`Piccirilli leads Devils surge, nabs Coach of Year honors`

By Jeff Greenburg
Herald Assistant Sports Edito

Paul Piccirilli, the head coach of the Sharpsville Blue Devils, will be the first to say the turnaround of his squad was far from a one-man effort.

But the responsibility for wins and losses ultimately comes back to the head man, and for his efforts in leading the Blue Devils to their most successful season in a decade, Piccirilli has been selected by The Herald sports staff as its first Coach of the Year.

``I appreciate that very much,'' Piccirilli said of the award. ``It means not only a lot to me, but it will mean a lot to our school. Hopefully, we can build from this down the line.''

Piccirilli, a long-time assistant at Mercer and Sharpsville before taking the reins at Sharpsville this season, inherited a team that had won only five games in two seasons and hadn't posted a winning mark in a decade.

``I think the Kennedy game was the biggest turnaround,'' Piccirilli said of the team's fourth game that clinched the school's first Mercer County Athletic Conference Class A title. ``Once we beat Kennedy, things started to steamroll. And then when we played Wilmington (although it was a 35-0 loss), everything started to come together. From then on it was a case of winning breeding success and confidence.''

Under his guidance, the Blue Devils _ with an energized community behind them _ advanced to the District 10 championship game for only the second time in school history, finishing the season 8-3. Sharpsville also garnered an honorable mention in the Harrisburg Patriot-News' final state football rankings this past week.

``We had a great coaching staff (in Gary Baker, Joe Joseph, Scott Sigworth, Len Grandy, Tom Patton, John Napotnik and Scott Scurpa),'' said Piccirilli, citing a key to his team's success. ``And I want to thank the administration for providing me with that staff.''

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Updated Dec. 17, 1996.