OLYPHANT – The Lackawanna Football Conference held its annual Media Day Tuesday at the Regal Room, providing an early look at its 19 member teams, including five who will be opponents of Pittston Area and Wyoming Area.
Pittston Area plays Mid Valley and North Pocono in its first two games and meets Wallenpaupack late in the season.
Wyoming Area plays Western Wayne and Lakeland in the third and fourth weeks of the season.
A preview of each of those teams:
MID VALLEY
With one of the LFC’s most experienced lineups, the Spartans appear ready to contend for the Division 2 title.
Mid Valley was 3-2, finishing behind Dunmore and Western Wayne last season, and 7-4 overall with the help of an early, four-game winning streak.
“We do have high hopes and a lot of kids coming back,” Spartans coach Stan Yanoski said. “Everything is geared toward August 23 rd when we open with Pittston.”
The Spartans return 10 starters on offense, including Brett Yanoski, Stan’s son, who hit 55 percent of his passes after taking over midseason for the injured Jordan Chmielewski.
Jakob Lesher is back after rushing for 1,485 yards and 18 touchdowns while catching 15 passes.
Connor Hughes, the team’s second-leading receiver, also returns.
Nick Jackson and Rob Mattioli are two-way returning starters in the line.
Hughes, Jake Bondy and Kaleb Parry, all starters on offense, join Gavin Rapoch to give the Spartans their entire linebacker corps back in their 4-4 defense.
NORTH POCONO
Wyoming Area graduate Greg Dolhon will rely on a veteran line to try to return his Trojans to contender status.
North Pocono won 10 games and played for a Division 1 title on the last night of the regular season in 2021 before posting two straight 4-7 records. The Trojans were 1-5 in the division last season when they lost to Wyoming Area 31-19 in the District 2 Class 4A quarterfinals.
“Along with our tight end, we have six kids up front who have played a lot of football,” Dolhon said. “I feel like we need to control the line of scrimmage. We have some young backs who have not played a lot of football, but we think those kids are very talented.
“We think our wide receiver group, with Cole West, is very talented. We’re young and talented at the skill positions, so we need them to come along quickly.”
West was the team’s leading receiver last season, averaging nearly 22 yards and scoring four touchdowns on his 28 catches.
Senior center/defensive tackle Mason Richards and junior tight end/linebacker Evan Wolff are the two-way returning starters.
Cole Zimmerman, Barry Griffiths, Ethan Mensel and Dylan Caster are the other returnees from an offensive front that weighs in at an average of 263 pounds from tackle to tackle.
WESTERN WAYNE
If Mid Valley is not the top team in LFC Division 2 entering the season, then Western Wayne likely fits that description.
Running back Josh Vinton and wide receiver Sean Owens lead the list of returnees from a squad that went 4-1 and 8-3 last season.
Vinton ran for 1,467 yards last season. Owens has 67 catches and 15 touchdowns in the last two years despite missing nearly the first half of the 2023 season.
The Wildcats also are experienced up front after having the division’s stingiest defense last year.
“I have my entire offensive and defensive lines back,” second-year coach Shane Grodack said. “We’ve got a few holes to plug in on defense. I lost four quality seniors last year.”
Tony Donnini, Evan Dean and Jared Goldman are two-way returning starters up front.
Senior John Pyatt, a starting outside linebacker, is ready to step in at quarterback after the graduation of the highly efficient Frankie Leyshon.
LAKELAND
The Chiefs, a 2018 and 2021 playoff opponent of Wyoming Area in thrilling battles that were decided late and resulted in a split, went through uncharacteristic struggles a year ago.
After an unbeaten regular season and district championship in 2022, Lakeland was hit by major graduation losses and fell all the way to 1-9, including going winless in Division 2 of the LFC.
“We are still young with a small senior class,” said coach David Piwowarczyk, whose team allowed nearly 35 points per game last season.
Even within the team’s struggles, David Naniewicz hit more than half his pass attempts while throwing for 866 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Quarterback/defensive end Naniewicz, end Kody Miller, tackle Weston Loomis, running back/outside linebacker Caden Cuozzo and wide receiver/defensive backs Jayden Poklemba and Chase Rosenkrans are returning two-way starters.
Rosenkrans caught 38 passes last season.
WALLENPAUPACK
Matt Nawrocki, a former Penn State javelin thrower from North Pocono, takes over as new coach of the Buckhorns.
“The head track coach is Mark McHugh, who is one of my assistants,” said Nawrocki, a 10 th -grade social studies teacher who also serves as the school’s junior high track and field coach. “We’re really big on kids playing multiple sports, especially wrestling and track.
“To be able to have that pipeline has been really good so far.”
There is no secret where Nawrocki will try to place emphasis while attempting to lift Wallenpaupack up from a 2-9 season in 2023 when the Buckhorns lost all six LFC Division 1 games.
“We’ve going to be like every other Lackawanna Football team that succeeds,” he said. “We’re going to be a running game, two-back style of football. You’ve got to stop the run and you’ve got to run the ball well to win.”
Quarterback Drew Kiesendahl was more effective running than passing last season, rushing for more than 500 yards.
Jamie Stiner, a 315-pound junior, is a returning starter at both guard and defensive tackle.
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