New coach, schemes give Monessen high hopes
For the past few seasons, the Greyhounds have resembled the long-distance bus company more than living up to the reputation of the speedy canine. That's all about to change.
Coming off the worst season in Monessen football history, first-year coach Mike Blainefield hopes if everything goes right, the Greyhounds will be partying like it's 2003. That so happens to be the year when Blainefield, a senior at the time, helped lead the Greyhounds to an undefeated regular season.
“I was always interested in coming back to Monessen as a coach,” said Blainefield, who played at Georgetown. “As a player, I was considered a coach on the field, and I always took pride in that. Once I got to see the program, I was interested in getting involved.”
Last season marked the third season in a row Monessen (1-9, 1-6) missed the postseason. Blainefield wasted no time bringing his players together to set the tone. It was shortly after last season ended when Blainefield had players in the weight room putting the past behind them and preparing for a season more than nine months away.
“Before I even became the head coach, as soon as the season was over, I gave the kids two weeks to rest, and we went right to the weight room, and that's when we started the offseason,” said Blainefield, who was hired in January. “We had a huge response from the underclassmen, which was huge because they were the most optimistic. … That made it easy for me.”
Not only was it necessary to get the players in the weight room for team-building and conditioning, but it helped the players get on the same page with Blainefield and get a head start on the new playbook. Gone are the days of 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Blainefield plans to tap into the Monessen's greatest resource — speed.
“We thrive on athleticism and being able to expose that and being able to put points on the board,” Blainefield said.
The Greyhounds averaged 16.3 points last season, good enough for fourth in the WPIAL Class A Tri-County South, but it didn't produce enough wins. Four-sport standout Cory Fleming will lead the new spread offense.
“Ideally, I would love to just be able to run the ball, like we did in years past, but we don't have the personnel for that, and we have to be realistic about it,” Blainefield said. “I think with us having a surplus of athletic guys, we want to try and spread the ball around a little bit.”
Junior Vaughn Taylor will get the bulk of the carries at running back. The 6-foot, 180-pound Taylor finished last season with 282 yards on 67 carries, good for second on the team behind Jaron Youngblood, who graduated.
“(Taylor) will be a star both offensively and defensively, and we'll try to get the ball into his hands as much as possible,” Blainefield said.
There will be plenty of fresh faces at wide receiver, including junior Darnel Howell and senior Nate Simms, who will play an “essential” role in the new offense, the coach said.
On defense, the Greyhounds will transition from a 3-4 to a 4-4, meaning more man-to-man coverage in the secondary, again to utilize the team speed.
Ultimately, Blainefield hopes to keep his offense on the field and force turnovers on defense. The Greyhounds gave up an average of 29.2 points last season, which again, was fourth in the conference.
“Our advantage is speed, and we want to put ourselves in position to out maneuver our opponents as opposed to out powering them; we don't have that luxury,” Blainefield said. “I have confidence in our matchups and a ton of confidence in our athletic kids that we have here.”
William Whalen is a freelance writer.
