Despite its stellar legacy, McCaskey has found few wins recently on the football field, but that hasn't hindered the expectations of this year's team. With inspiration from a new coach, players say they're aiming to qualify for the District 3 playoffs.
McCaskey players attending media day:
Dieumel Gerard (left), senior, guard, defensive tackle
Johnzell Sibley (center), senior, wide receiver, outside linebacker
Khali Sloan (right), senior, running back, defensive end
The players have multiple reasons for their optimism.
"If we get players, I think we can turn it around," Gerard says, describing a lack of interest in playing football at the school.
New Coach Todd Mealy is helping change that, they agree. "He's a very good coach," says Sloan.
Mealy takes the head job of a program that has not won more than 2 games in any recent season after starting his coaching career as a McCaskey assistant under Coach Scott Feldman. He later had plenty of success as head coach at Penn Manor and Lancaster Catholic.
But experiences from last year will help, too.
"We had a lot of ups and downs during the season, but we tried our best," says Sloan. We had a lot of fun moments, even though our season record wasn't that good. We had a lot of good moments as a team itself."
"And we were learning a lot of things like experience for next season," adds Gerard.
They also cite work in the weight room and studying game video as a boost to their optimism. Both Gerard and Sibley listed lifting among their favorite activities.
It all leads Sloan to say: "We do think we have the potential to make the playoffs this year,"
LNP | LancasterOnline hosted Football Media Day at its downtown Lancaster office to connect local media with Lancaster-Lebanon League football players and coaches.
