Football Preview | Senior-laden Allegany embraces pressure, heightened expectations

Aug. 31—CUMBERLAND — Allegany enters 2023 with more pressure than it has faced in years, and Bryan Hansel wants all of it.

The Campers finished 7-4 last year and graduated just six seniors, returning 15 players who started at some point in the season.

One that never got the chance — Zach Michael, an All-Area first-team linebacker as a sophomore — is healthy and back for his swan song after tearing his ACL before the year ever began.

With an experienced roster that boasts 17 seniors, many of whom played key roles on an 8-3 team their sophomore year, Allegany is expected to challenge Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge — two teams that have played for the Class 1A title each of the past two campaigns.

As the Campers ready to open their season with Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, tomorrow night, they're facing more scrutiny than they have in years.

Hansel and his Allegany team aren't shying away from it.

"Pressure is a privilege," he said. "When we were 2-7 (in 2019), we didn't have any pressure. You just went out and coached.

"I hope we have pressure. I hope the kids feel pressure, they embrace the pressure. If you have pressure, that means that people think you're supposed to be good and you have to live up to it."

The Allegany head man, who in his playing days won Player of the Year and brought glory back to the West Side with a Class 1A state championship as a senior in 2005, is entering his eighth season at the helm of his alma mater with a 41-27 record.

Hansel and his staff know what their end goal is, they just won't say it. Suffice to say, it has something to do with a December game in Annapolis.

However, as of now, those lofty dreams are just talk. Allegany will get to see how good it can be with a brutal three-game stretch to open the year that includes two state runner-ups (Oakdale and Mountain Ridge) and a Hollidaysburg team that required a game-winning field goal by Blake Powell to edge it in 2022.

"I think it's nice to start that way," Hansel said of Hollidaysburg, which kicked off its season with a 21-13 win over Altoona on Friday. "It's kept our kids locked in. When you open with someone who's a little lighter, you may not have as good of a camp, but our kids are really committed to it."

After beating Hollidaysburg, 26-23, to open the 2022 slate, the Campers dropped two straight to Boonsboro, 17-3, and Mountain Ridge, 41-16. Allegany bounced back with five straight wins over Albert Gallatin, 45-8; Smithsburg, 33-0; Southern, 55-6; Keyser, 19-16; and Northern, 28-23.

It fell to Fort Hill, 21-7, in Homecoming and won its playoff opener with Clear Spring, 43-7, before the Sentinels ended the Campers' season with a 48-0 rout to finish 7-4.

While the season was a step back from the 8-3 year that preceded it, Allegany showed resilience battling through a series of injuries to key starters.

Most notably, Michael was lost for the year during the preseason, quarterback Brody Williams and star back Cayden Bratton fought through nagging ailments and tight end Clay Brode played through an ACL injury.

A healthy Williams (6-foot-1, 170 pounds) will dictate just how far Allegany can go this year, and that's why the Campers are opting to take him out of the starting free safety role on defense.

The four-year starter at QB completed 16 of 43 passes for 272 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions last season, and he rushed 85 times for 623 yards and eight scores.

Allegany doesn't throw the ball a ton out of its spread Wing-T offense, but the Campers believe they have the outside targets to spread the field and open their passing game up.

"It's a different Brody," Hansel said. "He took it upon himself. He went down to the Quarterback Factory. His parents spent the money for him to go and learn from guys who are experts at coaching quarterbacks.

"His motion is quicker, his arm looks stronger. The ball pops out of his hand better. I think we have some guys he can throw it to this year. We've got to trust, we have to throw it more and complete high-percentage passes."

Senior Brett Patterson (6-0, 200) returns at fullback after toting the rock 98 times for 611 yards and four scores in 2022.

Patterson is a strong ball carrier who is pushing 500 pounds on his squat and can bench more than 300. He will be the feature back in the Campers' offense.

"He's our strongest player," Hansel said. "We have speed this year finally. For 20, 30 yards, Brett is as fast as anybody. The way we run our offense, he'll be our workhorse and carry the load for us."

