By Anthony Jaskulski

The Jeannette Jayhawks started a quarterback not named Terrelle Pryor last night. The man-child prodigy Pryor rushed for 1,908 yards and passed for over 1,700 yards in his remarkable career with the Jayhawks.

But as the genuine saying goes, All good things must come to an end, and so does the epic four year career of arguably the best athlete to light up a scoreboard from Jeannette to Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Now enter the new blueprints of Jayhawks football: Cameron Baradziej and Jordan Hall.

Taking the role as the top two replacements for Pryor, Baradziej, who was the backup quarterback, and Hall, an Ohio State recruit, who was an unsung hero in the ground game a season ago, both will have the keys to an offense that averaged a WPIAL class AA best 424 yards a game last season.

“You obviously can’t replace a kid like Terrelle, but I think we have the next best thing in Jordan and Cameron,” said Jeannette head coach Ray Reitz. “We’re happy with both of their progress coming into this year, and both will play important roles for this team. I have nothing but pure confidence in the two of them.”

Hall wooed crowds with his fast ability to slash through a hole and turn on the jets with his impressive breakaway speed, as the scat-back rushed for 881 yards on 105 carries last season.  And while Hall has certainly proved his self worthy of helping replace Pryor, it’s the one likely to take the majority of the snaps this season in Baradziej that will need to do most of the proving to his defending state champion Jayhawks.

“It’s a big spot to fill in for somebody as big as Terrelle and take the position over,” said Baradziej, who played under center only during blowouts in the second half of games last season. “But this is a real big honor to be in this spot and I feel nothing but confidence about the whole thing.”

Despite Baradziej’s sturdy confidence and the deadly threat of Hall, coach Reitz and his rising stars will have the pressure of not only replacing Pryor, who will begin his college career at Ohio State this year, but also defending an undefeated record of 17-0 and an Interstate conference, WPIAL and PIAA title.  But it’s a task not so daunting in the eyes of the ole’ ball coach.

“Terrelle was a great kid to coach and was a fantastic player to have, but we have 642 wins as a program—we’ve won before,” said Reitz. “We are taking it just one game at a time and not trying to think that much into the future. Can we do what we did last year?  I have no doubts about it and neither does this team.”

Jeannette’s rigorous road back to the title begins in what could be the most challenging conference in class AA. 

With 10 teams rounding out the Interstate conference this year, the biggest challenges for the Jayhawks will come from Greensburg Central Catholic, who returns 15 starters, including star Adam Palcic, and Mount Pleasant, who recently made the jump from class AAA football with first year coach Bo Ruffner.

“It’s a tough conference and tough games ahead of us, but we’re not backing down from anything,” said Baradziej. “Right now we’re the guys who everybody wants to take down, but we definitely won’t back down from the competition. We’re looking forward to it.”

Jeannette begans its challenging schedule with a home opener vs. East Allegheny, a team that returns the top rusher in class AA football from last season, Monte Ashby. The Jayhawks picked up where they off, hammering East A 43-0.

With Pryor-mania now a faint glimpse in the mirror for most of the town of Jeannette and their football team, a new era makes its way through that little town off of Route 30, and it’s an era that will bring less pressure and anxiety to the Jayhawks.

“The pressure is not there for this team and I don’t think it ever was,” Reitz said. “I think the kids now have a driving force and initiative in front of them more than anything and when we enter this season, not a lot will be changed from the past. Despite the personnel on a team, you always prepare the same; it’s business as usual.”

Even Baradziej sees no reason to face the “pressure” this season.