New coach overhauling Quaker Valley football program

By: Ray Fisher
Sunday, May 18, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Tom Eshenbaugh has a strong background in business leadership.

He hopes to utilize that knowledge to help restore the Quaker Valley football program to the land of respectability.

Eshenbaugh, 45, recently was named head coach of the QV varsity football team. Along with his business ties in the private sector, he has a history with the Quakers that began more than a decade ago.

“We’ve started an accountability challenge where the players are broken up into teams,” Eshenbaugh said. “Teams are led by select seniors (Atticus Barr, Logan Benedict, Quincy Hopkins, Ty Popowich, Ben McHenry). They were chosen based upon their commitment to the program to this point. The players on each team earn points for things like attendance, high GPAs and attending school events like other sporting events, concerts, etc.

“Points can also be lost. So far, the boys have really accepted the challenge and are competing daily to earn points. We hope that this culture will help drive roster numbers in the future, by being leaders in the school district.”

Eshenbaugh and his staff of coaches — offensive coordinator Scott Lazarus, defensive coordinator Jack Martha and assistants Paul Mulbah, Adam Cross and Smith Johnson — are looking to play junior varsity and varsity schedules in 2025.

“I’ve been spending a lot of my time reaching out to students within the school to help build our roster size,” Eshenbaugh said. “We have 41 players on the roster, and our goal is to get close to 50. Ultimately, I want to play a full JV schedule this year. It’s part of the process of building a successful program.”

Eshenbaugh was QV’s junior high coach and varsity assistant from 2017-2022 and previously served as president of the Quaker Valley Football Boosters and youth football organization. He also coached middle school softball.

“We have installed new offensive and defensive schemes this year,” Eshenbaugh said. “Offensively, we will operate the Wing T. Defensively, we have started to install an odd-front 3-4. This will allow us to better utilize the players who are on our roster. Both Scott and Jack have being doing a great job teaching the boys and installing.”

Eshenbaugh has coined a unique phrase for the type of football he expects the Quakers to play.

“On the field, we will play fast and physical or, as I like to call it, ‘Organized Chaos,’” Eshenbaugh said. “Off the field, I expect the players to be people first, students second and players third. We want our players to leave us being great young adults.

“Football is a privilege. Give us your all while you’re here, and hopefully walk away being community leaders, great students and respectful young adults.”

A native of East Palestine, Ohio, Eshenbaugh is employed as Operations and HR Director at Johnstone Supply, a leading HVACR wholesale distributor of equipment, parts and supplies.

He has replaced Jason Cappa as the Quakers’ field boss. Cappa was head coach for three seasons. He started at Quaker Valley in 2019 as a line coach for the football team, a middle school softball coach and a paraprofessional in the life skills classroom at the high school.

Eshenbaugh returns to the QV sideline after working as special teams coordinator and position coach for running backs, tight ends and defensive backs at Freedom.

“We are excited to welcome Tom back to Quaker Valley as our head football coach,” athletic director Mike Mastroianni said. “Tom has always demonstrated outstanding leadership, and we look forward to his guidance and mentorship of our entire football program.

“He is already moving forward with putting things in place and has a full spring and summer schedule planned. I am sure he is planning to make sure we are winning in all areas of our program and laying a strong foundation for our younger players to follow.”

Eshenbaugh’s philosophy, according to an announcement on the school district website, is centered around the holistic development of student-athletes and his focus is on “people first, stellar students second, fierce athletes third.”

“I am extremely thrilled to return to what has always felt like home,” he said. “The support of the community has been positively overwhelming. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re already seeing positive results.

“We’re going to build a team that is resilient, disciplined, and plays with heart.”

Eshenbaugh and his wife Maria have two daughters, Hannah and Mya, and a son, Gavin, a former gridder for the Quakers. The Eshenbaugh family resides in Leetsdale.

The crown jewel for the QV football program was the 2017 season when the Quakers won their first and only WPIAL and PIAA Class 3A championships and finished 14-1 overall.

After that historic season, the program has gone on a decline, posting a record of 8-45 over the past six seasons.

