Wildcat football hard at work
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – The temperature may have been pushing 90 degrees earlier this week, but the Central Mountain football team has been hard at off-season work in preparation for the fast approaching fall season.
First year head coach Shanon Manning told therecord-online he is well pleased with the effort to date, including a recently completed round of 7-on-7 competitions with outside opponents: “Our 7-on7 work went well…we saw consistent progress with each opportunity. As a team things are definitely trending in a positive direction. Senior leadership has been remarkable and that is reflected by summer workout attendance.”
As for the approaching season, PIAA-approved heat acclamation work is scheduled to begin Monday, Aug.9 and two-a-day practices will begin Monday, Aug. 16. The Wildcats have a scrimmage scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 21 at Bald Eagle Area and will open the season on Friday, Aug. 27 at Shikellamy. The schedule will revert to what had been planned for the 2020 and 2021 seasons but last year was compromised by COVID-19 and Central Mountain had to play both Jersey Shore and Selinsgrove two times in that pandemic altered season.
After opening at Shikellamy on Aug. 27, the Wildcats will be home with Shamokin on Sept. 3; home with Bloomsburg on Sept. 10; at Williamsport on Sept. 17; home with Milton on Sept. 24; at Warrior Run on Oct. 1; home with Selinsgrove on Oct. 8; at Mifflinburg on Oct. 15; home with Midd-West on Oct. 22; and conclude the season at Jersey Shore on Oct. 29.
Manning said as July transitions into August, “Conditioning, player evaluations, and execution of scheme is critical. I love the consistent effort and leadership our senior players have given throughout the summer. As a staff we are very excited to see each of these players perform in full gear. We have emphasized the importance of being extremely smart, physical, and selfless.”
Manning takes over a Wildcat program which has struggled in the last decade, last season’s 4-5 mark the best in that time frame. He was able to bring with him several staff members from his successful tenure with the Bellefonte High School program. “Our staff appears to be fitting into their roles very well. I feel we have assembled a strong staff and are working to maximize the strengths of each.”
As approved by the Keystone Central School Board earlier this year, the football staff will include from Bellefonte, in addition to Manning, these senior high assistants: Tony Confer, Shawn Hale, Terry Bumgardner and Skylar Shuey. The junior high staff (and CM holdovers from previous years) will be head coach Mark Karichner and assistants J.P. Hanna and Tom Temple.
