Loaded with playmakers, Sto-Rox looks to get over WPIAL championship hump

By: Antonio Rossetti
Sunday, August 21, 2022 | 12:01 PM

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The Sto-Rox Vikings outscored their opponents by 39 points on average last season. The Vikings shut out four foes, making it all the way to the WPIAL semifinals.

The team’s explosive offense had three wide receivers accrue over 500 yards in the air. Zay Davis, Jaymont Green-Miller and Dre Miller-Ross all made an impact offensively.

“You never know who’s going to make the big play,” Davis said. “You are always trying to make the most of it when you get the ball.”

Sto-Rox finished first in its conference for the third season in a row, going 12-1 with an undefeated 5-0 conference record. The Vikings have made the WPIAL finals two of the last three seasons.

This season, the team brings in a new coach in Marvin Mills, who is a former Aliquippa football and basketball coach and is the current JV basketball coach at Sto-Rox.

“I coached basketball there, JV basketball there,” Mills said. “I saw that the position was coming open and football was my first love. I applied and had a couple of interviews. I will say it was successful because I’m here now.”

Mills is happy that he gets to coach the sport that was his first love. Mills isn’t changing the offense. Nonetheless, he wants to put the team over the hump.

He is bringing lessons learned at Aliquippa, which has won a record 18 WPIAL titles, to Sto-Rox. It took some adjusting, but the coaches sat down with the players and everyone bought in.

One player who trusts in Mills is senior starting quarterback Josh Jenkins.

Jenkins had a breakout season last year, throwing for 1,471 yards with 21 TDs.

“It’s been a lot different than coach (LaRoi) Johnson,” Jenkins said. “Coach Mills definitely brings a different attitude to the table. He’s a veteran, so he’s getting us right, for sure.”

Defensive anchor and three-sport athlete Amare Harper noted that the team hasn’t had many struggles with the coaching change.

“We have kids who know the game of football that have been here,” Harper said. “It just makes a lot of things easier, and we know we’re going to be here to play.”

Harper is a three-year starter who took a leadership role on the team last year. This year, he knows that he has to set a good example for the underclassmen.

“Last year was good,” Harper said. “I’ve been playing since I was a freshman, so I took a big role early. I had the older guys with me last year, but now I’m the older one, so I have to lead the younger ones.”

Jenkins also feels like he needs to continue to step up as a leader. Jenkins learned a lot from the players before him and he attributes a lot of the team’s success to lessons learned when he first started playing. He reflects back to when he was a freshman and how much the 2019 team meant to him.

“All of our underclassmen, we just wanted to be there,” Jenkins said. “We wanted to be a part of something and we wanted to be a part of a team. We always bought in and for them teaching us like that, we took that with us and now we’re teaching our underclassmen the same thing that they taught us.”

Jenkins didn’t start at quarterback the first four games last season but still rose in the ranks as one of the best passers in the WPIALs. He wants to continue his success this season, but this time, he wants to bring home a WPIAL title.

“Just doing the little things,” Jenkins said. “Showing up to practice, giving every drill your all at 110%. I’d say showing leadership, not giving attitude, and just the little things will help us get over the hump.”

The senior quarterback also focuses on school just as much as football as he is near the top of his class and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Davis is also a standout in the classroom as he holds a 3.7 GPA. He takes football very seriously as he sees it as a way to make it in the world. He, Jenkins and the team prioritized faith in the past couple seasons.

The rising senior credits a lot of his success last season to focusing on the little things. He looks to progress even further this year.

“I was working on my mistakes,” Davis said. “For me, I was just seeing what I was doing wrong, watching film and seeing what I can do better in games, and then towards the end, I was just making less and less mistakes. That’s what was putting me in a better position.”

Miller-Ross, a cornerback and wide receiver, wants to strengthen the team’s bond this season. Miller-Ross was a member of the Trib HSSN preseason all-star team.

“We’ve been in the weight room more. We get together more and we’re bonding more,” Miller-Ross said. “We had a lot of seniors leave and we all got to get our team chemistry back.”

Wide receiver Jaymont Green-Miller sees the team’s experience and star-studded offense as an advantage. He can’t wait to get back on the field.

“It’s really great because we are all special,” Green-Miller said. “With a quarterback that’s skilled like Josh, it’s really cool to have receivers like us. We all had 500-plus yards and we just make plays when we get the ball.”

Green-Miller was an all-state and all-conference wide receiver last season.

“I’ve been trying to hit the field,” Green-Miller said. “Just getting ready and just doing the little things that get myself better from what I did from last year. I’m just trying to keep building up.”

Coby Hale, Diego Lewis, Eric McGuire and Amere Hibbler are other returning players who are poised to make an impact.

The Vikings know how important this year is for the football program for years to come. Miller-Ross wants to give the community what it wants and win a WPIAL title.

“They show a lot of love and we show a lot of love,” Miller-Ross said. “It’s amazing, though. I love playing in front of our fans.”

“Our goals are definitely the same as in the past: to make it to the playoffs and even to the championship,” Mills said. “But our goal is to be able to win the championship this year. Not just be there, but win it. Don’t expect anything less.”

Sto-Rox

Coach: Marvin Mills

2021 record: 12-1, 5-0 in Class 2A Three Rivers Conference

All-time record: 315-245-9

SCHEDULE

Date, Opponent, Time

9.2 Steel Valley, 7

9.9 at Avonworth, 7

9.16 at Charleroi*, 7

9.23 Keystone Oaks*, 7

9.30 at McGuffey*, 7

10.7 Washington*, 7

10.14 at Brentwood*, 7

10.21 Waynesburg*, 7

10.28 at Seton-LaSalle, 7

*Conference game

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Josh Jenkins

66-95, 1,471 yards, 21 TDs

Rushing: Jaymar Pearson*

76-1,302 yards

Receiving: Zay Davis

29-645 yards

FAST FACTS

• Sto-Rox is undefeated on its home field on new turf that was installed in 2018.

• The Vikings have two WPIAL titles in school history, one in 1987 and their first title in 1966.

• Sto-Rox is 31-5 the past three seasons.

Note: Due to publishing scheduling conflicts, the preview for Century Conference team Charleroi will appear on Trib HSSN later this week.