(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a four-part series on the units for Saturday’s 45th annual Big 30 All-Star Charities Classic at Bradford’s Parkway Field. Today, the Pennsylvania defense.)
Normally, especially on the scholastic level, offense is the bailiwick of the head coach.
But, for the past six years, that hasn’t been true of the Kane High School football program.
For several seasons, Todd Silfies was the Wolves’ defensive coordinator and, when he replaced Jason Barner as head coach, he was not about to switch.
Silfies remained in charge on that side of the ball and left the offense to assistant Tyler Smith.
The marriage was a great one as Kane, over that span, went a gaudy 63-12, half of those defeats coming in the postseason. That success produced a trio of District 9 titles, an equal number of trips to the PIAA playoffs, plus a live streak of three straight Allegheny Mountain League championships.
Now, Silfies, Smith and three other Kane assistants (Royce Novosel-Johnson, Jim Sirianni and Christopher Barber), all fathers of young children, are stepping away from coaching, at least for awhile.
Their final game will be Saturday night at Bradford’s Parkway Field in the 45th annual Big 30 All-Star Charities Classic.
They will be coaching the Pennsylvania team in the former Big 30 All-Star Football Game, which trails New York in the series, 22-20-2, and, as usual, Silfies will coach the defense.
“Personally, that’s the side of the balI I focus on,” he said. “Tyler Smith is an offensive mind and as we started doing it together (after Silfies became head coach) it just made sense for me to be handling the defense and him the offense.
“We constantly ask each other questions … what would make him uncomfortable if a defense did this and he does the same thing with me offensively.”
Of course, Silfies stepped into a perfect situation for two reasons.
First, the Charities Classic mandates a 4-3 alignment, the exact scheme the Wolves run.
“The basics of it … you could call what we run at Kane a 4-3, although depending on the opponent, we don’t necessarily line up in a 4-3 very often … you like to be a little creative with it.
“(But) the restrictions of the all-star game format kind of change the way we approach our coverage and our aggressiveness. But, for the most part, it’s pretty much the same so we’re using our same system and same terminology as much as we can. The restrictions (specified pre-snap alignment of the line, linebackers and secondary) sometimes just change what we want to call. Once the ball is snapped, though, players can go where they want.”
And Silfies enjoys an additional benefit.
Of his 19 defenders, four are from Kane and seven from Ridgway, which plays the exact-same defense.
“(All 11) know the 4-3 and to have guys like (Kane’s) Anthony Smith (tackle) and Ang Costanzo (linebacker) on defense is basically like having extra coaches,” Silfies said. “They’ve been starting in the system for three years, playing in it for four and they know things better than probably what I do in terms of teaching stuff to the other guys, which maybe I take for granted.”
Pennsy’s original roster of 43 players has shrunk to 38, 19 on defense, meaning there can’t be total personnel change every other series. There are only three defensive ends, tackles and outside linebackers, meaning each will play two of every three series. Middle linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties will alternate each possession.
On the line, Pennsylvania’s defense has Drew Kilhoffer and Max Cowan (both of Ridgway) and Jacob Kallenborn (Port Allegany) at end and Smith, Philip Shipe (Ridgway) and Brayden Southard (Smethport).
The linebackers are Costanzo, Jared Whiting (Cameron County), Ryan Munksgard (Warren), Johnathan Stewart (Kane) and Jacob Zimmerman (Ridgway).
In the secondary are cornerbacks Aaron Hinton (Ridgway), Marcus Morgan (Kane) and Andy Brier and Johnny Mitchell (both Ridgway) plus safeties Treyton Stiles (Port Allegany), Jared Green (Coudersport), Cale Albaugh (Sheffield) and Brandon Reed (Elk County Catholic).
Of the three positions that will play two-thirds of the game (end, tackle and outside linebacker), Silfies concluded, “None of the players are going to be critical about that because it just means they’re playing more football.”
(TOMORROW: New York offense)