While Allegany will miss the production of Bratton, an All-Area first-team back who racked up 1,148 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2022, Allegany will utilize a series of tailbacks that will line up in the backfield, slot and split to set up mismatches.

Senior Isaiah Fields (5-11, 160) has the most returning production of that group after rushing for 454 yards and six touchdowns on 48 touches.

Fields rushed for 236 yards and four touchdowns in the Campers' playoff win over Clear Spring.

Senior Jacob Salonish (5-11, 190) will move from split end to the backfield this season. He caught 14 passes for 230 yards and two scores last year, adding 126 yards and two TDs on the ground.

Senior Dae Dae Smith (5-8, 150) rounds out the Campers' three-headed monster at tailback, and junior Jackson Resh (5-8, 180) is also expected to see time.

"A perfect game would be to spread the wealth, keep legs fresh, hit people from different angles, different gaps," Hansel said. "It doesn't have to be that one-man show."

With Salonish moving to the backfield, senior Sundiata Chavis (5-11, 175), who didn't play last season, will start at split end.

Michael (6-4, 220) figures to be one of the area's premier pass-catching tight ends, showing flashes of his athleticism with long receptions in both of Allegany's scrimmages.

The senior recently received his first offer from Frostburg State.

"He's a huge weapon," Hansel said. "Just setting an edge at tight end. He's violent, he's nasty. ... I think he's a Division 1 tight end. If he never tears his ACL, he probably has a couple offers on the board. Our goal is to utilize him and make sure we use him right."

Allegany loses multi-year starters and senior leaders Alex Kennell and Brendan Hogamier along the offensive line but brings back four linemen who have seen significant time.

Junior Lucas Bahrenburg (6-6, 275) will start at left tackle, senior Andrew Highland (6-2, 255) will be the left guard, senior Kenneth Ringgold (5-10, 180) is the right guard and senior Dante Destefano (6-1, 215) slots in at right tackle.

The Campers are still trying to lock down the center position vacated by Kennell, but senior Devin Kasecamp (6-1, 185) is the likely candidate.

"I don't expect us to be perfect Week 1, but if we get better each week, I think they have a chance to be pretty good," Hansel said.

"Probably since my first or second year, this is the best communicating offensive line we've had. They're communicating, they're talking, they're working as a unit."

Allegany's offense was solid but not exceptional last season, scoring 275 points for an average of 25 per game.

Hansel said the Campers' coaches attended coaching clinics to learn from other programs that run a spread version of the Wing-T to modernize the offense.

The staff also corrected aspects of its offense it saw that were tipping what it was running to opponents.

"We realized through self-scouting offensively that we had some pretty damning tells, so we want to correct those, fix those things, which I think we fixed," Hansel said.

Williams' experience should also allow Allegany to continue to push its offense as he enters his fourth year in the system.

He rushed for more than 700 yards and eight touchdowns and threw for 10 more as a sophomore two years ago.

"It's nice, you have a four-year starter now in Brody to kind of bounce (ideas off of), 'What do you think? What do you see,'" Hansel said. "He's helped us tweak some things we thought would work that didn't work, or things that we didn't think of that he came to."

The biggest difference for Allegany, however, may be in how the Campers use their personnel.

Instead of coaching kids up to play positions that aren't natural for them, Allegany has molded its offense around what its players do best.

It's been a few years since Allegany has fielded one of the area's most explosive offenses. The last time the Campers topped 31 points per game was in 2017 (43.8).

"We've realized that we have some athletes and that we can't always ask athletes to do what they're not good at," Hansel said. "Rather than taking small skill players and always making them blockers, to use them successfully, to be in space, to play more basketball on grass. I think that will help us.

"You have Dae Dae, Isaiah, Salonish. Guys that are shifty. ... To get them in space helps them. And getting Zach Michael back is huge."

Like its offense, Allegany's defense was solid in 2022, the Campers are trying to be one of the state's best units this season.

