After offseason upheaval, Pine-Richland has something to prove

By: Chris Harlan
Thursday, August 19, 2021 | 6:01 AM

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Pine-Richland is a defending WPIAL and PIAA champion, but the Rams aren’t focused on last year. At this point, that undefeated season seems long ago.

“Even though we won a state championship, I feel we have a chip on our shoulder,” senior Jeremiah Hasley said. “There’s a lot of doubt about what we can do this year with everything that has happened.”

First, the Rams graduated 17 starters from a senior class that went 32-5 over the past three seasons with two WPIAL titles, a state championship and three WPIAL finals appearances. The Rams graduated a 2,600-yard passer, a 1,200-yard receiver and a number of other standouts now playing in college.

That alone would make this a transition year.

Then in April, the returning players were stunned when coach Eric Kasperowicz was fired after eight seasons following a school district investigation into allegations of hazing and bullying that he has denied. When Kasperowicz left Pine-Richland, so did his entire coaching staff.

Bewildered, this year’s senior class leaned on one another.

“We’ve all known each other since we started playing football,” said Hasley, a Duke linebacker recruit. “We are stronger as a team than as individual players. That’s really what I’m going to be focused on: team. Even with all that happened these past few months, we’ve seen the team stay together.”

At first there were signs and protests in the community, but the players’ focus returned to football once Steve Campos, a former Seneca Valley assistant with a long coaching resume, was hired as head coach in June. Among his previous jobs, Campos was head coach at Bethany College from 1993-01.

There were some sleepless nights this summer, he said, but he saw the team come together in recent weeks.

“There was a line drawn in the sand and people had to cross that line,” Campos said. “I told them, this ship is leaving dock. You’re either on or you’re not. Some people jumped on and made their home. Some of them were on the ship but dragging their feet. Now, everybody’s on the ship.”

The first task was filling those 17 opening in the lineup, but Campos said nobody’s job was safe.

“When you first go in there, everybody has a clean slate,” he said. “That’s what I told them. If you think you have a position, you don’t. If you think someone else has a position, they don’t. Everybody has to put forth their best effort.”

He sees the offensive line as a potential strength, so the Rams will lean on them and senior running back Brooks Eastburn to ease quarterback Cole Boyd into his first varsity starts. Eastburn ranked third on the team in both carries (39) and rushing yards (358). He scored five times.

The line is anchored around junior center Isaiah Kerns (6-1, 265), who returns as a starter.

Among those expected to join Kerns are guards Jacob Domer and Sam Greene and tackles Jalen Klemm and Jake Beam. Klemm, a first-year starter and the son of Steelers line coach Adrian Klemm, already has Division I college offers. Domer is a returning starter on the defensive line.

“We should be able to run the ball,” Campos said. “If you can run the ball, then you can build a pass. You’re not going out there trying to pass first and occasionally run the ball.”

Campos isn’t abandoning the pass. He said Boyd has a good arm and is a strong leader but lacks experience, something he’ll gain each week this fall. Boyd went 10 for 19 passing last season for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s the kind of kid you’d want at quarterback,” Campos said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better than what he’s given us throughout this summer.”

His top targets will be senior Alex Gochis, junior Andrew Mellis and Hasley, who plays tight end or H-back. Gochis ranked second on the team with 31 catches for 400 yards and Hasley had 23 for 338. Mellis had six catches.

Defensively, the Rams return some experience. Hasley is back at linebacker after making 60 total tackles last season. Domer and defensive end Connor Lenz had 34 tackles each.

With only a couple of months until kickoff, Campos had to hurry to assemble a coaching staff. Two former Pine-Richland players, Max DeVinney and Zach Richert, will help him run the offense and defense, respectively. Steve Buches, a Central Catholic grad who played at Pitt, is the line coach.

Despite the circumstances, expectations remain high. The Rams want to win titles, Campos said, not just have a winning season.

“Any coach that takes over, you want to win your conference. That’s the most important thing,” he said. “Then you want to win the WPIAL and you’re shooting for state finals and a state championship. To say ‘a winning season,’ you can’t say that when you come to a school like this. Maybe at a school that’s had losing seasons for a long time, your goal is to have a winning season. Not here.”

Pine-Richland

Coach: Steve Campos

2020 record: 11-0, 5-0 in Class 5A Northeast Conference

All-time record: 377-279-13

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

8.28 Harrisburg**, 4:30

9.3 at Seneca Valley, 7:30

9.10 Central Catholic, 7

9.17 Upper Saint Clair, 7

9.24 at Gateway, 7

10.1 Penn Hills*, 7

10.8 at Shaler*, 7

10.15 at North Hills*, 7

10.22 Kiski Area*, 7

10.29 at Fox Chapel*, 7

*Conference game

**At Wolvarena

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Cole Spencer*

157-221, 2,626 yards, 33 TDs

Rushing: Cade Schweiger*

92-453, 11 TDs

Receiving: Eli Jochem*

64-1,271, 18 TDs

*Graduated

FAST FACTS

• Campos, a 1976 New Brighton graduate, has coached football since 1982. Along with nine seasons at Bethany, he also had stints as a college assistant at Memphis State, IUP, Texas El Paso, Marietta, Cal (Pa.), Washington & Jefferson and Robert Morris. He was an assistant coach at Seneca Valley for the past nine seasons.

• Hasley committed to Duke over Kent State and Marshall. He also had offers from Air Force, Army and Navy along with a number of FCS schools.

• The most-anticipated nonconference game on Pine-Richland’s 2020 schedule was canceled hours before kickoff when Gateway reported a positive covid-19 test. The teams are scheduled to play again this season, Sept. 24 at Gateway.

• Klemm lists more than a dozen Division I offers. Among them are Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Kansas State, Nebraska and N.C. State.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Pine-Richland