After finishing 5-4 overall, 3-4 in the Tri-County South Conference, West Greene has one key ingredient upon which to build: a young but well-seasoned team. "Right now, we've only got one senior that is going to be starting," third-year coach Scott Orndoff said. "I think that we only have two seniors total. I think I have a total of three sophomores. The team is mostly made up of freshmen and juniors." The juniors, for the most part, have been on the team since they were freshmen. "The kids that are going to be juniors are a big class," Orndoff said. "A lot of those kids have started since they were freshmen. "I really don't like to throw a freshman out there. I mean, we did it when we first went out two years ago, because we had a big class of them. And they were pretty talented. So we threw them into the mix and let them play." The experience has paid off. Quarterback A.J. Wilson, tight end-linebacker Andrew Beam and cornerback Cody Renner, all juniors, were named to the all-conference team last year. Under the leadership of those veterans, plus senior lineman Ryan Tharp, the Pioneers have several on-field teachers. "We have more (depth) than we had last year. We have a few freshmen who came up. Not a ton, but a few." Orndoff said. "We'll just have to play a wait-and-see with this year's freshmen. "After the group of juniors that we have now, we (have to) kind of watch those freshmen a little bit." The numbers are also up this season. After dressing 22 to 24 players a year ago, the Pioneers' roster this year included 32 players at the start of practice, a decent number for a conference known for small rosters. "In the Tri-County South, you kind of got a little of everything," Orndoff said. "Everybody just tries to build their offense and defense around the kids that they have. You can't really come in and institute a system when you only have 20 or 30 kids." The players themselves are growing as well. "Ryan Tharp, who is one of our few seniors, put on quite a bit of size this year," Orndoff said. "He worked really hard. He probably went 210 last year. He's up to about 235 this year." As is the case with many Class A teams, athletes play several sports, so bulking up for one sport has consequences on others. "At West Greene, everybody usually does three sports," Orndoff said. "So, it is hard to get size out of them. "(This) is a big wrestling school. These kids get to wrestling, which starts right after football, and (they) lose all that weight. And they just end up chasing their tails the rest of the year." So, West Greene is looking for speed and finesse to outweigh power. "We do a little bit of everything. We run a Spread Pro (offense)," Orndoff said. "We really don't have the size to come into a Power-I or anything like that. We've got to spread things out." Last year, West Greene brought back an offensive formation that hadn't been used in the region in over 60 years: the single wing. "We did (the single wing) last year," Orndoff said. "We tried a little bit of it. It was difficult for the kids to pick up, and then we just kind of used versions of it during the year. And we basically went back into our old spread package. But we still used some of it." On offense, look for Wilson, Beam and running back Cody Miller to have a major impact. Defensively, look for Renner and the versatile Beam to be keys. West Greene is looking to challenge the perennial powerhouses of the conference, Monessen, Jefferson-Morgan and Carmichaels Area this year. "Most of these kids have two years under their belts," Orndoff said. "We basically played the last two years with a JV team and finished 5-4 both seasons. We weren't real happy with that, but we were pleased with it at the same time. This is the season where they have to step up." West Greene opens its season Friday at Class AA Waynesburg.

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