Dark today, bright tomorrow: Beaver Falls optimistic about returning cast in 2022
PITTSBURGH — A very telling part about the culture of Beaver Falls High School’s football program came, perhaps surprisingly, minutes after what was an emotionally-draining loss for this year’s group.
The No. 5 Tigers (9-4) fell to the No. 6 Serra Catholic Eagles (13-1) 35-12 on Friday night in the WPIAL Class 2A championship game at Heinz Field.
As four seniors from the team sat at a table in front of microphones at the front of a first-floor media room to answer questions from reporters, the feeling of anguish was evident. Receiver Mekhi Clark, tears welling up in his eyes, and offensive lineman Anthony Cousar, didn’t say a word. To Cousar’s left was receiver Quadir Thomas, who chimed in with a sentence or two every now and then, and tight end Tyler Cain, who served as the de facto spokesman for he and his teammates. In a moment where they had to speak of the final game — and maybe the toughest loss — of their high school careers, Cain found something to be optimistic about. He knew his time as a Tiger wasn’t over — at least not entirely.
“I’ll for sure come back and try to help them out — like be a little assistant coach or whatever when I get the chance to come back,” he chuckled, looking ahead to the opportunity to be around the Tigers after graduation. “That tradition, coming back and trying to help out the younger kids and trying to make them win a championship — do something that, obviously, we didn’t do today — (is great).”
From back in the early 1960s with Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath to this year with 2021 graduate and current Syracuse freshman running back Josh Hough, players that have come through Beaver Falls have found ways to impact the program even after their playing days. That’s why the Tigers, historically, have been able to reload instead of rebuild. Last season, they captured their fifth WPIAL title. They’ll look to contend again next year with rising seniors quarterback Jaren Brickner, receiver Trey Singleton and running back Isaiah Aeschbacher leading the way. And they’ll do so with the guidance of program alums behind them.
“Here at Beaver Falls, we’ve developed a tradition of (being) a football power — a football team that, year in and year out, plans to play for a championship,” fifth-year head coach Nick Nardone said. “It comes down to senior leadership.”
Though Brickner’s career year ended on a sour note on Friday — the star quarterback threw four interceptions and completed just eight of his 25 pass attempts — the promise he showed this fall gives the Tigers enough reason to be excited for the future.
During a campaign in which he tallied 2,579 passing yards and threw 25 touchdowns to go with 14 interceptions, he credited Hough with teaching him valuable lessons on leadership.
“He taught me a lot about picking everybody up — don’t let anybody argue with each other, even when you’re down,” said Bricker after his team’s WPIAL playoff quarterfinal win over New Brighton earlier this month. “He taught me that when you get up, don’t be cocky about stuff — keep (your demeanor) the same, but also get hyped with your team at the same time.”
Hough spent time with the Tigers this season at the start of their playoff run. Brickner said he picks his old teammate’s brain “all the time.”
Heading into the 2022 season, Brickner, Singleton and Aeschbacher should form a trio that has the capability to be the face of the team both on and off the field. If they weren’t already looked at as examples by younger teammates, they surely will be after their senior teammates move on in the spring.
Singleton, who caught 40 passes this year for 876 yards and 12 touchdowns, and Aeschbachr, who totaled 809 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground, have proved they can get it done on Friday nights.
Now, they’ll be expected to elevate their performances while also rallying the Tigers’ locker room.
It’s a tall ask, especially at a place where expectations are as high as they are at Beaver Falls. This next bunch of Tigers seniors seem ready, though.
And they know they won’t be alone, either.
“It just all depends on the leadership,” Cain said. “If they’ve got a good group of leaders, they'll do the job and they’ll come right back here again.”
Contact Parth Upadhyaya at pupadhyaya@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @pupadhyaya_.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Beaver Falls' senior returners provide optimism for 2022 campaign
