McGorry trying to rekindle past achievements of Central Catholic
After several seasons as a college assistant, Tim McGorry has returned to coaching high school football.
His first season in charge of his alma mater has come with a workload similar to what he logged at Moravian and Lehigh.
McGorry is not only Central Catholic’s head coach but its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He has already learned he didn’t know as much about running a program as he thought he did when he was an assistant at Central Catholic, Parkland, Moravian and Lehigh.
“It’s a lot of time and a lot of administrative things you need to worry about,” McGorry said Monday after the first session of two-a-days. “You’ve constantly got to think about a million different things as the head guy.”
While he works through the daily details at Central Catholic, McGorry has a long-term goal of making the Vikings contenders again. They struggled to a 3-8 overall record and 1-7 finish in the EPC South last season.
McGorry’s past experiences at Central Catholic featured far more success. He was the Vikings quarterback in 1998 when
they won the second of the program’s three state titles. He served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for their third state championship team, the 2010 group that went 16-0 and won the PIAA Class 3A title.
Central Catholic’s first step toward competing within the division is playing through adversity. McGorry watched last season’s film and saw too many players giving up in games.
“We want accountability in the offseason, and they did a great job with that piece,” McGorry said. “They bought into the weight room, and you could see their bodies change a little bit.
“Now it’s just how we practice and the tempo we practice at and really getting them to hold each other accountable. We’re not quite there, but we’re getting there.”
McGorry also sees improvement coming in the trenches.
Paul Hagadus left Parkland to join Central Catholic’s staff as the offensive line coach. He has two returning starters, center Ben Carbonetto and left tackle Nick Reimer, to anchor the O-line.
Lavon Johnson will give Central Catholic a force on the defensive line’s interior. McGorry expects to rotate defensive linemen around him.
The Vikings need more from their defensive front after surrendering 39.1 points per game in 2018.
“We have some good competition at some spots,” McGorry said. “You can see guys kind of starting to eke ahead a little bit.
“We’re getting there.”
Morning Call reporter Stephen Miller can be reached at 610-8206750 or at samiller@mcall.com.