Wildcat Football 2014
Rebuilding – Year Number One
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – New Central Mountain football coach Mike Nines took a struggling small school program in Maryland and turned it into a winner.
Now Nines begins a similar task with Central Mountain High School, a larger school where the football program has been trending down, down to the point the Wildcats have not had a winning season since a 6-5 mark in 2009, achieving a worst-ever 2-8 record a year ago (in 15 years of play).
Nines knows what he is getting into as he joined the Central Mountain faculty a year ago and was subsequently hired as the new football coach after 3-year coach Vinnie Kishbaugh stepped down.
The first thing the new coach did after his hire was to work on getting the numbers up. That effort has paid off, close to 60 players on the senior high roster, almost twice the number from a year ago.
It’s a new coach and a new system and Nines said that has been a challenge: “It has been difficult to start fresh with the boys and two brand new systems (completely different than anything they have had in the past). I am extremely happy with how quickly the entire team has been picking up both the offense and defense.”
So far, Nines said, squad members have come together and “are making progress.” He likes the number of players for the first year and looks to increase participation over the years.
He also is acutely aware that last year’s time was heavily senior-dominated, something program followers need to know: “Our main objective is to improve week to week and put on a good show for our fans. We are extremely inexperienced throughout all positions and our continuing to improve will help us win football games.”
He cautioned there will be growing pains but expects continued maturity throughout the 10-game regular season schedule.
As for team strengths, Nines cited effort and coach-ability. As for areas to improve upon, “All teams need to get stronger and faster, I think we are not an exception to that rule.”
This year’s schedule has a new District 4-flavored look as Central Mountain becomes part of the Heartland Conference, all District 4 schools except for the Wildcats who will remain part of District 6 for postseason competition.
Nines said he has no problem with the change: “I like the new schedule and new conference. It gives our players the opportunity to create some new rivalries and become established in a conference. They may change up the conference to ensure that the larger schools play each other more than the smaller schools.”
The first-year coach said community support is “pivotal to creating a great program…the support from the fans and encouragement the players and coaches receive while on and off the field will only lead to us being able to build Central Mountain football into a dominant football program year in and year out.”
The revised coaching staff has been able to rebuild this year’s roster with the return of a number of seniors who elected to sit out football a year ago.
A handful of still underclassmen are back this year as letter-winners. They include junior quarterback Bryce Bitner who was 69-for-180 passing for 1,141 yards with 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions a year ago.
Hunter Weaver was a two-way starter in his sophomore year last season, rushing for 313 yards on 71 carries and scoring three touchdowns; he also piled up 64 tackles, tops among all returnees.
Also back is sophomore Justin Neff, a standout in the secondary with 42 tackles and two interceptions; a back-up quarterback a year ago, Neff is likely to see some time as a running back this year. Another letter-winning sophomore returns in kicker Kathryn Myers who set a school-record 32 extra point conversions a year ago and was 1-for-1 in field goals.
The Wildcats open the 2014 campaign this Friday at 7 p.m. at downriver rival Williamsport, followed up with a Sept. 5 trip to a new foe, Shamokin. The home opener will be the following Friday, Sept. 12, with Central Columbia.
Watch for Butch Miller’s post-game show, Coach Nines on the Nine on “therecord-online.com” after every Wildcat contest, presented by Sports and Spine Chiropractic Rehab. The new show will be posted online overnight Friday into Saturday morning.
