It's been a couple of days now and the Carbondale football coaching situation remains a question mark.
John Lasavage, who spent the last 25 years guiding the program, suddenly and shockingly resigned. He says there is a misunderstanding, and obviously any time you have a coach get to the point where he resigns it's troubling. The district's superintendent Dr. Dominick Famularo accepted the resignation, and has since posted the position.
Since, coach Lasavage, after having taking some time to reflect on what could only be considered a decision made in haste, has decided to re-apply for the position.
Currently, longtime assistant coach J.J. Perri is the interim coach as the Chargers get ready for their first scrimmage against Coughlin.
Who knows where this will all end? But if it does mean the end of Lasavage's career, it is most likely not the way he wanted to go out. Say what you want about his demeanor, his unorthodox approach to the game, his unconventonal plays, or his infamous postgame press conferences, his teams still won 141 games, which puts him 12th on the area's all-time list.
He was a fantastic player from what I am told, and he was an equally entertaining and succesful coach. He deserves a better send off, unfortunately, he is the one who created a less than glorious finale, and must face his consequences for a decision, he certainly would like to take back.
Eyes on scrimmages
Should be some good matchups. I'll be interested to hear about how well Abington Heights' line looks against Pittston Area at 10 a.m. Sal Conaboy is a much-sought after recruit and Pittston Area is a good solid football team led by coach Tony Donato, who is one of the best.
I'm intrigued by the Dallas-Dunmore scrimmage and the Hanover Area-Riverside scrimmage. Both Dunmore and Riverside lost key personnel to graduation from their championship squads, but I wouldn;t be surprised if both teams are in the championship games in the District 2 playoffs this season.
Things to watch for at a scrimmage
Scrimmages are first and foremost controlled practices. As a fan what you should look for when evaluating where your team is at this early part of the season is execution, discipline, intensity and enthusiasm.
Teams generally come out for 10 plays. It's important to establish the line of scrimmage and understand that the play calling is not necessarily what a coach would call in a game.
If the scrimmage you attend has a Down-and-Distance segment, this is where you will get a better idea of how your team is faring. You have to achieve first downs to move the ball down the field. If your team struggles, then you know more work has to be done. But don;t get too caught up in wild successes either. Teams generally stay very vanilla defensively for the first scrimmage.
Scrimmage schedule
Western Wayne at Meyers, 9:30 a.m.
Carbondale at Coughlin, 9:30 a.m.
Scranton Prep at Wyoming Area, 9:30 a.m.
Pittston Area at Abington Heights, 10 a.m.
Dunmore at Dallas, 10 a.m.
Carson Long at Holy Cross, 10 a.m.
Nanticoke at Honesdale, 10 a.m.
Lackawanna Trail at North Pocono, 10 a.m.
Wallenpaupack at Lakeland, 10 a.m.
Tunkhannock at Mid Valley, 10 a.m.
Wyalusing at Montrose, 10 a.m.
Hanover Area at Riverside, 10 a.m.
Athens at Susquehanna, 10 a.m.
Lake-Lehman at Valley View, 10 a.m.
Crestwood at West Scranton, 10 a.m.
Old Forge at Cowanesque Valley. 11 a.m.
Scranton at GAR, 11:30 a.m.
Nazareth at Delaware Valley, 4 p.m.