senior fullback/linebacker Hunter Patterson, junior receiver/defensive back Max Kimmel and sophomore lineman Cooper Patterson lead the way along with Lukas Gumble, who rushed for 931 yards and 13 touchdowns.
“We definitely have some pieces this year,” said Lions coach Steve Jervis, a former Tunkhannock quarterback and head coach. “We have some really good football players with a lot of quality experience.”
Old Forge will have a hard time extending its streak of five straight LFC division titles.
“There’s a big turnover this year for us,” said coach Mike Schuback of the Blue Devils, who join Lakeland as the LFC teams hardest hit by graduation.
Joey Granko, an all-star tight end and the team’s top tackler, is back.
Kicking specialist Isaih Rodriguez returns after hitting the field goal against Riverside to decide the division title.
Kael Krushnowski made some late-season starts at running back and finished with 456 rushing yards.
Leading rusher, receiver and scorer William Marcy returns at Susquehanna where he could end up at quarterback if the Sabers return to heavy use of option football in Perry’s first season.
Susquehanna also has senior Colton Stone, a strong-armed, 6-foot-5, 240 pounder who made his first quarterback start as a freshman and has run the team the past two seasons. Marcy at quarterback would make Stone a tight end along with playing defensive end.
Perry has served as an assistant in the varsity and junior high programs at Susquehanna.
Darryl Bennett returns at quarterback for a young and inexperienced Carbondale team that brings back just three starters on offense and four on defense.
Holy Cross, which was winless a year ago, has a small roster with just three offensive and five defensive starters returning.
INDEPENDENT
Montrose, a Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association member in all its other sports, is in the second year of a process to try to rebuild its program under Steve Hinds.
After winning just once in 36 games in a span of more than five years, the Meteors picked up three victories last season. The next step might be difficult with just three returning starters and a roster of 20 that Hinds says includes 10 that are first-time players.
Quarterback/running backs Wyatt Nabywaniec and Hudson Aukema return along with receiver/defensive end Landon Baker.