Football This Week

D48 — The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa., Friday, September 3, 2010 www.cumberlink.com

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FTWFootball this Week

Section D

September 3, 2010

Strength and conditioning a key element to finding success for area high school teams

2010 Season Preview Edition

•High school previews • Local college previews • Week 1 picks

Work it out

Penn State reloads at linebacker

- page D38

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Cover Story

By Travis L. PickensAssistAnt sports [email protected]

On a muggy Friday morning in late July-, the defending District 3 Class AAAA football champions were sweating.

Many of Cumberland Valley High’s football players could be found either in the weight room behind Chapman Field, at the track surrounding the stadium’s grass surface or on the patch of pavement in front of the conces-sion stand.

Whether they were return-ing starters or wide-eyed fresh-men, anyone who showed up for the voluntary workout was put

through a circuit of speed, agility and strength drills.

In front of the concession stand, head coach Tim Rimpfel sat at a metal picnic table with papers spread out in front of him and a stopwatch. Rimpfel was putting the players through the dreaded dot drill, which involves hopping back and forth to certain dots on a rubber mat. The drill takes be-tween 40 seconds and just over a minute to complete and is much more difficult than it looks.

It isn’t an exercise that brings to mind powerful bodies crashing into each other on a Friday night in the fall, but it’s one of the many drills that football teams do to prepare for those nights.

“When we test, whether it’s quickness testing or strength testing, some kids say, ‘Boy, I feel pressure with the other kids watching,’ Rimpfel said. “Well, heck (in the fall), there’s going to be 5,000 people in the stands watching you, too. It’s a good

preparation for them. Peer pres-sure is great.

“With the quickness testing and the mile, we post the scores and it puts pressure on them, but we also want to see how competitive they are, too.”

Cumberland Valley’s offseason football program has been around for a long time.

In the 1970s, legendary CV coach Harry Chapman took a page out of Bernard Lange’s book and built his own benches and squat racks out of wood. Fifty years ear-lier, Lange, a priest at Notre Dame who was also an avid weight-lifter and carpenter, did the same thing and eventually was asked by Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne to help teach his players how to lift weights properly.

Lange’s expertise was almost solely in weightlifting, but Chap-man’s program was much more.

Strength of programs built in offseasonMore than other ■

sports, year-round work is required for football teams to succeed.

photos by Michael Bupp/the sentinel

aBOve: Scott Maronic does dumbbell presses during an off-season session at Cumberland Valley.On THe cOver: CV’s Jordan Bush does curls using a bent bar.

• See Strength, D44

What’s InsIde

High schoolsBig spring d3Boiling springs d5Camp Hill d7Carlisle d9Cedar Cliff d12Cumberland Valley d14

East pennsboro d18Mechanicsburg d20northern d22red Land d24shippensburg d26susquenita d28trinity d30

West perry d32Mid-penn projections d46the sentinel picks d47

collegedickinson College d34shippensburg University d36penn state d38

High School Football Commentary

The worst bracket in the state


Postseason football is still 10 weeks away, but it’s never to early to question the PIAA and the Western Pennsylvania Interscho-lastic Athletic League.

Those two organizations have combined to create one of the most ridiculous playoff setups that we’ve ever seen.

In Class AAAA, there’s a strange thing called the District 6-8-9-10 subre-gional. It’s an open tour-nament that any team in those districts, regardless of record, can join.

That’s the path State College, a member of the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division, must travel in the postseason because the Little Lions, despite call-ing a District 3 conference home, are not technically in District 3.

We’ve said in this space before that State College should be in the District 3 playoffs, but without the Little Lions, that subre-gional gets even worse.

Two of the teams in it this year — Brashear and Erie Strong Vincent — were Class AAA the last two years. Coincidentally, those are two of the three teams, not including State College, in the subregional that had a winning record last year. Central Mountain

is the other. The Wildcats were 6-5 last season.

Unfortunately, the win-ner of that bracket enters state play at the quarter-final level. Last year, when State College finished as PIAA runner-up, was an exception. More often than not the winner of this subregional won’t stand a chance against the WPIAL winner.

So here’s how to elimi-nate this bracket and make the Class AAAA field more competitive:

• Allow State College to qualify through District 3. It’s the path SC coach Al Wolski prefers.

• Force the WPIAL to implement a power rank-ing system that allows the other five teams to qualify for its 16-team bracket if they do so. This doesn’t mean those teams have to join the WPIAL but if they accumulate enough points to participate in the play-offs, that should be an op-tion for them.

If both of these ideas come to fruition, the western half of the AAAA field would involve two brackets, with the District 3 and WPIAL champions meeting in the state semi-finals.

It also makes the regular season mean something. Right now in districts 6, 8, 9 and 10 the regular sea-son means nothing for the Class AAAA teams.

D2 — The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa., Friday, September 3, 2010 Friday, September 3, 2010, The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa. — D47www.cumberlink.com www.cumberlink.com

Sentinel PickSWeek1

Guest Picker:Brett Smith

Former Sports Editor

Mechanicsburgat Carlisle

Travis L. Pickens

Last week:0-0

Last Season:117-50

Tom Ash

Last week:0-0

Last Season:114-53

Ron Rogers

Last week:0-0

Last Season:N/A

Guest Picker

Last week:0-0

Last Season:113-54

Andy Sandrik

Last week:0-0

Last Season:119-48

Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg

Middletownat Shippensburg

Red Landat East Pennsboro

Bermudian Springsat Northern

Boiling Springsat Littlestown

Camp Hillat Biglerville

Elizabethtownat Cedar Cliff

Millersburgat Big Spring

Newportat Susquenita

Red Lion atCumberland Valley

Trinity atLancaster Catholic

West Perryat Indian Valley

Gatewayat Bishop McDevitt

Boise Statevs. Virginia Tech

Middletown

East Pennsboro

Northern

Boiling Springs

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Susquenita

Cumberland Valley

Trinity

Indian Valley

Bishop McDevitt

Virginia Tech

Shippensburg

Red Land

Northern

Littlestown

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Newport

CumberlandValley

LancasterCatholic

Indian Valley

Gateway

Boise State

Middletown

Red Land

Northern

Littlestown

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Millersburg

Susquenita

CumberlandValley

LancasterCatholic

IndianValley

BishopMcDevitt

Boise State

Shippensburg Shippensburg

Red Land

Northern

Boiling Springs

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Susquenita

CumberlandValley

LancasterCatholic

IndianValley

BishopMcDevitt

Boise State

Red Land

Northern

Boiling Springs

Biglerville

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Newport

CumberlandValley

Trinity

Indian Valley

BishopMcDevitt

Boise State

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There’s something positive to build on


Speaking early in summer camp, Big Spring High School football coach Brent Stroh was optimistic.

In his fourth year of trying to revive the Bulldogs’ moribund program, Stroh finally is seeing change.

“We’re starting to get there,” said Stroh, who has a 5-25 record at Big Spring. “We’ve had our best offseason (program) since (the coaching staff has) been here, and this team is the most experienced we’ve had here.

“Those things are good, but then we have to put it together on the field. We tend to look for excuses for things that don’t turn out right instead of accepting responsibil-ity.”

The Bulldogs started well last year with wins over Boiling Springs and West Perry in the first two weeks. But then the wheels fell off, and Big Spring didn’t win again until it beat Hanover, 24-14, in the season finale.

Regardless, last season was the first time the program experienced multiple wins since 2004 when the Bulldogs finished 4-6. The

last time Big Spring had a winning record (7-3) was in 2003.

It’s been baby steps for Stroh and his staff, but they have a plan for how they expect to win mul-tiple games in back-to-back sea-sons for the first time in six years.

“First of all, you have to fo-cus on the fundamental aspect — get them to play fundamentally sound,” Stroh said. “They need to learn to get pad under pad, tackle properly and be precise in block-ing and their schemes.

“Plus, the recent tradition, we’re trying to overcome that. I want them to take pride in what they’re doing. They have to expect bet-ter things instead of expecting the worst. Then you have to establish a work ethic. I’m not saying we’re a lazy team, but some guys work really hard and some don’t. We have to be on the same page.”

Big Spring returns 10 starters — five on offense, five on defense — and Stroh can lean on at least 11 others who saw time last year to show their experience.

Big Spring returned 17 start-ers last year, but the offense was moving from the Spread to the Wing-T. This year, the offense and defense are running what they ran last year: The offense will stick with the Wing-T, while the defense will again employ the 4-4.

Jason Malmont/the sentinel

James Grier, left, hands off to Ben Webber during Big Spring’s preseason football camp. The Bulldogs went 4-6 last year and haven’t had a winning record since 2003.

Accountability is ■

the key for program to continue improving.

• See Bulldogs, D4

Mid-Penn Conference ProjectionscOMMOnWeaLTH

Outlook: Carlisle and Central dau-phin East have moved back up to the conference’s big-school division to take Altoona’s place. Unfortunately for the newcomers, we don’t see them making many waves in what should be a stacked division. Last season, division rivals Cumberland Valley and state College met in the piAA Class AAAA semifinals. the Little Lions might take a step back this year, but they won’t totally fall off the board. this time around, CV wears the target as the division favorite.

Predicted order of finish (2009 record):

1. cumberland valley (12-3) — travis Friend and trevor Harman are key losses, but the Eagles return the bulk of the team that won the district 3 Class AAAA crown last year. that said, it’s easy to forget CV finished third in the division after regular-season losses to state College and Central dauphin. Having a division i recruit in running back/linebacker Kevin snyder (rutgers) sure won’t hurt coach tim rimpfel run his Wing-t offense to perfection.

2. Harrisburg (5-6) — Here’s the deal with the Cougars: they have talent as usual, but we’re worried about how focused this group is while dealing with the drama surrounding coach George Chaump. if the players remain focused, they shouldn’t have much trouble with the rest of the divi-sion. We’re banking on that oct. 30 home date with Cumberland Valley to decide the division.

3. central Dauphin (9-3) — Glen Mcnamee’s team is coming off a sea-son in which it shared the division crown with state College. truthfully, the rams have what it takes to win another title thanks to an experienced line, but they’ll have to do it with some new faces at the skill positions.

4. chambersburg (5-6) — We might have the trojans rated a little too high, but first-year coach Mark saunders seems to have his players believing they can compete. Last year, in david Carruthers’ final season, the trojans broke through with a playoff appearance.

5. state college (12-3) — to count the key players who graduated from last year’s state finalist requires more than five fingers. to name a few, Alex Kenney, Colby Way and Jack de-Boeuf are gone. With those depar-tures probably went state’s shot at repeating in the division (it shared the title with Central dauphin). the good news for the Little Lions is that no matter their record, they’ll be in the district 6-8-9-10 subregional and

have a shot at advancing through the playoffs.

6. carlisle (2-8) — the going won’t be easy for Carlisle in its return to the Commonwealth, but first-year coach Josh oswalt knows the league (he’s a CV graduate) and is very high on his team. the key for Carlisle is to play competitive football week in and week out and avoid major injuries, something it didn’t do last year.

7. central Dauphin east (1-9) — the most impressive thing this team accomplished last year wasn’t its de-feat of Altoona for its only win. Even better than that win, East pushed eventual state runner-up state Col-lege to the brink on a sunday after-noon in october. the Little Lions only led 7-3 in the fourth quarter before pulling away with two late touch-downs. More performances like that, and first-year coach Brian Bowman’s team might move out of the base-ment.

_____

keysTOneOutlook: if it weren’t for the huge

elephant in the room (we’re looking at you, Bishop Mcdevitt), this would be one heck of a division race. Cedar Cliff, Mechanicsburg, Hershey, Lower dauphin and red Land will all be neck-and-neck, while susquehanna twp. is the defending district 3-AAA runner-up. it’s true, the indians lose a good amount, but don’t count them out of the battle for second place. this might, with the exception of the Crusaders, be the most competitive division in the conference.


1. Bishop McDevitt (12-1) — Mcdevitt always battles depth is-sues on the lines, but if it builds huge halftime leads — as is normally the case — those starters will only be playing 24 minutes. With at least two division i recruits, the Crusaders are the team to beat.

2. susquehanna Twp. (12-2) — there are a lot of parts to replace if the indians hope to make a return to the district 3-AAA final. there’s always talent, speed and size on the roster — two transfers who are bat-tling for the quarterback job won’t hurt — so don’t count susquehanna twp. out just yet.

3. Mechanicsburg (6-5) — A year after returning only one starter, the Wildcats look primed to make at least some noise. Coach Chris Hakel needs to replace durable running back tarik Leftenant, but compared to last year, this team is loaded with experience and should be the third-best team in the division.

4. cedar cliff (6-5) — Jim Can-tafio, in his third year as head coach, has high expectations for his team. the Colts have most of their skill guys back and are gunning for at least an-other runner-up finish. they’ve been second to Mcdevitt the last two years, but the bigger picture is how much the team has improved.

5. red Land (3-7) — After a few great years, coach Frank Gay’s out-fit returned to earth last fall and struggled through a losing season. We’re sure the patriots have circled the wagons in hopes of avoiding an-other tough season, but the schedule is daunting.

6. Lower Dauphin (4-6) — Af-ter beating its head against the wall while being classified AAAA the last four years, Lower dauphin is back to AAA and hopes to make a splash. the Falcons saw moderate success playing with the big boys, but just be-cause their opponents’ enrollments are smaller, the level of competition doesn’t get any easier in this division.

7. Hershey (9-3) — When a team like Hershey checks in this low, it’s obvious the division is loaded. the trojans are coming off a strong year that saw them advance to the district 3-AAA quarterfinals in Mark painter’s first year as head coach.

_____

cOLOniaLOutlook: this division has all

the makings of a top-heavy group. if someone other than northern or Greencastle-Antrim comes away with the title, it can be considered an upset. that said, don’t count out shippensburg with its record-setting running back and mammoth offen-sive line. Another darkhorse is Get-tysburg, which has a new coach and could be a surprise in the division if not in district 3. the Colonial is look-ing at either a two-team breakaway or a tough fight among two stalwarts and two teams that want respect.


1. northern (8-3) — the polar Bears have some question marks, but they also return two very reliable running backs in Kevin Lytle and Matt richmond. now that the division has expanded to eight teams, it’s going to be harder for northern to reach the top, but rick Mauck knows how to win the big games and, as is the case almost every year, the other teams will be looking up at northern come november.

2. shippensburg (6-5) — We’re once again fascinated by the size of this team’s line. the projected start-

ers average 250 pounds and will be blocking for todde statum, who set the school’s single-season rushing record last year.

3. Greencastle-antrim (7-3) — After a year at the top, the Blue devils faltered in a game at northern and finished runner-up to the polar Bears. Along the way, G-A blasted shippensburg to help keep the Grey-hounds from finishing in second.

4. Gettysburg (3-7) — now that sam Leedy has retired, we’ll see how quickly the Warriors can get back to the level they reached three years ago when the team finished as 3-AAA runner-up.

5. Big spring (3-7) — the Bull-dogs are showing improvement under coach Brent stroh, but they aren’t at the level needed to chal-lenge in this division. stroh’s fourth year will tell a lot about where the program is heading.

6. Waynesboro (2-8) — the indi-ans are still searching for that magi-cal season when they challenge for a division title and crack the playoffs. right now, success has to be judged on what the team does on the field.

7. West Perry (1-9) — things have to start looking up for coach Al ream’s outfit soon, right? Well, with a brutal early-season schedule, mental toughness is mandatory in Elliottsburg. the other thing West perry needs is depth. With games against indian Valley and Mount Car-mel right away, the Mustangs could be banged up before they know it.

