Westmoreland high school football notebook: Craggette gets comfortable at Southmoreland

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, August 24, 2023 | 7:25 PM

Da’sjon Craggette looked comfortable during a few training camp drills, making plays and laughing with his new teammates at Southmoreland.

“It’s gone better than I could have imagined,” said Craggette, a senior running back and safety who transferred from Greensburg Central Catholic — by way of Geibel, which does not have a football team but has a football co-operative with Southmoreland. “The atmosphere is better. I really like it here.”

Craggette, and two of his former GCC teammates, junior receiver/linebacker Ethan Shawley and junior lineman Jarrell Braxton, transferred to Geibel. The reason was there is no longer a bus route available from Connellsville, Fayette County, to Greensburg.

Shawley and Braxton also are playing for Southmoreland.

“I know for me, I didn’t have a (consistent) way to get to school every day,” Craggette said. “I don’t drive, and I didn’t want to put pressure on my dad to drive me all the time. I wanted to stay at GCC, trust me. I waited until late to decide. We just couldn’t make it work.”

WPIAL executive director Scott Seltzer said the transfers are eligible to play at Southmoreland for the regular season and playoffs.

“Those students, if they were still going to go to Greensburg Central, would have to provide their own transportation, which they couldn’t,” Seltzer said. “That’s a hike for some of them. So, when they canceled that (bus), the kids didn’t have any other choice but to go to Geibel. … That was something out of the students’ control, so they were deemed eligible.”

Craggette rushed for 1,003 yards and 16 touchdowns last season at GCC.

He said he would prefer to blend in, not stand out, at Southmoreland.

“I don’t want to come in here and be a star player,” he said. “I want everyone else to eat. I want to see my teammates succeed. I’d take winning over 1,000 yards any day.”

Leps No. 1

Belle Vernon, the returning WPIAL and PIAA champion, begins the season ranked No. 1 in the TribLive HSSN state rankings in Class 3A.

The Leopards are the only Westmoreland County team in the Trib’s WPIAL top-five rankings.

Scrimmage, take 2

Belle Vernon will not open the regular season like most teams Friday night.

The defending WPIAL and PIAA 3A champion instead will play a second scrimmage at 7 p.m. against Steel Valley at Charleroi.

Leopards coach Matt Humbert, who has 76 wins since he took over the program in 2014, said he prefers the second scrimmage over a game to get more “controlled” reps for backups and younger players. Think NFL preseason.

I know you 

First-year coaches and former teammates will meet Friday at Hempfield’s Spartan Stadium.

Spartans’ coach Nick Keefer will go against Ty George, the rookie coach at Greensburg Salem.

George played quarterback at Hempfield, with Keefer as his coach.

Another coaching connection to watch later in the season involves new Norwin coach Mike Brown, who was the leading man at Hempfield the past two seasons.

Brown will go against Hempfield in the last regular-season game, Oct. 27 at Norwin.

And when Southmoreland plays at Elizabeth Forward on Sept. 29, it will be a reunion for coaches.

New Warriors head coach John DeMarco was a multi-year assistant at Southmoreland under Scotties head coach Tim Bukowski.

In fact, the men also were assistants together at Clairton, where they won several championships and were part of a state-record 66-game winning streak.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon, Elizabeth Forward, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield