Published Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1997
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1997 season preview
WM seeks to improve under new head coach
Rick Resatar isn't that familiar with the football teams around Mercer County, but the first-year West Middlesex High coach knows which are the important games.
``I know who we're playing, but the teams, I know nothing about,'' Resatar said. ``I know that Sharpsville and Kennedy are the two teams in our (Class A) league. All I know about those two teams is Kennedy, being a parochial school has a great tradition and a lot of pride. Our kids' eyes get real big because that's a main game for them. Sharpsville, we've got them Week (No.) 3 of the season. Hopefully, we get them before they're at peak performance.''
Resatar takes over the Big Reds program from Ed Pikna, who resigned his post following last season _ a season in which they went 1-9. It was West Middlesex's second straight 9-loss year (0-9 in '95).
West Middlesex has had just one winning season in the decade of the '90s, going 5-4 in '94. That season, the Big Reds snapped a 28-game losing streak which dated back to '91. It was the longest losing streak in county history.
Resatar is not used to losing, and he hopes his previous experience rubs off on his players. He comes from Warren JFK where he coached for two years and twice made the playoffs, winning one state title. He coached for one year in Cleveland at Twinsburg-Chamberlain and made the playoffs. After a break he went to Lowellville, where he now teaches, and helped lead the team to a 10-0 record and a playoff berth in '95 before the team dropped to 4-6 last year.
As for expectations, Resatar wants there to be a change _ in attitude and appearance. He changed the normally red-and-white uniforms to white shirts and black pants.
``We just want to teach the kids how to win, how to get a little bit of confidence, a little bit of success,'' he said. ``Wins and losses, I have no predictions.''
Despite being with the team for just a short period of time, Resatar said he likes what he has seen.
``The attitudes have been great, really enthusiastic,'' he said. ``The kids are enjoying themselves. A couple of them even said to me, `I didn't know football could be so much fun.' So we're trying to[JU]make it enjoyable.''
Virtually starting from scratch, Resatar started the team with fundamentals and quickly moved right into hitting drills, which caused a few bumps and bruises. That can be a problem with the small number of players out for the team _ 33. But he said the team responded well to the drills.
``Any coach would like to have 60 guys, but we've got 30,'' Resatar said. ``Out of that, we've got 30 quality kids that can play at any time.''
Junior quarterback Ron Goodman (6-1, 180) will lead the offense. He started five games last year and went 13 of 36 for 183 yards and a TD.
Goodman shared time with Walt Novosel, also a junior. Novosel (6-1, 170) likely will remain on the outside at wide receiver this season, among other things.
``Walt's kind of accepted the role of `Slash,' '' Resatar said. ``He's our long-snapper, backup quarterback, starting receiver, starting defensive back. He can do just about anything. We're going to see if he can kick now. He's probably our best punter, but he's our long-snapper. I don't think he can do both of those.''
Senior Jon Misinay (6-0, 190), voted the team captain, will shore up running duties as the fullback and anchor the defense as a linebacker. He rushed for over 300 yards last year.
``He's a wonderful athlete,'' Resatar said. ``He's very intense and aggressive.''
Senior Jeff Hether, at 6-2, 240 pounds, will anchor the defensive line from the end position.
Resatar brought in a new coaching staff as well, most from Lowellville: Brian Daytner, Rick Fox, Ron Fox, Brian Hoffman (who played on the 1994 Youngstown State University national championship team) and Steve Mezzapeso.
Chris Ruffo, who coached the West Middlesex Junior High team last year, is the only holdover from the '96 Big Reds team.
Thus far, Resatar said the support for him and the team has been wonderful, from the newly-formed gridiron club to the all-sports boosters to the school's administration.
``They want to get this thing turned around,'' Resatar said. ``I haven't heard the word `no' yet with anything I've asked.''<
