By: Ray Fisher
Saturday, June 21, 2025 | 11:01 AM
Christopher Horner | TribLive
The Bethel Park defense makes a goal line stand against Upper St. Clair last season.
The Bethel Park football team will host a 7-on-7 football camp from 6-8 p.m. July 9 at Black Hawks Stadium.
June was a busy time for the Bethel Park gridders as five 7-on-7 camps were on the summer schedule starting June 5 against Thomas Jefferson and wrapping up June 26 hosting the Steelers 11-ON event.
Summer workouts commenced June 16 and will end prior to the start of fall camp on Aug. 4. A football kickoff event will be held Aug. 8 followed a day later by the team’s picture day.
The Black Hawks will visit Chartiers Valley on Aug. 16 to participate in a preseason scrimmage, and their first game will take place Aug. 22 against Seneca Valley. It also will be senior night.
Along with the Seneca Valley game, four other nonconference games are on the 2025 schedule — Mars (Aug. 29), Armstrong (Sept. 5), at West Mifflin (Sept. 12) and at Trinity (Sept. 19).
The team’s Allegheny Six Conference schedule kicks off Sept. 26 at Moon, followed by games against Baldwin (Oct. 3), at Upper St. Clair (Oct. 10), at South Fayette (Oct. 17) and Peters Township (Oct. 24).
The Black Hawks lost a large group of seniors to graduation from the 2024 playoff team, including all-conference selections Clancy Orie (DE/TE), Mitch Paschl (DB/WR), Tanner Pfeuffer (QB), JaVaughn Moore (RB), Ryan Petras (WR), Christian Davis (ILB), Denzel Meyers (OT), Jack Bruckner (DB), Frank O’Mara (OT) and Hunter Goelz (C).
But there were 33 underclassmen on the squad, including 13 juniors, 15 sophomores and 15 freshmen.
Three returning players — Santino LaMolinare (OT), Bryan McGuire (DT) and Will Sabatos (DB) — were first-team all-conference selections in 2024. LaMolinare and McGuire will be seniors this season, Sabatos a junior.
Another top junior on the 2025 squad is Brady Bruckner, who played a multitude of positions as a sophomore on last year’s team including stints at QB, WR, MLB, OLB, DB, punt returner and kickoff returner.
Bruckner and senior Evan Devine are vying for the starting quarterback job with the graduation of the 6-foot-6, 195-pound Pfeuffer, who eclipsed 6,000 yards passing in an outstanding three-year career.
“Our expectation (for 2025) is to compete snap to whistle, believe in our coaches and continue the winning tradition of Bethel Park football,” Bruckner said. “Our goal is to compete for a playoff spot and to win the section. We’ve lost a few studs to graduation. We’ve graduated most of our passing, rushing and receiving yards. We need our replacements to step up, compete and get better each week. Our coaches will put us in a position to succeed. We just need to produce.
“We return seven or eight guys with significant experience on defense. We also return the majority of our offensive linemen. The cupboard is not bare. We competed at the WVU 7-on-7 tournament. In the coming weeks, we will compete in four or five additional tournaments. We’re getting better each week.”
Pfeuffer completed 156 of 260 passes for 2,656 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2024, giving him 6,044 yards and 66 TDs in his career.
The strong-armed signal caller led Bethel Park to a third-place finish in the Class 5A Allegheny Six Conference and a 10-3 record last fall. The Black Hawks started the season with seven consecutive wins, defeated Latrobe, 42-7, and Woodland Hills, 49-22, in their first two WPIAL playoff games, then lost a 28-7 decision to Pine-Richland in the semifinal round.
Bethel Park was the top offensive team in Class 5A thanks to a 528-213 overall scoring advantage. The Black Hawks averaged 40.6 points per game while allowing 16.3.
And Moore proved to be prolific in the rushing department with 2,084 yards and 27 touchdowns on 285 carries. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry and 173.7 yards per game.
The starters on the offensive line were LaMolinare (6-4, 255) and O’Mara (6-4, 245) at tackle, sophomores Ryan Bergia (6-0, 275) and Nate Purcell (5-11, 250) at guard, Goelz (6-0, 235) at center and Orie (6-4, 255) at tight end.
The Black Hawks’ defensive front was anchored by Orie, McGuire, junior Jovian Smith, Meyers and Bergia, bolstered by a strong linebacking corps spearheaded by Davis, Brady Bruckner, juniors Kahanu’ola Kuewa, Tim Ondo and Charlie Simmons and senior Randy Bergia.
The secondary, another team strength, included the likes of Sabatos, Paschl, Jack Bruckner, junior David Dennison and sophomore Santino Nowozeniuk.
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