Stoney Creek has their new Football Coach.

Written Monday January 22nd at 8:40 AM
Updated Tuesday January 23rd at 10:10 AM

The Stoney Creek Cougars have their new football coach.

The Cougars named Nick Merlo as head coach replacing Bob Lantzy whom spent two seasons at Stoney Creek posting a 5-13 record in his two seasons.

Merlo played football at Rochester and is the son of longtime Falcons coach Mark Merlo. Merlo is currently a Math teacher at Rochester High School.

Merlo was an assistant under Erik Vernon while at Rochester and worked in other various roles within the Falcons administration including the throws coach in Track and Field.

Merlo will be the third Stoney Creek coach in five seasons.

The Cougars will have a meet and greet with Merlo to the players and staff this afternoon.

Stoney Creek last made the playoffs in 2013 when Brad Zube coached the Cougars from 2012-2015, he is now coaching at Brandon. Lantzy whom coached at Utica Eisenhower for 43 years stepped down a few weeks ago.

The Cougars will be in the midst of a transition yet again with Merlo at the helm. Merlo will inherit a quarterback competition between Frank Potenza and Peyton Youngblood. He will also have lineman Jake Ropeda returning as well. Merlo have to address a defense that has been a problem as of late allowing 243 points in 2016 and 211 points last season. Also, the offense struggled only scoring 93 points last season.

Merlo had added a new theme to the Stoney Creek football program is called "Armor Up." He said in an email to yours truly that it "encompasses attitude and beliefs that helps us reach our goals and dreams. It's something that we will embrace for the next 30 years and will be the foundational piece to our program."

Stoney Creek will be in the White this upcoming fall. They will open up at home against Utica Ford. The Cougars will also have tough home games against Troy, Groves, Oxford, and Troy Athens and daunting trips to Oak Park, Harrison, Rochester, and Adams.

Merlo will have his hands full this upcoming season.

Thoughts.

I was surprised Stoney Creek would go the "conservative" route. I thought this would be more of a home run hire like they did with Lantzy and Zube in the past but the Cougars made the safe pick going with Merlo, a man that is well known within the Rochester community.

Now I love the guy, I think he will do a very good job but I’m not sure how the fan base is going to respond knowing that the Merlo name is well known around Rochester especially around the Big Blue community of Rochester.

One thing Merlo will have to fix besides the culture is the record against the city rivals. Stoney Creek is 6-14 all time against Adams and Rochester, including a 1-8 mark against the Highlanders.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for the latest on this developing story.