Inter-County Conference Media Day: 4 Somerset County teams seek return trips to playoffs

LOYSBURG — Berlin Brothersvalley, Meyersdale, North Star and Windber moved to the Inter-County Conference a year ago. On the gridiron, all four Somerset County squads earned postseason berths.

Berlin and Windber each played in a district title game. The four programs convened at ICC media day on Wednesday at Northern Bedford County's Panther Stadium to discuss expectations for upcoming season.

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Berlin begins life without Prosser, Kimmel

The Mountaineers went 10-2, falling to eventual state runner-up Westinghouse in the District 5-8 Class 2A title game.

Berlin lost do-it-all quarterback and all-state safety Pace Prosser, along with top tackler Cody Kimmel to graduation. However, the Mountaineers return a crop of talent eager to head back to the title game.

"We're really excited heading into this year," said Berlin coach Doug Paul. "We have nine returning starters on both sides of the ball and 20 returning letterwinners coming back this year."

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Senior lineman Preston Glotfelty believes his team is built to get back into conference and D5 title contention.

"We are really excited," Glotfelty said. "We made a statement last year being in the conference for the first time. We are back to make another one this year. Our team is coming together very well. We had probably 98% of our team at summer workouts. We play as one, and that's going to be the big difference between us and other teams."

Meyersdale bids for back-to-back postseason trip

The Red Raiders earned six victories a season ago, producing its first playoff team and winning record since 2019.

Meyersdale coach Ryan Donaldson returns seven starters on both sides, hoping last year's success will carry over into 2024.

"With last year's group of seniors, there was a lot of them, and they laid the foundation for what we expect and what we want have come our way this season," Donaldson said. "We have a lot of guys back and returning starters on both sides of the ball as well as guys who got a lot of experience. We have depth, leadership and a competition factor at positions where we lost guys."

Junior quarterback Lance Jones took over signal-calling duties last year. He's looking to a tight-knit group taking another step forward this season.

"We want to win games, make it back to the playoffs and hopefully play for a district title. That's the goal," Jones said. "We have great camaraderie. We're a team that does everything together. We bond together. We are unselfish. We play together. At the end of the day, winning is the most important part, not stats."

Youth movement in North Star

North Star won seven games for the first time since 2012 and made the postseason for the first time since 2017.

Everyone in the ICC quickly learned about all-state athlete Ethan Smith. However, the Cougars will start a bevy of sophomores this season, including four linemen and their quarterback. Coach Bob Landis enjoyed Year 1 in the ICC, but he and his staff will have their hands full in 2024.

"The conference is a good fit for us, given the size of school we are," Landis said. "The competition level is good for where we are as a program.

"These younger guys need to step up and carry some of the load. It all depends on how quickly these guys adapt to playing football on Friday night."

Max Foy is the lone senior up front. He is a talented two-way lineman that Landis will rely on to help lead the youthful Cougars.

"We want to improve. We are going to take what we had and try to build on it," Foy said. "We had some outstanding players last year that left us, but we have some young guys that are going to step up and take their spots."

Expectations high in Windber

After an up and down 8-4 season, falling in the District 5-1A championship, the Ramblers have all the pieces in place to challenge for hardware this season.

"To have that great nucleus of seniors coming back, then plug in guys that got a lot of quality reps in meaningful football games, we have guys that we can rely on to step in and do great things for our program," Grohal said. "Expectations are really high in Windber this year. This is a similar group to that 2022 team. We're excited, but we have to figure out a way to stay healthy. If we can do that, we have a chance to win a district championship and a conference championship. That's always the goal at the beginning of the season."

Luke Hostetler went down in Week 4 of the season. Windber's bell cow was racking up lofty numbers to begin the year. The senior tailback is healthy and ready to help the Ramblers chase titles.

"We want to get back to that D5 championship and make it past that game and compete for a state title," Hostetler said. "We've come together this season as one and have been strong as a team this summer."

Adam Ripple is the Daily American sports editor. He can be reached at 814-444-5926. Follow him on X @ARipple_DAsport. Follow Daily American Sports on Facebook and @dailyamericanmedia on Instagram.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Inter-County Conference Media Day: 4 Somerset County teams seek return trips to playoffs