The NewsTribune area has five new coaches this fall.

Through the first three weeks of the season, three of them have recorded their first win at their new school, including La Salle-Peru’s JJ Raffelson and Hall-Putnam County’s Nick Sterling on Friday.

Raffelson’s Cavaliers beat Ottawa 41-24.

“It feels good to get the first win of the season and the first win in my head coaching career,” Raffelson said.

Sterling’s Red Devils beat Mendota 18-6.

“Obviously, it feels great,” Sterling.

First-year St. Bede Jack Brady earned his first win in Week 1 with a 47-6 victory over Bureau Valley.

The two new area coaches, who are still looking for their first win at their current school, aren’t new to winning football games as a head coach.

Mendota’s Jim Eustice has 59 career wins in previous stops at St. Bede and Marquette, while Bureau Valley’s Pat Elder owns 156 career victories with previous jobs at Sherrard, Richmond-Burton and Ridgewood.

“Congrats to Nick on his first win as a head coach and to all the Hall kids on that win,” Eustice said. “They had a good game plan.”

‘IT WAS DISAPPOINTING’

Princeton did not have a game last week after Sherrard forfeited due to an illness outbreak on the team that left Sherrard without enough players to compete.

“It was really disappointing to not have a game, especially to find out after our Thursday practice,” Princeton coach Ryan Pearson said.

Despite no game, Princeton’s Friday night did involve football.

The PHS coaching staff went to scout the Monmouth-Roseville at Kewanee game, which the Titans won 55-7. Pearson said some Princeton players went to the Monmouth-Roseville at Kewanee game, while some Tigers went to the La Salle-Peru at Ottawa game.

Princeton (1-2) will host Kewanee (0-3) this week, and Monmouth-Roseville (3-0) will come to Princeton in Week 5.

“I am trying to stay positive,” Pearson said about having an off week. “Hopefully, this allowed us to rest, heal up, and come in refreshed this week for Kewanee.”

Sherrard athletic director Lisa Emendorfer said Sherrard intends to play its game this week at Hall-Putnam County.

SPREADING IT AROUND

La Salle-Peru had a lot of players make contributions in last week’s win over rival Ottawa. The Cavaliers had 12 different players touch the ball in the 41-24 victory.

Sophomore quarterback Marion Persich completed 11-of-19 passes for 207 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 99 yards and three scores on five attempts.

Easton Moriarty rushed for 84 yards on 17 carries, while Jaron Morscheiser had two receptions for 52 yards and a TD.

“We want a lot of athletes who can make plays,” Raffelson said. “We just want to get the ball to whoever may be open. We’re trying to keep guys fresh as much as possible.

“It is a huge benefit to be able to get the ball to multiple players. Having many different guys who can make some plays for us really helps the team.”

‘WE LEFT A LOT OF PLAYS ON THE FIELD’

Sterling saw room for improvement on offense.

The Red Devils’ offense scored two touchdowns on long plays. Quarterback Dylan Glynn broke free for a 58-yard TD run in the first quarter and later hit Aiden Redcliff on a screen pass that went for a 48-yard score.

Hall’s other touchdown came on a 56-yard punt return by Braden Curran.

Other than the two long scoring plays, the Hall managed 136 yards on 43 plays, an average of 3.2 yards per play.

“I felt we left a lot of plays on the field,” Sterling said. “We definitely could have capitalized more. We’re going to talk through that and work through that some more. We know what those issues are. We talked about them at halftime. They continued through the third and fourth quarters. We’re just not taking care of the football well enough. Those are things we need to fix.”

Sterling said the Red Devils are “still not doing a lot of the little things that really matter in a game,” but said the Red Devils are headed in the right direction.

“Every week we see progress, and that’s what we want,” Sterling said. “Every time we get that progress, we’re a step closer to where we need to be. At this point, going into Week 4, that progress has to continue to accelerate at a high pace.”

LOOKING FOR OFFENSE TO STEP UP

Aside from two long scoring plays, Eustice was happy with how the Trojans’ defense played in Friday’s 18-6 loss to Hall-Putnam County.

The Mendota defense gave up a 58-yard TD run and a 48-yard screen pass for a score. Hall’s other TD came on a 56-yard kick return.

Now Eustice is looking for the offense to match that effort.

“On defense, we had a great game plan and we executed,” Eustice said. “They had the one long run and the screen pass. We talk all the time about not punting to the guy. We had several good punts, but the one he kicks to him, we had a breakdown on that, too. They had two long plays on two of their scores, then the punt return. Offensively, we have to be able to win a game like that. We are not good enough on offense right now.

“Our defense is playing too good these first three weeks for us not to be winning a game. It’s on me to get the right people out there and to get them to do what they’re supposed to do.”

In three games, the Trojan defense has allowed nine touchdowns, with six of them on plays of 20 yards or more.

The Mendota offense was shut out in Week 1 and has scored four touchdowns over the last two games.