Dance with my boys from Beaver Falls in the night time
Chase Thornton stands on the field during a Beaver Falls football game in 2019.
SOURCE: (TWITTER, @chase_xii)
The last time Beaver Falls won a WPIAL football championship was in 2016 when they were in 3A. You might be thinking, "Jeez, it hasn't been that long since Beaver Falls has won a championship". However, for the Beaver Falls players that will be on the football team in 2020, they were not a part of that 2016 WPIAL championship team and want to win a title for themselves.
Last year, the 2019 WPIAL & PIAA football season, Beaver Falls ended with a record of 8-3 as they lost to Derry Area by a score of 28-27 in the WPIAL 3A Quarterfinals. For the Class of 2021, they want their senior year to be the year that they bring back a WPIAL and PIAA trophy back to Beaver Falls.
The Tigers bring back two running backs that rushed for 1,000 yards last season in Josh Hough (a Syracuse recruit) and Shileak Livingston. Hough rushed for 1,273 yards while Livingston rushed for 1,107 yards in 2019. That's a combined total for 2,380 yards. The only other duo in the WPIAL to both rush for over 1,000+ yards last year were Clairton's Brendan Parsons and Isaiah Berry. They both rushed for a combined total of 2,139 yards.
"Me personally I feel as if Josh and I are the best duo in the WPIAL because of our unique combo of speed and power," Shileak said. "With me and Josh’s ability to hit a hole full speed and add a little finesse goes along way for us."
For Beaver Falls, they will move down to 2A after playing in 3A last season. Schools such as New Brighton, Neshannock, Mohawk, and others will be new to Beaver Falls section. Even though the Tigers will play a lot of new teams next season, Josh Hough will be ready.
"Absolutely, we’ll be ready for all of them," Hough said.
Expect a lot of people to show up to Beaver Falls football games next year with Hough in the back field. Hough made his commitment to Syracuse University back on April 20th. He also had offers from schools such as the University of Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Akron, Duquesne, Ball State, and others.
With Hough's college decision done, he can just focus on Beaver Falls football as you can basically say a burden is off his shoulder since his decision is done.
"Most definitely [a burden is off my shoulder], I can enjoy my senior season and work on continuing to improve on and off the field," Hough said.
Beaver Falls also returns their All-Conference DB Tyler Jones for the 2020 season. Lake Erie College, Livingston College, and Clarion University have offered Jones. He is really excited to play in 2020.
"I’m most excited to see all of the hours spent pushing my body as hard as possible, and the dedication I put into this game," Jones said. "Being named All-conference [last year] meant a lot to me, because I earned it. This year, I am aiming to be named a lot more than just all conference."
DaSean Anderson even wants to be a part of the winning culture at Beaver Falls. Anderson will be a freshman this fall, as he just finished middle school, and wants to start helping Beaver Falls achieve their goals.
"Playing at the high school level is definitely gonna be exciting. It is gonna be a new experience playing with kids three years older than me, but I can’t wait," Anderson said. "During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I’ve just been getting used to my new position at wideout as well as doing basic workouts to keep in shape to be ready for the season."
Someone on Beaver Falls roster has been a part of what it takes to win a WPIAL and PIAA football title and that's their starting quarterback, Chase Thornton. He will be a senior year in the fall as he transferred from Aliquippa to Beaver Falls before his junior year of high school in 2019. Yes, Thornton won both a WPIAL and PIAA football title as an Aliquippa Quip in 2018 when he was a sophomore. His transition of transferring schools was really easy for him and expects a big senior year from himself in 2020.
"The experience transferring was a little different at first, two teams who run their program differently. But it was an easy transition, they accepted me like I was from Beaver Falls," Thornton said. "My goals for this season is to to win WPIAL and PIAA titles. I don’t know anybody who won states at Aliquippa and at Beaver Falls, that would definitely be a blessing to get another ring before I leave high school."
Thornton is right, there is nobody that you can easily think of right away that won both WPIAL and PIAA football titles at both Aliquippa and Beaver Falls. Research would need to be done on that. If he would be able to do that, that would be super cool.
Beaver Falls Tight End Tyler Cain thinks this 2020 team will be special as he will become a junior and upperclassman this fall. Personally, one of his own individual goals is to reach 800+ receiving yards for the Tigers.
"What I think is special about the team is how we have so many leaders that are seniors and juniors that help the younger kids out, with this leadership we can become a state contending team," Cain said.
Overall, the goal for Beaver Falls is to bring some hardware back to the school. Shileak Livingston and Tyler Jones want that dream to happen more than anything in the world.
"People should believe Beaver Falls can win the WPIAL and PIAA title because we have the necessary weapons, a very talented offense and a hard-hitting defense, if they sleep on us, we plan to wake them up soon"! Livingston said. "Beaver Falls is a sleeper every year and this year will be different, we’re working extra hard to come out on top, only time will tell."
"My teammates and I have been doing great with leading our team, and showing the underclassman how things are done, because we know that football is just as much mental as it is physical," said Tyler Jones as he talks about how badly he wants to win titles at Beaver Falls.
In conclusion, just watch out for Beaver Falls in 2020 because they have some talented players returning for the 2020 season that are looking to end up at the top.
Brentaro Yamane: bkyamane@gmail.com and Twitter/Instagram @BYHilton13