8. James Buchanan (1-8) — the rockets showed some positives last year with a win over palmyra and a two-point loss to eventual play-off qualifier Mechanicsburg. Unfor-tunately, now James Buchanan is heading to an arguably more difficult division, and wins will be at a pre-mium.

_____

caPiTaLOutlook: this division should

be fairly balanced the whole way through. Boiling springs returns 16 starters from last year’s 6-4 team and can likely make a push toward the top of the division, where heavy-weights Milton Hershey, steelton-Highspire and trinity dwell. Even the teams that might finish near the bottom of the division — Camp Hill comes to mind — will be tough week in and week out.


1. Trinity (7-4) — Changing from the Wing-t to the spread won’t be an easy transition, but by the middle of the season, if not sooner, the sham-

rocks should be feeling more com-fortable. plus, trinity’s most difficult division games, with the exception of Boiling springs on nov. 5, are at CoBo Field.

2. steelton-Highspire (8-3) — the rollers are a little young, and that could be an issue in a division this tough. difficult trips to trinity, Milton Hershey and Camp Hill loom large in the division race. if steel-High can get through those games without a loss, the rollers will win this division.

3. Milton Hershey (7-4) — the school was bumped up to Class AAA for the postseason, but that fact won’t matter during the regular season. Milton Hershey shared the tiny four-team patriot division title last year and will be hard-pressed to crack the top two.

4. Boiling springs (6-4) — if the Bubblers find a way to win close games, this could be a special fall in south Middleton twp. But the verdict is still out on this group, which won its final six games of the 2009 sea-son. the only problem was that none of those wins came against a team that finished with a winning record.

5. Middletown (8-4) — once the postseason rolls around, the Blue raiders will be in the same Class AAA boat as Milton Hershey. Before then, Middletown has work to do in the division, and despite returning star running back rodney ramsey, it’s unlikely that coach roy o’neill’s club will be able to make a serious push for the division title.

6. east Pennsboro (4-6) — this team needs to figure out how to win close games. Last year, the panthers posted an 0-4 record in games decided by seven points or less. that’s not a good way to chal-lenge for a division or qualify for the playoffs.

7. Palmyra (4-6) — the Cougars have a solid group returning, but we’re still mystified with how last season ended for them. palmyra went in the tank after losing to dela-ware power red Lion Christian, and with tough games early — Boiling springs, at steel-High, Middletown — the team’s mental toughness will be tested imediately.

8. camp Hill (2-8) — the Lions are one year away from making a serious move both in the division and on the district stage. Unfortu-nately, coach Frank Kindler needs to find a way to get his young team through this season with minimal injuries and their mental strength still intact.

—Travis L. Pickens

sentinel file photo

Trinity and running back Logan Houck are favored to win the Mid-Penn Capital Division.


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“We still struggle with schemes a little, but we’re getting better with it,” Stroh said. “We’re much further ahead than we were last year. The younger kids are still very slow to catch on. They’re still struggling, but we have to stay after them.”

The youth programs all run schemes similar to what the varsity uses, which helps with familiar-ity, and Stroh said he has a concern that worries him much more than what of-fense and defense are being used by the youngsters.

“It’s extremely important at the youth level to learn the correct fundamentals and techniques,” Stroh said. “If they don’t, it doesn’t matter what they run.”

Stroh is a realist and un-derstands that the Bull-dogs probably won’t win a PIAA championship this year. It’s been a long time since the team experienced much success, so the vet-eran coach isn’t judging this season on wins and losses. When it’s all said and done, Stroh knows the attitude toward the pro-gram needs to change to help him change the cul-ture at Big Spring. That’s what he is most concerned with.

“I’m looking for a lot of

growth as far as accepting responsibility for an ac-tion,” Stroh said. “I want to see them have a will-ingness to sacrifice for the team instead of worry-ing about themselves. We need to come together as a team. Right now, we’re a

bunch of individuals, and I think that’s always been an issue here.

“It’s a sign of the times. Everybody talks about ‘me’ instead of ‘we.’ Every-one wants to be a star and not do the dirty work, but that’s not how life works.”

Bulldogs• Continued from D3

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Brent Stroh (fourth year, 5-25)Offensive coordinator — Brent StrohDefensive coordinator — Chuck HickesOther assistants — Carl Creek, Mike Barry, Bill Owens, Jesse Killinger.Last year — 3-7 overall, 1-3 division (fourth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Zack Stroh, QB-DB; Cory Cassell, FB-OLB; Tyler Baum, TE-DE; Garrett Adams, SE-S; Nick Sheaffer, SE-S; Aris Thiombiano, CB; Hunter Bailey, C-LB; Matt Keck, G-OLB; Terry Mentzger, G. Returning offensive starters (5) — Josh Bloser, sr., TE; Christian Bloss-er, sr., OT-DT; Janosch Beauchamp, sr., OG; Austin Coyle, sr., TB; Matt Gibson, sr., WB. Returning defensive starters (5) — Bloser, sr., DE; Colby Whitten, sr., LB; Dakota Matthews, jr., DE; Sean McCarntey, sr., DT; Gib-son, sr., OLB.Other key returnees — Mat-thews, sr., OL; Josh Kreamer, sr., OG; Kasey Willis, sr., C; Lucas Christleib, sr., WR-DB; Jordan Houck, jr., WR-CB; Beauchamp, DL; Barry De-itch, sr., QB-OLB; Williams Wiser, sr., FB-LB; Coyle, sr., DB; McCartney, sr., OL; Josh Stewart, jr., OT-DT. Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Coyle. “He’s a senior and has the experience of start-ing on offense,” Stroh said. “He’s one of our better running backs so we’re hoping for bigger and better things from him.” Team strength — Inside linebackers.Team concern — Depth on offensive and defensive lines.Game to watch — Oct. 1 at West Perry. Big Spring starts the season with at least three winnable games in its first four. Out-of-conference foes in Millersburg, Octorara and Kennard-Dale could be had before the an-nual Little Brown Jug rivalry against Shippensburg. It’s conceivable that Big Spring is 4-0 when it makes the trip to West Perry in early October. If that’s the case, the Bulldogs will have a shot at the playoffs.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 Millersburg, 7Sept. 11 at Octorara, 1

Sept. 17 Kennard-Dale, 7*Sept. 24 Shippensburg, 7*Oct. 1 at West Perry, 7*Oct. 8 Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 15 at Gettysburg 7*Oct. 22 James Buchanan, 7*Oct. 29 at Northern, 7*Nov. 5 at Greencastle-Antrim, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.6 Josh Bloser 12 6-2 200 TE-DL7 Barry Deitch 12 6-1 185 QB-LB8 Tim Hair 10 5-4 125 WR-DB10 Hunter Kotzmoyer 10 5-11 170 RB-DB11 Kody Tidd 11 5-11 170 TE-LB13 James Grier 10 6-2 190 QB-LB14 Levi Crum 10 5-7 130 WB-DB15 Lucas Christlieb 12 6-1 170 WR-DB19 Tyler Durham 12 5-8 145 K-P21 Tyler Moore 11 6-1 165 WB-DB22 Jordan Houck 11 6-1 175 WR-DB23 Jake Bales 10 5-5 130 RB-DB24 Matt Gibson 12 6-1 185 WB-LB26 Kevin Boyd 10 5-7 150 WB-LB30 Austin Coyle 12 5-9 10 RB-DB33 Kyle Keen 10 6-2 210 RB-LB35 Dairrein Buskey 11 6-2 170 WR-DB40 Ben Webber 10 6-1 175 TE-LB42 Colby Whitten 12 6-1 240 RB-LB43 Justin Vioral 10 5-9 145 WR-DB51 Sean McCartney 12 6-1 215 OL-DL52 Charles Kinsler 10 5-9 180 OL-LB53 Ben Bailey 10 5-11 205 C-DL54 Dakota Matthews 11 6-0 250 OL-DL55 Janosch Beauchamp 12 6-1 210 OL-LB56 Austin Hershey 11 6-0 200 C-DL60 Adam Pierce 11 6-0 300 OL-DL65 David Thumma 11 6-1 220 OL-DL66 Tyler Gutshall 10 6-1 225 OL-DL67 Josh Stewart 11 6-1 270 OL-DL68 Eric Dzezinski 10 6-2 180 OL-DL75 Kyle Croutch 10 6-0 180 OL-DL78 Josh Kreamer 12 5-11 270 OL-DL79 Christian Blosser 12 6-6 270 OL-DL87 Dacota Bigler 11 6-4 160 WR-DB88 Peter Gauthier 11 6-1 150 WR-DB

Photos by Jason Malmont/The Sentinel

TOP LEFT: Big Spring running back Colby Whitten (42) pushes linebacker Matt Gibson backward during a drill in preseason camp. LEFT: Big Spring coach Brent Stroh, in his fourth year at the school, offers instructions during camp. The Bulldogs are 5-25 under Stroh but are looking for their third straight season with multiple wins.

Against Wilson in the semi-finals and Bishop McDevitt in the final, CV drew on the strength that it built during the long offseason months to cap-ture two thrilling victories.

At some point over those five weeks, a weaker group might have wilted.

“We can talk about our of-fense or our defense and all that, but if you get 11 kids out there who are totally com-mitted and have worked their butts off, they’re not going to quit,” Rimpfel said. “You have some kids who, as soon as they get down, they’ll roll over; they don’t get back up.

“But these kids want to be pushed.”

That’s the mindset Cantafio hopes to instill at Cedar Cliff.

He’s trying to convey to his players why they need the weight room and conditioning tests in the summer heat. It might not seem important on a hot June morning, but under the lights on a Friday night, it’s usually ob-vious which teams worked the hardest in the offseason.

“We don’t have a lot of kids that want to put in the year-round commitment and work in the weight room and other things,” Cantafio said. “A lot of kids don’t want to be in the weight room three days a week in the summer. They don’t want to do all the extra that you have to do.

“A basketball player can b e g rea t w i t h o u t to u c h -ing weights, but you can’t be a good football player with-out touching weights. Lifting is such a major component of football.”

At a smaller school like Me-chanicsburg, the offseason program is just as important.

Prior to the 2008 season, when the Wildcats were un-beaten in the regular season on their way to 12-1 record and a semifinal apperance in the District 3 Class AAA playoffs, coach Chris Hakel raved about

the commitment his players had to the offseason program.

Last year, when 20 of those 21 starters were lost to gradu-ation, the offseason program came through again and helped the young Wildcats finish the regular season 6-4 and reach the postseason, which was a minor miracle with only one returning starter.

Hakel gave credit to boys basketball coach Bob Strickler and baseball coach Clay McAl-lister for understanding how vital the offseason program is to the football team’s success.

“We have the same con-cerns other Class AAA schools have,” Hakel said. “You’re battling other sports in what used to be a couple (football players) in the offseason do-ing things here and there. It’s now evolved into full-blown offseason workouts. The kids are pulled in all different di-rections.

“The good thing is we have some coaches (Strickler and McAllister) who understand that, and we sit down before the summer starts and are able to balance everything out.”

A good balanceWith so much attention being

paid to glistening weight rooms on college campuses, anoth-er crucial part of an offseason football program normally is overlooked.

Football players don’t sim-ply lift in the off months, they also focus on their speed and

agility. And that includes the big offensive linemen, which makes it crucial for coaches to find a balance among strong, fast and agile.

“You have to keep the mindset that it’s an acceleration game involving movement,” Marotti said. “If you get into how much a guy lifts, how much this or that or how much weight a guy gains, you’ll have issues. You still have to move around, play fast and run.”

The Southeastern Conference has a reputation for big, fast linemen, and Marotti has had a hand in building some of them. And though the Mid-Penn is a far cry from the SEC and a few notches lower in the level of play, it remains vital to have big linemen who can move.

“ The o ld axi o m i s that strength makes you slow and being too strong makes you slow, but not if you do the agil-ity and the flexibility along with it,” Rimpel said. “It’s the whole package.”

This year, Rimpfel doesn’t ex-pect to have a lineman — offen-sive or defensive — weigh less than 230 pounds. It’s going to be a mammoth line that takes the field Friday night against Red Lion, but no matter how big or strong those linemen are, if CV is to replicate its success of 2010, those guys will need to be able to move.

“It’s great,” Rimpfel said, “if you can push a barn down; but if you can’t run around that barn, it doesn’t help us.”

Strength• Continued from D44

“You have to keep in mind that it’s an acceleration game involving movement. ... You still have to

move around, play fast and run.”

MickEY MArOTTiUniverSiTy of florida STrengTh and condiTioning coach

What role supplements play in strength and conditioning

With the expectation that foot-ball players get bigger, stronger and faster comes a related issue that coaches and schools are starting to accept as reality.

The major concern is no longer so much about high school players being on steroids but rather about players who seek to gain an edge by legally purchasing dietary supple-ments in stores.

There’s a risk involved, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate dietary supplements, thanks to Sen. Or-rin Hatch, a Republican from Utah who lobbied to keep supplements outside the realm of the FDA juris-diction.

“Many of these supplements do not have to list what’s in their bottles,” said Cumberland Valley football coach Tim Rimpfel, who reminds his players to bulk up by eating a healthy meal within an hour of lifting. “Because of politics you have some people who I truly believe, (who) have tested positive for steroids, that say, ‘I haven’t tak-en any steroids, I’ve just been taking these tablets.’

“The bottles don’t list the ste-roids. That’s the problem right there.”

If a former presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, has his way, that problem will be fixed.

McCain, on Feb. 3, introduced a bill in the Senate that would allow the FDA to control what supple-

ments contain.Obviously the bill, dubbed the Di-

etary Supplement Safety Act, is not a Hatch favorite and has been met with opposition from the industry.

“This issue is changing by the minute,” Hatch told nutritionalout-look.com earlier this month. “I’ve been talking to John McCain a lot over the past few days and, as a re-sult of those conversations, he now understands the serious impact this will have on (the) industry. ... He has told me that he does not want to do anything to hinder the ability of consumers to purchase their dietary supplements. ... I think he’s coming around. In fact, I know he is.”

Hatch and those who manufac-ture supplements aren’t the only ones opposed to the bill.

The Facebook group, STOP the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, boasted 12,855 members late in August.

Because of the availability of both supplements and steroids, schools like Cumberland Valley offer drug testing.

“That’s one thing (steroids) they’ll test on,” Rimpfel said. “Whether it’s that or some other drug, it always scares me. We’re paid to push these kids to make sure they’re in condi-tion. How are we supposed to tell whether a kid a is high on some-thing? That’s why we have the test-ing.”


Michael Bupp/The Sentinel

CV coach Tim Rimpfel conducts a summer workout.

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Boiling Springs Bubblers

Strong finish breeds expectations


Boiling Springs was close to having a special season in 2009.

Unfortunately for the Bubblers, their season slipped away after only four games. During their four-game losing streak at the start of the sea-son, the Bubblers lost two games by seven points or less and dropped an-other by 14.

It was a frustrating way to start and effectively doomed the Bubblers’ season before it was halfway over.

“Nobody wants to start out that way,” Boiling Springs coach Matt Heiser said.

The 27-20 loss to Milton Hershey on Sept. 25, however, was the last time Boiling Springs tasted defeat. The Bubblers won three games that were decided by four points or less and nearly cracked the District 3 Class AA playoffs.