QV is a member of the Class 3A Western Hills Conference along with Avonworth, Beaver, Central Valley, Hopewell, McGuffey and North Catholic.

Avonworth, Beaver and Central Valley tied for the conference championship in 2024. The Antelopes went on to win the WPIAL title, blanking Central Valley, 17-0, in the district finals, then finished second in the state playoffs.

QV ended up in sixth place in the conference with a 1-5 record and finished 2-7 overall. The Quakers averaged 14.6 ppg last season while allowing 31.7 ppg.

“We have a mini-camp planned the last two weeks in May,” Eshenbaugh said, “and summer workouts four days a week starting in June through the start of heat accumulation.”

The six seniors on the 2024 squad who will graduate this spring are Dominic Cox-Giles, Jack Diemert, Nico Cardinale, Sebastian Juarez-Safran, Ty Kretzler and Lance Burns.

QV defeated Valley, 34-14, in Week 4 and McGuffey, 33-10, in Week 9.

Diemert ended his high school career on the gridiron by rushing for 190 yards and three scores against McGuffey in his team’s season finale. He also rushed for 110 yards and scored three times against Valley.

“I thought we all played very well against McGuffey,” Diemert said. “We started a little slow in the beginning, but we started to work together as a team, and it started to pick up.”

On the year, Diemert ran 589 yards and 12 touchdowns on 141 carries. He picked up most of his yardage behind the blocking of an offensive line consisting of Juarez-Safran (6-foot-2, 305) and Kretzler (5-11, 305) at guard, freshman tackle Tyler Cunnard (6-1, 210), junior tackle Kris Brown (6-3, 220) and sophomore center Aris Haniotes (6-3, 216).

Diemert accounted for 1,022 yards on the season, averaging 113.6 per game. He caught 23 passes for 146 yards and added 287 yards on kickoff returns. Defensively, Diemert led the Quakers in tackles with 109 (56 solo, 53 assisted).

Barr, a junior quarterback in 2024, passed for 103 yards and a touchdown in the season finale against McGuffey. Barr’s 17-yard TD pass to junior wideout Benedict in the first quarter gave the Quakers the lead for good.

“We started off a little slow on the first couple drives of the game against McGuffey,” Barr said, “but then we came together and started playing as a team and executing what we practiced.

“However, we struggled to do that consistently, and that was one of our biggest problems. If we played more consistently, we could’ve had a lot better record, I believe, because we couldn’t finish out games. But overall, I’m proud of our players and think we showed people we could make plays.”

QV scored four times in the first three quarters against the Highlanders, capped by McHenry’s 35-yard interception return in the third period to give the home team a 28-6 advantage.

McHenry rarely left the field in QV’s games. Along with holding down a receiving position, he rushed for 76 yards, picked up 481 yards on kickoff returns, returned punts and, on defense, ranked among the team leaders in tackles. He also racked up 110 yards on four interception returns.

Barr passed for 779 yards and four scores last fall. His favorite targets were Diemert and Cox-Giles, who nabbed 23 passes covering 223 yards.

Two other leading receivers were Benedict and McHenry, with 35 receptions for 350 yards between them. Other pass-catchers included juniors Rex Fatur and Jayden Juliano, sophomore Quentin Henderson and Barr. Juliano nabbed just one pass, but it was good for a 45-yard touchdown.

Diemert was complemented defensively by Cox-Giles, Haniotes, McHenry and Fatur, as well as Benedict, sophomore Josh Odom and senior Lance Burns.

Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Barr said all the young players on the 2024 squad will have a year of experience under their belts.

“We can have a good team because we have a lot of young talent and we are only losing a few players,” Barr said. “We just need to work in the offseason. I’m working hard and I’m going to be ready for my last season (at QV).”

Three of QV’s first four games in 2025 are at home at Chuck Knox Stadium. After kicking off the season Aug. 22 at home against Class 2A Freedom and on the road Aug. 29 against Class 2A Keystone Oaks, the Quakers host Freeport on Sept. 5 and North Catholic on Sept. 12 in their conference lid-lifter.

Tags: Quaker Valley