Resurrection of Mercer program is still a work in progress

By Brad Isles
Herald Assistant Sports Editor

With the renovations of Mercer High School almost complete, the resurrection of the school's football team is still a work in progress.

The Mustangs went 2-8 last season under first-year head coach Ed Klutcher. However, Klutcher, a former player at Farrell under coach Lou Falconi, is building a solid foundation for the once-proud program. His second go-around with fall camp has admittedly been much smoother than last year.

"As far as practice goes, we've shortened them up and made them more intense," Klutcher said. "Last year they were kind of long and not very intense. It's good that we have all of the coaches back and a lot of the kids back so it's definitely easier."

It doesn't help that the Mustangs play in what is perhaps the most difficult division in the Mercer County Athletic Conference -- Class AA.

The Mustangs play four of their first five games against teams that made the playoffs last year, including an opener with defending District 10 Class A champ Kennedy Christian. Add Sharpsville, Wilmington and Sharon to the list and Klutcher will have his hands full with his relatively young squad. He has seven returning lettermen on offense and six on defense.

"The league is fantastic," Klutcher said. "What kills us is our first five games. There's really not an easy game on the schedule this year."

The number of kids on the roster is up -- 42 this year as opposed to 29 last year -- which obviously pleases Klutcher. However, some are putting on the pads for the first time."We have a lot of good athletes but they've never played football before," Klutcher said. "So we have some inexperience."

According to Klutcher, they are: Matt Postage (6-3, 201, QB-LB), Adam Berti (6-3, 183, QB-DB), Ryan Knight (6-1, 186, TE-LB), Matt Hackett (5-8, 162, WR-DB), Miguel Maldonado (6-3, 205, HB-DB) and Chris Martinez (5-10, 244, FB-LB).

"All these kids are seniors but they've either played football a long time ago or have never played," Klutcher said. "That's taking a toll right now. They're trying to adapt to football. Some of them have never put on a helmet and shoulder pads. We had to show them how to put them on. That's been a little bit of a problem."

Perhaps the biggest area of inexperience comes at the most important offensive position -- quarterback. Andy Hogue (20 of 48, 272 yards, 1 TD) saw the most action last year but graduated. Klutcher is relying on Berti, who played two years ago but took last year off, and Postage to battle for the spot.

"Adam Berti is kind of getting the rust off," Klutcher said. "Matt Postage never played a snap of football before. But where he's come from since the beginning of camp is unbelievable."

They will be responsible in running an offense that managed just 128 points over 10 games last year. The Mustangs, using a compressed version of the wing-T, averaged 213 yards per game and totaled 390 yards through the air.

Taking some heat off of the quarterback will be the return of last year's most productive player -- halfback Zac Doyle. Doyle, a 5-10, 171-pound senior, led the Mustangs in rushing with 621 yards, and scoring with 8 TDs.

Other key returnees include senior David Calvert (5-9, 190) on the line and senior Eric McCurdy (5-8, 167) at tight end and linebacker.

Klutcher will also rely on a slew of underclassmen who saw significant duty last year on both sides of the ball. They are: sophomore linemen John Patterson (6-1, 202) and Justin Scilla (5-10, 255), sophomore tight end/linebacker Don Styers (5-8, 177), junior offensive lineman/linebacker Nathan Wallace (5-9, 157) and junior lineman J.L. Gaburri (6-4, 210). All five lettered last season.

"All are young guys, but they saw a lot of action last year," Klutcher said.

Klutcher admitted the defense is trying to catch up to the offense in terms of productivity. It was a similar problem for the Mustangs last season.

Mercer was near the bottom of the league last year in allowing 33.3 points per game and 275 yards per game.

"The offense is coming along okay, but the defense is a little slow right now," Klutcher said.

Klutcher said other newcomers to watch out for are junior fullback/linebackers David Knechtel (5-9, 189) and Chris Dunn (5-9, 175). While both are making their debuts on the Mustangs' gridiron, they are game tested. They, along with several other teammates, were members of Mercer's successful high school and Big League baseball teams.

"They are all competitors, athletes," Klutcher said. "We've just got to get them competitive on the football field."

With the new team members taking the field for the first time, coupled with the difficult early-season schedule, Klutcher knows it will be a tough haul once again for the Mustangs.

"We just go out and try to improve every day," Klutcher said. "If we lose, we deal with it. If we win, we deal with it. Our big thing is improvement. If you have self pride, the kids can get fired up to get better."

Assisting Klutcher will be Doug England, Chris Gaub, Dan Gill, Craig Gyergyo, Matt Nelson, Kris Chapman, Chuck Mathias and Chuck Nay.