Football kicks off with heat drills Aug. 5
Luke Gillen practices his kicking during South Fayette summer drills. The football season officially kicks off Aug. 5 with heat acclimatization workouts across Western Pennsylvania.
Although most teams have been training in the warm temperatures during summer voluntary workouts, high school football officially opens for the 2024 season with heat acclimatization drills on Aug. 5.
The first practices in full pads will start Aug. 12 and teams will engage in their first scrimmages on either Aug. 16 or Aug. 17. Teams may participate in their first game on Aug. 22 or 23 or they could compete in another scrimmage.
The Almanac readership area welcomes two new head coaches in Greg Perry at Mt. Lebanon and Marty Spieler at South Fayette while Phil Peckich enters his sophomore season at the helm at Bethel Park.
At 35, Aaron Fitzpatrick is also still relatively young in his post as Chartiers Valley skipper. Although he has been affiliated with the program for 13 years prior, he enters his third season as head coach.
Mike Junko enters his sixth campaign at his alma mater, Upper St. Clair while TJ Plack is the elder statesman. Even though he has been at the helm since 2019, he is still learning.
During last season’s championship campaign where the Indians racked up a 15-1 record with a conference and WPIAL championship to go along with a PIAA trophy, Plack said he ‘saw the light’ in a coach’s trite, but true, quote.
“Honestly, it is something I have always known and heard but never actually saw,” he said. To win championships he said, “Obviously you have to be good, lucky at times and be healthy.
“In all 16 of our games, we stayed relatively healthy. Because of our depth, we were able to sub more and give guys a breather since we had a lot of two-way players.
“You can’t burn the candle on both ends, win every game and not be healthy,” he continued. “In the end, we stayed relatively injury free.”
The Indians kickoff the season battling natural rival Canon-McMillan at 7 p.m. Aug. 23 in Canonsburg but the game to watch that evening will be USC hosting arch rival Mt. Lebanon. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Other dates to remember and Games of The Week not to miss this fall will be:
Sept. 6: Peters Township at Mt. Lebanon
Sept. 13: Mt. Lebanon at Central Catholic
Sept. 20: McKeesport at USC
Sept. 27: USC at Peters Township
Oct. 4: Mt. Lebanon at North Allegheny
Oct. 11: USC at Bethel Park
Oct. 18: Bethel Park at South Fayette
Oct. 25: Bethel Park at Peters Township