To say the least, the Knoch football team has had their struggles this year. As of October 16, your Knights are 0-8, and heading into a meat grinder of West Mifflin (featuring 4 star running back and West Virginia commit, Armand Hill) and McKeesport (featuring 5 star and recently decommitted running back Kemon Spell, and 4 star wide receiver Javien Robinson).
So, you could say the Knoch Knights are slightly outgunned.
But, next season, the Knights are looking for some movement in WPIAL placement. If the stars align for the Knights, they are looking for a downgrade to WPIAL 3A.
Currently, you can argue that the Knights are in one of the hardest conferences in all of the WPIAL, regardless of qualification. They face off against the Mars Fightin’ Planets (6-2, only losing to Aliquippa and McKeesport) and the McKeesport Tigers (5-3, falling to TJ, Peters Township, and USC) both in conference play.
Even in out-of-conference matchups, the Knights can’t catch a break. They have fallen to the North Catholic Trojans (6-2), Montour Spartans (5-3), and New Castle Red Hurricanes (6-2)*.
Athletic Director Mr. Shoop thinks that 3A is the answer to a lack of success. “I hate it [Greater Allegheny Conference],” Shoop said. “Obviously, with us being one of the smallest 4A schools, the Greater Allegheny Conference has a lot of large 4A schools in it. It is a challenge, but at the end of the day, it is what it is.”
Coach T.J. Wiley also had some very similar ideas. “We’re a glorified 3A school playing glorified 5 and 6A schools,” Wiley said, “It makes a huge difference.”
He also goes on to state that the team itself has little experience on the field, which doesn’t help the winning cause. ”We returned only a handful of starters from last year, that leaves us undersized and underexperienced. We’re playing teams who brought back a ton of experience and size.”
Standout linebacker and running back Carter Beres on the other hand finds some positives out of the tough schedule, while also seeing the downsides. “I know as a whole the team feels pretty outmatched and the product on the field every Friday can be sometimes humiliating,” Beres said. “But, I’ve been enjoying going up against competition with guys like McKeesport’s Kemon Spell, because I’ve always wondered if I really belong with those guys.”
All three of them share the idea that, if moved down to 3A, there would be a huge difference in success for this football team. Shoop said, “There’s obviously high caliber teams like North Catholic, Avonworth, and Imani Christian just to name a few. But, overall, I think we’ll be highly competitive with the 3A competition.”
Wiley brings the example of the preseason scrimmage against the Deer Lakes Lancers, a pretty average 3A squad. “We played toe to toe and beat Deer Lakes in our scrimmage,” he said. “You look at teams like Burrell, Deer Lakes, Freeport, and Valley, they are more like us, we match up better with them. We match up with them better than the Montour’s and New Castle’s of our schedule.”
Shoop, Wiley, and Beres can all find agreement with the conference though. It would end up shaping up similar to the conference that our basketball team plays in. North Catholic, Deer Lakes, Burrell, Valley, Freeport, and Highlands being amongst them.
With the lack of success on the field, the student body off the field has not been the most supportive of the Knights. Week by week, student numbers at games have slowly but surely decreased.
This however is not affecting Beres. He said, “I’ve never been too worried about what the people in the student section have to say. I don’t concern myself with people who have never touched the field in their life.”
Shoop and Wiley have one thing to say about the negative comments. If you’re willing to talk, you should be willing to play and help the boys out.
“Those kids aren’t there giving it there all everyday like the football players are,” Wiley said. “Its very easy to sit in the stands and judge.”
*All records are as of 10-16-2025, post Week 7.
