Kyle Haas spent a long time coaching in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and was the head coach at both Bethlehem Catholic and Northampton.
So, in his first season as the leader at Executive Education, does Haas miss the EPC?
Not really.
“Everybody coaches for a different reason,” Haas said. “For me, becoming a teacher at Executive and being around the kids for a year as an assistant coach before throwing my hat into the ring as a head coach, I just wanted to make sure that the kids here had a chance to be successful and play in a good football program. If they wanted to play college football, I wanted them to be prepared to contribute for four years, no matter where they wanted to go. So, for me, the focus has been on our kids, and I want to provide a program that’s going to be stable for them.”
The EPC gets a lot of exposure through TV and other forms of media. Most Executive games are played in relative obscurity. But again, Haas doesn’t miss the cameras and tape recorders and the limelight after each game.
“Yes, in the EPC, you’re on TV, but in the big picture, the world does not really care about high school football in the Lehigh Valley,” Haas said. “The only people who care about high school football in the Lehigh Valley are people whose kids play, or they’ve played, and they still follow it.
“For me, it’s more about doing the best possible job for our kids and our kids deserve that opportunity. That’s going to be my focus until I decide that I can’t connect with the kids or can’t relate to them anymore. I just like coaching and we have as good a staff as we could put together for the first year, and we’re doing a good job of putting our kids in a position to be successful.”
Executive has been successful in recent weeks, winning two in a row to get to 3-3 on the season. The Raptors beat Biglerville from District 3, 46-26, and knocked off Wyoming Valley West from District 2, 35-26.
Haas has gotten used to a nonconventional schedule of playing teams outside the Lehigh Valley, and usually, outside District 11. The Raptors have already played teams from five different districts.
Eventually, though, they figure to play District 11 competition in the 2A playoffs.
“We don’t want to get too far ahead,” Haas said. “We just try to take it week-by-week and focus on our opponent. Our next game is against the School of the Future from Philly, and we play them at the Germantown supersite that the PIAA has used for playoff games in the past.
“School of the Future is 4-2 right now, and they play in the Philly Public League, and with those teams, you’re always going to see an aggressive style of football. They’re very fast and will bring a lot of pressure. They will be a great challenge for us.”
But to prepare for that challenge, Executive has had something that no EPC team has had since the pandemic-plagued season of 2020 — a bye week.
“I think for us being a small school, the bye week is going to help us tremendously,” Haas said. “After the Wyoming Valley West game, we were a little banged up. We went against a 5A school, and we’re 2A, and the game seemed to be a little more physical. So, it was good to have two weeks to get kids healthy and for us to focus on fundamentals and get back into the weight room for four days and work on conditioning. It’s going to be beneficial for us.”
Executive has gotten a big season from junior quarterback Shawntez Whitsett who has thrown for 1,006 yards and seven touchdowns. He has also run for 285 yards and six scores.
“He’s had a really good season,” Haas said. “He’s got a nice arm and puts the ball on the money. He puts it where he needs to put it. He’s 47 for 97 passing, but he’s had a couple of drops, or else he would have a higher completion percentage. But he keeps progressing. He’s doing a good job with his reads and going through his progressions and checkdowns. I really think if he keeps working at it, he has an opportunity to play at a high level.”
Yaseen Mirza leads the running game with 550 yards and eight TDs.
“He missed the first game [an 8-6 loss to Belmont Charter] with an injury and played sparingly against Berks Catholic [a 45-20 defeat] because he wasn’t in shape because of the injury to play both offense and defense,” Haas said. “But he has really come on over the last four games. He’s a tough guy to tackle, and he keeps getting better. He’s a legit 6-foot, 215 pounds and runs hard and is deceptively fast. I wish we had him at 100% the first two weeks because our offense is much different with him back there. But we were able to get a freshman, Ayden Ramos, in there until Yaseen came back, and he’s another one with good acceleration who has improved over the course of the season.”
Executive has broken ground on its new football stadium and figures to be practicing and playing in it, possibly as early as next year.
Haas is encouraged by that, especially in having a quality practice facility.
But for now, the focus is on making 2025 the best season it could be.
“These kids have had a phenomenal attitude all season, even when we lost a heartbreaker to Bristol and were 1-3,” Haas said. “They didn’t get down on themselves and just went back to work, and that’s all you can ask of kids. We’re excited about the rest of the season.”
