Mike Vukovcan HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP– The 2025 Hopewell Vikings football team officially started training camp last night at Tony Dorsett Stadium.
As was the case last season, Hopewell appears to be entering the season with a nice size roster. Vikings Sports Now was in attendance and by our official count, there appeared to be close to 50 players on the field.
The opening practice lasted approximately 3 hours and the players were just in shoulder pads. Next week begins full-padded practices and when the physicality and hitting will begin.
OPENING DAY OBSERVATIONS:
**The thing that really stood out to me most was the physical shape that the players were in. It’s night and day compared to last season.
That’s not meant as a criticism of last year, instead it speaks more of the commitment these players had in the off-season to getting in peak physical condition. Credit to the Hopewell coaching staff along with the training staff for the work they put in with the team. Running in the gym was a regular part of what Coach Mottes and the Hopewell staff put these players through.
Taking a look at the offensive lineman, they looked bigger and really in shape. From what I’m told, the dedication of the men up front has been impressive, many of them showing up between 5 AM and 6 PM for weight-lifting sessions.
**For the first day of team reps, the passing game looked pretty crisp. I was particularly impressed with sophomore wide receiver Tre Cameron, who made a couple highlight catches, along with senior wide out Logan Triscila, who is just steady. The wide receiver position is stacked for Hopewell but the duo of Cameron and Triscila will be one of the top duos in the WPIAL.
**As I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently, if they execute what they’re being taught, the Hopewell defensive line should be really strong. Like with the wide receiver position, the DL has plenty of depth with Keith Young, Aris Haniotes, Nick Thomas, Brian McCabe, James Gill, etc.
**Two players that just caught my eye and I’ll be curious to see how they develop this year and in the future are No. 21 DE Richie Johns and No. 22 CB Brian Olden. Johns is a junior and Olden is a sophomore. There’s times you look at players in sports and they look the part and then do things that make you want to see more of them. That was the case with those two players.
**This Hopewell team is more talented and should be better than they were a year ago. However, that’s just talk right now and things need to be proven on the field. These players need to tune out all the praise they’re getting from the media and people like me. They need to have tunnel vision and have a chip on their shoulders in practice with the mentality that they haven’t accomplished anything yet and this program hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2012. STAY HUNGRY!! Read what the media is saying after the season, not now.
Vikings Sports Now will be back at Tony Dorsett Stadium tonight and will talk to a few players and get some video from practice.
VSN will be covering Hopewell football, including the junior high program from start to finish. If you’re a business that would like to help us out with expenses by advertising and sponsoring football, please reach out (724-462-5756 or mvukovcan@gmail.com).
