As one of the newer up-and-coming coaching faces in the WPIAL, Seneca Valley's Don Holl pointed out that five of the other six coaches in his team's conference, the Northern Seven, has guided a team to a PIAA championship game (and four of those won one).

"There's just some outstanding coaches in this [conference]," said Holl, in his second season at Seneca Valley after previously coaching in Erie. "Some outstanding tradition."

Other than Erie McDowell, which is in its first season as an official WPIAL member, the remaining teams in the conference are in the PG North area (one other PG North Class AAAA school, Fox Chapel, plays in the Big East).

Still, for all the tradition in the conference, none of the teams that make up the Northern Seven have so much as advanced to a WPIAL title game in eight years. They will be out to change that this season.

Here's a look at the WPIAL Class AAAA teams in the PG North Circulation area:

One team lacking that recent winning tradition is Butler, which managed to go the entire previous decade without a playoff appearance or winning season. But the Golden Tornado added some tradition by naming former North Allegheny boss Jim Rankin as head coach. Rankin led the Tigers to the 1990 WPIAL and PIAA Class AAAA titles.

One of Rankin's biggest challenges, at least initially, is convincing his team -- one that went 0-9 last season and hasn't won a conference game since 2006 -- that it is good enough to win.

"I told them this in camp, they will have to prove to me that they can't win," Rankin said. "Because I think they can. If you look at our [conference], from Erie down to Shaler [geographically], I could take those kids in and put them in any of those locker rooms and on their depth charts, and you wouldn't know the difference."

Rankin and his staff used a blank-slate approach to naming starters and a depth chart this season, but some of the returning starters include linebackers Cole Baxter, lineman Adam Steiner and cornerback David Hohn.

"There's four playoff spots available [to Northern Seven teams], and we want to compete to get into the playoffs," Rankin said. "I don't know on what level we'll contend, in terms of first, second, third or fourth, but hopefully we can be competitive for one of those places."

Through one week of preseason camp, coach Bryan Deal called the Foxes "further ahead than we've been at this point in any of my other five years here." That includes the 2008 team, which was Fox Chapel's only postseason qualifier since 2002.

Six starters return on both offense and defense, and the Foxes have some talent, notably linemen Adam Bisnowaty (6-6, 280, jr.) and Matt Sasson (6-2, 295, sr.) and 1,000-yard running back Montay Green (6-0, 238, sr.).

Among the Foxes' options at quarterback, peculiarly, are two players who transferred away from the school at one point only to come back. Tony Pompeo (6-2, 215, sr.) attended Fox Chapel as a freshman but spent the past two years at Central Catholic.

Last season's starter, Noel Wilson (5-9, 175, jr.), transferred to Valley during the spring semester but just this month transferred back.

Deal said Wilson will be shifted to other positions that take advantage of his athleticism, and that either Mickey Jacobs (6-2, 175, jr.) or Pompeo will be at quarterback.

"I'm in my 30th year in football, and I'm just as excited as I have been at any point," Deal said. "Our program just needs some depth and to avoid the injury bug."

The Tigers have lost only two conference games the past four years. They return five starters on offense and three on defense, including Alex Papson (5-8, 175, sr.) and Matt Steinbeck (6-0, 195, jr.), who combined for 20 touchdowns last season.

Another strength for coach Art Walker's team figures to be the offensive line, where Justin Haser (6-5, 235, sr.) is a returning all-conference pick.

Transfers from the Buffalo area, Rob and Patrick Kugler, figure to be impact additions to the team. The brothers are sons of Steelers offensive line coach Sean Kugler. Rob Kugler (6-3, 245, sr.) is a tight end/defensive end and a Purdue recruit. Patrick Kugler (6-4, 270, soph.) is a lineman.

Although quarterback Mike Buchert (5-8, 160, sr.) is a first-time starter, Walker said, in effect, he has plenty of experience.

"He's been a part of our program since he was born," Walker said.

Buchert's father, Mike Sr., is a longtime North Allegheny assistant coach.

"He understands the game, understands the offense," Walker said. "He's kind of finishing my sentences when I call plays, which is a great thing."

Walker said the team has been hit especially hard by injuries in the preseason and summer, but that of those injuries, only a few are severe enough to hold players out for the long term.

Fresh off a surprise run to the WPIAL semifinals after having a losing record in the regular season, the Indians should be in contention for at least sharing the conference title for the third time in the past six seasons.