Allegany brings back seven players who have started, and that should allow the West Siders to add more wrinkles.

"We don't have to break down the coverages," Hansel said. "Some of the fronts we get in, some of the blitzes, they're already good to go. We're ahead of pace defensively, but we have a lot in our playbook that we'd like to put in.

"I think we can be a great defense. That's always my focus when I talk to them, 'Your goal is to be the best defense in the state.'"

The linebacking corps will be the strength of the Campers' defense, and it's not hard to figure out why.

Allegany returns its leading tacklers from each of the past two seasons at inside linebacker — and both were named All-Area for their sophomore-year efforts.

Michael accumulated 100 tackles (27 solo), one tackle for loss, one sack, one safety, one interception and one forced fumble the last time he was healthy two seasons ago.

In his absence, Resh took over calling the defense last year, racking up 119.5 stops (27 solo), two tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.

"Zach as a sophomore signaled out the defense with Braylon (White), and Jackson did the same when he was injured," Hansel said. "With those two guys coming back, it's allowed us to spread our playbook.

"We've been more multiple in our camp. ... We can get in and out of different fronts and whatever week-to-week we think will be best."

Salonish (21 tackles, one interception) will start at the Strong, and Smith (78 tackles, one sack, one interception, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries) is the Sam. Smith was an All-Area first-team performer at defensive back in 2022.

Patterson (100 tackles, three tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, two touchdowns) moved back to linebacker to replace the injured Michael last season, but he'll start at defensive end this year.

Ringgold (17 tackles, one sack) gets the nod at the other end, and sophomore Amanni Blowe (5-8, 210) is the starting three-technique. Highland will start at nose tackle.

"We really need two to four guys to step up and fill that hole that Alex (Kennell) left," Hansel said of defensive tackle.

Fields (23 tackles, one interception) and Chavis are the starting cornerbacks.

There is a battle at free safety between freshman Kane Williams (5-8, 170), the brother of Brody Williams, and junior Kain Sweitzer (5-8, 150), the starting junior varsity quarterback last year.

Brody Williams was a multi-year starter at free safety, but Allegany has the luxury this season to keep him off defense to try and preserve his health at quarterback.

"One ding on his shoulder sets our offense back a little bit," Hansel said. "We have packages, and if we have to use him we'll use him. He can play corner, free. Our nickel package he can go in.

"He's been fighting me about it, but we'll do what we can to keep him out of the game."

Allegany brings back the area's top kicker in Powell, who kicked two game-winners last season against Hollidaysburg and Keyser, and led the area in field goals made (nine) and long (45 yards). He also was 31 for 33 on extra points.

Powell, who was also the recipient of the Edward C. Finzel soccer Player of the Year as a junior, buried a 52-year field goal in the Campers' final scrimmage against Williamsport last Thursday at Greenway Avenue Stadium.

He has hit from 57 yards in practice, Hansel said.

"He went to a ton of camps," Hansel said. "His leg got stronger, more flexible. He spent all summer at college camps, so he's kicking off from the 30 and putting the ball in the end zone. I think that's a huge weapon for us."

Fields and Salonish will get the ball in the kick and punt return game, and Smith is another option there.

Whoever will catch the ball, Hansel said, will get the nod.

"Every time we don't catch a punt in the last three years, we lost an average of 12.8 yards a drive, which is a first down," he said. "We're real big on catching the football. If you can't return it, at least catch it."

After Allegany hosts Hollidaysburg, it hits the road to face Oakdale, Mountain Ridge and Albert Gallatin. The Campers return home for a three-game stretch (St. James, Southern and Keyser), are at Northern and then finish out the season against nine-time state champion Fort Hill in Homecoming.

Hansel and Allegany don't want to look ahead, but if there's one thing they will admit, it's that they want to be back in the conversation with Fort Hill and Mountain Ridge to be the best in Allegany County.

In the last two years, that title has been decided in Annapolis.

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.