From that team, 16 starters re-turn — nine on offense and seven on defense — hoping to help Boiling Springs reach the postseason for the first time since 2006. Jason Malmont/the sentinel

Boiling Springs football coach Matt Heiser led the Bubblers to a 6-4 record last season. The team won its final six games after starting the season 0-4.

six-game winning ■

streak is on the line as a new season dawns.

• See Bubblers, D6

“(Chapman) was way ahead of his time as far as having an offsea-son program that was much more than just lifting weights,” Rimp-fel said. “A lot of schools open a weight room and let the kids do what they want. But (our play-ers) have specific lifts each day, and the thing is, these kids know the offseason program is here for them.

“If you let it up to the kids, they’ll think of a thousand excuses to avoid it.”

When veteran coach Jim Canta-fio was hired at Cedar Cliff in the winter of 2008, he found a group of players who had done exactly what Rimpfel alluded to. Shortly after the 2007 season, Cedar Cliff was looking for a coach to replace Ron Davis, and during the search, the offseason program took a back seat.

What Cantafio experienced blew him away.

“In all my years of coaching, I had never been around a weak-er group of kids,” Cantafio said. “They were so physically weak, I couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘How can we win a game when our line-men can’t squat 300 pounds?’

“Now we have a couple kids who can squat 400 or 500. We’re getting to the point where we can compete physically.”

Then and nowOver time, Cantafio improved

Cedar Cliff’s offseason program, but he still battles with players who try to avoid the weight room.

It’s a common problem no mat-ter the program — the dedica-tion isn’t at the level it was when someone like Mickey Marotti was in high school.

Marotti, the University of Flor-ida’s strength and conditioning coach, grew up in a small town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh and dedicated himself to the Ambridge High School football team’s off-season program, mainly because he didn’t have anything better to do.

“Kids today live in an enabled world where things are handed to them,” said Marotti, who was a

member of the Gators’ staff when they won national football titles in 2007 and 2009. “They have a lot at their fingertips with all the technology — the Playstations, Internet and Facebook. When I grew up, there was none of that. I was lucky to have an Atari.

“So I had to find things to do, and (lifting) was one avenue.”

What started as a way to pass the time soon became something Marotti, who has made coaching stops at Ohio State, West Virgin-ia, Cincinnati and Notre Dame, couldn’t live without.

He always loved football, but the strength and conditioning side offered new challenges, which is something, Marotti said, that today’s players might shy away from. The offseason program isn’t meant to be easy, but Marotti had an energetic staff pushing him forward.

“I got into this as a high school athlete because I loved my coach-es and my strength coach,” Ma-rotti said. “They had energy, they pumped you up, and I wanted to be around someone like that. If I had a deadbeat strength coach, I wouldn’t want to be around him.

“They made it fun, but also challenging, and it gave you a sense of self worth when you ac-complished something. That’s how I got into it.”

The offseason program at any high school in Pennsylvania is voluntary — PIAA guidelines say offseason work cannot be manda-tory — yet most days Rimpfel has a solid turnout. On a Wednesday morning in late July, Rimpfel said roughly 80 players showed up for the team’s session.

“The kids go away on vacation or go to camps, and that’s fine; but the kids who don’t show up all summer, they’re the ones once we get to camp that are going to find other things to do,” Rimpfel said. “Football and wrestling are two of the sports that if you’re not sure about it, you’re not going to make it.

“It’s too demanding physically, time-wise and all that. You’ll see those kids who don’t show up — within two or three days, (they’re) knocking on the door

saying, ‘Can we talk?’ Then they hand you their helmet.”

Cantafio doesn’t pretend to have an offseason program at Cumberland Valley’s level.

Cedar Cliff, a small Class AAAA school, battles numbers like few other schools its size in the Mid-Penn, which means Cantafio rarely will see large numbers of players showing up in the winter, spring and sum-mer.

To his credit, Cantafio has done his best to make parents aware of the importance of an offseason program.

“The parents need to push their kids to get them in there, and for some, that’s a challenge,” Cantafio said. “Over the sum-mer, we had 23 different lifting workouts. You can’t afford to miss any of those 23. Any time you miss a weight-room work-out, you miss the chance to get stronger and better. You can’t make it up; you can’t go in after missing a day and go twice as hard.

“You have to be there three to four days a week and work as hard as you possibly can. That was a challenge for our kids, and

it still is a challenge.”

Why the need?Because of the focus on the

offseason programs, football is unique and often steps on the toes of other sports.

Strength is such a vital part of the game that many coaches want their players working to become stronger year-round. Rimpfel said he doesn’t encoun-ter too many conflicts with other coaches and actually encourages his players to participate in other sports.

“I really think our kids on the basketball court are necessary for that team to be successful. In our area, basketball is physical. We’re not going to have (a lot of tall) kids, so you have to be physi-cal, and that’s the football play-ers,” Rimpfel said. “You look at the upper weights in wrestling, it’s always the football players. In the spring, I love it when the kids run track. That’s great, but some of the other sports just don’t un-derstand.”

Marotti, who played college football for West Liberty State, agrees that it’s good for football players to participate in other

sports but says they shouldn’t forget how important it is to hit the weights.

“I don’t think it’s good to fo-cus on one sport, but I believe strength and conditioning is a huge component of being a suc-cessful athlete,” Marotti said. “I think it should be in their daily deal.”

Rimpfel said he can tell a lot about his players’ mental tough-ness by being around them for the bulk of the year.

He knows CV won’t always have the most talented team in Penn-sylvania, but usually the Eagles will trot out 11 players on each side of the ball who have been toughened by the offseason pro-gram and understand the work it takes to clear an obstacle.

On their way to the 3-AAAA championship last fall, the Ea-gles had to clear both mental and physical roadblocks. There was a regular-season-ending loss to Central Dauphin that tested the players’ ability to bounce back and eventually helped them in a last-second win over those same Rams two weeks later.


Michael Bupp/the sentinel

Danny Heise does squats in the Cumberland Valley weight room behind Chapman Field.



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Members of the Boiling Springs football team practice their punt formation.

The perfect leader in the linebacking corps could be a playmaker like Mauti, or the man with the most starting ex-perience — Gbadyu.

Or, it could be someone like Cola-santi: the model of perseverence and patience.

Despite being highly touted coming out of Brother Rice High School in Michigan, Colasanti has never quite had the chance to show University Park students just what he’s capable of.

He filled in on the special-teams squad and provided depth at line-backer during his freshman year. He battled Josh Hull for a starting posi-tion during his sophomore year but never quite won out. He sat out the first four games last season before in-juries to starting linebackers forced the coaching staff to play him spar-ingly.

Colasanti never won a starting job

but was never given a redshirt. He was a three-time All-Catholic Conference selection in high school, but some-how has been relegated to the bench for most of his college career.

With three starting spots up for grabs, this is the chance Colasanti has been waiting for.

“I’ve been waiting three years for this opportunity,” he said. “I’m ready to go mentally and physically.

“Last year, it was frustrating not playing the first four games and hav-ing to come in and play because of people getting hurt. But there’s no sense in getting upset about it. God has another plan.”

Like all the linebackers at Penn State this season, Colasanti is eager to seize as much playing time as pos-sible. He and Mauti both said they felt that, with the depth of talent and no returning starters, as many as six or seven linebackers could be part of the weekly rotation, unless someone steps above the rest to earn some con-sistent playing time.

But for this unit to become com-plete, a leader will need to take charge sooner than later. And despite a com-plete lack of starting experience, just one season of college football and a surgically repaired knee, Mauti is ready to make his case.

“I’ve played my fair share of football games,” he said. “I don’t consider my-self inexperienced.”

Linebacker• Continued from D40

“They thought I wasn’t physical, that I didn’t have size,” Morris said with a shrug. “I just wanted to be a good overall team guy. To be physical. Coaches wanted to see if I could be physical here, too.”

Of course, Morris’ time at Penn State hasn’t just been a platform to show up his nay-sayers, and his experience at Penn State so far hasn’t come without its share of valuable lessons.

During preseason drills in early August, Morris suffered a neck injury when he made a less-than-perfect hit on a teammate.

The sophomore was carted off the field and driven to a local hospital via ambulance, where he underwent X-rays before medical personnel even dared to unscrew his facemask.

Despite the scary scene, Morris came out of it with-out any major problems.

“They always say, ‘Hit with your head up,’” Morris said with a smile several days lat-er.

Thomas’ recruitment con-tributions apparently didn’t end with Morris. According to Thomas, he helped put some pressure on Westlake High School running back

Devon Smith, another 2008 All-Beltway selection, who filled in well as a part-time wide receiver for Penn State last season as a true fresh-man.

In fact, the Nittany Lions loaded up on talent from the Prince George’s Coun-ty Conference that season, including Morris, Thomas, redshirt freshman wide re-ceiver Brandon Moseby-Felder (Oxon Hill) and red-shirt freshman cornerback Mike Wallace (Good Coun-sel). Redshirt freshman safe-ty Malcolm Willis (Lackey) hails from the nearby South-ern Maryland Athletic Con-ference, and another ‘09 Lackey grad, All-Beltway Defensive Back Darrell Giv-ens, originally committed to PSU before de-committing to play for Rutgers.

Penn State isn’t the right fit for every major recruit pursued by head coach Joe Paterno and his assistants over the last couple of years. Five-star quarterback Ter-relle Pryor said University Park was too “countryside” for him when he committed to rival Ohio State before the 2008 season.

But for Thomas and Mor-ris, country living is just fine.

“I came here, and it was the best decision of my life,” Morris said.

Beltway• Continued from D39

“It’s incredible. He’s still out there yelling, getting everyone riled up.”

Though Kuntz is ready to take the field, his chances of playing this sea-son remain slim. Seven other wide-outs are listed on the preseason depth chart instead of Kuntz. Second-string sophomore wide receiver Curtis Drake suffered a broken leg during

preseason camp that will force him to miss a couple of months, but Kuntz is still buried on the priority list.

Kuntz remained optimistic, how-ever, that the rotation at wideout will allow him to see the field this year.

“We’re real deep and talented,” Kuntz said. “It’d be hard for us not to play everybody ... All I can do is work my hardest in practice and show what I can do.”

Kuntz at least has a very admira-ble consolation prize: a full athletic scholarship to one of the best aca-demic institutions in the state.

But the Trinity grad will keep dreaming of the day he’ll get to catch a pass in front of 110,000 screaming fans at Beaver Stadium.

“Academics are big for me,” he said. “But on the football field, I’d love to be out there for the Lions.”

Kuntz• Continued from D38

2010 Penn State Football RoSteRNo. Name Pos. Cl./El. Ht. Wt.1 Robert Bolden QB Fr/Fr 6-3 2211 Nick Sukay S Sr/Jr 6-1 2092 Chaz Powell CB Sr/Jr 6-1 1963 Brandon Beachum RB Jr/Jr 6-0 2254 Shawney Kersey WR So/Fr 6-1 1975 Derrick Thomas CB So/Fr 6-0 1785 Graham Zug WR Sr/Sr 6-2 1856 Gerald Hodges LB So/So 6-2 2286 Derek Moye WR Sr/Jr 6-5 2027 Curtis Drake WR So/So 5-11 1728 D’Anton Lynn CB Jr/Jr 6-1 2008 B. Moseby-Felder WR So/Fr 6-2 1769 Michael Zordich RB Jr/So 6-1 23610 Paul Jones QB Fr/Fr 6-3 23910 Malcolm Willis S So/Fr 5-11 21711 Khairi Fortt LB Fr/Fr 6-2 23311 Matthew McGloin Qb Jr/So 6-1 20912 Stephon Morris CB So/So 5-8 18512 Kevin Newsome QB So/So 6-2 22513 Andrew Dailey S Sr/Jr 6-2 22214 Evan Lewis CB Jr/So 5-10 18214 Mike Wallace CB So/Fr 5-9 184

15 Bani Gbadyu LB Sr/Sr 6-1 24116 Shelton McCullough CB Gr/Sr 6-0 18716 Shane McGregor QB Jr/So 6-1 20517 Christian Kuntz WR So/Fr 6-4 21218 Andrew Goodman WR Jr/So 6-0 18518 Alex Kenney WR Fr/Fr 6-0 19019 Justin Brown WR So/So 6-3 21619 Garrett Venuto QB So/Fr 6-0 21720 Devon Smith WR So/So 5-7 15721 Stephfon Green TB Sr/Jr 5-10 19722 Evan Royster TB Gr/Sr 6-1 22823 S. Obeng-Agyapong S So/Fr 5-10 19624 Derek Day RB Jr/So 5-9 19625 Silas Redd TB Fr/Fr 5-10 19726 Curtis Dukes TB So/Fr 6-1 23727 Jacob Fagnano S Jr/So 6-0 20327 Tariq Tongue WR So/Fr 5-8 16528 Drew Astorino S Sr/Jr 5-10 19328 David Soldner K Jr/So 6-1 22729 Kevin Kowalishen RB Jr/So 5-10 18929 Russell Nye PK Jr/So 6-0 16330 Anthony Fera PK So/Fr 6-2 21030 Ryan Keiser DB Fr/Fr 6-1 191

31 Nick Delligatti LB So/Fr 6-0 20632 Dakota Royer LB Fr/Fr 6-1 21833 Michael Yancich LB Jr/So 6-2 23634 Nate Stupar LB Sr/Jr 6-1 23135 Pat Zerbe FB So/Fr 6-1 23636 Kyle Johnson S Sr/Jr 6-0 19036 Collin Wagner K Sr/Sr 5-9 18337 Joe Suhey RB Sr/Jr 6-1 22738 Tyler Ahrenhold S Sr/Jr 6-0 18540 Glenn Carson LB Fr/Fr 6-3 23340 Zach Zwinak FB Fr/Fr 6-1 22641 J.R. Refice DT So/Fr 6-0 26542 Michael Mauti LB Jr/So 6-2 22943 Mike Hull LB Fr/Fr 6-0 21344 Michael Fuhrman KS Jr/So 5-10 22544 Kevion Latham DE Sr/Jr 6-2 25245 Alex Butterworth P Fr/Fr 5-10 19146 Kenny Pollock LB Jr/So 6-0 19447 Jordan Hill DT So/So 6-1 30948 Chris Colasanti LB Sr/Sr 6-2 24149 A.J. Firestone P Fr/Fr 6-0 22150 DeOn’tae Pannell OL Jr/Jr 6-5 31752 Brian Irvin DE Jr/So 6-3 240

52 Chima Okoli T Sr/Jr 6-4 29153 Jon Rohrbaugh KS Sr/Jr 6-0 22454 Matt Stankiewitch OL Jr/So 6-3 29354 James Van Fleet LB Jr/So 6-0 22455 Tom Ricketts OL Fr/Fr 6-5 26856 Eric Latimore DE Sr/Jr 6-6 28057 Emery Etter KS So/Fr 6-1 23058 Adam Gress T So/Fr 6-6 29359 Peter Massaro DE Jr/So 6-4 25560 Ty Howle C So/Fr 6-0 29061 Stefen Wisniewski G Sr/Sr 6-3 30662 Frank Figueroa G So/Fr 6-3 28563 Alex Mateas OL Fr/Fr 6-3 30864 John Urschel G So/Fr 6-3 28665 Miles Dieffenbach OL Fr/Fr 6-3 28967 Quinn Barham OL Sr/Jr 6-3 29868 Doug Klopacz C Sr/Sr 6-3 28670 Anthony Tortorelli G Sr/Jr 6-0 26571 Devon Still DT Sr/Jr 6-5 31172 Khamrone Kolb OL Fr/Fr 6-5 33773 Mark Arcidiacono G So/Fr 6-4 27974 Johnnie Troutman G Sr/Jr 6-4 32375 Evan Hailes DT Fr/Fr 6-1 308

75 Eric Shrive OL So/Fr 6-6 29976 Nate Cadogan T So/Fr 6-5 29777 Lou Eliades T Gr/Sr 6-4 31078 Mike Farrell T Jr/So 6-6 30379 Luke Graham OL Fr/Fr 6-4 28180 Andrew Szczerba TE Sr/Jr 6-6 25481 Jack Crawford DE Jr/Jr 6-5 27181 Ryan Scherer WR Jr/So 5-8 16782 Kevin Haplea TE Fr/Fr 6-4 24983 Brad Bars DE Fr/Fr 6-3 22184 Kyle Baublitz DE Fr/Fr 6-5 25785 Ollie Ogbu DT Sr/Sr 6-1 30086 C.J. Olaniyan DE Fr/Fr 6-3 23087 Jonathan Stewart TE Sr/Jr 6-2 24688 J.D. Mason TE Jr/So 6-4 23689 Garry Gilliam TE So/Fr 6-6 26390 Sean Stanley DE So/So 6-1 23291 DaQuan Jones DT Fr/Fr 6-3 30593 James Terry DT Jr/So 6-3 31294 Mikel Berry DT Jr/So 6-2 26896 Cody Castor DE Jr/So 6-3 26199 Brandon Ware DT Jr/So 6-3 337

Michael Mauti

With the Mid-Penn’s re-alignment, Heiser knows it won’t be a cakewalk.

