If North Allegheny wants to remain among the elite in the WPIAL after an 11-1 season in which it advanced to the Class AAAA semifinals, it had better find a way to reload.

A 26-member senior class played its final game in a 28-27 overtime loss to Gateway last fall, including four members of the PG North Fabulous 22 all-star team (Austin Fedell, Karl DeCiantis, Geoff Greco and Corey Watts).

"We're working hard. We have a lot of question marks," coach Art Walker said. "Still, when you lose 26 seniors, regardless of the age of your team, you're going to be inexperienced."

But the cupboard isn't at all bare for the Tigers. Senior quarterback Mike Locke passed for 936 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. Sophomore Alex Papson figures to replace 1,300-yard rusher DeCiantis, and junior Grant Huckstein and senior Jorden Kraus also will be in the mix.

"In Quad-A football, you need more than one guy to carry the ball," Walker said.

Maryland recruit Ryan Schlieper (6-5, 278) and Mike Vuono (6-3, 280), both seniors, will anchor the offensive line and linebacker Jackson Boyd and defensive end Wes Henderson should do so for the defense. Senior Brian Austin, a the WPIAL 100-meter champion in track, led the team in receiving yards last season.

"Those are the guys with game experience who are battle-tested more than anybody, so they're the ones we're hoping can lead the rest of the guys in the right direction," Walker said.

The Golden Tornado has struggled in recent years but will feature an experienced lineup this season with seven starters returning on offense and eight on defense, second-year coach Jeff McAnallen said.

The returnees are highlighted by quarterback Cole Harvey, who as a sophomore last season passed for 635 yards and eight touchdowns with only four interceptions. Junior Jarrod Oesterling led the team in receiving last season despite missing the final three games of the season due to injury.

Linemen Rick Gladd, Dylan O'Donnell and Steve Powers, receiver Eli Christy and running back Tony Fudoli also return on offense. Defensive backs Mason McLaughlin and Josh Reddick, linebacker T.J. Lesniewski and linemen Dayne Horwatt, Christos Klutinoty, Joe Marak and Jordan Emrick are returning starters on defense.

The Golden Tornado did not win a game last season and has not been to the postseason this decade, posting a 23-56 overall record since 2000.

One brick at a time.

That's the analogy Bryan Deal used in describing the erecting of the Foxes' program, one that had gone 1-19 in the two seasons prior to his arrival in 2005.

Fox Chapel has earned just marginally better results since, going 7-22, but last season's 3-6 team was the program's best since 2002. More importantly, the Foxes were competitive in games against the high-profile likes of Woodland Hills and Penn Hills, a sign of progress.

"We took a big step last year," Deal said. "The program has been on a steady climb.

"Last year, we had a couple games go right down to the last play against teams we used to not be competitive with. We just have not been able to get over the hump yet."

This season, the Foxes return seven starters on offense and two on defense, highlighted by senior lineman Matt Kann, a three-year starter and WPIAL discus champion. Junior Julian Salerno takes over at quarterback full-time after serving spot duty last season.

PG North Fabulous 22 selection Mike Hirt heads a group that will be trying to bounce back from the program's first losing season (4-6, including a 28-7 loss to McKeesport in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs) since 1997.

A 6-foot-1, 210-pound linebacker/fullback, Hirt is being recruited my major college programs. He is one of nine Indians seniors with starting experience.

Quarterback Justin Heinauer completed better than 50 percent of his passes for 940 yards last season as a junior. Nineteen of those passes for 322 yards went to Max Creighan, who is now a junior. Linebacker/tight end R.J. Miller (6-2, 230), safety Cody Patton and lineman Mike Mastellino (6-0, 260) are seniors who figure to be standouts.

Though the team lost Ed Reith (959 yards rushing, 12 touchdowns, both team highs), Hirt, senior Nick Panucci and junior Elijah David figure to be among those who pick up the ball-carrying slack.

This will be coach Jack McCurry's 30th season. He has posted a 246-90 career record.

The Rams didn't have much left to prove at the Class AAA level after earning at least a share of the Greater Allegheny Conference title each of the past six seasons and the 2003 WPIAL championship. But the challenge should get tougher now that Pine-Richland has been bumped up to Class AAAA.

Coach Clair Altemus indicated that the goals for the first season in the classification are to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs. To achieve that, the Rams welcome back a host of starters from last season's 10-2 team that advanced to the WPIAL Class AAA semifinals.

Notable among them are quarterback Vinny Nittoli and running back Ian Hennessy, who are now both seniors. Nittoli, 6 feet 1, 205 pounds, passed for 1,476 yards, 17 touchdowns and only five interceptions last season. Hennessy (6-0, 190) rushed for 1,572 yards and 20 touchdowns.

A bevy of experienced and big linemen also return: seniors Mike Felker (6-4, 245), Alex Burton (6-1, 295) and Jared Land (6-3, 270) and juniors Brad Lalli (6-4, 250) and Matt Roadarmel (6-6, 275).

The Raiders last season snapped out of a 26-game losing streak in conference games in style -- winning their final four Northern Five contests to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2002 (the year of their most previous conference victory).

But for all the strides the program made last season, it still has to do more to close the gap with defending conference champion North Allegheny, the only team to finish ahead of Seneca Valley in the standings. The Tigers beat the Raiders by 30 in their lone meeting.

Maryland recruit C.J. Brown, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound quarterback, passed for 1,567 yards last season as a junior. His top target last season, Matt Plautz, returns after catching 51 passes for 659 yards and also earning all-conference honors.

Wide receiver/defensive back Dustin Anewalt, lineman Mike DiFillippo (6-1, 235) and running back/defensive back Tyler Mack, all seniors, and running back/defensive back Evan Hetzel and tight end/linebacker Cameron Marburger, both juniors, also are returning starters.

New coach Neil Gordon didn't know he was going to be the Titans' head coach until June, didn't exactly know who all would be on his staff until a week before training camp began and didn't know the names or backgrounds of many of his players as camp started.

"We were forced to put names on their helmets," the former longtime Penn Hills coach said. "We had no other choice. We didn't know who they were.

"This time of the year -- even two weeks ago -- when I was at Penn Hills, or Jack McCurry at North Hills right now is probably sitting there trying to figure out who the backup long-snapper will be and who will hold for extra points if the first holder got hurt."

What Gordon figured out pretty quickly was that he has a quality running back in junior Jesse DellaValle. And he knows there is talent at other skill positions in senior Dan McGinley and junior John Orr.

But what concerns Gordon is the offensive line, which was totally decimated by graduation and where an entire group of new starters must be found during camp.

A four-way competition was under way for the starting quarterback job between senior Ryan Kinneavy, junior Tyler Bills, sophomore Chris McDeavitt and freshman J.P. Holtz.