ASHLAND, Pa. — After falling to Palmerton in the Conference Semifinals to end the 2023 season, North Schuylkill head coach, Wally Hall, is looking forward to the tougher competition on the schedule for 2024.
The Colonial-Schuylkill League is changing from four divisions to three this season. This means the Spartans are dropping a few formally common 3A opponents from their schedule and are replacing them with 4A schools.
“That's who you want. You want a tough schedule,” said Hall. “Years before this we try to continue to make our schedule more challenging. This year it's definitely a challenge that's going to help us,” said Hall.
Southern Lehigh, Bangor, Lehighton, and Pottsville Area are the new additions to Division A.
The Spartans are returning junior quarterback, Caden Mengel, under center for his second season. Mengel took over the starting role in week three last season. They expect his dual-threat abilities to be the main driver of offensive production after graduating their top play makers from a year ago.
“I feel more comfortable with the role rather than stepping in kind of mid-season last year,” said Mengel. “I think that dual-threat is very important in high school football,” he added.
Coach Hall adds that he’s been pleased with Mengel’s improvement over the course of last season into this summer.
“You try to get him better in our system and what we're doing. His arm strength a year later [has] improved,” said Hall.
The Spartans suffered numerous injuries to their starters last season, thus looking to underclassmen on the roster for help in those roles. Now with those roles up for grabs this year, coach Hall is happy those guys got the needed experience. At this point in the summer, he’s still figuring out how the pieces fit together.
“New year, some different faces, you know? Getting the pads on more importantly, I'm starting to see what some of our guys can do,” said Hall.
The Spartans open the season at home against Mount Carmel.