“It’s not going to be that easy,” Heiser said. “We have (six) games against teams that were in the playoffs last year, and they’re bringing people back.

“We have to prepare our-selves and take it one game at a time.”

The Bubblers open with perennial small-school power Littlestown and host the always dangerous Milton Hershey in Week 3. Down the stretch, Boiling Springs plays at Steelton-Highspire, at home vs. Middletown, at East Pennsboro and at home vs. Trinity to close the regular season.

Heiser admits that last year won’t have much of an im-pact on this season, but the good vibes from the current six-game winning streak are sure to carry over to this eve-ning when the Bubblers head to Adams County.

“They kids kept improving as the season went on,” He-sier said. “The wins helped us keep making progress, but that’s over and done with. This year we have a whole new schedule, and it’s a very difficult schedule.

“We’re preparing for the future.”

Boiling Springs will rely on two stable running backs to

carry the offense.Drew Hunter is a junior

tailback, and David Cook is a senior Z-back who also will be counted on to make catches.

“Both are unique in their own way, and they come ready to work every day,” Heiser said. “It’s a nice group to work with. They’re sup-porting one another. That makes it easier when they’re not nit-picking but working hard with each other.”

Who will be throwing passes to Cook and talented senior wide receivers Roland Miller and Dylan Randall was in doubt during camp.

Returning starter Jared Bliss, a junior, completed 49 of 93 passes for 569 yards, three touchdowns and nine interceptions last fall. Bliss,

who added three rushing touchdowns, is up against junior Jordan Schmick for the job.

Despite not attempting a varsity pass last season, Schmick was pushing Bliss for the job, Heiser said.

“He did a lot of work for himself in the offseason,” Heiser said.

Two players are vying for one spot, but Heiser said the competition was a friendly one and both understood the big picture.

“The nice thing about them is they’re good com-petitors and also good team-mates at the same time,” he said. “They’re helping each other, but they’re both working and paying atten-tion. Hard work has paid off for both of them.”


Bubblers• Continued from D5 a CloSeR look

Classification — AADivision — CapitalHead coach — Matt Heiser (ninth year, 44-39).Offensive coordinator — Richard BiskingDefensive coordinator — Matt HeiserOther assistants — Andre Gillmore, Al Bo, Nate Fryer, Jeff Geisel-man.Last year — 6-4 overall, 3-2 division (second)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Patrick Christie, OT; Jake Grove, LB; Aaron Marsh, LB; John Keller, LB; Alex Deroba, LB.Returning offensive start-ers (9) — Matt Luebbers, sr., TE; Kevin Stritch, jr., T; Nate Mann, sr., C; Nick Landry, sr., RG; Drew Hunter, jr., RB; David Cook, sr., RB; Roland Miller, sr., WR; Dylan Ran-dall, sr., WR; Jared Bliss, jr., QB.Returning defensive start-ers (7) — Eliezer Lopez, sr., CB; Cook, FS; Logan Mur-phy, jr., OLB; Mann, DL; Tylor Unger, sr., DL; Nick Rouse, sr., DL; Luebbers, DL-LB.Other key returnees — Landry, sr., MLB; Nate Flickinger, sr., FB-LB; Derek Earnst, sr., FB; Sam Gitt, jr., OT-NG; Sam Dell, sr., K.Offensive alignment — MultipleDefensive alignment — StackPlayer to watch — Hunter and CookTeam strength — Running backsTeam concern — Offensive and defensive linesGame to watch — Sept. 17 vs. Milton Hershey. What has become an annual war is back at Ecker Field for the second year in a row. These two have not played a game that has been decided by more than seven points since 2004 when Milton Hershey won at home, 47-16. The next year, Boiling Springs won by seven, but the Bubblers haven’t beaten Milton Hershey in four tries since that win.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 at Littlestown, 7Sept. 10 at Palmyra, 7*Sept. 17 Milton Hershey, 7Sept. 24 Columbia, 7*Oct. 1 at Camp Hill, 7*Oct. 8 Susquenita, 7

*Oct. 15 at Steelton-Highspire, 7*Oct. 22 Middletown, 7*Oct. 29 at East Pennsboro, 7*Nov. 5 Trinity

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.2 David Cook 12 6-0 175 WR-RB-DB3 Connor Deroba 12 5-11 170 WR-DB4 Mitchel Ptaszek 10 5-5 125 QB-DB5 Jordan Schmick 11 5-11 175 QB-LB8 Zach Luther 11 5-10 175 RB-DB9 Sam Dell 12 6-1 185 K-P10 Eliezar Lopez 12 6-1 185 WR-DB11 Jerrod Bliss 11 6-3 220 QB-DL12 Derek Earnst 12 6-1 210 QB-FB-LB14 Ryan Miller 11 5-7 155 RB-LB15 Brett Baker 10 6-3 160 WR-DB18 Dylan Randall 11 6-4 175 WR-DB20 Josh Knaub 11 6-0 170 WR-DB22 Andrew Mellott 10 5-9 160 RB-LB24 Craig Redmond 12 6-3 185 TE-LB25 Drew Hunter 11 5-9 190 RB-DB26 A.J. Price 11 5-10 165 WR-DB28 Kraig Donnelly 11 5-11 170 RB-LB30 James Lieto 11 5-10 165 RB-DB33 Garrett Enck 10 5-10 170 RB-LB34 Roland Miller 12 5-6 150 WR-DB42 Matt Luebbers 12 6-2 190 TE-LB44 Casey Scheetz 11 6-1 165 RB-LB45 Ryan Zorn 10 5-9 180 RB-LB47 Nate Flickinger 12 5-10 175 FB-LB50 Nick Landry 12 5-10 205 OL-LB54 Nick Rouse 12 6-3 180 TE-OL-DL56 Nate Mann 12 6-0 210 OL-DL59 Kevin Stritch 11 5-10 275 DL-OL63 Mike Snyder 11 6-0 225 OL-DL65 Matthew Brockman 10 6-2 180 OL-DL66 Jerrod Steis 12 5-9 210 OL-DL68 Noah Davis 9 6-4 220 OL-DL71 Doug Newcomer 12 5-10 230 OL-DL72 Dylan McKeehan 11 6-2 220 OL-DL73 Logan Murphy 11 6-4 185 TE-OL-LB74 Brian Kuykendall 12 5-11 185 OL-DL75 Sam Gitt 11 6-3 325 OL-DL76 Tylor Unger 12 6-3 275 OL-DL77 Tyler Stevick 9 6-0 220 OL-DL84 Correy Gaul 12 6-2 225 TE-OL-DL

By GENARO C. ARMASAP SPortS Writer

STATE COLLEGE — Joe Paterno is now peerless in his profession.

His friend and last remain-ing contemporary among major college football coaches, Bobby Bowden, retired after last season. With Bowden out at Florida State, the career victories record is pretty much Paterno’s to keep — whether he cares about it or not.

Paterno knows he’s in the twi-light of his own Hall of Fame ca-reer at Penn State, but still gives no hint of exactly when the end will come. These days, nobody seems to be itching to see Joe go.

At 83 years old, Paterno’s health has become as closely watched as that of a pope — every hint of a limp analyzed, every slip-up with words parsed.

But at this point it makes no sense asking when Joe will go. His contract runs through 2011 for whatever that’s worth. In the meantime, in case you didn’t no-tice, the Nittany Lions are hum-ming again, racking up wins (11 last year) and challenging for championships. And that still gets JoePa fired up.

“You like the competition,” he said recently at Beaver Stadium. “If you don’t like it, you ought to get out of it, that’s the way I’ve always felt about it.”

Paterno has 394 victories, while Bowden finished with 389 — mi-nus 12 that were vacated by Flor-ida State this year because of an academic cheating scandal.

The next milestone for Paterno is the 400-win club, a mark that only Eddie Robinson (408) and John Gagliardi (471) have reached. JoePa could get there by late Oc-tober.

“You know, when I’m down and looking up, are they going to put 399 on top of me or are they going to put 401,” Paterno asked at Big Ten media day in Chicago. “Who the hell cares? I won’t know.”

But his devoted blue-and-white fans are no doubt keeping track

— and not just of wins and losses.The health watch started in ear-

nest in 2006 after Paterno tore left knee ligaments in a sideline colli-sion with a player during a game at Wisconsin.

Early in the 2008 season, Pa-terno hurt his hip after trying to show his players how to execute an onside kick in practice. He needed hip replacement surgery in De-cember — but only after leading the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. Both the knee and hip injuries forced Paterno to coach from the press box.

Earlier this year, Paterno was able to shed his smoky thick-rimmed glasses after getting laser eye surgery. “Robo-coach,” he was nicknamed by one of his staffers.

A new concern emerged this off-season after Paterno missed Big Ten meetings in May and three appearances before alumni groups around the state, stops typically

part of his summer schedule.The rumor mill churned anew.

Was this really it for JoePa?His spokesmen and family said

Paterno was sidelined by a nagging intestinal bug. Paterno in June also told The Associated Press he had a second ailment after suffering an overreaction to antibiotics pre-scribed for dental work.

Speaking slightly slower and in a lower tone of voice the first day of Big Ten media days, Paterno pleaded he was just fine and ready for the season. He repeated as much in State College recently.

“I have one request,” he said to start off the news conference at the packed Beaver Stadium media room. “Please, don’t ask if I’m go-ing to die. Believe me, I got a few more days left.”

His son and quarterbacks coach, Jay Paterno, watches the back-and-forth with some amusement. “It used to be they’d ask him when

(was he) going to retire. Now they’re asking when is he going to kick the bucket,” he joked.

For his part, the younger Paterno hasn’t noticed his father slowing down.

“It didn’t concern me because I’ve been at the house with my kids. He’s chased them ... I haven’t seen that element of him slowing down,” Jay Paterno said.

The boss, though, has said he’s less of a hands-on coach on the field than he used to be, allowing his loyal assistants to do the bulk of that work — though Paterno is still known to pull a player aside for some face time if he’s unhappy. Paterno said he prefers “to stick his two cents in” at staff meetings.

Paterno also plans to make fewer appearances on Thursday night radio show broadcasts throughout the state.

He said it’s become more of a problem for him in recent years because he has to go on the air right after practice.

“It’s a pain in the rear end. I want to get home. I want to start doodling, figure out what has to get done, so that maybe I can fig-ure out a couple things for the game on Saturday,” Joe Paterno said. “And I don’t get paid a lot of money.”

He’s also got a Wednesday speaking engagement with hard-core fans and a pregame radio show on Saturdays, and Paterno said he wasn’t sure how many of those appearances he would get to.

Linebackers coach Ron Vander-linden disagreed with Paterno’s suggestion that the head coach might be letting the assistants “carry him” more.

“That’s one of the great marks of his leadership, that he lets you coach on the field, which makes it a lot more fun. You don’t have somebody looking over your shoulder all the time,” Vanderlin-den said. “But, if he sees some-thing he wants to discuss with you, he will definitely talk it over in the staff room.”

Whenever Paterno does call it

quits, here’s a list of some coach-es who could be in the running to take over, with internal candidates listed first:

• Tom Bradley, Penn State de-fensive coordinator. The energetic Bradley, a master recruiter, is ar-chitect of a defense consistently among the best in the country. He’s the most talked-about inter-nal candidate among fans.

• Larry Johnson, Penn State defensive line coach. Another top-notch recruiter, Johnson has opened a pipeline into the Wash-ington-Baltimore area that has helped get recent stars like Der-rick Williams and Aaron Maybin to Happy Valley. Also known for developing top linemen such as Maybin, Tamba Hali and, most re-cently, Jared Odrick.

• Jay Paterno. He has the mar-quee name and has answered critics questioning whether he benefited from nepotism by de-veloping QB success stories in Mi-chael Robinson and Daryll Clark, though the Anthony Morelli era was considered a flop. His father has said that Penn State might not be the best place for him to start his head coaching career.

• Al Golden, Temple coach. He spearheaded the Owls’ rise from FBS afterthought to MAC title contender.

Played tight end for Paterno from 1987-91, and coached line-backers at Penn State in 2000. Golden has also made coaching stops at Boston College and Vir-ginia.

• Greg Schiano, Rutgers coach. Defensive backs coach at Penn State from 1991-96 and a native of New Jersey — a fertile recruiting ground for the Nittany Lions.

• Kirk Ferentz, Iowa coach. A Pennsylvania native who grew up a Penn State fan, Ferentz has turned the Hawkeyes into a Big Ten contender, though he’s under contract through 2015 at about $3 million a year.

But for now, Penn State is not in the market for a coach — and it’s anyone’s guess when they will be. 1100 Market Street, LeMoyne / 761-6700 / 800-422-ForD / www.LbSMithForD.coM

L.B. SMITH L.B. SMITH new f-150 ’S40 In STock

Stability of staff drives program

By TRAviS L. PiCkENSASSiStAnt SPortS [email protected]

Players come and players go, but the coaching staff at Camp Hill has remained largely unchanged.

That’s why the Lions, who are one of the younger teams in the area, will be competitive almost every weekend this fall. They may not win every game, but their opponent will know they had to battle.

That’s the mindset head coach Frank Kindler, in his 16th year, has instilled in his players. But the season won’t be a walk in the park, as Camp Hill boasts only three seniors and a mere five returning starters.

“We’ll just practice hard and work on fundamentals,” Kindler said as to how he’s trying to acclimate his play-ers to varsity football. “They’re play-ing with enthusiasm and hustling.

“We like what we’re seeing.”Kindler, a graduate of rival Trinity,

came to Camp Hill after eight years as an assistant coach at Trinity and one at Cumberland Valley. George Yeager, one of Kindler’s good friends and the athletic director at Camp Hill, invited him to apply for the position of head coach. Kindler was awarded the job and hasn’t left since.

