Even before the football season started, longtime Newman football coach Mike Papoccia said a talented group of Comets sophomores might force his hand.

Historically, Papoccia has never been a fan of bringing up 10th graders to the varsity team, preferring instead to run his well-established system with juniors and seniors who had paid their dues in the high school program.

But way back in August, the 33-year veteran knew the skill-set some of his sophomores possessed were going to be too hard to ignore.