Week 1 doesn\u2019t make or break a high school football season.<\/p>\n
Teams and players might flash their potential under the bright Friday night lights for the first time, but the reality is they\u2019re learning on the fly. Most are still finding their way, especially given the fact that they were practicing in pads for only a week and a half tops ahead of their openers.<\/p>\n
Back in the day, teams went through two-plus weeks of grueling two-a-days and were tested in two preseason scrimmages. Now, there\u2019s a week of heat acclimatization workouts with no pads and no tackling, one week of legitimate double sessions and only one scrimmage, before teams already are in game week mode for their season openers.<\/p>\n
Not only are teams and players challenged physically, but the current setup also can be taxing mentally. How will they react in certain situations? They won\u2019t know until the stadium lights are turned on, the band is playing, the stands are filled with family members and friends and the games count.<\/p>\n
Take Hazleton Area, which held a second-half lead exactly once during a rebuilding 2025 season. When the Cougars jumped ahead of West Scranton early in the third quarter on Friday, they were in uncharted territory. They wound up losing, 38-17, in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated.<\/p>\n
A couple defensive breakdowns here, a few missed tackles there and a sputtering offense over the rest of the second half cost them, as they undoubtedly learned in film sessions over the previous few days.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were right there,\u201d second-year had coach Scott Sacco said. \u201cBut then again it\u2019s Week 1. It\u2019s the first time on the field, in a game. \u2026We knew it was going to be sloppy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cougars\u2019 cause certainly wasn\u2019t helped when starting quarterback JJ Lantigua left the game with an injury and taken to the hospital toward the end of the second quarter. Still, backup Jayson Arroyo came on and led the third-quarter scoring drive that gave his team its only lead and its final hurrah.<\/p>\n
West Scranton then put the ball in the hands of its dynamite freshman quarterback and his experienced corps of playmakers. In the end, the Invaders had too many of them to spoil Hazleton Area\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a back-and-forth game,\u201d Sacco said. \u201cWe were making some plays (and) they were making some plays. \u2026JJ was having a heck of a game\u2026 but we couldn\u2019t get into our pass game after he went down. After his injury happened, it sucked the wind out of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
To their credit, the Cougars came out of the locker room on fire. Sophomore linebacker Alex Fedorko\u2019s interception jump-started the scoring drive that put them ahead. Xavier Heck\u2019s strong running and a fired-up offensive line sparked the surge.<\/p>\n
Their momentum, however, didn\u2019t last.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy with how we responded at the start of the second half.. and were able to punch the ball in,\u201d Sacco said. \u201cWe just need to step up better on defense. It fell apart for us. We thought if we got one more stop ad scored again, the game was ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Sacco\u2019s team, that didn\u2019t happen. Now, another emotional challenge looms.<\/p>\n
If the Cougars can learn from their second-half mistakes, Week 1 can be a valuable tool as they forge ahead starting with this Friday\u2019s trip to Williamsport led by another ace quarterback in Tevin Williams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Week 1, games are going to be ugly,\u201d Sacco conceded. \u201cWith the different rules in place, it\u2019s hard to be able actual teach physical tackling until you have to do it come game time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sacco has a point \u2013 offenses have the upper hand in early season games.<\/p>\n
In other season openers involving local teams, Palmerton rallied to beat Marian, 34-33; Lehighton outscored Tamaqua, 44-20; Panther Valley outlasted Mahanoy Area, 34-25; and Jersey Shore won a 49-34 shootout over North Schuylkill.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot of points.<\/p>\n
But not for Week 1.<\/p>\n
At least nowadays.<\/p>\n
Lantigua update<\/p>\n
Following a lengthy delay, Lantigua was taken off the field on a stretcher after getting hit on his second-quarter scramble. He eventually raised his arm to indicate he was OK as his teammates rushed to his side, including Arroyo, who was the last Cougar to offer well wishes.<\/p>\n
Sacco arrived at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton soon after the game, only to learn Lantigua was about ready to be released.<\/p>\n
Sunday, Sacco said Lantigua would be evaluated further during the week.<\/p>\n
Dazzling debuts<\/p>\n
Hat\u2019s off to Panther Valley\u2019s Cy Maynard and North Schuylkill\u2019s Brock Holmes for their sensational debuts as varsity signal callers.<\/p>\n
Maynard rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns and completed 9 of 12 passes for 93 yards in the Panthers\u2019 win over Mahanoy Area. Holmes carried a whopping 26 times for 88 yards and five scores and was 9 of 13 passing for 83 yards in the Spartans\u2019 loss at Jersey Shore.<\/p>\n
Their performances certainly ease the transition from Brody Breiner at PV and Caden Mengel at North Schuylkill. Both were multiple-year starters at their respective schools.<\/p>\n
Griguoli\u2019s game to remember<\/p>\n
Marian\u2019s Rocco Griguoli had himself a game in the Colts\u2019 loss to Palmerton.<\/p>\n
He was on the receiving end of five Gregory Tirpak passes for 172 yards and two TDs, not one as reported in Sunday\u2019s edition. On defense, he recorded a quarterback sack and deflected two passes.<\/p>\n
The Colts will try to break into the win column against Panther Valley this Friday.<\/p>\n
They know full well a Week 1 loss won\u2019t define them.<\/p>\n
Nor should it.<\/p>\n
DAVE SEAMON has been the Standard-Speaker sports editor since 2008. He has covered local high school sports since 1983. Contact him at dseamon@standardspeaker.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Week 1 doesn\u2019t make or break a high school football season. Teams and players might flash their potential…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[5523,305,182,803,28,231,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-276604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-carbon-county","tag-high-school-sports","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-schuylkill-county","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276604","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=276604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}