“I’m a businessman and have no aspirations to coach at a bigger school,” Kindler said. “I do it because it’s a hobby and I love it. When I leave (Camp Hill), I won’t go to a another school and coach, I’ll just be done.

Kindler’s loyalty to ■

Camp Hill has helped the team build a reputation as one of the toughest in the area.

“i’m a businessman and have no

aspirations to coach at a bigger school. i do it because it’s a hobby and i love it.”

FRANk kiNdLERCAmP Hill footbAll CoACH

• See Lions, D8

Penn State Football

Questions abound but JoePa still going

Jason malmont/the Sentinel

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, 83, isn’t going to be around forever, but no apparent heir to his position has been made clear.


Camp Hill Lions

michael bupp/the Sentinel

Josh Updegraff, right, battles Kevin Chrencik during preseason camp last month.

By RUSTy MILLERAP SPortS Writer

It’s the end of the Big Ten as we know it.

With Nebraska joining in 2011 — not to mention the possibility of others also climbing aboard the expansion train — the Big Misno-mer puts its 11-team alignment on the field for one final time this fall.

Next season the conference will go to a divisional setup and begin playing a conference champion-ship extravaganza.

It’s enough to bring pause to many longtime Big Ten lovers.

“It’s truly an end of an era,” said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. “A new era will begin in ’11.”

The final go-round won’t lack for subplots: Can Tressel’s Buck-eyes match the record of six straight Big Ten titles? Will Mich-igan coach Rich Rodriguez ever get things turned around inside the refurbished Big House? Does anybody know how to block man-eaters Adrian Clayborn at Iowa or Greg Jones of Michigan State? And how many victories (cur-rently 394) will Penn State coach Joe Paterno have when he turns a sprightly 84 on Dec. 21?

Iowa is expected to challenge the Buckeyes for the conference crown again, along with Penn State and Wisconsin.

A look at the league in projected order of finish:

_____

OHIO STATE Key players: QB terrelle Pryor, De

Cameron Heyward, LB ross Homan, Wr DeVier Posey, oG Justin Boren. re-turning starters: 9 offense, 5 defense.

Notes: Buckeyes can match Big ten record (ohio State, 1972-77) with sixth straight league title. ... tressel enters 11th season in Columbus at 94-21 (.817) overall and 59-13 (.819) in Big ten games. ... He’s second only to Michigan’s Bo Schembechler (.850 from 1969-89) in Big ten winning percentage among coaches with at least a decade on job. ... Pryor had ar-throscopic surgery on his left knee in

February, says he is healthy and ready to go. ... Buckeyes host Miami Hurri-canes on Sept. 11.

_____

IOWAKey players: QB ricky Stanzi, Wr

Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, De Adrian Clayborn, SS tyler Sash. returning starters: 7 offense, 8 defense.

Notes : Sophomore rBs Jewel Hampton, Brandon Wegher and Adam robinson battle for time. Coach Kirk Ferentz likely won’t name a starter un-til just before Sept. 4 opener against eastern illinois, though Hampton is suspended for that game. ... Clayborn, who spurned the NFL draft for one more season, leads s one of the na-tion’s best D-lines. ... Wisconsin, ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State come to iowa City.

_____

WISCONSIN Key players: rB John Clay, QB Scott

tolzien, Lt Gabe Carimi, LB Chris Bor-land. returning starters: 10 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Clay was Big ten offen-sive player of year and Borland was

league’s top freshman. ... Wisconsin went 10-0 when rushing for at least 150 yards. ... tolzien threw for 2,705 yards. ... Badgers still young bunch with only 13 seniors on roster.

_____

MICHIGAN STATE Key players: LB Greg Jones, QB Kirk

Cousins, Wr/Kr Keshawn Martin, Dt Jerel Worthy. returning starters: 7 of-fense, 6 defense.

Notes: Jones was only Big ten player named a first-team AP All-American last season, ranking third in the nation in tackles per game. ... Spartans have made it to three straight bowl games under coach Mark Dantonio. ... Keith Nichol converting from QB to Wr. ... Spartans might use some 3-4 defense to capitalize on surplus of LBs.

_____

PENN STATE Key players: rB evan royster, Wr

Derek Moye, oL Stefen Wisniewski, De Jack Crawford. returning starters: 6 offense, 5 defense.

Notes: JoePa begins his record 45th season looking for a new QB. Fresh-man robert Bolden and sophs Kevin

Newsome and Matt McGloin are top candidates to replace graduated Daryll Clark. ... royster needs 481 yards to break Curt Warner’s school rushing re-cord of 3,398. ... Defense needs three new LBs after Sean Lee, Navorro Bow-man and Josh Hull were taken in NFL draft.

_____

MICHIGAN Key players: QBs tate Forcier and

Denard robinson, Wr Junior Heming-way, LB obi ezeh, CB troy Woolfolk. re-turning starters: 7 offense, 8 defense.

Notes: rodriguez needs a good sea-son to keep his job after losing school-record nine games in his debut and flopping to 5-7 last season with only one Big ten win. ... Forcier was No. 1 QB as a freshman last year, but might get beat out by the speedy robinson. ... Playmakers desperately needed to help a defense that has been awful the past two years and lost De Brandon Graham and CB Donovan Warren.

_____

NORTHWESTERN Key players: QB Dan Persa, Wr

Sidney Stewart, Dt Corbin Bryant, LB Quentin Davie. returning starters: 8 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: the Wildcats have big holes to fill (De Corey Wootton, QB Mike Kaf-ka, CB Sherrick McManis) after an 8-5 season that ended with a wild 38-35 overtime loss to Auburn in outback Bowl. ... Biggest question is at QB, where Persa takes over after throwing for 224 yards as a sophomore. ... te Drake Dunsmore is one of more versa-tile tes in the Big ten, with 47 catches for 523 yards.

_____

ILLINOIS Key players: QB Nathan Scheel-

haase, rB Mikel LeShoure, LBs ian thomas and Martez Wilson. returning starters: 5 offense, 7 defense.

Notes: Scheelhaase steps in for graduated Juice Williams and, though he’s never played a college down, coaches already are talking up his leadership. ... Most of coach ron Zook’s staff lost their jobs after last season. New o coordinator is Paul Petrino, brother of Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino. ... Petrino will add something

not seen much in Zook’s five seasons: the huddle. ... LB Wilson running out of chances to live up to recruiting hype after missing virtually all of last season with injury.

_____

PURDUE Key players: QB robert Marve, rB

ralph Bolden, Wr Keith Smith, De ryan Kerrigan. returning starters: 6 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Bolden tore ACL in right knee and had surgery in May. His status is uncertain. He ran for 935 yards last season. ... Former QB Justin Siller, sus-pended last season, returns. He could see time at every offensive skill po-sition. ... Smith caught 91 passes for 1,100 yards in ’09. ... Kerrigan had 13 sacks last year.

_____

MINNESOTA Key players: QB Adam Weber, rB

DeLeon eskridge, Wr/Kr troy Stou-dermire, S Kim royston. returning starters: 9 offense, 2 defense.

Notes: Fifth-year senior Weber plays for his fourth offensive coordi-nator, Jeff Horton, after failing to find a rhythm in ’09 with a weak running game and an unstable oL. Weber won the job over MarQueis Gray. ... Coach tim Brewster enters his fourth sea-son with pressure to get the Gophers over that 6-6 hump. that may be dif-ficult: 3 of 4 Big ten home games are against top-10 teams from ’09. Plus, USC pays tCF Bank Stadium a visit. ... royston broke left leg in April and is working way back.

_____

INDIANA Key players: Dt Larry Black Jr., QB

Ben Chappell, Wr tandon Doss, LB tyler replogle. returning starters: 6 offense, 4 defense.

Notes: Hoosiers switching from 4-3 D to 3-4. ... Doss was second in Big ten with 80.2 yards receiving per game. ... indiana will be wearing new uniforms this season, the most noticeable dif-ference being that the stripes will be on the shoulder of the jersey instead of the pants. ... Mitchell evans, a Wr who lined up at QB in Hoosiers’ ver-sion of wildcat formation last season, is moving to the secondary.

Big Ten Predictions

Swan song: last year for 11-team Big Ten

Associated Press

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes are primed for another Big Ten title this year.

“We have a good admin-istration that takes care of the coaches. That makes it easier.”

Kindler’s staff has re-mained intact with a base of what Kindler described as hard-core Camp Hill guys who understand what it takes to compete in the Mid-Penn Conference against bigger schools.

Camp Hill plays only one other Class A school — Steel-ton-Highspire — and has six Class AAA opponents on the schedule.

A program that normally battles numbers received a lifeline in the spring when the school decided to do away with the junior varsity squad. The move sent the ninth-graders to varsity and boosted Camp Hill’s numbers into the mid-30s.

“I know a lot of other schools might laugh, but we’re not used to having that many kids,” Kindler said. “It took us a day just to get ac-climated.”

After the departure of an exceptionally talented class following the 2008 district fi-nal, Camp Hill is still search-ing for players to step into the spotlight and lead. The Lions struggled through a 2-8 sea-son last year and were ham-mered by Steelton-High-spire in the District 3 Class A quarterfinals. Regardless of the drop in numbers and the lack of wins last year, Kindler remains focused on the goal he sets every year: winning a state title.

“We’re just trying to get through this year and have a decent (record), then next year is the year,” Kindler said. “Our goal is to win the state title. We’re nowhere near that this year, but hopefully that changes in the next few. We have a good bunch of kids.”

The young players listen to a veteran staff that they know has had success in the past

and hope to keep Camp Hill’s winning tradition strong.

“I think they understand that when we say things, they know it’s for real and it’s not just stuff we made up,”

Kindler said. “When you have young kids, you do more teaching, and that’s what coaching is all about. Hope-fully some wins come along with it.”


Lions• Continued from D7

A Closer look

Classification — ADivision — CapitalHead coach — Frank Kindler (16th year, 115-59)Offensive coordinator — Steve ShoverDefensive coordinator — Frank KindlerOther assistants — Bill Bingham, George Yeager, Tim Bigelow, Larry Hall.Last year — 2-8 overall, 0-3 division (fourth)Postseason — Lost to Steelton-Highspire, 49-13, in District 3 Class A quarterfinals.Key players lost — Alex Patchin, QB-RB-LB-S; Pete Anastasio, NG-LB; Matt Robertson, RB-LB; Christian Ruhl, OL-DL; Luke Hamm, WR-CB.Returning offensive start-ers (2) — Jake Bingham, jr., QB; Ryan Herr, soph., WR.Returning defensive start-ers (3) — Quinn Frashetta, soph., CB; Bingham, jr., DE; Kevin Chrencik, jr., DE.Other key returnees — Steve Murray, jr., RB-LB.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 5-2Player to watch — No preferenceTeam concern — Offensive and defensive linesGame to watch — Oct. 1 vs. Boiling Springs. Camp Hill, which always battles low numbers, usually has to rely on its heart and toughness to stay in games against deeper opponents. It helps that Boiling Springs is an easy opponent for the Lions to get up for. The Bubblers were one of Camp Hill’s near misses last year in a 2-8 season that included a 13-9 loss to Boiling Springs. If Camp Hill can improve on last year’s 1-2 record in games decided by six points or less, Kindler will have an easier time sleeping at night.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 at Biglerville, 7*Sept. 10 at Trinity, 7*Sept. 17 Palmyra, 7*Sept. 25 at Milton Hershey, 1:30

*Oct. 1 Boiling Springs, 7Oct. 8 ELCO, 7*Oct. 15 at Susquenita, 7*Oct. 22 Steelton-Highspire, 7*Oct. 30 at Middletown, 2*Nov. 5 East Pennsboro, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Mike Hahn 11 5-11 145 QB-DE3 Tyler Simpson 11 6-0 165 WR-DE5 Jake Bingham 11 6-0 199 QB-LB7 Marcellas Hayes 11 6-0 155 QB-DB10 Alex Sheffield 11 5-11 170 WR-DB12 Philip Lowe 10 6-0 168 QB-DB14 Steve Crom 11 5-8 135 K-P18 Deshawn Williams 10 6-1 160 WR-DB20 Ryan Herr 10 6-3 190 WR-DB21 Quinn Frassetta 10 5-9 170 RB-DB24 Steve Murray 11 5-11 180 RB-LB25 Tim Lehotsky 11 6-2 165 WR-DE30 Chad Bronson 10 6-0 155 WR-DB31 Jared Kronicz 9 5-11 160 WR-DE32 Mario Ponce 10 5-8 150 RB-DB33 Michael Towadros 9 5-5 127 RB-DB35 Teddy Ramsey 10 5-10 185 RB-LB40 Alex Talbert 9 5-7 135 WR-DB45 Shan Ali 10 5-9 135 WR-DE50 Kevin Chrencik 11 6-1 195 OL-DE51 Zach Kronicz 11 6-5 222 OL-DL55 Bobby Hummel 11 6-0 189 OL-DL60 Cameron Ruhl 10 5-9 193 OL-DL61 Ross Benton 9 5-9 220 OL-DL63 Josh Updegraff 9 5-9 225 OL-DL65 Jake Bailey 11 6-0 170 OL-LB66 William Cree 10 5-10 198 OL-DL70 Tim Cree 12 6-5 250 OL-DL76 Andrew Bucher 9 5-10 160 OL-DL80 Blake Goosen 10 5-6 130 WR-DB81 Joe Soyos 10 5-11 160 WR-DB85 Rachit Anand 12 6-0 185 WR-DL88 Jon Tanguay 11 5-8 150 WR-DB

Photos by Michael Bupp/the Sentinel

ABOVE: Camp Hill coach Frank Kindler.BELOW: Camp Hill quarterback Jake Bingham.

Michael Bupp/the Sentinel

Camp Hill junior offensive/defensive lineman Kevin Chrencik battles a team-mate during camp.

By Tom AshSentinel [email protected]

Michael Mauti had no problem fielding questions from a throng of reporters during Penn State foot-ball media day in August. He had the calm, confident demeanor of a leader who is ready to take charge of a young defense this season.

But in the shadow of his confi-dence is plenty of inexperience.

Mauti’s first year at PSU created plenty of buzz around the highly touted inside-linebacker recruit. He enrolled early, arriving on campus in January of 2008, the same month he competed in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl — the prestigious annual high school all-star game played in Texas.

He played in every game as a true freshman in ‘08 with 26 tackles. He already was considered a starting-caliber linebacker heading into his sophomore year.

Then, the rising star tore the an-terior cruciate ligament in his right knee last August. He donned a medical redshirt, and his ‘09 season was lost.

All things considered, Mauti has just one season of reserve duty un-

der his belt. But the redshirt sopho-more doesn’t see it that way.

To him, this is his season to step forward and take command of a linebacking unit that bid farewell to all three of its primary starters after last season.

“As far as my career, I haven’t even scratched the surface,” Mauti said. “I have three seasons left ... but I’ve been here for two-and-a-half years. I don’t think you have to be a certain age to assume a leader-ship role.”

The talent of last year’s lineback-ing corps was typical for Penn State teams over the years. Navorro Bow-man, Josh Hull and Sean Lee were the starters at the position when the ‘09 season began, and all three were 2010 NFL Draft selections. Lee went to Dallas in the second round, Bowman to San Francisco in the third and Hull to St. Louis in the seventh.

It was the first time three PSU linebackers were taken in the same draft since 1992 — when Mark D’Onofrio (second round), Keith Goganious (third) and Andre Powell (eighth) were all selected — and the fourth time since 1960.

