COUDERSPORT — It’s down to crunch time for the Pennsylvania Big 30 team.
With just two practices remaining until Saturday’s cross-state showdown against New York at Parkway Field in Bradford, Pennsy head coach Todd Silfies and his squad are putting together the finishing touches on their game plan and player rotation.
Pennsylvania is looking to win its third straight Big 30 Charities Classic, and the anticipation is certainly building for Silfies and his team of 38 players.
“I’m just getting really excited,” Silfies said after Tuesday’s practice at Coudersport High School. “Obviously I’ve been excited for a long time about it but now it’s getting closer and you can check things like the forecast and start to get a feel for what Saturday is going to look like. I’m really proud of the effort of our players so far.”
After today’s practice in Warren, the team is off on Thursday to participate in the Big 30 Banquet at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The team will then wrap up its preparations with a final practice in Ridgway on Friday.
Due to injuries and a few missed practices, Silfies and his coaches have asked players to step up and into roles they may not be completely familiar with.
To this point, he’s been impressed with how his group has responded.
“They are really picking things up and we are asking them to do a lot of different things and even play a lot of places,” he said. “A group of guys that have really done anything asked of them.”
“Our biggest strength is our ability and our biggest weakness is just being able to understand exactly what we’re doing and play fast,” he said. “But that’s why we have a couple more practices.”
Silfies, who played in the Big 30 game for Pennsylvania and has also served as an assistant in prior games, is still amazed at how quickly a group of teenagers can put aside egos and work together as one unit.
“Something that I’ve really had fun with is just how quickly these guys forget the rivalry and become buddies,” he said.
“I was talking about it a bit with the guys in our secondary,” he added. “Some of their talking and communication out there after a few practices was because they were willing to communicate and become buddies by hanging out off the field.”
And while Silfies could crunch X’s and O’s as much as any other coach, he also realizes that Saturday’s game is much bigger than the final score and what goes on in between the white lines.
“It is really cool to see those guys come together and a lot of them making plans for the future and where they are going,” he said. “It’s fun to see that and to just look into the future and the friendships that they are going to have forever.”
