GAMEFACE 2026: Nativity BVM Green Wave
· Yahoo Sports
Pat Mason knows that coaching at a small school requires constant reinvention.
“The thing that kind of changes a little bit, being that we’re coaching at a small school, is that you kind of have to change things up depending on the personnel that you have,” Mason said.
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This year’s roster of 24 players is the smallest of his three-decade career, but Mason has a plan to get the most out of the group.
That starts with installing a new offense run by a new quarterback.
Junior Owen Holley, who sat out last season after transferring, is ready to step into the role.
“He had a really good summer,” Mason said. “He threw real well in our 7-on-7 that we had at Upper Dauphin. So I’m pretty excited about his upside there. I think he’s going to have a good year for us.”
The Green Wave’s new offense is designed around Holley.
“I thought last year we were more of a spread team, where Colt (Mason) was our quarterback,” Mason said. “He was a good athlete, so we were getting the ball in his hands. Where Owen is more of a passer, a pocket passer kind of kid, so we’ve changed up our philosophy a little bit more. I think with Owen’s ability, I think our offense should be a little bit better this year scoring points.”
Nativity struggled to find the end zone in the latter stage of the 2025 season.
After a 4-3 start, the Green Wave posted just 20 points in their final four games, finishing 4-7 with a first-round playoff exit.
“We struggled a little bit last year down the stretch, when we got to the meat of our schedule, putting points on the board,” Mason said. “I’m hoping this year — our schedule is so weird this year because we have those three oh uh non-conference games to start off the year — we can get the ball rolling right off the bat and get a little bit better offensively earlier than we were last year.”
While a lot is changing for Mason’s squad, some key factors will stay the same.
“We have a decent core of guys coming back,” he said.
Many of the players on the team in 2025 had not played consistently on the varsity level, but come into 2026 with a year of experience under their belts.
“We have Noah Bulino, one of our captains, (who) is going to take a nice leadership role for us,” Mason said. “We have the three Felty brothers — Cooper, Connor, and Cole — Connor being a senior and Cooper being a junior, those two guys are also captains for us … Sean Kramer is a senior. He’s another returning starter. He’s a pretty vocal kid. He’s a good leader. So I think we have some good leadership, which is hard to find sometimes, but I think we’re pretty set there.”
And though Nativity will deploy a new-look offense, the upperclassmen do have some familiarity with the system.
“The nice part is we ran this look two years ago, so a lot of our kids, like Jacob Williams — who is a senior for us, skill kid — ran this offense two years ago,” Mason said. “It’s just a little bit of a different look, I think, that plays into Owen’s strengths a little bit more than the spread look did, but we’ll still go out of gun once in a while to throw the ball.”
As the team worked through the summer, Mason saw the potential for a successful season, which will begin on Aug. 28 with a road game against Montrose.
“We’re pretty optimistic. We had a pretty good summer,” he said. “ We were down Schuylkill Haven for a camp, we were up at Minersville, we were out at Upper Dauphin, so I think we did pretty well this summer, so I’m pretty excited.”
Huddle Up
Head Coach: Pat Mason
League: Schuylkill, Division II
Last Season: 4-7 Overall, 3-6 League
Male Enrollment: 68, Class A
Home Field: St. Clair Veterans Memorial Stadium
2026 Schedule
Aug. 28 at Montrose
Sept. 4 Holy Redeemer
Sept. 11 at Halifax
Sept. 18 Williams Valley
Sept. 25 at Schuylkill Haven
Oct. 1 at Mahanoy Area
Oct. 9 at Marian Catholic
Oct. 16 Shenandoah Valley
Oct. 23 at Tri-Valley
Oct. 30 Minersville
2025 Results
Holy Redeemer W 36-0
Pine Grove W 12-6
Williams Valley L 49-0
Tri-Valley L 42-13
Panther Valley L 41-24
Shenandoah Valley W 14-6
Mahanoy Area W 20-6
Minersville L 34-0
Schuylkill Haven L 57-0
Marian Catholic L 41-14
Lackawanna Trail* L 50-6
(* denotes playoff game)