However, given the players’ draft positions in each of the four in-stances, the argument can be made that, when healthy, last year’s line-backing corps was the deepest in PSU history.

Which, of course, left quite the leadership void in the PSU defense

heading into the 2010 season.The unit lacks consistent starting

experience. Redshirt junior Nathan Stupar made two starts last season, and senior Bani Gbadyu earned five starts.

This year’s group features plenty of hype. Six of the seven lineback-ers listed on the team’s preseason depth chart — Gbadyu, Stupar, Mauti, senior Chris Colasanti, red-shirt sophomore Michael Yancich and sophomore Gerald Hodges — were dubbed four-star recruits by rivals.com.

However, it would be easy to look at other veteran defensive players for leadership on the team. The sec-ondary is loaded with veterans, in-cluding redshirt junior safeties Nick Sukay and Drew Astorino, each of whom started every game last year. Junior defensive end Jack Crawford also started every game and has the big-play potential to inspire by ex-ample.

But Mauti doesn’t see it that way. Penn State isn’t called Linebacker U for nothing — the Nittany Lions have produced so many stars at the position that it has become the source of leadership on the team, even when the linebackers are a lit-tle green.

“We have a lot of great leaders in our senior class, but the linebacker position is considered a senior role,” Mauti said. “I strive to be that guy.”

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FAMILY170 York road, Carlisle

(behind lowes)

249-2215view all our inventorY at www.familYfordofpa.com

Finally Football season is back...

it’s time to tailgate!we salute our loCal athletes

Carlisle Thundering Herd

Tough task for new coach

By TrAvis L. PickensASSiStAnt SpoRtS [email protected]

First-year Carlisle football coach Josh Oswalt wants to change the culture of his school’s program.

And he’s not cutting corners to do it.

On the surface, Carlisle is run-ning the same offense that for-mer coach Brett Ickes ran during his four years at the Carlisle helm. During that time, the Thundering Herd went 6-34 and failed to sniff the postseason.

Oswalt isn’t sticking with the Wing-T because it was used by the last regime. He’s using it be-cause it’s something Oswalt is familiar with and something he thinks will help Carlisle win foot-ball games, which will in turn help change what has become a losing culture.

“Honestly, it had nothing to do with what Carlisle was doing last year,” Oswalt said about sticking

with the offensive scheme. “It’s more of my background and my offensive coordinator’s back-ground. I think when you’re in high school, you’re not going to have the linemen to run a zone scheme or anything like that. You have smaller guys, so why not take that to your advantage? You can pull guards, pull tackles and use the misdirection that the Wing-T is all about.”

Oswalt’s offensive coordinator is Jason Thurston, who was an as-sistant coach under Eric Foust at Shippensburg Area Senior High School last fall. Foust, with the help of Thurston, revived the

Greyhounds’ program. Oswalt, a graduate of Cum-

berland Valley High School and Shippensburg University, also had a hand in turning around

a struggling program last fall when he was a graduate assis-tant and defensive line coach at Shippensburg. The Red Raid-ers, coming off a losing season,

won the PSAC championship and hosted an NCAA Division II playoff game.

Jason Malmont/the Sentinel

Carlisle junior quarterback Cody Failor hands the ball off to Matt Quattrone during preseason camp. Despite a change in coaches, the Herd is sticking with the Wing-T offense.

oswalt inherits a ■

team that as gone 6-34 over the last four years and is moving back into the Mid-penn Commonwealth.

“our guys take pride in (the

conference). i take pride in it. it’s

going to make us better. it definitely puts you in good

company.”

Josh oswALTCARliSle footbAll CoACh

• See Herd, D10

Penn State Football

Finding the next leader at linebackerSlew of big-time ■

recruits ready to step up for pSU.


Penn State senior linebacker Chris Colasanti is one of at least a half-dozen players battling for three open starting positions this season.• See Linebacker, D43


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He’s the best player you’ve nev-er heard of in Happy Valley. His one-handed touchdown recep-tion along the left sideline in a 2008 Maryland 4A regional high school football playoff game will go down as one of the greatest plays in the greater Washington D.C. area that season.

For now, former Eleanor Roos-evelt standout Derrick Thomas has a more humble role, back-ing up junior D’Anton Lynn at left cornerback for the Penn State Nittany Lions. But it’s just a matter of time before the red-shirt freshman gets his chance to show what he can do at Beaver Stadium.

After all, he came from PSU’s own private reserve of talent in 2008 — the D.C. beltway area.

While at Eleanor Roosevelt as a safety and wide receiver, Thomas had a pretty easy time focusing on his defensive duties, playing alongside cornerback Stephon Morris.

“Our defensive backs, it was re-

ally easy to play,” Thomas said. “I was playing safety, Stephon at corner. I could just leave him on an island. If a certain team had two good receivers, I’d move to corner.”

It was a banner year for the Raiders, going 10-0 in the regu-lar season and reaching the state regional finals. Thomas, then a Rivals.com four-star recruit and top-50 cornerback recruit ac-cording to both Rivals and Scout.com, earned DigitalSports All-Beltway Wide Receiver honors with 25 receptions for 601 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Thomas fielded offers from about a half-dozen Division I programs during his junior year at Eleanor Roosevelt. Though his hometown of Greenbelt, Md., was less than 10 miles from the Uni-versity of Maryland, he decided on the rolling farms and easygo-ing atmosphere of Central Pa.

“The reason was I had been in Maryland and D.C. all my life,” Thomas said. “I didn’t want my college experience to be there. I wanted a different lifestyle.

“What really helped (my deci-sion) was (PSU redshirt junior) Chaz Powell. He showed me the system. He cared more (than players at other schools). He showed me the basics.”

It wasn’t long before Thomas returned the favor. Just a couple

of weeks after he committed to Penn State in 2008, the Raiders standout convinced Morris to do the same. Though Morris was considered only a three-star re-cruit by both Rivals and Scout, he quickly earned his keep at Penn State as a true freshman last sea-son, playing in every game and recording 30 tackles.

“I committed first, during my junior year. Stephon committed a couple weeks after me,” Thomas said.

“I knew Stephon since sev-enth or eighth grade. We ran track against each other (in mid-dle school) ... I decided to go (to PSU), and then put the pressure on (Morris) to go.”

Though Thomas was the first to commit and the more highly touted prospect, Morris is the one expected to carry a larger work-load this season. The 5-foot-8, 182-pound sophomore is in line to start at right cornerback.

And he has plenty to prove. Morris feels he was misjudged during the recruitment process in his junior year of high school, when he drew little Division I interest, and despite earning 16 tackles for a loss during his se-nior season at Eleanor Roosevelt, was denounced by many scouts as lacking physicality.

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Penn State sophomore cornerback Stephon Morris is just one of several young players PSU recruited from the Washington D.C. beltway area• See Beltway, D43


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“They want to change,” Oswalt said of the group of leaders he’s leaning on at Carlisle. “I look at them just like I looked at my group at Shippensburg. They want to see change, and that select group took charge and got them to the PSAC championship and made it to the national playoffs.

“It takes a select group of guys to step up and say we want to take this by the horns and run with it.”

Carlisle, with five re-turning starters on each side of the ball, will rely on a young backfield to replace Travis Mease. One of the changes Oswalt implemented was moving Jordan Woodall from half-back to fullback.

Woodall is joined in the backfield by three other fullbacks and four half-backs, none of whom is a senior.

“I think (Woodall) can be one of the best in the area,” Oswalt said. “I compare him to (for-m er CV sta ndout and Penn State fullback) Dan Lawlor, one of my best friends. Dan came to one of our workouts, and I said, ‘(Woodall) runs a lot like you but he’s a little faster than you were in

high school.’“It’s all about how hard

he wants to work, though. Does he have Danny’s work ethic? No, but he has more talent.”

To compete in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Di-vision, Woodall will need help. Cody Failor returns at quarterback, but the Herd has inexperience and depth issues on both lines.

With a brutal schedule that includes defending District 3-AAAA cham-pion Cumberland Valley and reigning PIAA Class AAAA runner-up State College, nothing is go-ing to come easy this fall, which is exactly how Os-walt would have it.

“ I d i d n ’t k n ow h ow good this conference was before I took the job,” Oswalt said facetious-ly. “Look, our guys take pride in (the conference). I take pride in it. It’s go-ing to make us better. It definitely puts you in good company. Would we rather play schools that aren’t any good? No. I don’t think we’d get ex-cited. We have a chal-lenge.

“We practice every day thinking those teams are gaining on us so we have to make every practice count.”

Herd• Continued from D9

photos by Jason Malmont

ABoVE: Carlisle coach Josh Oswalt will begin his career as a head coach by trying to revive the Herd’s program.LEFT: Sophomore quarterback Brian Goodling is expected to see some time in relief of starting quar-terback Cody Failor.


Christian Kuntz has always had an easy time staying in shape. Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, track and field in the spring: Staying active year-round was the key.

So when the former Trinity standout says Penn State’s offsea-son conditioning program is no joke, it must be tough.

“Just coming into a major Di-vision I program, I was really fo-cused on getting conditioned,” the redshirt freshman wide receiver said. “I ran track in high school and thought (spring training) would be a breeze. But offseason workouts are no joke here.”

After spending a season on the Nittany Lions’ foreign team as a wideout, surviving another close call with his knee and absorbing as much of the PSU playbook as pos-sible, Kuntz is ready to step into a real-game situation and do what he can to help Penn State this sea-son.

“It was mainly a learning year. I needed it,” said Kuntz, who made the transition from pass-catch-

ing running back to full-time re-ceiver when he committed to PSU last year. “(The position change) wasn’t that hard. At Trinity, I came out of the backfield and caught a lot.”

Kuntz has a strong pedigree for the position: His father, Fran, played wide receiver for the Uni-versity of Maryland.

Working with the foreign team during his redshirt season last fall, Kuntz didn’t appear in any games for the Nittany Lions, but he got plenty of experience facing a Divi-sion I defense in practice.

“I was on the foreign team, going against the first-team, second-team defense,” Kuntz said. “You go against some good competition.”

Kuntz was ready to take the next step. He was looking forward to the 2010 Blue White scrimmage — what would have been his first experience playing in front of a crowd at Beaver Stadium.

Instead, he suffered a near-ca-tastrophe.

After tearing the medial col-lateral ligament in his left knee following a 46-yard run against Middletown on Oct. 13, 2008, Kuntz’s senior basketball season was wiped out. It was debatable whether he’d even be able to re-turn in time for the spring track season, and it was a great ac-complishment when the Trinity athlete won a pair of PIAA Class AA gold medals in the 110- and

300-meter hurdles in the spring of 2009.

When he left Trinity, it seemed his knee problems were behind him — until the week before the 2010 Blue White.

Kuntz suffered a sprain in the knee during spring drills on April 10 and was forced to miss the scrimmage.

“It wasn’t nearly as bad, just a sprain,” Kuntz said of the injury. “After rehabbing it, it’s 10 times stronger.”

The rehab process wasn’t any-thing new for Kuntz. Following the MCL injury in ‘08, he dedicated two or three days each week to re-hab. After the sprain, Kuntz said, he “stayed on top of it” every day this spring and summer.

Now, Kuntz is healthy once again. In fact, it seems his body is doing everything it can to accom-modate his new position. Since last season, the redshirt freshman said, he’s grown an inch and added 10 to 15 pounds of muscle.

He also said he’s developed as an individual after serving a year un-der legendary head coach Joe Pa-terno, and said he’s happy to have had the redshirt season last year to take in the 83-year-old’s wisdom.

“Not only to learn the system, but to mature as a man,” Kuntz said. “It’s something (Paterno) re-ally preaches.

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Penn State Football

Dream delayed, but not lost for Kuntztrinity grad ■

overcomes scare with knee, ready for season.


Penn State redshirt freshman wide receiver Christian Kuntz, a 2009 graduate of Trinity High School, is hoping to earn some playing time this season. • See Kuntz, D43


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A Closer lookClassification — AAAADivision — CommonwealthHead coach — Josh Oswalt (first year)Offensive coordinator — Jason ThurstonDefensive coordinator — Justin OswaltOther assistants — Dave Eav-enson, Brad Nailor, Richard Rayborn, Randol Thomas, Tony Weber.Last year — 2-8 overall, 1-3 division (fourth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Travis Mease, RB-LB, Isaiah Wright, WR-CB.Returning offensive start-ers (5) — Lance Windish, sr., T; Cody Failor, jr., QB; Jordan Woodall, sr., FB; Damon Nailor, sr., G; Chris Wuestner, jr., WR. Returning defensive starters (5) — Windish, sr., DT; Matt Quattrone, soph., LB; Woodall, sr., LB; Wuestner, jr., S; Lee Townsend, sr., DE.Other key returnees — NoneOffensive alignment — Wing-T

Defensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Woodall or Failor. “When you run the Wing-T,” Josh Oswalt said, “you need them both to be successful.”Team strength — Running backsTeam concern — Offensive and defensive line depthGame to watch — Oct. 15 at Chambersburg. Carlisle didn’t catch any breaks in the scheduling department. Of its 10 opponents, seven made the district playoffs and three played for a district champion-ship. Chambersburg was one of those playoff teams from 2009 but, just like Carlisle, the Trojans are breaking in a new coach. This is one of the few games on the schedule that Carlisle can look at and feel comfortable about, and games like these are the ones Carlisle must start winning.

