By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
WILLIAMSPORT — With a full offseason with the Westfall Mustangs, second-year coach Logan Stepp had a list of items he wanted to work on following a 2-8 campaign in 2022.
“I tried to get here as often as I could last year after I was hired to be the head football coach, but I couldn’t get here full go until June since I was teaching in the Hilliard City Schools district, so that didn’t give me a lot of time to prepare for last season,” Stepp said. “First, I wanted our guys to make it a priority to get into the weight room and get stronger, so we could better prevent injuries and last a little longer in games.
“Second, I knew we needed to work on football IQ, because there was certain thing the coaches would say that someone wouldn’t understand. Once we got to summer, we wanted to continue and take steps forward with our 7-on-7s, our linemen challenge and then head strong into the preseason and our first scrimmage, which I felt we did a nice job of competing in.”
The Mustangs return senior quarterback Bryce Wickline, who completed 154 of 258 passes for 2,008 yards and 16 touchdowns and added 445 yards rushing and eight more scores last season.
“Bryce was raw at quarterback when he first got back there last season. He was an athlete throwing the football around and learning how to play the position,” Stepp said. “Bryce is a student of the game and there isn’t a day that goes by where we aren’t communicating about something.
“Bryce was nominated as a team captain, and he’s going to continue and be our work horse that does a lot of things and does a lot of things well. I am basically going to toss him the keys to our offense this season and let him make the decisions. Let’s roll.”
While the Mustangs lost leading receiver Casey Cline to graduation, the stable is hardly empty at wide receiver, as seniors Trent Walters (46 receptions for 654 yards and two touchdowns), Brydan Gall, Cade Hall and junior Jaden Towler (46 receptions for 440 yards and three touchdowns) all return for Wickline to deliver the pigskin to.
“I know Bryce is excited about having those type of quality receivers with that athleticism to throw to and our receivers are excited to have Bryce back throwing the football,” Stepp said. “Even with how successful our passing game was last season, there are ways we can continue and get better.
“Our receivers are learning on how to settle into a gap in the defense and catch the football, as an example, and not running pass the gap back into coverage with trying to get deeper on the field.”
Sophomore Joey Wright and Hall will get the bulk of the carries for the Mustangs.
“Joey is strong, bigger and faster than he was last year after getting his first experience of playing varsity football and then we’ll bring Cade in from receiver to also get some carries,” Stepp said. “We think Joey and Cade will give us a nice dual threat back there, and then teams also have to account for Bryce, as well.”
Senior Tanner Scheel will play a hybrid position and contribute to the offense.
Senior Peyton Moll and sophomore Marcus Bentley are playing the guard positions, sophomore Marcus Bentley and junior Nate Smith are at the tackles and senior John Siders is also rotating in.
“We have a couple of returning starters back and we are excited about the potential that group has,” Stepp said. “We would also like to create a little bit of depth as the season progresses, so we can get our guys a few breaks here and there.”
The names are also the same on the defensive line, with the addition of seniors Braden McCoy and Cameron Sayre in the trenches.
Wright, Scheel and sophomore Joe Siders will lead the Mustangs at linebacker.
Walters, Gall and juniors Conor Geer and Mason Wright should all see action this fall in the secondary.
Stepp discussed the scheme that new coordinator Cameron Pavey is implementing on defense.
“We wanted to build a scheme that was similar to last year, so there wouldn’t be a bunch of changes that our guys would have to deal with,” he said. “It’s something we’ve continued to refine and are working on developing as the preseason has progressed.
“The bottom line is we want our kids to read, react and fit the gaps that they need to fill. We want our guys to be physical and we want to get 11 hats to the football. One of our big focuses this year is trying to create more turnovers.”
Walters is slated to handle place-kicking and punting duties.
Stepp discussed some of the goals that the Mustangs have this season.
“Our guys have put in the work to get bigger, faster and stronger and hopefully that pays off for us on Friday nights this fall,” he said. “We’re going to support each other, play hard, play the game the right way and one of the goals the kids have is to make 2023 a winning season, which hasn’t happened around here in a while (2012).”
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