2014 Team Preview: Western Wayne (2)

Head Coach Donnie McDonough Q&A

Q. What are the key things we should know about your offense?

A. Offensively we will have a veteran offensive line back including SR Matt Witt, SR Andrew Sledzinski, SR Tyler Bergsma, and JR Jake Nagle. So we will look to take advantage of them in the running game.

We will have a sophomore quarterback in Scott Walck and a very talented and under rated group of receivers including SR Kyle Haines, SR Kyle Smith, and SR Kyle Coons and tight ends JR Brandon Tuite and SR Nick Caucci. This should allow us to stay balanced and keep defenses honest.

After graduating RB Jayson Figueroa, we will be looking at JR Kourtney Harp, SR Steve Bluthal, and JR Joe Tomasetti to all get touches at running back.

Q. What are the key things we should know about your defense?

A. Defensively we return key players on the defensive line such as SR Matt Witt, SR Tyler Bergsma, and JR Jim Stine. Matt Witt was second on the team last year in total tackles.

We will return a group of linebackers who all received a lot of experience from playing in a lot of games last season. JR Dakota Swoyer, JR Brandon Tuite, SR Kyle Coons, and SR Joe Boyko with lead this group. We will be counting on JR Joe Tomasetti and SOPH Derek Ortman to give us quality minutes this season.

We return a talented group of defensive backs with SOPH Scott Walck, SR Kyle Haines, JR Kourtney Harp, and SR Steve Bluthal. SR Kyle Smith will also be a key contributor in the defensive secondary. Scott Walk led the team in tackles last season as a freshman.

Q. What are the key things we should know about your special teams? Who are your kick and punt returners? Who are your kicker and punter?

A. SR Kyle Coons will handle the kicking duties (Kick-Off, Punt, PAT & XP).

SR Andrew Sledzinsky will do some of the kicking off. Our returners will be SR Kyle Haines, SR Kyle Smith, JR Koutney Harp, and SOPH Scott Walck.

Head Coach: Donnie McDonough

2013 Record: 3-7

2014 Schedule

Key Starters Lost: RB JAYSON FIGUEROA

Offensive Starters Returning: (9)

Defensive Starters Returning: (9)

D1 (FBS & FCS) Prospects: OL/DL SR MATT WITT 6’3″ 260       OL/DL SR ANDREW SLEDZINSKI 6’4″ 260

2014 Outlook: We are looking to be much more competitive this year after playing a lot of younger kids last season.

We have had a great summer with off-season weight lifting and conditioning along with a quality 7 on 7 passing scrimmage schedules. We will look to see how we play in our first 2 pre-season scrimmages. This will be the best measuring stick to see where we are as a football team.

SR OL/DL Matt Witt  6′ 3″ 265 LBS – Matt is one of our captains and has been starting on the varsity team since his freshman year. Matt is being recruited by majority of the Patriot League schools (Lehigh, Bucknell, James Madison, Davidson, and Fordham). Just recently Syracuse has come into the mix and has shown interest in Matt, Syracuse was in this morning to visit. Matt also has interest from Shippensburg. All of the above have sent coaches out to visit Matt this spring. Matt is in the top of his class and a national honors student.

Matt was second on the team in tackles on defense anchoring our 4-3 defense as out 3 technique.

2013 Defensive Stats

30 tackles, 21 assists, 6 TFL, 2 sacks

Matt is our starting left tackle on offense but could play anywhere on the line. He is our best offensive lineman.

(Keep in mind that Matt will be a Senior – but he is still currently only 16 years old. He will turn 17 at the end of July)

SR OL/DL Andrew Sledzinski 6′ 4″ 265 LBS – Andrew is also being recruited by majority of the Patriot League schools. He was invited to Fordham a few weeks ago for their spring game) Just recently Syracuse has also come into the mix and has shown interest in Andrew, Syracuse was in this morning to visit. Andrew is also in the top of his class and a national honors student.

Andrew is our 9 technique defensive end and our right tackle on offense.

SR (ATH) WR/DB Kyle Haines 6’2″ 175 LBS – Kyle is one of our captains and the best athlete on our team. He played the majority of last season as our starting quarterback. He will be making the move to our Z WR this season (#1 WR) and I believe he will have a breakout year. Kyle is also our best defensive back and plays Corner. We match Kyle up on the opponents best WR and ask him to take him out of the game. He will be a standout defensive back as well this season. To give you an example, we put Kyle on Nico Munley last year and Kyle completely took him out of the game and also had an interception. On offense, look for Kyle to get about 10 touches per game. He is very explosive after the catch. Kyle has received a lot of attention as of late from Shippensburg University.

SOPH QB/DB Scott Walck 6’0″ 165 LBS – Scott is our second best athlete on our team. He played the majority of last season as our starting Z WR (#1 WR). He will be making the move to QB this year. Last Scott saw limited action at Quarterback and went 11 for 15 for 151 yards and 1 TD (only played 3-4 possessions in NON mop up duty situations) While at WR Scott has 16 receptions for 182 yards and 1 TD.

Defensively last year as a freshman Scott was our starting strong safety and led the team in tackles.

2013 Defensive Stats

44 tackles, 12 assists, 2 TFL

***(Scott was statistically the 2nd best DB in all the league behind Kevin Miller, and didn’t receive the accolades he should have in other ALL-Star selections)

Scott was just recently names to the Eastern PA Football 2014 Players to Watch List as a DB

Last season Scott was names NPF Second Team All star as a DB