Head Coach: Chris Walkowiak
Team Name: Palmerton Blue Bombers
2014 Record: 7-3 Regular Season – lost in First Round of D11 AA playoffs to North Schuylkill
Key Starters Lost: Tre Nelson RB/LB, Dominic Shivone WR/Corner, Nick Sander Wr/Corner, Isaac George RB/OLB, Tyler Rodgers T/DE, Jake Horn C/DE, Jerry Pereira Slot/FS, Cody Reitz T, Sean Doherty WR, Matt Semmel T, Evan Tayntor ILB
Offensive Starters Returning: (4) Jericho Burger SR – 6’2 315 lb Guard, Garrett Perchy JR – 6’1 195 lb QB, Rai Washington SR -6’1 230 lb FB, Mike Stasko JR – 5’10 185 lb Athlete
Defensive Starters Returning: (3) Rai Washington 6’1 230lb DE, Jericho Burger 6’3 315 lb DT, Mike Stasko 5’10 185 lb FS
Key Newcomers: Owen Miller SR 6’3 315 lb Guard/DT, Kole Rodrigues SR 5’11 185 lb OLB/WR, Toby Sander SR 5’11 175 lb Coerner/WER, Jared Mooney JR 6’1 190 lb ILB/WR, John Iles JR 6’1 200lb DE/Tackle, Zach Buck SR 6’1 195 lb OLB/WR. Chris Fredericks 5’11 170 lb FR OLB/Athlete
D1 (FBS & FCS) Prospects: Rai Washington and Jericho Burger
Players to watch: Jericho Burger, Rai Washington, Garrett Perschy, Mike Stasko, Owen Miller
2015 Outlook: We graduated 18 seniors last season, so we have many holes to fill. Offensively we need to spread the ball around and have our seniors step up and become play makers. Many of them gained valuable experience last season on a very senior oriented team. However, it is now there turn to step up and be the main contributors. We need to protect Garret Perschy at QB and establish a run first mentality with our offensive line. We have some huge holes to fill from last season on the offensive line.
Defensively we lost 8 starters and an all state linebacker in Tre Nelson so it will be finding 11 players who can grasp our system, fly to the ball, tackle and make plays. I do like the senior class although it is small in numbers we have some quality athletes that have been around the program and they are very good competitors.
We also have some underclassmen that will contribute depending how fast they can come up to varsity speed.
Developing team chemistry and building off last year’s success will be some of our focuses this year.
