The Herald, Sharon, PA Published Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997
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  • SHARPSVILLE
    1997 season preview


    Sharpsville eyes return to `A' throne

    At this time a year ago, Paul Piccirilli wanted to restore the pride in the Sharpsville High School football program. And after guiding the Blue Devils to the District 10 Class A title tilt, consider the '96 campaign: Mission Accomplished.

    ``When you get a new staff, everybody's in an up-tempo, and everything went well,'' Piccirilli recalled. ``And I think a lot of teams didn't expect us to be as competitive, so I think we sneaked up on probably three-fourths of the teams in our league. So that was a big advantage to us.

    ``Overall, last year, the kids worked hard _ we've got good kids here at Sharpsville and they're hitters and they fly to the ball. So I think we did real well.''

    But the success of a year ago has elevated expectations, and Sharpsville, with a solid nucleus of returnees from last year's 8-3 squad, would have to be considered favored to defend its Mercer County Athletic Conference Class A crown.

    ``I think it's all carryover,'' Piccirilli, the second-year mentor, continued. ``We lost five or six kids (to graduation) _ three main starters _ from last year. But we have a lot of guys that have been here, had that hurting loss against Cambridge Springs (13-10 in overtime in the D-10 championship game) _ they remember that _ and they're already looking forward to the season on a positive note.

    ``These kids have played together since midgets, so they've been together for about six, seven years. So it's definitely a positive.''

    Leading the way is quarterback John Napotnik, who will earn his fourth monogram this fall. Last year he connected on 56 of 118 passes (47.5 percent) for 764 yards and 4 touchdowns while operating the Devils' wing-T formation.

    ``He's actually another coach on the field,'' Piccirilli praised. ``If he sees something that we can't see from the sideline or from up in the box, we give him the freedom to do what he wants.''

    Napotnik passed for 1,258 yards as a sophomore, and his 27-for-41, 374-yard effort against Mercer stands second-best in Herald coverage-area annals. His 3-year totals are 228 of 478 (47.7), 2,693 yards, 21 TDs and 34 interceptions. His yardage total is certainly within striking distance of area career leaders Rob Davies of Brookfield (3,691 yards) and Brian Cavanaugh of Grove City (3,534).

    His go-to guy last year, Brian Watson (17 catches, 248 yards, 14.6 yards/catch), also returns.

    ``Our number one strength is, I think we have really smart kids, and I think we can maneuver kids,'' Piccirilli explained. ``So if we do have an injury, I think one kid can play four or five positions, and we have about six of those kids on our team. I think we have some team speed, and our offensive line's mainly back from last year; we only lost one guy off our offensive line.

    ``Our weakness? Like I said, a lot of our offensive linemen don't play on the defensive line, so we've got to replace Tommy Greene, Dave Mazzant and Jeff Piccirilli on the defensive line with new kids, so that's what we're trying to stress right now.

    ``Our first goal is to get out of 2-a-days healthy. And once that starts, as far as the team's goals, we always want to win our first game _ that's a plus. After winning the first game, we'd like to win our league, which unfortunately, is early in our season _ the fourth game. After that, if we're fortunate enough to get into the playoffs, we want to win District 10 to see what we can do.

    ``But, once again, it's a shame that everything boils down to the fourth game of our season.

    ``I think Middlesex, with a new coach (Rick Resatar) _ I know when I came in here last year, being a new coach, I think your enthusiasm's up _ so I think their team spirit's up. So I think they're gonna be a lot better. And I know Kennedy Christian, of course, which is a `power' every year. They have the ability to go get kids to fill their needs, where a lot of us don't; they're gonna be super. And we're looking forward to that rivalry, too.

    ``Overall, though, if we stay healthy ... The line has some nice size, so we can stack up with most every team. So as long as we can stack up, we're hoping that everything takes care of itself.''

    Piccirilli will be assisted by Gary Baker, Len Grandy, Scott Sigworth, John Napotnik, Tom Patton, Joe Joseph and Kirk Scurpa.




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    Updated Aug. 26, 1997
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