The Pine Grove Area football team finished a successful season with a regular season record of 8-2. The Pine Grove Cardinals also made a District appearance for the first time since 2013. The Cardinals came into the season with a ton of confidence and were ready to make noise around the league.  The Cardinals had a solid start to the season and through the first three games had a record of 2-1. During the third game, they had a terrible injury to the starting quarterback, Josh Leininger, who fractured his right collarbone. 

Freshman, Mason Kroh, stepped into the quarterback role and had a big shoe to fill. Kroh’s first start came in the Gridiron Bowl against Tri-Valley and brought the Gridiron Trophy back for the first time in four years. Before the return of Leininger, Kroh led the Cardinals to three straight wins improving their record to 5-1. Leininger made his return to the team against Williams Valley and led the Cardinals to a win. Leinger said, “I’m glad that I got to make my return and I did everything I could to help my team win.” The Cardinals proceeded to win their next game against Line Mountain, putting their record to 7-1.

The Cardinals were now matched up against the undefeated Upper Dauphin Trojans. They came into this game ready to battle against the Trojans. Shea Morgan said, “ We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we honestly believed we had a good shot to win it. As long as everyone did their jobs and played as hard as possible, we could win.” The Cardinals fought hard but ended up losing to the Trojans. The Cardinals finished the regular season with a record of 8-2. They were matched up against the North Schuylkill Spartans in the District 11 Semi-Final game. They would play hard against the Spartans but would end up losing the game and putting an end to the season. The Cardinals are losing 8 starters on both sides of the ball and have a few key players such as Josh Leininger, Shea Morgan, and Ayden Ney returning.