Mike Vukovcan As many were anticipating, things are much different when it comes to Hopewell High School football.
The Vikings are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2016 but it’s bigger than just wins and losses.
HOPEWELL FOOTBALL IS DIFFERENT-
The attitude of the players and coaches along with the outside perception of this program is completely different.
For the first time in many, many, many years, this team is going into practice and games feeling as though they can compete with anyone and their opponents realize playing Hopewell no longer equates to an automatic W.
A true test will occur next week when Hopewell travels to Avonworth, who many rank as the No. 1 ranked team in Class 3A. We’ll get into that more next week but the focus this week is on the Beaver Bobcats.
I went back through Hopewell schedules and tried to find the last time Hopewell beat Beaver and the schedules only dated back to the 2004 season. During that time period, taking into account that these two teams haven’t played every season, but I can’t find the last Hopewell win.
In their last 6 contests, Beaver has dominated Hopewell and frankly beaten them pretty badly. The Bobcats have outscored Hopewell in their last 6 games by a combined score of 291-81. The Hopewell offense has scored more than 17 points in any of those games and haven’t allowed 45 points or more in 5 of 6.
While I’m wait until Friday to make my weekly prediction, I will tell you that all 3 of those things will change this Friday.
HOPEWELL ONE OF THE BEST IN ENTIRE WPIAL?
Is Hopewell one of the top teams in the entire WPIAL?
While there’s no true way of knowing and it’s only an opinion and not a fact, at least one person thinks so.
WPIAL Insider, one of the most respected high school media outlets in the state, came out with their weekly rankings today and for the first time this season, ranked HC Matt Mottes program as one of the 25 best in the entire WPIAL.
WPIAL Insider ranks Hopewell as No. 22 with two other AAA teams head of them Avonworth (No. 14) and Imani Christian (No. 18).
Does this mean anything? No, however, it is nice recognition and another indication that Hopewell football is back.
RECRUTING NOTES:
*A couple of Hopewell players have received GameDay invites to college programs- senior wide receiver Logan Triscila has been invited by Duquesne to attend their home game on September 27th. Also, junior defensive end Aris Haniotes has received GameDay invites to both Georgetown and Cornell.
Weeks 0-2 Highlights
YTD Stats – 4 Sacks, 12 Tackles, 3 TFL, 6 Hurries @coachdaoust @CLiuget @Coach_Bower @CoachThibbs @CoachCohenWake @WPIAL_Insider @DAWGHZERECRUITS https://t.co/HUDE55lsWR— 6'3 215 | C/O 27 | Edge 3.4 GPA (@ArisHaniotes27) September 6, 2025
HOPEWELL TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL STATS THRU 3 GAMES:
-Hopewell has outscored their opponents this season 136-8.
-Rushing Yards- Hopewell 628 Opponents 232
-Passing Yards- Hopewell 551 Opponents 207
-Total Yards- Hopewell 1179 Opponents 439
-Hopewell has only punted the ball a total of 2 times in 3 games
-Sophomore Nasir Wade leads Hopewell in rushing with 288 yards on 26 carries (4 rushing TD’s)
-Sophomore James Armstrong has 29 rushes for 232 yards and 6 rushing TD’s
Passing, Armstrong is 34 of 48 for 496 yards with 5 TD’s and 0 Ints.
-Senior Logan Triscila leads the team with 8 catches for 138 yards (1 TD)
-Wade has 8 catches for 99 yards
-Sophomore Tre Cameron has 7 catches for 111 yards (2 TD’s)
-Sophomore Avery Bokor has 6 catches for 108 yards (1 TD)
-Senior Kingston Krotec has 5 catches for 69 yards (2 TD’s)
DEFENSE:
-Senior Justin Obeldobel leads team with 21 tackles
-Junior George Tafkov has 19 tackles
-Junior Keith Young has 17 tackles
-Senior Nick Thomas has 17 tackles
-Senior Zander Muzy has 13 tackles
-Junior Aris Haniotes has 12 tackles
