It’s been a big last two years for Troy Cook and the Otto-Eldred football coaching staff.

In the summer of 2023, the group was tabbed to lead the North in the annual Frank Varischetti All-Star Game in Brockway, where they played the mighty South tough in a narrow 44-34 shootout defeat.

That fall, Cook and company guided the Terrors to a second-straight winning season (both at 6-4), kickstarting the program’s best stretch since 2016-17. The following year, they did even better, orchestrating a 7-2 campaign which included a District 9 Region 3 title and Class A playoff appearance. And earlier this year, the O-E staff was tabbed to coach Pennsylvania in the annual Big 30 All-Star Charities Classic.

For Cook now, there’s now an opportunity for a crescendo to that successful stretch:

To help Pennsylvania, which had dominated the contest from 2016-23 (going 6-0-1 in that span), back into the win column after it bowed to New York, 39-18, last summer. And it arrives on Saturday, when his PA all-stars meet the Empire State in the game’s 51st renewal at Bradford High’s Parkway Field.

“It’s been great working with the Big 30 committee, great working with the players, and just fun getting back with the coaches again for another time here,” Cook said of this next crack at leading an all-star team. “So far, so good.”

Cook, whose offenses have been among the most prolific in the Big 30 in his seven years at Duke Center, will be leading that side of the ball on Saturday night. The word he used to describe his 20-player unit?

Versatile.

“Sometimes you get into these games and you see that you’re gonna be a lot stronger running the ball or a lot stronger throwing the ball, and as far as we can tell, we should be pretty good at both,” he said, before also noting another positive: Despite having only two weeks to practice, his squad has solidified rather quickly.

“We’ve coached in all-star games before and sometimes it’s hard to get all those players from different schools that were rivals before to kind of come together that quickly and then become a team unit themselves, but it really hasn’t been an issue with these guys. … So, it’s been good to see.”

OTTO-ELDRED, under Cook, has typically featured a pass-first offense. Indeed, for several years now from a statistical standpoint, the Terrors have boasted among the best quarterbacks and receivers in District 9 (just last fall, their QB and three receivers were named First Team Region 3 all-stars).

“If the time comes (on Saturday), I think we’ll be able to do that,” Cook said. “If the game flows that way that we need to do that, I think we’ll be ready for it.”

Mostly, though, he’s hoping to strike a balance.

And he appears to have two quarterbacks capable of fitting that scheme: St. Marys’ Ben Paul and Sheffield’s Colby Barr.

Paul was a standout passer for the Class AAA Flying Dutch, completing 57% of his passes for 1,330 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Barr, meanwhile, was an excellent running QB for the Wolverines, carrying 79 times of 865 yards and 11 TDs while throwing for another 248 yards and four scores. Interestingly, neither was a league all-star at his position, nor a Big 30 all-star, but both are gamers — good football players who get the job done.

And Cook expects them to on Saturday, even if it’s not necessarily within the Terrors’ high-octane system.

“We were a little bit light as far as receiver goes this year,” Cook assessed of his PA lineup, “so we only have a few guys there right now and only one O-E guy (Davey Schenfield), so it’s been a little bit of a learning curve for those other receivers coming in from other programs that may not have thrown the ball as much.”

He added: “It’s definitely not the entire playbook that we run at O-E, for sure, with only having a couple weeks to get ready, so we pared it down a little bit, but we feel confident that if we have to throw, we can do that. But we’d like to keep it balanced as much as we can.”

Pennsylvania’s strength might actually lie in its ground game.

The Keystone State features a pair of league Offensive Linemen of the Year — Port Allegany’s Carson Neely (Region 2) and O-E’s Charlie Minard (Region 3). The line, especially, “has gelled really well together,” Cook said, “so that’s always a key when you start out, trying to get that line set because they usually control everything.”

And that group will be blocking for a quartet of District 9 all-star running backs, including Ridgway/Johnsonburg star Rocco Delhunty (238 carries, 1,280 yards, 16 touchdowns) and O-E’s Hunter App (779 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns), plus fullbacks Jaden Prince (Otto-Eldred) and Kane Scharba (Kane).

JOINING NEELY and Minard as guards/tackles are Andrew Kyler (Sheffield), Maxx Newton (Cameron County), Seth Jensen (Eisenhower), Hunter Viglione (Ridgway/Johnsonburg) and Cameron Severance (Kane). The centers are Jordan Iozzo (Ridgway/Johnsonburg) and Region 1 all-star Aidan McAlee (St. Marys/Elk County Catholic).

Listed at wide receiver, alongside Schenfield, are Danny Van Vladricken (Coudersport) and Ryan Chambers (Eisenhower). Cameron County’s Koby Shepard and Port Allegany’s Jacob Causer are the tight ends.

To Cook, Saturday’s outcome will come down to which team can adjust “better and more quickly.”

“I know the New York coaching staff is Grade A, top notch,” he said. “They’re gonna have their guys ready without a doubt. They’re gonna be a physical team, very well-coached, very disciplined, so that’s just all things that we’re trying to preach to our guys, trying to match that when game time comes on Saturday.”