It has looked easy, but it isn’t.
Port Allegany captured its second District 9 Class 1A football title in the last three seasons on Friday, dispatching a talented Redbank Valley team, 62-28 at Bradford’s Parkway Field.
The Gators have run roughshod over District 9 opponents on their way to 12-0, outscoring their opponents 642-220, an average of 42 points per game.
That success that has come on the field is born in the offseason in the depths of the weight room. You’ll hear grunts of determination and encouragement among players as they bond over the shared camaraderie of sweat and grit, all working toward a feeling like the one the Gators experienced on Friday. It’s music to the ears of coaches.
Listening to senior lineman Juuso Young, one of the Gators’ captains, talk in early August, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
“We had one of the best turnouts I’ve seen since I’ve been a part of this program in terms of summer workouts and field practice,” Young said before the start of the season. We know we’re not the best in the state right now and that’s where we want to be. That’s the goal inside of all of us. That’s what gives us the extra motivation.”
It’s not hard to read between the lines of what Young said. That hard work has paid off with another District 9 championship, but this is a team that wants more. After games are completed on Saturday, the Gators will be one of just eight remaining Class A teams in the state as they await their PIAA quarterfinal opponent, the winner of the District 10 championship game between Wilmington and Greenville (that game is Saturday night).
COMPARING TO
CHAMPIONS PAST
There are certainly differences between this Port Allegany team and the one two years ago that won a District 9 title and beat the District 10 champions the following week (Reynolds) on their way to the PIAA semifinals, where they dropped a hard-fought battle with Union (New Castle). That Gator team in 2022 threw the ball a little more with Drew Evens at the helm, but also had a strong rushing attack.
Through the PIAA quarterfinals, that 2022 team outscored its opponents by an average of 22 points per game. From an offensive production standpoint, this 2024 version of the Gators is more like the 2012 team that went to the PIAA semifinals, albeit they go about it in different ways. The 2012 Gators had a high-flying aerial attack, while most of their production this season has come on the ground.
This team, with its 642 points, has actually scored eight more points than that 2012 team did through the District 9 championship game.
One thing all of these teams have in common, however, is great leadership, both with the coaching staff and players.
Gators head coach Justin Bienkowski runs a first-class program (so does Redbank Valley coach Blane Gold), but he would be the first to tell you that a team is at its best when the players are the ones doing the leading.
“The greats will tell you a player-led team is way more beneficial than a coach-led team,” Bienkowski said at District 9 media day. “They (Juuso Young, Carson Neely, Aiden Bliss) are our three captains, and their job is to get these guys right. Obviously, it’s my job to make sure everything’s done, I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed. They’ve done a great job of making sure that they will make the best of their season. Because it’s their season and their time.”
It certainly has been their season and their time…and they’re not done yet.
