Bears starting fresh with new coach, new starters
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Mahanoy Area Head Coach Mick Connolly talks with members of his team during Wednesday's Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Media Day event.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN – Mahanoy Area is starting fresh this season with a new head coach and essentially a whole new team.
“We only have one returning starter,” Mick Connolly, entering his first season at the helm of the Golden Bears, told the Sentinel at Wednesday’s Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Media Day. “Probably going to start about five to seven freshmen. It’s a rebuild. It’s going to be a tough season, we’re aware of that.”
Connolly led the junior high program for the past two years before taking over the varsity squad, which finished 4-7 last year.
At A Glance
Head Coach: Mick Connolly (1st Season)
2024 Record: 4-7
2025 graduates lost: Ryan Bickowski; Joe Dabashinsky; Michael Oblas; Aidan Bowman; Austin Green; Levi Terry; Gavin Blackwell; Brian Gallagher; Lenny Zack; Kyle Pollack
Key Returners: Kyler Quick; Francisco Cruz;
The Bears have what Connolly termed a “brutal schedule” this year. They open the season against a Lehigh Valley foe, Catasauqua, at Alumni Field before entering a gauntlet against the Schuylkill League’s best.
“Schuylkill Haven, Minersville, Williams Valley, it is what it is,” Connolly said. “Our goal is day-by-day, to continue to get better and improve each and every day.”
“We have our work cut out for us to say the least,” Connolly added. “We’re looking forward to the challenge. It’s going to be a challenge.”
The returning starter? Standout running back Kyler Quick.
“He was a beast last year, he’s going to be a beast this year,” Connolly said.
“It’s a young team, so it’s going to be tough,” Quick told the Sentinel of his team’s season outlook, saying he hopes the team musters a few wins. “We lost almost everyone.”
Connolly said freshmen are going to see a lot of playing time.
“I don’t want to put them in there because they’re 13-year-old kids going to be playing against 18, 19-year-old young men, but we’re in the position that it is what it is,” Connolly said. “It’s what we have to do and they’re ready to go, they want to get in there, but I worry about keeping them healthy because the future’s bright.”
“We’re going to build something here,” Connolly added. “It’s going to be a couple years but we’re going to build something here.”
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