Volume 7, Issue 3  December 2003         Important Dates to            Remember     Annual Football           Banquet     Wyndham Hotel           Sunday,   January 25, 2004     SEE  TIGERS   ON THE WEB!!         End of season     stats, and links to   newspaper articles,               etc.           www.   moonfootball.com

Coach's Corner By Coach Capuano      The Moon Tigers were picked fifth at the beginning of the seasonand ended ranked fourth.  The team exceeded their expectations, but at the same time felt sad after losing to Thomas Jefferson in the semifinals.  We ended at least twelfth in the state on defense in all classifications.  The season begain with a good win over Hampton who made it to the quarterfinals of the WPIAL.   In this game, we gave up theonly rushing touchdown for the regular season.  In the second game, we played anb lost to Blackhawk, who also finished their season in the semifinals.  Moon then went on to win nine games in a row.  With a record of 8-1 in the regular seaon, the Tigers tied for the best record for a Moon football team.  Also, no Moon team ever had a record of 10-1 until this year.  The Tigers also tied for the Parkway Conference title with Blackhawk.  The Tigers have been to the playoffs nine out of the last ten years, and this makes two years in a row to the semifinals.  The Tigers had some big wins over several ranked AAA teams during the season, such as West Allegheny, Hampton, Highlands, Hopewell, and Ambridge.  The win at West Allegheny was the first time we have beaten them in six years.  The Tigers also posted four shutouts during the regular season.  The defense set a new team record for interceptions in one season with 21.  Robbie Leonard lead the team with six.

What made this team special was the fact  that no one person was counted on to carry  the team.  We never had anyone leading the  WPIAL in statistics.  We didn't even get  anyone recognized in the Beaver County  Times for their achievement award, which  they give each Monday.  That was hard to do  for a 10-2 team.  We played as a unit on  offense, defense, and special teams.  We,  the coaching staff, will miss the fifteen  seniors that will graduate.  They showed  great leadership on and off the field.  They  set the bar even higher for the future  players.  Our slogan this year was "FINISH"  and this group of seniors did that every day  - on every play!      In the beginning of December, we will  begin a new chapter in Moon Football.  How  this chapter reads will depend on the  determination, dedication, and willingness  to focus on the goals set by past team's  achievements.  I know one thing, the Moon  Tigers are ready to take the next step.       Every member of this year's team and  coaching staff, wants to thank the  Ouarterback Club for their hard work and  for all the little things the club does to make  Moon Football a first class operation.

    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette                  Tribune Review                 Allegheny/Beaver Times
                  Fab 22                                   Terrific 25                        All-Conference Team
           A.Q. Shipley                              A.Q. Shipley                             Parkway

                    ******                                         ******                            First Team Offense
                                                                                                               A.Q. Shipley
    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette                   Tribune Review                      Robbie Leonard
    PG West - Fabulous 22                 All-Conference Team                    John Bachman
              A.Q. Shipley                                Parkway                              Dante Morsillo
            Robbie Leonard                                                                             Andrew Miller
                                                                  Offense
                   ******                                       A.Q. Shipley                     First Team Defense
                                                                John Bachman                           A.Q. Shipley
           Post-Gazette                               Andrew Miller                          Robbie Leonard
    All-Conference Team                        Dante Morsillo
     Class AAA Parkway                         Robbie Leonard                      Top 22 Offense
                                                                                                                 Ryan Helfrich
               Offense                                      Defense
              A.Q. Shipley                                  A.Q. Shipley                        Top 22 Defense
             Dante Morsillo                              Robbie Leonard                          John Bachman
            Robbie Leonard                                                                                Chad Trenney
                                                                        ******
              Defense                                                                            Honorable Mention - Off
              A.Q. Shipley                                                                                   Chad Trenney
           Robbie Leonard                         Tribune Review                            Mark Hartz
                                                               Allegheny                               Matt Dowdell
                  ******                           All-Classification Team
                                                                                                          Honorable Mention - Def
      NSN Elite Eleven                             Offense                                      Joe Vennare
              A.Q. Shipley                               John Bachman                                   Brian Viti
                                                                                                                    Nicky Peterson
                                                                  Defense                                      Chris Boyer
                                                                  A.Q. Shipley
                                                                Robbie Leonard

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Junior Varsity                              Record:  8-1                        By:  Coach Smiley & Coach Dish

     The 2003 JV Football season was the Tiger's most successful since the undefeated JV team of 1999.  The Tigers rolled to an 8-1 record to win the JV Parkway Conference title.  Only a season ending loss to Hopewell prevented the perfect season for the JVs.

