Sep 6, 2017 By Eleanor Bailey 3 min read

When Mt. Lebanon (1-1) steps on the football field to face Hempfield (0-1) in its Southeastern Conference opener, Blue Devil fans can expect to see a better team than the one that eked out a 32-27 victory against Fox Chapel and battled with top-ranked Pine Richland for a half before succumbing, 53-29.

Errors have plagued the Blue Devils. In their first two outings, they have turned the ball over six times and committed too many penalties to count. Mike Melnyk vows Lebo will clean up those things.

After the loss to the Rams, he said, “I’m proud of our kids but not satisfied with the outcome. Too many mistakes. They will be corrected.

“The process of improvement will continue this week,” Melnyk continued. “We will have to play better to win this week.”

Seth Morgan and Aidan Cain would be hard pressed to play any better.

Morgan moved into the starting spot at quarterback when veteran signal caller James Stocker suffered a knee injury in camp. Stocker had passed for more than 2,000 yards in 2016.

Morgan threw for 283 yards and four scores in the win against Fox Chapel. He completed 40 of 56 passes for 457 yards and three touchdowns in the loss to the Rams.

“It was a great game for his second start,” Melnyk said of Morgan, who is 58 of 91 for 740 yards this season.

Though five other players hauled in passes against Pine Richland, Morgan’s primary target has been Aidan Cain. (See related story.) The senior, who twice tore his ACL preventing him from seeing varsity action until this fall, broke two records in the loss to the Rams. He pulled in 25 passes for 348 yards and two TDs of nine and six yards.

For the season, Cain has 36 receptions for 575 yards.

“Aidan and Seth have developed a nice chemistry,” Melnyk said.

Meanwhile, Justin Sliwoski had a nice chemistry with his receivers. As Hempfield’s starting signal caller he passed for 2,009 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2016. Sliwoski, like Stocker, however, succumbed to an injury. He separated his shoulder in a 33-28 loss last week to Canon-McMillan (2-0).

However, Blake Remaley, like Morgan, stepped in successfully for the Spartans. He completed 13 of 26 passes for 192 yards and two scores.

With Morgan and Cain, Lebo hopes not to miss a beat. They do not want to find themselves in a similar situation as last season when the Spartans handed the Blue Devils their lone league loss. Lebo, however, rebounded and earned a share in the conference championship and the No. 1 seed out of the division in the 2016 playoffs.

“This is a new year so we just want to improve this week and play well,” Melnyk said. “It’s our conference opener and last year we had to chase the leaders all year. We hope to avoid that this year.”