Hopewell High School Football

As a way of officially putting a wrap on the 2025 high school football season, individual honors have been announced.

Coaches from the Western Hills Conference recently voted on 1st and 2nd team All-Conference players as well as players that were named honorable mentions.

Let me start by saying that with the number of talented players in this conference, it’s not an easy vote for the players and inevitably someone will be left out, who was likely worthy.

Only so many players can get recognized so it’s a difficult job with so much talent at schools like Hopewell, Avonworth, Beaver, North Catholic, Central Valley, Freeport, etc.

With that being said, here’s the Hopewell players that were recognized by the Western Hills coaches.

1st Team All-Conference Offense:
Running Back: Nasir Wade (sophomore)
Athlete: James Armstrong (sophomore)
Kicker: Rocco Marcantonio (senior)
Punter: Kingston Krotec (senior)

Hopewell’s Nasir Wade

2nd Team All-Conference Offense:
Wide Receiver: Logan Triscila (senior)
Offensive Guard: Nick Thomas (senior)
Center: George Desko (senior)

Hopewell’s Nick Thomas

2nd Team All-Conference Defense:
Defensive Line: Brian McCabe (senior)
Defensive Back: Nasir Wade (sophomore)
Long-Snapper: Aris Haniotes (junior)

Hopewell’s Brian McCabe

Honorable Mention:
Wide Receiver: Tre Cameron (sophomore)
Wide Receiver: Avery Bokor (sophomore)
Defensive End: Aris Haniotes (junior)
Defensive Line: Nick Thomas (senior)
Linebacker: Justin Obeldobel (senior)
Linebacker: Zander Muzy (senior)

Over the last couple of years, the Hopewell Vikings football program have competed in the Western Hills Conference, without question the most difficult in all of Class 3A.

The question is what will their section opponents look like next season?

Every two years, the WPIAL and PIAA look at boy’s enrollment and then based off the numbers, reconstruct sections for the next two years.

Teams in the Western Hills Conference this season included Hopewell, Avonworth, Central Valley, North Catholic, Beaver, Quaker Valley, Freeport and McGuffey.

Things will look different in 2026 and 2027.

The next sections won’t be announced until next month but one school that we know won’t be in Class 3A anymore is Central Valley. Multiple outlets are reporting that their enrollment increased, and they now have the numbers to compete in 4A.

While this is pure speculation, don’t be surprised if Hopewell’s section opponents include Ambridge, Beaver, Beaver Falls, Ellwood City, OLSH and one more team.

Some possibilities include Avonworth, North Catholic, Knoch, South Park, Waynesburg or West Mifflin. Keep in mind, West Mifflin and Waynesburg did play in a section with Hopewell a few years ago.

If Aliquippa didn’t make the Class 4A championship game, they likely would’ve been assigned to 3A and would’ve been in Hopewell’s section. But because of the WPIAL’s competitive balance rule, Aliquippa will remain in 4A.

Here are some of the schools that will now be playing 3A: Belle Vernon, West Mifflin, OLSH, Ambridge, Shady Side, South Park, Waynesburg and Beaver Falls.

Because of their close proximity, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Avonworth, Knoch, North Catholic, Deer Lakes and Highlands in a section together.

Hopewell will have 3 non-conference games to schedule, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try and schedule games against Central Valley and New Castle.

The 2025 Hopewell Vikings football season came to an end following a quarterfinal loss to Imani Christian.

I’m not going to rehash the loss because in the end, it doesn’t matter. The bottom line was that it very evident from the opening kickoff that this Imani Christian team was VERY TALENT, VERY BIG, VERY PHYSICAL, VERY FAST AND VERY SKILLED.

In reality, Imani Christian was just a better team than Hopewell at this stage of their careers. While Hopewell has talent, a majority of it is young and still developing physically and this was their spotlight playoff game against an elite opponent.

Let me repeat, Imani Christian was the most talented team that Hopewell has played this season.

A handful or more of their players will go on to play D-1 football and their best player, 4-star quarterback/linebacker Gabriel Jenkins was without a doubt the most physically talented player Hopewell has played and that I’ve personally seen play in a long time.

