Baldwin’s football team got a true highlight moment in the season-opening game against Thomas Jefferson, with senior Devin Taylor running 75 yards for a touchdown.

But the rest of that game was much more rough, with TJ winning easily, 63-12. The Highlanders hoped to have a rebound game the next week against Fox Chapel, a team that had been winless in their last 22 games. But Baldwin lost, 38-7.

Those results were surprising, senior Cenzo Pacella said, because of the work the team put in over the summer.

“With the amount of time we put in this offseason, we aren’t getting the results we wanted,” Pacella said.

Now with school back in session for Baldwin students, the Highlanders face their first road test as they face off against West Mifflin tonight. The team has been preparing for this game all week, mainly focusing on what they need to fix from the last game. 

“We need to be more disciplined – so no unnecessary penalties. And on defense we’ve been working on getting outside contain,” Pacella said. 

The team has also been practicing to limit their mistakes.

“We are practicing mostly run plays and trying to keep the ball in our hands-on offense,” freshman Noah Mickolay said.

Mickolay also mentioned that the run game and tackling have been a focal point at practice.

“We need to focus at practice and really work on our run game, our blocking, and our tackling,” Mickolay said.

Some of the team’s freshmen have stood out already this season.

“Noah Mickolay and Dylan Kluczkowski have big roles on the team this year as freshmen,” Pacella said. 

Junior Noah Saccani said that Mickolay, the freshman quarterback, is settling in at the high-profile position.

“He has handled the pressure pretty well,” Saccani said. “He got placed in a hero spot and is taking advantage of his opportunity.”

Mickolay has noticed some positives from the team.

“Our passing game has been pretty good,” Mickolay said. “We all have been doing our assignments.”

Moving forward, Saccani is particularly hopeful of a positive outcome against Chartiers Valley on Sept. 13.

“We should have most of our starting 11 back for this game, so we should be able to compete against Chartiers and a majority of our remaining games,” he said.

For Pacella, other goals for this season are to have fun with his teammates in his last year and to take on a leadership role.

“It’s nice to be a leader to the younger kids and guide them,” Pacella said.