Dave Bench entered the 2025 season with realistic expectations.

Same with Mick Connolly.

Scott Sacco, too.

Bench was in his second season as Shenandoah Valley’s head football coach; while Connolly and Sacco were taking over the programs at Mahanoy Area and Hazleton Area, respectively, well after most teams had their offseason strength and conditioning workouts under way.

All are learning that catching up with the more established programs on their schedules is difficult, no matter how hard they work ahead of games, their execution on the practice field or whether they have a proper mindset and follow every gameplan to the T.

Their teams have a combined two wins through the first eight weeks of the season, each on the losing end of several lopsided scores.

Each also has endured injuries to key players; each team’s depth tested; each with varsity newcomers or underclassmen sliding into primary roles

In games, the connections between the Blue Devils, Golden Bears and Cougars also are similar.

They tend to fall into an early hole, commit a costly penalty, turnover or both, fall further behind and fight like heck to scratch and claw to make the final score respectable in what ultimately becomes another loss.

All are part of the growing pains that each team is experiencing.

“Honestly, the last couple of weeks has been rough … probably my roughest since becoming a coach,” Bench admitted. “We came out strong against CMVT (Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech) in our opener. We had that game won, even though we were missing some kids, but then we had a couple mistakes that bit us in the butt.”

The Blue Devils went from nearly pulling out their first win since beating Hancock (Md.) midway through the 2023 season to the toughest stretch of their schedule that included Minersville, Schuylkill Haven, Marian and Tri-Valley. All four teams handled the Devils with relative ease.

Shenandoah Valley then had its chances to get over the hump against both Pine Grove and Nativity, but it again came up short. In the latter game, the Blue Devils were ahead 6-0 when they fumbled going in for their second score. A muffed punt led to another Nativity touchdown. Yet, even after falling behind 14-6, they drove to inside the Green Wave 20 when they simply ran out of time and missed out on their chance to tie with a TD and two-point conversion.

“We were competitive,” Bench said. “You could tell the fight and morale were back.”

That fighting spirit was gone in a 58-8 loss to Tri-Valley the following week in the Devils’ “low point,” Bench said.

“We were defeated before we even stepped on the field,” he added.

Attrition takes a toll on every team at this point in the season. At Shenandoah Valley, injuries mounted as Bench had as many players in street clothes on the sidelines for the Devils’ game at Panther Valley last week as he had were in uniform.

They’ll face another state-ranked power in Williams Valley on Friday, before closing the season against rival Mahanoy Area. Not only will pride be on the line in that one, but the Devils also will have the chance to kick start their 2026 season, when all but a handful of front-line players are expected to return and when a cure for their growing pains might be closer at hand.

Next season, a promising collection of young players also are expected to move up from the junior high team to join the holdovers.

“It was known that these first couple of years were going to be rough,” Bench said. “But our core kids are starting to get older. … That group keeps putting the work in; they don’t quit for the most part. They know they still have a bright future.”

At Mahanoy Area, Connolly took over for Dave Holman as head just a few months before the Golden Bears’ 2025 opener against Catasauqua. He had to break in a freshman starting quarterback among a host of skill-position players to team with All-Area running back/linebacker Kyler Quick as well as rebuilding both lines and put together a coaching staff in short order.

The results have been predictable given the Bears’ lack of experience and the same gauntlet of a schedule that Shenandoah Valley has faced. Only their struggles on offense have been more pronounced to the tune of averaging just 6.8 points per game.

Against Marian, Mahanoy Area turned the ball over six times with one interception going the other way for a touchdown.

“You’re never going to beat anybody turning the ball over like that,” Connolly said. “We’re finding ways to shoot ourselves in the foot each and every week. We’re getting better, but we’re showing our age. It’s frustrating because we’re better than we’ve played.”

Indeed, growing pains can be, well, painful.

Defensively, the Bears have offered glimpses of promise. Other than a few big plays, the Bears kept Marian’s potent running attack in check and held Tri-Valley to only 14 points until the Bulldogs used a late first-half surge to gain separation in what would be a 42-7 victory.

“The kids are playing hard,” Connolly said after the Marian loss. “That’s all you can ask out of them.”

Meanwhile, Hazleton Area’s kids continue to play hard for Sacco and his staff, with only a 40-0 blanking of West Scranton to show in the win column for their collective effort.

“Right now, we sit at 1-7,” Sacco said. “On paper, that may not look like much. But if you’ve been with us — in the weight room, on the practice field, in the locker room, or under the lights on Friday nights — you know that this record doesn’t define us. What defines us is our commitment, our fight, our willingness to show up each day and get better — not just as football players, but as young men. Week after week, this team continues to grow and that kind of growth doesn’t always show up in wins and losses, at least not right away.”

Sacco added that he admires his young team’s resiliency, which was tested after road losses to Nazareth and Williamsport to start the season and again in the midst of the Cougars’ five-game losing streak.

“I’ve seen it in how our players bounce back after a tough game,” he said. “It’s seen in how they support each other, hold each other accountable and push themselves to improve.

“For our seniors, this season has been a crash course in one of life’s hardest lessons: sometimes, you can work incredibly hard, do everything right and still come up short. Football can be cruel that way. Life can be, too. But these seniors are learning how to lead through adversity. They’re teaching our underclassmen what it means to stay committed even when things aren’t going your way. They’re helping build a culture of toughness and resilience that will last long after they’ve played their final down.”

As for the Cougars’ underclassmen, “They’ve grown up fast. Players who started the year as wide-eyed juniors and sophomores are starting to look like seasoned veterans. They’ve been tested andevery challenge has helped sharpen them, mentally and physically. That growth is going to pay dividends, not just in the future, but as we close out this season strong.”

Sacco and his team watched Pittston Area celebrate their Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 championship after beating the Cougars, 49-13, last week. Instead of shooing his players to their locker room, Sacco was OK having them take in the scene as a reminder what it takes to reach the Patriots’ level. After all, Pittston Area endured its growing pains in a 2-9 season just last year.

“That moment could have broken some teams, but not this one,” Sacco said of the Cougars. “As I looked around, I didn’t see a group hanging their heads. I didn’t see disappointment or frustration. What I saw was fire. I saw young men watching that celebration and thinking, ‘We want that!’. And more importantly, we now understand what it takes to get there. That’s a powerful realization, and one that could shape this team for years to come.”

When the youngest players are past the growing pains.