Loaded McGuffey welcomes favorite label in Class 2A
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Monday, August 24, 2020 | 11:55 PM
McGuffey’s McKinley Whipkey goes through drills during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey goes through drills during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey’s Nate Yagle goes through drills during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey’s Aiden Brookman goes through drills during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey’s Nate Cumer goes through drills during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey quarterback Rocco Falosk goes through drills during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey’s McKinley Whipkey goes through drills during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
McGuffey head coach Ed Dalton during workouts Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 at McGuffey High School.
Most coaches want to run away and hide from preseason expectations. McGuffey’s Ed Dalton is not like most coaches.
“We are the best team with a big roster and 17 starters back,” he said. “This is the best overall team I’ve had at McGuffey. We think we are Final Four good.”
Now in his ninth season at McGuffey and his 34th overall as a high school football coach, Dalton is optimistic despite the graduation of two studs on both sides of the ball in Marshall Whipkey and C.J. Cole.
The Highlanders will once again run the flex-bone offense with three seniors carrying the load in McKinley Whipkey, Nate Yagle and Jared Johnson.
“Our backfield could have three 1,000-yard runners,” Dalton said. “Whipkey is an old-school fullback and Yagle is a great returner.”
Yagle likes the combination of size and speed his team has on both sides of the ball.
“It’s amazing having so many players back,” he said. “Last year was pretty good, but I don’t think I’ve seen a better group all-around.”
Senior Rocco Falsok will start at quarterback. His primary job will be to read, react, hand off or run. The Highlanders only threw the ball 106 times a year ago.
Success in the run game begins up front, where McGuffey returns four linemen in seniors Grant and Aiden Brookman, Evan Wright and Nate Cumer.
A lot of those same names are among nine defensive starters back for McGuffey, including seven of the front eight linemen and linebackers.
“The defense has size and depth,” Dalton said. “We will look imposing and everyone can run.”
“We have a pair and a spare everywhere,” Dalton added, referring to his team’s depth.
In this day of roster concerns for nearly all of the smaller schools, that is not a worry for Dalton. The Highlanders have a 53-man roster, which is huge by Class 2A standards.
“We have 94 players in the youth program,” Dalton said.
The future is bright as the McGuffey JV team was 6-2 last year with both losses coming to 5A schools while the junior high team was a perfect 8-0.
Besides experience and depth, something in short supply for most programs, McGuffey is also building a tradition after some lean years pre-Dalton.
The Highlanders have had eight consecutive winning seasons, including a 9-3 record a year ago when McGuffey finished in second place in the Class 2A Century Conference behind nemesis Washington.
After eliminating South Side in the first round of the 2019 2A playoffs, McGuffey was stunned by Riverside in the quarterfinals, 41-27.
Expect McGuffey and Washington to be in the hunt this fall for the new-look Century Conference crown. The conference still has Charleroi, Beth-Center and Frazier in the mix, with new team Chartiers-Houston and Waynesburg replacing exiting Carmichaels, Southmoreland and Brownsville.
“The section has good talent from top to bottom,” Dalton said. “Every week matters in 2A.”
A conference crown isn’t the only thing McGuffey hopes to capture this fall.
“I’m looking at helping my team win the WPIAL championship,” Yagle said. “All respect to the other teams, but I haven’t seen a weak link in our team and I don’t think we will be stopped this year.
“I just want to have fun and play with my brothers out there one last time and make sure we make it one to remember.”
The Highlanders’ home underwent some major renovations in the offseason as well.
“Our stadium renovations make our facility elite,” Dalton said. “They are unreal for a 2A school.”
The new playing surface will really stand out, featuring the installation of a two-tone gray turf.
Dalton sums up the excitement around his program in six words: “It’s good to be a Highlander.”
Schedule
Coach: Ed Dalton
2019 record: 9-3, 6-1 in Class 2A Century Conference
All-time record: 281-416-25
Date, Opponent, Time
9.11, Washington*, 7
9.18, at Charleroi*, 7
9.25, Frazier*, 7
10.2 Linsly School (W. Va.), 7
10.9, at Waynesburg*, 7
10.16, Chartiers-Houston*, 7
10.23, at Beth-Center*, 7
*Class 2A Century Conferene game
Statistical leaders
Passing: Marshall Whipkey*
61-104, 1,265 yards, 21 TDs
Rushing: McKinley Whipkey
129-817 yards, 9 TDs
Receiving: C.J. Cole*
26-592 yards, 10 TDs
*Graduated
Fast facts
• Ed Dalton is closing in on a decade as head coach of the Highlanders after successful stops at Purchase Line, Mt. Pleasant, Altoona and Trinity.
• McGuffey started the 2019 season with eight straight wins before losing three of its final four games, including a 41-27 loss to Riverside in the 2A quarterfinals.
• The Highlanders open up this year at home against rival Washington after losing to the Prexies with a share of the conference title at stake in Week 9 the last two seasons. McGuffey has not beat Washington since a 14-12 triumph in 2009.
• Twenty-six years ago, McGuffey won its only WPIAL football championship when it beat Blackhawk, 12-6, to win the 1994 Class AAA title at Three Rivers Stadium.
Tags: McGuffey
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