10 • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 • VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
KNIGHTS COMING BACK
TO GREATER ALLEGHENY
Good Luck To
All Football
Teams!
a 231
The Knoch football team has a clear goal in
mind this season.
The Knights are focused on returning to the
WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2014, and
with a core group of starters back, along with
others ready to make an impact, coach Brandon
Mowry is optimistic his team can make a run
in its revamped Class 4A conference.
“We are really looking forward to renewing
rivalries with our old Greater Allegheny Conference
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ELI REESE
Coach: Brandon Mowry
2019 record: 6-4, 4-3 in
Class 4A Northwest 8
All-time record: 303-302-13
SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Time
9.11 Highlands* 7
9.18 at Greensburg Salem* 7
9.25 Armstrong* 7
10.2 at Indiana* 7
10.9 Mars* 7
10.16 Plum* 7
10.23 at Hampton* 7
*CONFERENCE GAME
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Passing: Kam Grassi*
37-75, 517 yards, 5 TDs
Receiving: Scott Fraser*
20-255 yards, 4 TDs
Rushing: Matt Goodlin*
145-1,017 yards, 12 TDs
*GRADUATED
FAST FACTS
• Tyler Buterbaugh led the
Knights with 62 tackles last
year. He added three sacks.
• Knoch missed out on a trip
to the playoffs on a Gardner
Points tiebreaker each of the
past two seasons.
No. Name Pos. Ht/Wt. Cl.
