MILL HALL, Pa. – The calendar says August 10 but for schoolboy and gal athletes in Pennsylvania, Monday marks the start of the fall season, the first PIAA-approved date for practice.
The scene was the same all across the state, including at Central Mountain’s Malinak Stadium where head football coach Travis Thompson welcomed a squad of 52 from grades nine through 12 for the first day of heat acclimation drills; the situation was the same at Bucktail High School in Farwell where returning head coach Bruce Ransom began work with some 25 Buck football players.
For Central Mountain football, the goal this year is to win some games. The Wildcats carry a 22-game losing streak into its 2026 opener, home against Mifflin County on Friday, Aug. 28. Coach Thompson said his team acknowledges the past, but is ready for the future, “Anxious to get going. The kids are definitely, you know, hungry. They want to kind of put the past behind us. They know we aren’t a 0-10 team. We’ve been close in a lot of games, especially in the first half, and the second half has really killed us throughout the season the past year. But hopefully, this year we can get the offense rolling and jump out to some early leads and keep rolling with it.”
Central Mountain has a home scrimmage set for Saturday, Aug. 22 with Loyalsock.
Bucktail also is hoping for a better 2026. The Bucks did not win a game on the field the last two seasons, their only victory by forfeit a year ago. But numbers are up and a good mix of athletes from grade nine through 12 returns, including a number of former junior high players returning to the field this season. Bucktail is to scrimmage Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech at home on Saturday, Aug. 22 at 11 a.m. and open the regular season at Cameron County on Friday, Aug. 28.