It’s not surprising that he holds a scholarship offer from Penn State and many of Power 4 programs. Their second-best player, senior David Davis isn’t far behind Jenkins in terms of skill level. Davis, who was also committed to Penn State before de-committing after HC James Franklin was fired, finished the game with 187 yards rushing along with a 50-yard punt return for a TD.

Losing last night in no way takes away from this 2025 season. Not one bit.

The only thing that’s disappointing is the fact that Friday night was the last time a number of seniors will ever put on a Hopewell football uniform again. It was an emotional scene afterwards as the Hopewell seniors took turns hugging each other. It was especially tough seeing some of the seniors trying to hold back their tears as they walked off the field for the last time.

As one senior player said to me afterwards, “It hasn’t hit me yet that it’s over.”

That’s what a lot of the players are feeling this morning but looking at it from a big picture perspective, while the 2025 season might be over with, this was just the start of the rebirth of the Vikings football program.

While the end goal wasn’t reached, there’s plenty to be proud and excited about when looking back at 2025, including a 7-win season, getting back to the WPIAL playoffs and winning a playoff game.

More importantly, thanks to head coach Matt Mottes, his talented and dedicated group of assistant coaches and these players a new cultural has been built. Players currently in and new ones entering the football program have a standard that needs to be reached and expectations that must be met.

It took a couple of years for everyone to realize that there’s a new sheriff in town and that if you weren’t willing to work and do whatever necessary to meet the staffs’ expectations, they’d find players that were.

Trust me, it won’t be long before Mottes and the coaches start the process of preparing, training, getting bigger, stronger and faster for the 2026 season. The expectations for next year will be a lot different where making the playoffs won’t be a goal, it’ll be assumed. The goal for next year is get better and find a way to advance further in the playoffs than they did this year.

It remains to be seen who Hopewell’s section opponents will be in 2026, who are likely to change. That aside, this team will enter the season with a large target on their backs because they’ll be returning a bunch of talent.

Scheduled to return next year are James Armstrong, Nasir Wade, Brody Rock, Tre Cameron, Avery Bokor, Aris Haniotes, Keith Young, George Tafkov, Tyler Schroder and Richie Johns.

That being said, the coaching staff will also face the challenge of trying to replace players and key contributors such as Kingston Krotec, Justin Obeldobel, Michael Garguilo, Julian Baldwin, Zander Muzy, Mikey Black, Rocco Marcantonio, Nick Thomas, James Gill, Vinny Boris, Brian McCabe, Logan Triscila, Jeorge Deko, Dom Gaughan and Josh Brunton.

That’s a lot of players that have taken a lot of snaps for the Vikings over the last few years.

In order for the winning to continue and for them to take a next step, young players will need to develop between now and next August. Can players like Greg Gigliotti, Evan McCabe, Joey Barkovich, Jayvion Lindsey, Dom Boris, Maddox Fattore, Landon Matthews, Brian Olden, Roman Amadio, Josh Reynolds, Aiden Gonzalez develop into players than can replace that long list of departing seniors?

That’s what winning programs are able to do- lose players but at the same time have others in the system ready to step on the field and produce.

Losing sucks but there’s plenty to be excited about heading into the offseason.

Football is back in Hopewell in so many ways.
1) The numbers in the youth programs are growing and before long, those players will be stepping into Tony Dorsett Stadium to play.

2) The fans in this town are excited by this program and did a tremendous job of supporting this team all season long, both home and way. The amount of Hopewell fans that traveled last night to watch this team play, in a less-than-ideal environment, was very impressive. In fact, by my unofficial count, Hopewell had more fans/school members in the stands than the home team.

3) This coaching staff is 100% bought into these players and this programs success. Whether it’s gameday environment, travel accommodations, film preparation, uniforms/practice gear and time invested, this coaching staff will do whatever and have done whatever necessary to make this program as successful as possible. Keep in mind, these groups aren’t being paid million-dollar salaries and their time invested has far exceeded what they’re making. All they care about is developing these kids ON AND OFF THE FIELD as well as making Hopewell a winner.

4) Players are bought in. Everything listed above is great but if the players aren’t buying in, winning will be difficult. I can tell you that the core group of this team is bought in and because of that, everyone else on the roster has no other choice. If they don’t share the same mindset, they’ll get left behind.

Once again, a big shoutout to this 2025 team, especially the seniors for truly bringing football back to Hopewell. Keep your heads up and chests out because you have tons to be proud of.