——SCHEDULE

*Commonwealth Division gameSept. 3 Mechanicsburg, 7Sept. 10 Lower Dauphin, 7Sept. 17 Red Lion, 7*Sept. 25 at Harrisburg, 1Oct. 1 Susquehanna Twp., 7*Oct. 8 at State College, 7*Oct. 15 at Chambersburg, 7*Oct. 22 Central Dauphin, 7

*Oct. 29 at Central Dauphin East, 7*Nov. 5 Cumberland Valley, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Akeem Ramsey 11 5-10 140 QB-DB2 Cody Failor 11 5-1 166 QB-DB3 Dominic Ortiz 11 5-9 144 RB-DB4 Brian Goodling 10 5-8 164 QB-LB5 Keegan Love 11 5-8 171 RB-DB10 Jake Myers 11 5-7 130 WR-DB11 Max Breschi 9 5-10 159 QB-LB12 Nathan Marks 10 5-11 146 WR-DB14 Brendan Almeida 10 5-8 121 WR-DB20 Brian Griggs 10 5-6 123 WR-DB21 Jonathan Mundell 10 5-3 150 RB-DB22 Chris Wuestner 11 6-0 182 WR-DB23 Jamel Wilson 12 5-7 170 RB-LB24 Dorian Naiditch 9 5-3 124 PK26 Matt Quattrone 10 5-7 160 RB-LB31 Devin Cherry 10 5-9 154 WR-DL32 Jordan Woodall 12 5-9 209 RB-LB33 Shon Nyero 11 5-8 166 RB-LB42 Shayvan Murray 11 5-9 186 RB-LB

43 Haden Orth 10 5-7 154 RB-LB44 Hunter Robb 11 5-9 192 RB-LB45 Lee Townsend 12 6-0 229 TE-DL48 Caleb Davis 10 6-1 176 TE-DL49 Cody Wood 12 5-7 145 RB-LB50 Damon Nailor 12 5-10 189 OL-DL51 Drew Frohm 12 5-9 234 OL-DL52 Timothy Palmer II 11 5-11 200 OL-LB53 Michael Gould 10 5-9 172 OL-DL54 Jesse Ruth 11 5-7 165 OL-LB58 Austin McMullan 10 5-7 137 OL-LB59 Caine Sigel 10 5-10 158 OL-DL60 Ted Thorson 10 5-5 170 OL-LB61 Tyler Smeltz 11 5-6 176 OL-DL65 Brandon Padua 10 5-11 170 OL-DL68 Kevin Powers 10 5-8 158 OL-LB70 Hunter Barbour 10 6-4 262 OL-DL72 Lance Windish 12 5-11 242 OL-DL73 Tino Kezic 10 6-0 269 OL-DL75 Layton Brooks 12 5-9 230 OL-DL76 Nick Roth 9 5-10 182 OL-DL77 Joseph Graham 10 6-2 332 OL-DL81 Bamasa Bailor 9 5-10 156 WR-DB86 Ben Miller 11 5-9 176 TE-DL

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A Closer look

Classification: NCAA Division IIConference: Pennsylvania State Athletic

ConferenceDivision: EasternHead coach: Rocky Rees (154-119-2 all-

time, 118-104-1 at Shippensburg)Assistant coaches: Mark Maciejewski

(assistant head coach/secondary); Pete Lee (offensive coordinator/offensive line/kickers); Mike Burket (defensive coordi-nator/linebackers); J.C. Morgan (running backs); Chance Powell (wide receivers/passing game coordinator); Tunde Agboke (defensive line); Mark Luther (secondary); Tony Johnson (secondary); Robert Rollins (defensive line); John Wetzel (offensive line)

Last year: 9-3, 6-1 PSAC East (PSAC champions)

Returning offensive starters (7): Kev-in Herod (6-1, 225, R-So. FB); Mike Frenette (5-9, 180, So. HB); Kevin Marshall (5-11, 185, R-Sr. HB); Steve Hohenwarter (6-2, 265, Jr. LT); Bobby Muller (6-2, 245, R-So. LG); Peter Kreisher (6-3, 3-5, R-Jr. C); Drew Gallardy (6-2, 280, Sr. RT)

Returning defensive starters (6): Andy Horn (6-3, 225, R-Sr. DT); Erik Van Ness (6-0, 260, R-Sr. DL); Mark Kahlil Smith (5-11, 285, R-So. DL); Riley Bowen (6-0, 200, Sr. LB); Vinnie Ranauto (5-11, 200, Jr. LB); Ja-mahn McCollough (5-11, 185, Sr. FS)

Offensive alignment: Multiple Wing-TDefensive alignment: Multiple 4-3Players to watch: Offense — Frenette.

The secret’s out on the sophomore, who piled up 769 total yards last season and led the three-headed rushing attack in yards per carry with 5.6. Still, Frenette is a player to watch this year based on his potential. Anytime a true freshman steps onto the field as a starter and produces, he gathers plenty of hype as far as his potential going forward, and a lot of pressure can fall on him to improve upon his solid freshman campaign. All three of the team’s leading rushers return this season, so it’s likely Frenette will simply duplicate his produc-tion from last year. But Rees was excited about Frenette’s potential as both a rusher and pass catcher, and the sophomore led the team in rushing yards in the season opener against Shepherd, so you never know. Maybe Frenette will be even more productive this year than the last. Defense — Terence Glenn (6-0, 169, R-Jr. CB). Glenn is a transfer from Rhode Island, A Division I Football Championship Subdivision pro-gram, and though he is listed as a backup at weakside cornerback, Rees expects him to contribute greatly after acclimating to Ship’s defensive system. “We think he can make something happen,” Rees said.

Team strength: The run game. At least, ideally. In a Wing-T offense — heavily de-

pendent on a strong ground game to open things up for the play-action passing game — the two halfbacks and fullback are re-sponsible for setting the tone. A veteran offensive line struggled to clear much run-ning room in the opener, but Shepherd committed its defense to stuffing the box. It’s too early to write off the Ship run game. In fact, as Rees pointed out after the loss to Shepherd, the outside running lanes were working just fine. There’s no reason to think that Ship won’t have the same dominant rushing attack as last season.

Team weakness: Depth along the de-fensive line. Ship lost two of its best pass rushers along the defensive front to “rea-sons not forseen,” as Rees put it. Defensive lineman Tyton Brunner chose not to return, and redshirt sophomore lineman Zach Col-lins “is on the team but cannot play any games this year.” Redshirt freshman Dain-en Green has been pressed into duty at de-fensive end, and the second-string across the line includes two redshirt freshmen and one redshirt sophomore. The starters are experienced enough for the most part, but when depth is needed late in games, there could be some problems.

Games to watch: at West Chester, Oct. 7, 8 p.m. and vs. Bloomsburg, Oct. 16, 1 p.m. In back-to-back weeks this season, Ship will square off with two of its toughest and most anticipated opponents. Blooms-burg was ranked No. 16 in Lindy’s Sports Division II Top 25 preseason poll this sea-son and, though West Chester struggled against some upper-tier PSAC teams last season, it managed to defeat then-No. 10 Bloomsburg in its second-to-last game of 2009.

_____Schedule

*PSAC Eastern Division gameAug. 28 vs. Shepherd, 1Sept. 11 vs. Gannon, 1Sept. 18 at Clarion, 6Sept. 25 vs. C.W. Post, 1Oct. 2 at Kutztown, 1:05Oct. 7 at West Chester, 8Oct. 16 vs. Bloomsburg, 1Oct. 23 vs. Cheyney, 1Oct. 30 vs. Millersville, 1Nov. 6 at East Stroudsburg, 1:05Nov. 13 at Mercyhurst, noon

_____Roster

No. Name Pos. Yr. Ht. Wt.1 Taimur Harris SE R-So 6-0 166

2 Bryan Barley SE So 6-0 1763 Jeryl Cole HB R-Fr 5-11 2114 Roshaan McCain HB R-Jr 5-10 1815 Kevin Herod FB R-So 6-1 2316 Bryan Culler DB R-Jr 6-2 1827 Jacob Baskerville SE R-So 6-2 1958 Marcellus Sammons DB R-Jr 6-1 2089 Pete O’Connor QB R-Fr 6-4 20210 Tyrik Clary LB R-So 6-2 21011 Mike Goode DB R-Fr 5-11 18312 Kyle Kush DB Fr 5-11 18913 Pat Schuhl FB So 6-1 21714 Antione Singleton DB Fr 5-9 17415 Dillon Mazzoni QB Fr 6-2 18016 Dave Chervansky QB R-Jr 6-0 20317 Steven Adams QB R-So 6-5 21218 Zach Zulli QB R-Fr 6-2 17919 Nate Schmidt K R-Fr 6-3 17320 Jon Eisemann HB Fr 5-10 17521 Avery Coleman DB R-Fr 5-10 17522 Kevin Marshall HB R-Sr 5-11 18323 Jamahn McCollough S R-Sr 6-0 19124 Mike Frenette HB So 5-9 19325 Tyrig Kershaw S R-Fr 6-0 19026 Mike Lloyd DB R-So 5-9 16426 David Tyler HB Fr 5-10 18027 Xavier Selby SE Fr 6-3 17728 Marcus Cooper DB Fr 5-9 15929 Terence Glenn DB R-Jr 6-0 16930 Cody Plesnar TE Fr 6-0 20631 Kyle Karpinski S R-Fr 5-11 18732 Camryn LaSalle HB R-Fr 5-8 18233 Vinnie Ranauto LB Jr. 6-0 20634 Drew Newcomer K Fr 5-11 19335 Michael Baber HB Fr 5-9 18436 Corey Hunt S R-So 6-0 18837 Dakota Kessler DB R-Fr 6-1 17338 Brian Sourber LB Fr 6-2 19139 Trevor Mack DB Fr 5-11 17840 James Cooper DB Fr 5-11 15441 Riley Brown LB Sr 6-1 20242 Nik Rosenberry TE R-So 6-5 24143 Chris Johnson LB R-Fr 5-11 20244 Cody Flemming LB R-So 6-1 22045 Matt Robertson LB Fr 5-9 20446 Drew Sneeringer LB R-Fr 6-3 19548 Zach Sheard LB Fr 6-0 19748 Josh Shearer SE Fr 6-0 19749 Josh Kramarenko HB Fr 6-0 20350 Sean Sadosky LB Fr 6-1 22151 Joe Weaver OL Fr 6-3 29552 Drew Gallardy OL R-Sr 6-2 27254 Beau Hoffman LB R-Jr 6-0 21655 Theo Davis LB Fr 6-3 20856 John Garnier OL R-So 6-1 26757 Peter Kreisher OL R-Jr 6-3 32058 Steve Hohenwarter OL R-Jr 6-2 26761 Tyler Fairchild OL Fr 6-0 30262 Bobby Mullen OL R-So 6-2 26063 Greg Bamberger OL Fr 6-2 32464 Justin Bloom OL R-Fr 6-2 25666 Shay Ceglar OL R-Fr 6-1 24570 Myles Roche OL R-Jr 6-5 26372 Tim Latham OL Fr 6-4 29073 Chris Restino OL R-So 6-2 26174 Andrew Lesagonicz OL Fr 6-2 27775 Kevin Mosely DL R-Jr 6-1 27277 Jason Brady OL R-Fr 6-3 29380 Charlie McCairns LB Fr 6-2 22181 Alex Kuljian TE Fr 6-4 23482 Brian Heitz TE R-Jr 6-4 24283 Jake Biondi TE R-Sr 6-3 22984 Lance Kopp SE Fr 6-2 18285 Matt Koontz SE Fr 6-3 21286 Andrew Millay TE Fr 6-2 22287 Trevor Harman SE Fr 6-2 18688 Will Killeen SE R-Fr 6-0 18989 Mike Schmidt LB R-Fr 6-5 22390 Andy Horn DL R-Jr 6-4 24191 Phil Long DL R-Fr 6-1 27292 Dainen Green DL R-Fr 6-3 24493 Kyle Mahorney TE Fr 6-4 20394 Zach Collins DL R-So 5-11 26695 James Brennan LB Fr 6-0 19096 Mark Kahlil Smith DL R-So 6-0 30397 Erik Van Ness DL R-Jr 6-1 26098 Saeed Khateeb DL R-So 6-2 23699 Jake Metz DL R-Fr 6-7 225

Redshirt freshman Shay Ceglar slides into the vacant starting spot at longsnapper.

“Our kicking game is a weakness,” Rees said. “We lost our kicker and our punt-er and our longsnapper and our shortsnapper from last year. They’re all new faces.

“We thought they might wet their diaper (in the home opener), but I thought they came through fairly well ... We’ve got a true fresh-man doing the holding and redshirt freshmen doing the snapping and kicking. There’s mistakes happening, but as they go they’ll get better.”

Despite the quarterback situation and fresh faces, not everyone is balking over Shippensburg’s chance to repeat success in the PSAC.

Lindy’s Sports tabbed the Red Raiders as its preseason No. 15 — the second-high-est-ranked PSAC school be-hind No. 6 California. Ship was unranked in the 2010 American Football Coaches Association Preseason Divi-sion II Coaches’ Poll but re-ceived 11 votes.

And while the team is 0-1 already this season, the loss to Shepherd could mean very little to Ship’s success in the long run. After all, follow-ing a 34-23 loss to the Rams in the 2009 season opener, the Red Raiders went 8-1 and reached the second round of the NCAA Division II play-offs.

“You don’t get crowned a champion in week one, as we found out last year,” Gallardy said. “We still have big, lofty expectations.”

Raiders• Continued from D36

Curt Werner/Special to The Sentinel

Shippensburg sophomore Mike Frenette hauls in a pass during preseason camp.


Cedar Cliff Colts

Things are finally looking up

By TRAvis L. PiCkensASSISTANT SPORTS [email protected]

In 27 years of coaching high school football, Cedar Cliff coach Jim Cantafio has never faced a sit-uation quite like this.

When the Colts open their sea-son tonight against Elizabethtown at West Shore Stadium, both se-nior Tim Kelly and junior Tyler Orris will see time under center.

Orris, who started all 11 games at quarterback last fall after Kelly was injured in the preseason, com-pleted 136 of 239 passes for 1,824 yards, 17 touchdowns and 13 in-terceptions as a sophomore. Orris added 131 yards and two touch-downs on the ground.

“They’re both very smart and tremendous athletes, and they are football smart,” Cantafio said. “They can run, they can throw. They can do it all. It’s the first time in my coaching career that I’ve had two quarterbacks on the same team

that are so talented.”Despite the fact that Cantafio has

two reliable options at the most important position, he doesn’t think it will give Cedar Cliff an ad-vantage over defenses. The reason is that Kelly and Orris excel at ev-ery facet of the position.

“I’ve never had a quarterback position so close like this, never,” Cantafio said. “Either one can do everything; it’s not like in the NFL when one is a drop-back passer and the other is a sprinter.

“These guys can run, they can do anything I need them to do. Both of them can win football games.”

Cedar Cliff, coming off a 6-5 season, is loaded on offense with seven returning starters. The two quarterbacks have big targets in wide receivers Adam Breneman and Ryan Smith plus tight end Josh Lebo.

But the running back position is a question mark thanks to the graduation of Dan Moore and Tate Moore-Jacobs.

Cantafio is expecting Joel Chap-man, a junior, and sophomore Xavier Baney to step up.

“They have two different styles,” Cantafio said. “Chapman is a physical runner, and Xavier has the cat-quick moves. Both are young


Cedar Cliff tight end Josh Lebo is one of many returning skill-position players for Cedar Cliff this year. The Colts also boast two quality starting quarterbacks in junior Tyler Orris and senior Tim Kelly.

There are some ■

questions on defense but a loaded offense will keep the Colts in contention all season.

• See Colts, D13


What did Shippensburg Univer-sity’s first outright PSAC football championship in 28 years earn the team?

Very little respect, apparently.The Red Raiders, who went 6-1

in conference play last season — earning victories over then-No. 3 Bloomsburg, No. 15 Edinboro and No. 18 California along the way — were picked to finish fourth in the 2010 PSAC Eastern Division Pre-season Coaches Poll last month, despite returning five All-Confer-ence players.

Shippensburg already has one blemish on its 2010 schedule: a 35-27 loss to Shepherd in its home opener last Saturday — the team’s sixth straight loss to Shepherd.

But while everyone seems to ex-pect less from Shippensburg this season, the team still has high hopes.

Shippensburg bid farewell to one of the most prolific pass catchers in school history as well as to a ser-viceable quarterback. However, the Red Raiders return a slew of skill-position players on offense and, if some of the young defensive play-ers can improve as the season pro-gresses, Shippensburg could once again take the PSAC by surprise.

Carrying the team’s banner on offense will once again be redshirt senior halfback Kevin Marshall, sophomore halfback Mike Frenette and redshirt sophomore fullback Kevin Herod: the team’s three-headed rushing attack in the run-heavy Wing-T offense.

“You have a lot of different run-ning styles and abilities (among the three backs),” said co-captain Drew Gallardy, a redshirt senior right tackle. “(Frenette) is maybe as good of a receiver as he is a running back. (Herod) is the guy that can

excite everybody in the building as soon as he touches the ball. He’s that fast.

“I think it’s safe to say they can complement each other well, es-pecially since you can move them to wherever you need to in this of-fense.”

The three backs should have plenty of protection as well. Ship returns four starters across the of-fensive line and, as Gallardy put it, there is very little work to be done in terms of forming one cohesive offensive line.

