HOPEWELL — It has been a wild offseason for Hopewell over the past two months as there has been turnover throughout the program with former head coach John Rosa taking over as Winchester Thruston’s athletic director at the end of May.
But now, with everything behind the Vikings, Matt Mottes is excited to take over at the helm after originally being slated to be Rosa’s defensive coordinator before he departed back at the end of May.
“We have a great group of kids that have responded well and they are adapting to the change. This team is ready to win and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids," Mottes said to the Beaver County Times. "I am from the area, I graduated high school from Aliquippa, and being from the community it is nice to come back and be the head coach here. A lot of my friends growing up graduated from Hopewell have made the transition very easy.”
As the Vikings continue to prep for the 2024 season the team looks to improve upon a one-win season last year where not much went right for the Hopewell program.
But this year, the feeling seems to be different when the team hits out on the field for practice and Mottes believes that it is the motivation to compete at a high level that is driving this Viking squad.
“Obviously this team has had a rough couple of seasons and going 1-9 last year and only winning a few games over the past several seasons but this team is motivated to win," Mottes said. "This team wants to be good and there is nothing more as a football coach is your team putting in the effort and they certainly have done that.”
Heading into the season the Vikings may be without their two-year starting quarterback Kingston Krotec who suffered an ankle injury during the team’s practice on Thursday. The timetable for the injury is unknown at this time.
Head coach: Matt Mottes (First season with program)
2023 record: (1-9, 0-6 Western Hills)
Top players lost: None
Top players returning: Kingston Krotec, Julian Baldwin
Offense: On the offensive side of the ball the Vikings return wide receiver Julian Baldwin who enters his junior year with the program. Up front Mottes believes that his team has gotten a lot stronger and has seen an improvement throughout camp. With Krotec’s injury, the Vikings will turn to freshman James Armstrong who has impressed Mottes and his staff so far this camp.
More: Beaver County Times' 2024 High School football preview
Defense: Defensively, the Vikings return Julian Baldwin who was a key piece defensively for the program this past season and will look to make even bigger strides in his junior campaign for Hopewell who are looking to stack together wins this season. The Vikings will look to limit the big plays and look to stay in games with the defense that is returning.
Classification: 3A
Last WPIAL playoff appearance: 2012
Last WPIAL title: 2002
WPIAL titles: 1
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Matt Mottes looks to turn around Hopewell program in 2024 in first year with program
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