How fun is it that in November, we’re able to say that we have another Friday night of Hopewell Vikings football!

That’s the case, as tonight, Hopewell will go on the road to take on Imani Christian in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL playoffs.

Tonight’s matchup will not be easy as Imani Chrisitan is the No. 2 seed, enters the game undefeated and has a roster littered with players that hold D-1 scholarships. During the regular season, Imani Christian outscored their opponents 476 to 66.

The bottom line is for Hopewell to come out with a win will be difficult, but it won’t be impossible, and the Vikings certainly believe they have a path to victory.

For Hopewell to have a chance tonight, here are the things that need to happen:

KEYS TO A HOPEWELL WIN:
1) CONTROL THE TEMPO OF THE GAME! CONTROL THE TEMPO OF THE GAME!- Imani Christian’s offense averages close to 50 points per game and have the athletes to score from anywhere on the field. One way to prevent them from scoring is to not let them have the ball. Hopewell’s offense must dominate Time of Possession. That’s a must. Long drives, collecting a few first downs every time they have the ball, snapping the ball with less than 10 seconds on the play clock, etc.

Hopewell had a similar game plan early this year against Avonworth and it worked for much of the first half, as they trailed just 10-7 with a few minutes left until halftime. Unfortunately, a couple of late turnovers near halftime derailed their bid for an upset and led to a quick 14 points for Avonworth. This was also a gameplan they employed last season against Central Valley, and they were able to enjoy some success with it.

The Vikings can’t completely go conservative with their offense because that’s not who they are and how they’ve enjoyed success this season. However, they need to be smart with the ball, smart with the clock and CONTROL THE TEMPO!

2) CONTAIN GABRIEL JENKINS– Hopewell has faced some very talented teams this season but Jenkins will be the most skilled position player they’ve faced all season. Jenkins (6’1″, 187-pounds) is a consensus 4-star recruit and was previously committed to Penn State before the firing of James Franklin. Since then, he’s re-opened his recruitment. Bottom line is that he’s a big-time talent on both sides of the ball. He’s being recruited as a linebacker/defensive back but he’s the straw that stirs the Imani Christian offense.

The Vikings defense is going to need to stay in their lanes as he’ll look to run the ball. One missed assignment and Jenkins will be gone for either a big gain or a touchdown. It’s not just Jenkins as the IC offense has a number of playmakers but make no mistake about it, this offense moves because of their ability to run the football. Somehow, Hopewell needs to have success on early downs and force Jenkins into 3rd and long situations and get him to throw the football. Having him throw won’t guarantee Hopewell success but it’ll give them a better chance of getting off the field.

3) TAKE WHAT DEFENSE GIVES YOU- Along the lines of what I referenced earlier, the Hopewell passing game has to be smart, patient and don’t always try and force the issue. Completing a big pass is nice but don’t assume you’re going to live by that. If there’s opportunities to complete a 7-8 yards pass, do it. Dink and dunk them if that’s what they’re allowing you to do. Pick up first down, control the clock. control the tempo of the game.

4) JAMES ARMSTRONG– Armstrong has been dealing with a lower body injury for the past 3 weeks and with every passing day, he’s getting healthier. Jenkins is a talented player but let’s not overlook Armstrong. IF Jenkins is the most talented player on the field tonight, Armstrong is right behind him and doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone. This will be the biggest game that he’s been involved in and if Hopewell has any chance to win tonight, Boo needs to be Boo. Is that a lot of pressure, sure, but I have no doubt he’s looking for to this and have little doubt he’ll be up to the challenge.

As the saying goes, ‘Pressure makes Diamonds’, and Armstrong will be there to answer the bell.

GAME PREDICTION- Other factors tonight could be the weather conditions. Currently, it’s forecasted to be in the mid-50’s with rain coming from 4 pm thru the 7 pm hour.

Also, if Hopewell can keep it close, they have the clear advantage on special teams.

I have no doubt this Hopewell team will he playing in a WPIAL championship game in the next few years.  The question is will this be the year?

Call me a homer, you’re making this pick with your heart  or whatever you want but I believe Hopewell’s season won’t end tonight.

PREDICTION: HOPEWELL 31 IMANI CHRISTIAN 27