EPC Stat Leaders
RUSHING
Player; Team; Class; Att; Yds; Avg; TD
Keyen Johnson; Stroudsburg; Jr.; 122; 773; 6.3; 6
Cole Ordway; Easton; Sr.; 63; 738; 11.7; 13
Cayden Vassa; Beth. Cath.; Sr.; 59; 693; 11.7; 10
Chase.Kessler; Northampton; So.; 88; 688; 7.8; 7
Lashawn Johnson; Freedom; Jr.; 106; 683; 6.4; 7
Jeziah Gregory; Whitehall; Jr.; 90; 683; 7.6; 12
Maquez Wimberly; Nazareth; Sr.; 75; 667; 8.9; 9
Christian Stiehler; PM West; So.; 119; 659; 5.5; 6
Chris Martinez; Easton; Sr.; 124; 613; 4.9; 3
Gianni Gonnella; ESS; Sr.; 83; 567; 6.8; 5
Jay Santos; Emmaus; Jr.; 99; 562; 5.7; 8
PASSING
Player; Team; C: A; I: Yards; TD
Tanner Dogmanits; Whitehall; Jr.; 79; 116; 4; 1,299; 15
Antonio Fontanez; Liberty; Sr.; 72; 109; 4; 1,257; 22
Peyton Falzone; Nazareth; Sr.; 64; 96; 2; 1,160; 11
Ceejay Serfass; PM East; Jr.; 69; 126; 8; 1,127; 12
Patrick Cahill; ACCHS; Jr.; 65; 109; 3; 964; 9
Jackson Mitchell; Stroudsburg; Jr.; 59; 111; 3; 917; 8
Gavin Taff; Northampton; Sr.; 55; 82; 0; 825; 9
Michael Stofanak; Freedom; Jr.; 51; 90; 5; 787; 7
Cole Ordway; Easton; Sr.; 46; 62; 2; 698; 14
Jerel Simms; PM West; 49; 76; 4; 654; 7
Cole Ordway; Easton; Sr.; 46; 62; 2; 698; 14
Jerel Simms; PM West; Sr.; 49; 76; 4; 654; 7
Julian Pagan; Allen; Jr.; 65; 63; 4; 631; 7
Finn Coen; Parkland; Jr.; 46; 75; 5; 616; 8
RECEIVING
Player; Team; Rec; Yds; Avg; TDs
Carter Vassa; Beth. Catholic; Jr.; 31; 505; 16.3; 5
Justin Williams; PM East; Sr.; 29; 553; 19.1; 6
Tahir Edmondson; ACCHS; So.; 28; 389; 13.6; 4
Talon Dogmanits; Whitehall; Sr.; 26; 494; 19.0; 8
Luke DiPietro; Nazareth; So.; 26; 454; 17.5; 4
Bryce Medina; Whitehall; Sr.; 23; 309; 13.4; 1
Connor Triano; PM East; 23; 272; 11.8; 6
Zyaire Davis; Liberty; Jr.; 21; 491; 23.4; 7
Keegan Munch; Stroudsburg; Jr.; 21; 317; 15.1; 2
Matt Leluga; Nazareth; Jr.; 21; 311; 14.8; 4
Andrew Biddle; Easton; Sr.; 21; 238; 11.3; 2
Jake Pukszyn; Liberty; Sr.; 20; 375; 18.8; 10
Brady Behr, PM West; Sr.; 20; 315; 15.8; 4
SCORING
Player; Team; Class; TD; 2pt; Points
Cole Ordway; Easton; Sr.; 13; 1; 80
Marquez Wimberly; Sr.; 12; 0; 72
Jeziah Gregory; Whitehall; Jr. 12; 0 ; 72
Cayden Vassa; Beth. Cath.; Sr.; 10; 0; 60
Jake Pukszyn; Liberty; Sr.; 10; 0; 60
TJ Lawrence; Parkland; Jr.; 10; 0; 60
Jay Santos; Emmaus; Jr.; 9; 0; 54
Lashawn Johnson; Freedom; Jr.; 9; 0; 54
Six tied for ninth with 48 points.
TACKLES
Cooper Wenrich; Nazareth; Jr.; 76
Christian Stiehler; PM West; So.; 51
JJ Pujals; Liberty; Sr.; 48
Sean Kilpatrick; Easton; Sr.; 47
Robert Edwards; Emmaus; Sr.; 41
Nick Tuzzio; Sr.; ES North; 39
AJ DePasqua; PM West; Sr.; 39
Justice Edwards; ES North; Sr.; 38
Bandon Roca; ES North; Sr.; 37
Mekkhi McKenzie; Liberty; Jr.; 36
Liam Spang; Parkland; Sr.; 35
SACKS
TeShon Gaynair; Allen; Jr.; 6
Michael Car; Parkland; Jr.; 4
Jonathan Adjin-Tettey; ES South; Sr.; 3
Benjamin Gil; Whitehall; Jr.; 3
Keegan Hackett; Northampton; Sr., 3
Marquez Wimberly; Nazareth; Sr.; 3
Nine tied with 2.
INTERCEPTIONS
Sean McPeek; Easton; Jr.; 3
Kaiden Buscemi; Nazareth; So.; 3
Keegan Hackett; Northampton; Sr.; 3
Blake Nassry; Parkland; Jr.; 3
Brady Behr; PM West; Sr.; 3