Quarterback Taylor Schmidt (5-11, 190, sr.) passed for 907 yards and rushed for 609 yards last season but is one of the only skill-position players who played a significant role who did not graduate. Schmidt is one of six returning starters on offense and defense, but is the only one who scored more than one touchdown last season.

The offensive and defensive lines are plenty experienced, with returning starters Dan Heinauer (6-1, 240, sr.), Coleman Mazur (6-2, 230, sr.), Jay Loritz (6-0, 255, sr.), Derrick Dunn (6-0, 245, sr.) and John Wanner (6-0, 190, sr.).

Running back/linebacker Josh Neurohr (5-9, 170, sr.), running back Mike Seiber (5-8, 180, sr.), safety Brody Zangaro (5-9, 170, sr.) and receiver Mark DeVita (5-10, 160, sr.) are other seniors who will be counted on heavily.

North Hills upset McKeesport and North Allegheny in the playoffs last season, the latter avenging a blowout loss to its rival two weeks prior.

The Rams capped a decade in which they won six consecutive conference titles in unusual fashion, missing out on the playoffs last season and being outscored, 108-62, in conference play. Pine-Richland lost five of its final six games, but hopes to reverse that trend this season.

Only three starters return on offense and defense plus kicker Christian Holowchak (5-8, 155, sr.). When asked to appraise his team for the upcoming season, coach Clair Altemus said, "Quality athletes with better speed and a great attitude."

Pine-Richland's leading rusher and receiver from last season return. Justin Williams (5-9, 175, sr.) rushed for 1,100 yards and a team-high six touchdowns, while Tommy Berexa (5-10, 170, sr.) had 45 catches for 597 yards. He was second on the team with five touchdowns.

Other returning starters include linebackers Conor Mincer (5-8, 205, sr.) and Matt Mahood (5-10, 205, jr.), guard Mark Bland (6-3, 215) and safety Steve Szelong (6-1, 190, jr.).

Andy Borgen (6-1, 190, sr.) was expected to take over at quarterback for 1,107-yard passer Eric Kordenbrock.

The Rams went 1-5 against Class AAAA competition last season, scoring only 48 points in the losses (9.6 per game). This is the school's third season as a Class AAAA program.

"Camp" is the common term for preseason football practice, but the Raiders are one of a few teams to take that literally. Coach Don Holl took his team to Camp Kon-O-Kwee near Zelienople.

"It was a new experience for the team, and it was great for team-building," said Holl, in his second season as Seneca Valley's coach. "It was a productive week. Now everyone is refocused."

The Raiders qualified for the playoffs last season for only the second time since 2002 and return six starters on offense and four on defense. Some of the top returnees include linemen Jeff Palmer and Tyler Boozell, tight end/linebackers Aaron Pynos and Pat Kulp, wide receiver Jordan Glaser and quarterback Donny Holl.

Donny Holl is the coach's son who passed for 1,137 yards and six touchdowns and was also second on the team in rushing and first in touchdowns scored with nine last year.

"Out of nine years as a head coach, I've only experienced having a returning starter at quarterback twice," Don Holl said. "Hopefully, another year of experience and practice can only help at that position."

The same can be said for the relationship between coach and team. At this point last year, Holl was still learning his players and their tendencies (and vice versa).

"This season, we can concentrate more on the little things," he said.

Through one week of preseason practice, veteran coach Neil Gordon said only three or four players had secured starting spots. That's in stark contrast to the past two years, when, he said, "90 percent" of the lineup spots were decided by that point.

"We're so young and so new that we needed to approach this a heck of a lot different than we have approached other seasons," said Gordon, who is in his third year at Shaler after 21 years at Penn Hills.

Receiver Sean Gavin is the lone returning starter on offense, and linebacker John Holtz, defensive end Zack Schramm and defensive back Joe Panza represent the only experience on the other side of the ball. What's more, most of last season's backups were also seniors, meaning precious little playing time was available for many of the players who might be thrust into key roles this season.

"It's a good situation and a bad situation to be in," Gordon said. "It's tough, but the good part is because we have so few seniors, all these guys will get two years to grow."

Ryan Mincher (6-1, 170, jr.) takes over at quarterback for two-year starter Tyler Bills.

After going seven seasons without a playoff win, the Titans advanced to the WPIAL semifinals each of the past two seasons since Gordon arrived.

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