GEORGE GUIDO | Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, TRIB-LIVE
The itch to switch salvaged the 2016 season to a respectable level for Fox Chapel.
After the Foxes lost their first five games, coach Tom Loughran inserted Micah Morris at tailback and Nick Gizzo at quarterback.
The result was five straight victories to close the season, Fox Chapel’s longest winning streak since 1997. The offense improved dramatically. In fact, the 51 points Fox Chapel scored against Chartiers Valley in Week 8 was the most the Foxes scored since defeating Seneca Valley, 52-13, on Sept. 25, 1992.
Morris rushed for 1,294 yards and 13 touchdowns on 147 carries. Gizzo passed for 323 yards and four TDs but also showed proficiency as a ballcarrier with 887 rushing yards and 14 TDs on 135 attempts.
Morris and Gizzo are seniors and want to continue last season’s late momentum.
“I’m really proud of our performance in the second half of the year,” Morris said. “I felt with Gizzo and me in the lineup, it helped us move the ball more.”
Added Gizzo: “In the second half of the fifth game last year, I went in at quarterback. Things started clicking from there, and we really never looked back.”
Both players made immediate progress after Loughran, a 35-year coaching veteran, made the decision.
“Once Nick got on the field, he showed the ability make some plays, make some things happen,” Loughran said. “Nick showed great running ability, going for almost a thousand yards, and Micah ran for over a thousand yards and neither one of them played a full season at their positions.”
Loughran said he believes both can get better.
“Nick needs to work on his accuracy as a passer,” Loughran said. “They’re getting comfortable with what we do offensively. They’ve been in the program for three years, and the expectations of knowing how we do things, how we approach it and a feel for our offensive style.”
“There are a lot of options to what we can do, offensively,” Morris said. “We have some holes to fill in our line, but I feel like they’ll be prepared. They’ve been working hard all summer.”
Gizzo could be running more quarterback options in the spread. His most experienced receiver returning is junior Cole Waxter, who caught 14 passes for 227 yards.
“It’s a hard offense to learn,” Gizzo said. “It’s taken me ’til my senior year to learn all of the offense. It can be complicated.”
Even though the late surge wasn’t enough to catapult the Foxes into the WPIAL playoffs, Loughran doesn’t hesitate to set the bar high for 2017.
“Our expectations are always high, and we want to give the kids high goals,” Loughran said. “First we want to win the conference championship, then we want to win the WPIAL championship. Thirdly, we want to win the state championship. That’s the way we always think. If you don’t shoot for those goals, you’ll never get there.”
Lofty goals have served Loughran well in the past. His teams at South Park won the WPIAL and PIAA championships in 1997 and 2005.
In fact, the ’97 team’s WPIAL win was the first for the school district since it was known as Snowden High School in 1956.
Morris and Gizzo have played together for a long time, going back to the community’s Guyasuta youth program.