Highlanders prepping for return trip to 2A

Mirror photo by Michael Boytim

Portage football players Bode Layo (28) and Brendan Smithtro (33) are interviewed on Heritage Conference Media Days.

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

PATTON — Defending District 6 Class 1A football champion Cambria Heights hosted the Heritage Conference’s high school football and girls volleyball media day Friday.

Rather than discussing defending their title, the Highlanders talked about being ready to take the next step as they return to the Class 2A level in 2024.

“The better our opponents are, the better we’re going to have to be,” Cambria Heights senior Marshall Eckenrode said. “I think if we work hard all season, we should be able to get to that level and get to the district championship again.”

Bald Eagle Area and Richland, which played in last year’s District 6 Class 2A final, both return strong teams, though 2022 2A champion Bishop Guilfoyle is back down at 1A.

“That’s last year’s team, and this year’s team will have their own set of expectations based on this offseason, how we prepare and how healthy we are,” Cambria Heights coach Jarrod Lewis said. “Every year is so new. Every year some team comes out of the woodwork that no one expects and really does well. Maybe we were that team last year, but I don’t think it’s any more or any less pressure. Every season comes with its own expectations and challenges.”

Cambria Heights won three district playoff games and knocked off rival Northern Cambria and then Purchase Line in the championship game for the Highlanders’ first-ever title. Lewis thinks that experience will pay off this year for a team with many returning players.

“Any time you have experience in the playoffs, that’s a good thing — no matter what level,” Lewis said. “We’re really not thinking playoffs right now. The big game-changer when it comes to playoffs is health. We have gone into the postseason pretty dinged up and gone in pretty healthy, obviously that plays a role. You lost two or three key players, that makes a difference. It did in last year’s playoffs for some teams.”

One thing is evident — last year’s success has built a hunger for more.

“The success we tasted last year,” Eckenrode said. “We want that feeling again. We’re going to do our best to win as many as we can and take it one game at a time.”

Bouncing back?

Portage’s football team missed the playoffs last season, something the Mustangs aren’t accustomed to, a year after making it to the District 6 Class 1A semifinals.

“It was a lot of a disappointment last year,” Portage coach Marty Slanoc said. “We felt we were in a lot of games, and for one reason or another, we just couldn’t finish. We need to become more resilient and understand when things get tough, that’s when they have to get a little tougher. How do you react to adversity? Last year we didn’t react well.”

Northern Cambria also wasn’t happy with the end of its season, a loss to Cambria Heights at home in the district semifinals.

“We have been focusing on the positives and not the negatives,” Northern Cambria coach Sam Shutty said. “We feel like we ended our season a little premature last year, which I think most coaches will feel that way. There’s a little bit of the redemption factor there, the revenge factor. We have a ‘something to prove’ motto. We have been echoing it all summer.”

Both teams are hoping this year is theirs to have a breakout season and return to past glory and believe playing in the Heritage Conference will prepare them for the postseason road ahead.

“It’s a good fit. It was coming. The old WestPAC was falling apart,” Slanoc said. “You see some other teams have joined in. It’s a good fit for us, and it’s fine. Schools are mostly our size, and it’s up and down, just like small-school high school football. It prepares you. It’s tough every week and gets you ready.”

Beneficial beyond football

Portage’s transition from the WestPAC to the Heritage Conference over the last few seasons was quicker and more successful in some sports than others, but the move has no doubt made athletes from all the athletic teams work harder to get to an even level with their competition.

“I feel it was a definite upgrade from the other league we were in,” Portage senior Lyndsey Castel said. “It just went completely downhill, and there were like three teams in there. It was eye-opening for us to go to the Heritage and see how much better the teams were. It pushed us to work harder.”

The Lady Mustangs finished with a winning record last year and won a playoff match before falling to girls volleyball powerhouse West Branch.

While Portage will have several players to replace this year, Cambria Heights returns six seniors from a team that qualified for the District 6 playoffs last season.

“We hope to be in the top four of the conference,” Cambria Heights coach Doug Farabaugh said. “The Heritage Conference puts together a really nice championship at the KCAC on the campus of IUP. To get there would be a great accomplishment.”

Heights came to the Heritage Conference from the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, and Farabaugh believes the Heritage teams are often underrated.

“It’s a great fit,” Farabaugh said. “The Heritage Conference is a very good volleyball conference. I don’t think it gets enough credit. There are quality teams that have consistently been ranked in the top part of District 6 when we get to the playoffs, and there are teams that have made deep runs.”