A new era of football with a familiar face as coach begins at Scranton.<\/p>\n
Jack Miles, who helped shape and define a tenacious defense with the Knights during their championship heyday in the early 2010s, enters his first year as head coach. He takes over a program that is rebuilding its roster and infusing energy he hopes will lead to success.<\/p>\n
The Knights, who reached the District 2 Class 6A final but lost their last seven games of the season, have only five starters returning. However, Scranton had several players receive varsity experience last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing stinks, but it helps you understand that awful feeling and how hard you have to work to get out of that feeling,\u201d Scranton receiver Trevon Castellano said. \u201cYou have to remember the losses, but you also have to have short memories and build a winning attitude from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Running back Ismael Salazar carried the ball 59 times for 197 yards and a touchdown. He also had eight catches for 74 yards.<\/p>\n
Darius McCollum is Scranton\u2019s lone returning lineman.<\/p>\n
Chris Manning and Jack Cabets are expected to compete for the quarterback position. Last season, Cabets completed 28 of 52 passes for 274 yards and a touchdown. Manning completed 19 of 39 for 175 yards and ran for 24 yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited to get into it,\u201d Manning said. \u201cThe coaching has been great. We are implementing some new plays. I got good experience last year. It\u2019s an intense game. You have to put it all out there. You have to have the right mentality, and you have to be physical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wide receiver Shawn Fairweather and lineman Damien Phillips are also key offensive newcomers for the Knights.<\/p>\n
Scranton has three starters back on defense. Linebacker Nate Duffy, who saw action in 10 games last season, had 29 total tackles. He and Jacob Tomczyk, who had 19 tackles last season, give the Knights some talent at the second level.<\/p>\n
Alex Esposito returns at cornerback. He had one interception and one pass defended as a sophomore.<\/p>\n
Junior Brian Newcomb and sophomore Amir Wright are expected to give the Knights a lift at defensive end.<\/p>\n
Scranton players know that competing in the Lackawanna Football Conference Division I will be a challenge as they transition under a new coaching staff. However, after the offseason and summer, they are optimistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are really excited,\u201d Castellano said. \u201cWe have a young group, but a talented group. We want an opportunity, and we have to stay strong. We have to have some consistency and be aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
FAST FACTS<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Head coach: Jack Miles (1st season, 0-0).<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Division: LFC I.<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Last season: 2-9 overall; 0-6 (Seventh in LFC I).<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Male enrollment: 676, Class 6A.<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Home field: Scranton Veterans Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Overall record: 170-208-2.<\/p>\n
\u25a0 District 2: (Class 4A) 2003, 2011.<\/p>\n
\u25a0 LFC I: 2002, 2003, 2011, 2012.<\/p>\n
SCHEDULE<\/p>\n
Aug. 28: at Pocono Mountain West (6A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 4: North Pocono (4A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 11: at Emmaus (6A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 18: Wallenpaupack (4A), 7<\/p>\n
Sept. 25: Valley View (4A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct.\u00a0 2: at Wyoming Valley West (6A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct.\u00a0 9: at Delaware Valley (5A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct. 16: West Scranton (6A), 6<\/p>\n
Oct. 23: at Abington Heights (5A), 7<\/p>\n
Oct. 30: Scranton Prep (3A), 7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new era of football with a familiar face as coach begins at Scranton. Jack Miles, who helped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4855,305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-272331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-gameface","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}