Like most coaches and teams prepping for opening weekend of the scholastic football season, Kevin Steele and his Bedford Bisons are eager to get onto the field.
But Aug. 28’s home game will carry extra weight for the Bisons, who spent the 2025 season on the road. Bedford played its home dates at Claysburg-Kimmel High School, as the ongoing school and stadium building project progressed.
Bedford Stadium upgrades
New turf, bleachers and press box are shown at the Bedford High School Stadium in Bedford, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026.
“It wasn’t fun,” Steele said a week before Bedford’s first regular-season date in its new stadium against Bishop McCort Catholic.
“The games get all the attention. ‘No home games. No home games.’ That does stink, and I feel bad for our seniors last year, but really what was the worst was the day-to-day operations.
“Not having a practice facility. Not having a real locker room. Not having an environment you’d traditionally have to store your equipment.”
Times have changed.
“Everything we have now is fantastic – a brand-new lighting system, a giant new scoreboard with a huge video board, a new audio system and turf,” Steele said. “The whole fan experience and whole experience for the kids is going to be tremendous.”
The stadium is part of a $48 million comprehensive high school building and campus renovation project, according to the school district website and media reports.
The 2024 groundbreaking and subsequent construction led Bedford’s sports programs to adapt. The wait is over, with upgrades to the football field, track, goal posts, exterior walls, press box and more.
Additionally, renovations to the school’s cafeteria, library, a college-style classroom, science classrooms, a high school office suite, hallways, sidewalks and parking lots were part of the project, the district website noted.
“We’ve been hesitant to use our field at times in the past because it was grass, and the wear and tear on the field (was significant),” Steele said. “At times, that caused a multitude of games in a week that ended up in grass conditions that were not always ideal, especially late fall and playoff games.
“It wasn’t always the best environment to either practice in or play in.”
Bedford Stadium upgrades
New turf, bleachers and scoreboard are shown at the Bedford High School Stadium in Bedford, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026.
Other area fields received improvements prior to the season. Lighting upgrades occurred at Berlin Brothersvalley, Meyersdale and Penn Cambria.
Portage installed a new scoreboard and play clocks.
The large brownstone structure around the stands and other parts of the field were cleaned and repointed, Mustangs coach Marty Slanoc said.
Sideline shuffle
Five area programs will have new head coaches this fall:
Conemaugh Valley – former Blue Jays player Joe Antal was an assistant coach at his alma mater for eight seasons before moving into the top spot, replacing Joel Holsopple, who left after one season.
Forest Hills – Tom Blanchetti played under iconic Rangers coach Don Bailey from 1999 through 2001.
Blanchetti had 16 seasons of experience as an assistant coach, including eight years at Tussey Mountain, seven seasons at Windber and 2025 at Forest Hills under former coach Justin Myers.
North Star – A former Cougars assistant coach, Shane Smith replaced Bob Landis, whose six-year tenure at North Star included a 28-34 record.
Somerset – Braden Fochtman set the Somerset County all-time career rushing record (6,724 yards) and helped Berlin Brothersvalley win three District 5 titles (2012, 2014, 2015) in four years as a player.
Fochtman played at Slippery Rock University, before spending three seasons as an assistant coach to Doug Paul at Berlin Brothersvalley, followed by two seasons as Jeff Urban’s assistant at Somerset. Urban led the Golden Eagles in four seasons.
Windber – Frank Tallyen stood out as a player at Windber. As an assistant coach, he led the Ramblers’ defense under former head coach Matt Grohal.
In 15 seasons as Windber’s head coach, Grohal’s teams collected 107 victories and two District 5 crowns, but a well-documented hazing incident involving players led to an in-season suspension. Tallyen served as interim head coach for two games.
Grohal returned to finish the season, but the district announced that Tallyen would be the 2026 head coach.
Familiar assistants
One of the area’s most respected coaches, Grohal wasn’t out of the game long.
Forest Hills’ Blanchetti, who served seven seasons on Grohal’s staff from 2018-24, brought the veteran coach to Sidman, where Grohal traded blue-and-white for green-and-gold attire. Grohal will be the Rangers’ offensive coordinator, perhaps bringing some of Windber’s single-wing offense to the program.
Former North Star assistant coach Bob Miller brought plenty of experience and insight to Greater Johnstown, where he works with the offensive line on coach Tony Penna Jr.’s staff.
Penna, in his second season during his second tenure at Greater Johnstown, added successful Trojans boys basketball coach Ryan Durham to his staff as a player development assistant coach.
At Windber, Tallyen has former Shade and Central Cambria head coach Don Fyfe on the staff, working with the offense. Fyfe also served as an offensive coordinator at Bishop McCort Catholic.
Central Cambria coach Wade Klezek brought Chuck Gironda and his decades of coaching experience back to the Red Devils staff.
Gironda previously led the Central Cambria program and also had been an assistant coach. His resume includes time at Northern Bedford County and with Indiana (Pa.) University at the NCAA Division II level.
Moving up – and down
After five seasons, the co-op between Bishop McCort Catholic and Bishop Carroll Catholic ended.
McCort-Carroll simply is Bishop McCort Catholic.
Bishop Carroll now co-ops with its neighbor, Central Cambria.
“We enjoyed being a part of the co-op with Bishop Carroll and we wish them the best of luck – just not when they play us,” Bishop McCort coach Tom Smith said. “We really like those kids and their families.
“They were with us a lot of years, but now it’s back to Bishop McCort football and we’re happy to be back in red and gold every game. I’m looking forward to that and I think our alumni are as well.”
The co-op shuffle impacted the District 6 classifications.
Bishop McCort will play in 6-1A this season after competing in 6-2A and finishing as 2025 runner-up.
Central Cambria will move up a class to District 6-3A.
Bishop McCort and perennial state power Bishop Guilfoyle Academy are early favorites in 6-1A.
Claysburg-Kimmel, a Class 1A program based upon enrollment, and Forest Hills, which played in 3A, moved up to Class 4A for the 2026-27 seasons.
They’re back
The 21-team coverage area produced numerous underclassmen standouts whose names filled the 2025 final statistics package.
Eight of 2025’s top 11 area rushers return, including three of the top four 2025 leaders.
Penn Cambria senior Corbin Vinglish (1,540 yards, 19 TDs) ranked first in the area. Chestnut Ridge senior Jayden Imler (1,287, 14 TDs) was third, and Central Cambria senior Ryan Chappell finished fourth (1,278, 11 TDs) at season’s end, but the Red Devils back held the area rushing lead through the 10-week regular season.
Other returnees among the 2025 rushing leaders are Cambria Heights junior Nolan Clawson (sixth, 1,097, 12 TDs); Richland senior Grayson Mahla (eighth, 1,017, 14 TDs); United Valley senior Shaydon Oleksa (ninth, 1,014, nine TDs); Berlin Brothersvalley junior Carter Durst (10th, 868, nine TDs); and North Star senior Kasey Yoder (11th, 806, 10 TDs).
To complete the list, the graduated rushing leaders were Conemaugh Township’s Brennan Lohr (second, 1,313, 13 TDs); McCort-Carroll’s Jon Delia (fifth, 1,265, 19 TDs); and Forest Hills’ Xander Richardson (seventh, 1,080, 16 TDs).
Mike Mastovich is a sports reporter and columnist for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5083. Follow him on Twitter @Masty81.
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