3 Luke Goodlin RB/DE 5-10/160 Jr.
4 Keith Washington QB/FS/CB 5-9/155 Sr.
8 Gage Flanders WR/CB 5-10/115 Fr.
9 Keagan Fraser WR/RB/FS 6-1/175 Jr.
10 Brady Pflugh RB/MLB 5-6/150 Fr.
11 Nathan Hollenbaugh WR/CB 6-2/185 Jr.
12 JJ Szebalskie RB/OLB 5-10/160 Jr.
13 Jacob Danner WR/CB 5-3/110 Fr.
14 Christian Johnson RB/WR/OLB 5-11/175 Jr.
15 Dalton Schrecengost WR/OLB 5-9/125 Fr.
17 Logan Yesconis WR/CB 5-7/140 Fr.
19 Christian Boehler QB/CB 5-11/140 So.
20 Sean White RB/CB 5-3/125 Fr.
21 Riley Charles RB/CB 5-8/140 Fr.
23 Exzavier Johnson RB/OLB 6-1/165 Fr.
25 Zach Wojciechowski RB/MLB 5-9/150 Fr.
29 Chris Dawson RB/CB 5-7/110 Fr.
30 Zane Inklovich RB/OLB 5-10/150 Sr.
32 Tyler Buterbaugh WR/MLB 6-2/195 Sr.
33 Brayden Schroeder WR/CB 5-10/165 So.
39 Braden McCardle WR/CB 5-6/120 Fr.
40 Brendan Tristani K 5-10/155 Jr.
42 Cody Fike RB/CB 5-5/130 Fr.
44 Gavin McGowan RB/MLB 5-10/165 Jr.
45 Tony Nicolazzo RB/OLB 5-4/135 Fr.
50 Logan Harrison OT/MLB 5-10/200 Sr.
51 Nicholas Davis OG/NG 5-10/195 So.
52 Dustin Schlagel OG/NG 5-8/250 Sr.
53 Hunter Roenigk OT/DE 5-11/225 Sr.
54 Bennett Shaw OG/NG 5-3/145 Fr.
55 Trent Lawson OG/DE 5-7/165 Fr.
56 Caden Toy FB/MLB 5-10/160 Fr.
57 Matthew Carney OT/MLB 5-10/185 So.
58 Nathan Anthony OG/DE 5-11/170 So.
59 Eli Reese OG/DT/DE 6-3/270 Sr.
60 Hunter Essary OG/DE 5-7/180 Fr.
61 Zack Roenigk OT/DE 5-6/145 Fr.
62 Logan Klemm OG/DT 6-3/270 Jr.
63 Dalton Reed OT/NG 6-1/235 Sr.
64 Reed Curry OT/DE 6-0/200 Fr.
65 Michael Venesky OT/DT/DE 5-11/205 Jr.
70 Alex Cotton OG/MLB/DE 6-1/210 Jr.
71 Gage Steighner OG/DE 5-10/155 So.
72 Carter Scully OG/DT/DE 5-11/185 Jr.
73 Tyler Rapp OT/DE 5-11/220 Fr.
74 Nevin Peart OT/DE 5-11/205 Jr.
75 Camron Jakovac OT/DE 6-0/160 Fr.
77 Derek Snyder C/DE 5-5/170 Fr.
78 Tyler Conley OT/DE 5-10/195 Jr.
79 Ben Johnson OT/DE 5-10/175 Fr.
80 Logan Hooks WR/CB 5-10/155 So.
81 Jack Seibel WR/FS 5-5/125 Fr.
82 Caleb Miller WR/CB 5-9/150 Sr.
83 Owen Huff WR/CB 5-11/150 Jr.
84 Deven Whitacre WR/CB 6-1/155 Jr.
85 Kyle Lauster RB/OLB 5-10/175 Sr.
87 Jake Murphy WR/MLB 6-1/185 So.
88 Jaxson Donehue RB/OLB 5-10/155 Fr.
ROSTER
opponents,” Mowry said.
Gone from Knoch’s conference schedule
are South Fayette, Blackhawk, New Castle,
Montour, Beaver and Ambridge. Only rival
Highlands remains, and the Knights also will
face Armstrong, Greensburg Salem, Hampton,
Indiana, Mars and Plum.
“Back before we went to six (classifications),
we were the Greater Allegheny Conference,”
Mowry said. “We were playing these teams all
the time. We are familiar with a lot of the teams
because the coaching staffs, in some cases, have
been there for 10 to 12 years.”
The WPIAL, in response to the season-change
options from the PIAA, adopted a model for
football that involves both game movement
and elimination from the original schedules.
With Week Zero gone, Knoch no longer will
face defending WPIAL Class 3A champion
Central Valley. The Sept. 4 game against rival
Freeport now is a scrimmage, and the Week 10
conference game against Highlands has been
moved to Sept. 11. The nonconference contest
against Deer Lakes originally on Sept. 11 has
been eliminated.
“It’s good to have concrete plans for the season,
even though it’s a change,” Mowry said.
“Us football coaches, we tend to be very
detail-oriented with scheduling things and
scripting things out. We were in a holding
pattern for a while, so now we know what the
situation is, and we can put together a game
plan and get ready for the season.”
Despite the changes, Mowry said his team
remains focused on getting better before the
start of the season.
“No matter how you look at it, it’s going to be
a meat grinder because we aren’t going to have
the opportunity for any of those nonconference
games,” Mowry said.
“We are going to have to learn about ourselves
more in the practices leading up to the
season or on the fly in the scrimmages and
early games.”
Knoch returns six starters on offense and
five on defense. Three of those players, seniors
Hunter Roegnik (offensive tackle/defensive
end), Dalton Reed (offensive tackle/nose guard)
and Keith Washington (running back/cornerback)
were two-way performers in 2019.
Others back include senior Eli Reese (offensive
guard), junior Keagan Fraser (running
back), senior Tyler Buterbaugh (linebacker)and sophomore Jake Murphy (linebacker).
Roegnik, Reese, Reed and Buterbaugh earned
honorable mention all-conference honors in
2019.
“I am very excited for this season,” Buterbaugh
said. “It’s my senior year, and myself
and the other seniors, we are making sure we
help the team do the right things to be prepared
for whoever we go up against.”
Junior J.J. Szebalskie, who saw starting time
at running back last year, will move into the
quarterback spot in the triple-option offense.
“J.J. understands the offense and all of the
reads,” Mowry said. “He knows when to call
an audible to get us out of bad plays. With the
option, you have to be a running quarterback,and he can hold his own that way.”
Mowry said Washington and Fraser could
also factor in at quarterback.
Others expected to see time include seniors
Zane Inklovich (running back/linebacker),
Kyle Lauster (running back/linebacker) and
Dustin Schlagel (guard/nose guard); along with
juniors Nevin Peart (tackle/defensive end),Alex Cotton (guard/defensive end/linebacker),
Gavin McGowan (running back/middle
linebacker) and Luke Goodlin (running back/
defensive end).
“I think things can kind of play to our advantage
offensively and defensively being an odd
front. Not a lot of teams run those,” Mowry
said.
“The schemes we have on both sides of the
ball should play to our strong suits.”
by MICHAEL LOVE
GREATER ALLEGHENY • KNOCH
TYLER BUTERBAUGH