     The team opened the year by traveling to Hampton. Behind the running of Todd Rinaldi and Taylor Fecko, the Tigers opened the season with a 14-8 victory.

    The second game of the season was against  Blackhawk.  The Cougars were a team Moon had not beaten since 1999, and Blackhawk opened the game with a 12 minute touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead.  Casey Williams made his first start, and on his first pass he completed a 70 yarder to Zach Engel.  One play later Williams scored, and the two point conversion made the score 8-7.  Blackhawk was unable to answer the Tiger's big play capability, and Moon turned the game into a 34-7 rout.

    The JV road show traveled to Highland the following week for a 34-12 victory.  Then traveled to New Castle for a showdown of unbeaten JV teams.  Moon jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead behind William's passing, Rinaldi's running, and the pass catching of Engel, Vince Drnach, and Ryan Butschle.  Geoff  Spaulding connected  on the extra point that would prove to be the difference in the game.  The defense was tested from that point on.  Late in the third quarter New Castle scored and attempted a two-point conversion for the lead, but the Tiger defense held.  The 7-6  score would be the final as Moon ran its record to 4-0.

    The season ended the following week with a 21-8 loss to Hopewell.  While the loss spoiled the undefeated season, the accomplishments of the team remain great.  The season produced a JV Conference title that included wins over Blackhawk and West for the first time in four years.  We saw the contribution of JV players to the varsity program all season by players such as Mike Hytia, Nick McCutcheon , Jimmy Fodse, Pat Metzler, Vince Dmach, Zach Engel, Bill Capkovic, Mark Jeffries, Casey Williams, Todd Rinaldi, George Hingson, Scott Brittner, Ryan Butschie, and Steve Raso.

    It was a special season for Moon's JV team.  We are extremely proud to have been given the opportunity to coach such a  fine team.  Thank you for all of your efforts throughout the season.

     The 9th Grade Team finished with 7-1 overall record.  The team won their conference, which is basically the Parkway, with the exception of Ellwood City replacing New Castle.  Our only loss was a non-conference game against a very tough Thomas Jefferson team.  Overall, we outscore our opponents 213 to 53.   We outcored the Parkway 161 to 25.

    The 9th grade staff's main goal is obviously to finish undefeated and win the conference, but we did have another goal with this group of athletes.   We saw early on that they were very good athletes, but they had little confidence in themselves and in each other.  Due to whatever reasoning, as 8th grade football players, they finished their respective  seasons (community league and middle school) with little to moderate success.  They were used to losing.  The staff attempted to convince them that they were much better than that.

    Out staff believes we did instill a new attitude in them, which was quite evident  by examining their performances in the Blackhawk and Hopewell games.  Both opponents entered the games with a chance to share the conference title with us.  Our players rose to the occasion in each difficult game, working well together for victory.  In each game, various players, not just one or two,  took control of the game.  This is something we did not see out of this group earlier in the year.

Games and results:

                Moon  38        Char Vally  0                           Moon  19        Montour   0
                Moon  32        WA  6                                      Moon  14        Thomas Jefferson 28
                Moon  34        Ellwood City  13                     Moon  49        Ambridge  0
                Moon    9        Blackhawk  0                           Moon  18        Hopewell   6

    The Middle School Football team finished up its 2003 season with a fourth place finish in the Southwestern Conference.  The dedication and hard work shown among all 47 members of this year's team will be sure to build into continued success throughout their careers.  The coaching staff is also proud to announce this year's players of the year:

8th Grade Offensive Lineman:   John Merison                     8th Grade Defensive Lineman:  Cory Halajcio
7th Grade Offensive Lineman:   Kevin Barthelemy              7th Grade Defensive Lineman:  Jordan  Grey

8th Grade Offensive Player:    Garin Wybert                         8th Grade Defensive Players:  Joe Styche & Ryan Busch
7th Grade Offensive Players:Ryan Falbo & Ryan Turney  7th Grade Defensive Player:  Phil Bondi

Moon Quarterback Club

P.O. Box 680
Moon Township, PA 15108

fredqbc@yahoo.com