“With four guys returning ... we are one unit,” he said. “You look at the film (from the game vs. Shep-herd), we were there. We’re where we need to be.”

The challenge, as Shepherd pre-sented it last weekend, will be for the Red Raiders to cope when op-posing defenses focus on stopping the run. The Rams flooded the box

against Ship last Saturday and, while Frenette found room on the outside to break off a few nice runs, a lot of pressure was put on the Red Raiders’ passing game to step up and move the chains.

An uneasy prospect, consider-ing the team doesn’t have a definite No. 1 quarterback yet.

Last year’s starter, Chad DiFebbo, tossed 27 touchdown passes and piled up 2,507 yards. Coupled with receiver Mike Harris, the school’s all-time receptions leader, Ship had a potent passing attack to keep defenses honest.

This year, the passing attack is a jumbled mess of talent. Redshirt sophomore Steven Adams emerged as the early favorite to start at quarterback, coming off the bench early against Shepherd and throw-ing three touchdown passes to rally his team back into the game. Sophomore Bryan Barley, listed as

a return specialist on the preseason depth chart, hauled in a pair of touchdown catches.

But at this point, very little is set in stone.

“We were planning to play them two series, two series, two series,” head coach Rocky Rees said of the quarterback situation in the sea-son opener. “(Redshirt junior Dave) Chervansky didn’t get a chance to do anything in his two series, and the guys didn’t help him out at all with penalties, so I left him in there for four or five. Then we went with (Adams), and he didn’t get two (se-ries), he got the rest of the game.

“(Chervansky) is a student of the game of football. He’s like having another coach on the sideline. But the guy that can move the sticks is the guy that will play.”

Rees said Adams has the edge at this point and has been “working to maintain his leverage” in practice.

“Both were told going in that they’d both play (against Shep-herd),” Gallardy said. “(Adams) did the most with his opportunity. There were things both of them did well, but there were things both of them need to correct. Since the spring, there was always the ques-tion of which one of them was go-ing to be the guy ... like coach said, there’s still a lot of time to deter-mine who’s going to be the guy to play up to their potential.”

The problem on defense, as it stands now, is depth. Eight sec-ond-string defenders are redshirt sophomores or younger, and con-sistent play throughout an entire game could be an issue.

But several veterans return to lead the defense, including team senior co-captain Riley Bowen at strong-side linebacker, and finding leader-ship won’t be an issue.

“(Bowen) is a tremendous out-side linebacker for his size,” Rees said. “And he can, if need be, move to the inside, even though he’s not the prototype big guy in there. But he’s tough to block, aggressive.”

But in spots, the Ship defense is very young. Redshirt freshman Dainen Green is a starter at defen-sive end, and redshirt freshman Avery Coleman, a starter at strong-side cornerback, had a rough out-ing against Shepherd.

“We have some experience back there in (redshirt junior cornerback Marcellus) Sammons and (redshirt senior free safety Jamahn) McCol-lough,” Rees said. “But Shepherd picked on the freshman last week. They got some success off him. But again, he’s a redshirt freshman; we’re hoping he’ll get better.”

While Ship has at least a few ca-pable starters back on offense and defense, the kicking game could be in for some series growing pains. True freshman Drew Newcomer takes over at placekicker, redshirt freshman Nate Schmidt will be handling punts, and true freshman Kyle Kush is in charge of holding for Newcomer.

Shippensburg University

Raiders set out to defend title

Curt Werner/Special to the Sentinel

Shippensburg University players participate in blocking drills under a cage on the team’s prac-tice field on the Shippensburg University campus this preseason. The Red Raiders return four starters along the offensive line.

Ship must settle on ■

a quarterback, replace losses on defense.

• See Raiders, D37


and inexperienced, but both can be very good football players.”

The defense is much more unsettled than the offense, with a mere four starters returning: Lebo is back as a defensive end; Matt Sowers and Jordan Durris are set at linebacker and Smith in the secondary.

That unit is a great concern for Cantafio, who has a team with the ability to score in bunches but one that might struggle to stop opponents.

“We have a lot of holes to fill defensively,” Cantafio said. “I hope every week we get better, but it’s tough to tell. Offensively, we have a lot of experience. Defensive-ly, we do not.

“Hopefully they can be consistent, because offen-sively, we can score some points. It’s the defense that will be the key to our sea-son.”

Thanks to the realignment of the Mid-Penn Confer-ence, the Colts are in the Keystone Division with six Class AAA foes. Cedar Cliff remains Class AAAA.

Regardless of the techni-cal classification, Cantafio is convinced the Keystone suits his school’s size bet-ter than the Commonwealth Division, which has only AAAA schools.

“The bottom line is, we don’t belong playing State College and Cumberland Valley, regardless of what people say,” Cantafio said. “We’re where we belong. We’re competing against schools our size, and this is where we belong. It won’t be any easier, but let’s face it, the difference with State College and CV is their num-bers and depth compared to us. That’s the difference. They have a few more play-ers than we do.”

Despite the switch in

leagues, the schedule is anything but easy for Cedar Cliff. The three non-con-ference games — Elizabeth-town, South Western and Lampeter-Strasburg — are against teams with legiti-mate playoff aspirations, and the division includes five teams that made the playoffs

in 2009. Bishop McDevitt, in Class AAAA, and Susque-hanna Twp., in AAA, were district runners-up last fall.

“This division is going to be so equally matched that every weekend is going to be a battle,” Cantafio said. “It’s going to be a heck of a divi-sion.”

Colts• Continued from D12

A Closer lookClassification — AAAADivision — KeystoneHead coach — Jim Cantafio (27 years overall, third at Cedar Cliff, 11-10)Offensive coordinator — Jim CantafioDefensive coordinator — Mike SternerOther assistants — Bob Miller, Colin Gillin, Scott Henne, Tom Sa-coman, Robert Hooton, Bob Schnarrs, Jordan Berrian, Ed Romano, Ken Shaffer.Last year — 6-5 overall, 3-1 division (second)Postseason — Lost to South Western, 41-34, in District 3 Class AAAA first round.Key players lost — Danny Moore, RB; Tate Moore-Jacobs, RB-LB. Returning offensive starters (7) — Tim Kelly, sr., QB; Tyler jr., Orris, QB; Eric Campbell, sr., G; Josh Lebo, sr. TE; Adam Breneman, soph., WR; Ryan Smith, sr., WR; Nol Aru, jr., WR.Returning defensive starters (4) — Lebo, DE; Matt Sowers, jr., LB; Jordan Durris, jr., LB; Smith, DB.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 3-3 StackPlayer to watch — Brene-man. “He started every game as a freshman,” Can-tafio said. “He’s going to be a tremendous threat at wide receiver and outside linebacker or defensive end.”Team strength — Quarterback.Team concern — Running back. Game to watch — Nov. 5 at Mechanicsburg. Were it not for Bishop McDevitt being in this division, the regular-season-ending game between Cedar Cliff and Mechanicsburg might be the de facto Key-stone Division championship game. Regardless, there might not be a better place on the schedule for a game involving two teams that will be prepping for long playoff runs.

——SCHEDULE

*Keystone Division gameSept. 3 Elizabethtown, 7Sept. 9 South Western, 7Sept. 17 at Lampeter-Strasburg, 7*Sept. 24 at Hershey, 7*Oct. 1 Red Land, 7*Oct. 9 at Bishop McDevitt, 10:30 a.m.*Oct. 15 at Susquehanna Twp., 7*Oct. 22 Lower Dauphin, 7Oct. 29 Chambersburg, 7*Nov. 5 at Mechanicsburg, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Nol Aru 11 6-3 180 WR-DB2 Jake McLaughlin 10 5-4 105 QB-DB3 William Hopkins 10 5-9 150 WR-DB4 I’Quan Strickland 11 5-9 165 RB-LB5 Xavier Baney 10 5-11 175 RB-DB7 Andrew Ford 9 6-1 165 QB-DB8 Ray Sacedor 11 5-9 150 WR-DB9 Zach Rush 10 5-5 110 QB-DB10 Jaquan McIntyre 10 5-9 155 WR-DB11 Jake Robinson 11 5-11 160 WR-DB12 Tyler Orris 11 5-8 150 QB-DB13 Tim Kelly 12 6-1 180 QB-DB16 Devine Davis 11 5-9 160 WR-DB17 Rick Morel 10 5-9 150 WR-DB18 Kareen Mitchell 11 5-11 160 WR-DB19 Christopher Walker 10 5-9 150 WR-DB20 Alex Siegfried 11 5-11 160 RB-LB22 Jacob Bowen 10 5-7 145 WR-DB26 Manuel Domenech 11 5-7 150 WR-DB27 Daylynn Smith 11 5-2 145 RB-DB28 Brady Ney 12 5-10 185 RB-LB30 Andrew Krajcsik 12 5-11 235 RB-LB31 Jesse Gochenaur 11 5-9 160 WR-DB33 Joel Chapman 11 5-10 185 RB-LB34 Austin Reefer 10 5-6 145 RB-DB36 Yousses Ajlane 10 5-8 140 RB-LB40 Deshaun Woodson 11 5-7 180 RB-LB43 Stefan Lazarevic 12 6-0 205 RB-DE45 Adrian Gochenaur 11 5-9 180 TE-DE50 Eric Yeager 10 5-6 190 OL-DL51 Matt Sowers 11 5-10 200 OL-LB52 Jake Zeigler 10 5-8 150 OL-LB54 Jordan Duras 11 5-9 180 OL-LB57 Jacob Emond 10 5-11 200 OL-DL58 Logan Boal 10 5-9 175 OL-LB59 Steve Harding 11 5-10 170 OL-LB60 Matt McCullough 10 5-10 225 OL-DL63 Brady Kaufold 11 6-0 220 C-DL64 Travis Reimer 11 6-0 225 OL-DL68 Dave Newcomer 10 6-0 200 OL-DL71 Devin O’Keefe 10 6-1 335 OL-DL72 Josh Knepper 10 5-10 170 OL-DL73 Josh King 11 6-0 250 OL-DL74 Justin Jones 12 6-3 310 OT-DT75 C.J. Law 12 6-2 210 OL-DL77 Eric Campbell 12 6-1 250 OL-DL78 Dalton Sersch 11 5-11 240 OL-DL79 Dave Warrenfeltz 10 6-1 230 OL-DL84 Ryan Smith 12 5-10 145 WR-DB85 Leo Echevarria 12 5-9 140 WR-DB86 Josh Musselman 10 6-1 180 TE-LB87 Adam Breneman 10 6-4 210 WR-DB88 Zachary Sacoman 12 5-11 170 TE-DL89 Josh Lebo 12 6-4 210 TE-DE


Cedar Cliff coach Jim Cantafio oversees a preseason practice session.


ABoVE: Jordan Duras (54) wraps up Josh King dur-ing a tackling drill.BELoW: Junior quarterback Tyler Orris looks for an open receiver.


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Cumberland Valley senior running back Kevin Snyder is one of 12 returning starters on a team that won the District 3 Class AAAA title last December. Snyder, who is also an outside linebacker/safety, has ver-bally agreed to play for Rutgers University next season.

Cumberland Valley Eagles

Champs deal with the target

By Travis L. PickensASSiStAnt SportS [email protected]

For the first time in quite a few years, Cumberland Val-ley is playing with a target on its back.

That’s what happens when a team returns to prominence with its ninth district football champion-ship and nearly plays for its second state title.

Now, the key is living up to the expectations that come with a No. 6 preseason state ranking (Pennsylvania Foot-ball News) in Class AAAA and with having 12 starters — five on offense and seven on de-fense, including a 1,000-yard rusher who has made 100-plus tackles at linebacker and has verbally committed to Rutgers University.

“You want to try to take it

one game at a time,” legend-ary CV coach Tim Rimpfel said. “(The players) want to do well and do better than last year, but the thing is, you have to work hard for that. We have a lot of pride in what we ac-complished last year, but we know we were fortunate and made plays to get there.”

Everyone will ■

be out to beat CV, which won its ninth district 3-AAAA title last december.

• See Eagles, D15

“We have a lot of pride in what we

accomplished last year, but we know we

were fortunate and made plays to get there. ”

Tim rimPfeLCV footbAll CoACh

The Red Devils averaged 48 rush-es per game last season and passed 24 times, and Breaux said that is the kind of attack the team likes. Handling most of the carries out of the backfield for Dickinson will be Smith and senior running back Gregory Lord. Breaux considers both starters.

The defense brings back eight

starters, including senior safety Pat McNeal and senior linebacker Kevin Wood, the two other captains.

And one season after he and his teammates held opponents to less than 22 points per game, McNeal has high expectations for the de-fense.

“I want to be the best in the league,” he said. “I think we have the experience and talent to do that.”

The defense lost Michael Max-

well, who led the team in intercep-tions (six) and was second with tackles (68). But six of the top seven tackle leaders are back.

Breaux said the team has six play-ers competing for three linebacker positions, and has depth on the line.

McNeal, who is also a longsnap-per, said that though he is confi-dent in the defense, he hopes the special-teams unit steps it up this season.

“We’ve been mediocre the past few years,” he said. “It’s all about effort on special teams. If we give it that 100 percent effort, we’ll be great. We’ve got a lot of talent, es-pecially some new guys. We’ve got speed.”

The special-teams unit will feel the loss of O’Connor, who led the team in punt return yards. But the team hopes that senior Craig Helfer will have a breakout season return-

ing kicks.Despite the new look on offense

and new faces on special teams, the Red Devils hope to build off their second-place finish and come away with a Centennial Conference title.

“Every few years, you may have a turnover,” Smith said. “Ian Mitchell and Pat O’Connor were all fresh-men at one point. You’ve gotta rise to the occasion and take advantage of the opportunity.”

Devils• Continued from D34

A Closer look

Conference — CentennialHead coach — Darwin Breaux (18th year, 110-64-1)Offensive coordinator — BreauxDefensive coordinator — Joel QuattroneOther assistants — Mick Chronister (DL), Kory David (LB), Bob Gamble (K), Bob Jazwinski (DL), Ben Miller (OL), Mike Miller (OL), Ian Mitchell (QB), Steve Reider (WR), Scott Shank (RB)Last year — 8-2, 6-2 confer-ence (t-second)Key players lost — Ian Mitchell, QB; Pat O’Connor, WR; Michael Maxwell, DBReturning offensive starters (3) — Tim Smith, sr., RB; Tyler Rosa, jr., WR/TE; Eric Lopez, jr., OLReturning defensive starters (8) — Pat McNeal, sr., DB; Kevin Wood, sr., LB; Pete Hamill, sr., LB; Andrew Fink, jr. DB; Jack Con-nolly, sr. LB; Corwyn Gordon, jr. DL; Adam Farrell, sr., DL; Joe Cof-fey, jr., LB; Josh Harrison, sr., DLOther key returnees — Gordon Craig, PK/P, sr.Offensive alignment — MultipleDefensive alignment — Base 4-3Players to watch — Jordan Kaufman, jr., QB. Coach Breaux on Kaufman: “He’s a very athletic kid; he’s also a baseball kid, so a two-sport guy. He’s been in a lot of competitive situations. We’ll continue to look for balance, throwing the football and running it, and the quarterback’s gotta be able to do both on our offense.”Team strengths — Tailbacks and defenseTeam concern — Depth in offensive linesGame to watch — Johns Hopkins, Oct. 8; Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg College may be key rivals for the Red Devils, but Johns Hopkins is the defending Centennial Conference cham-pion and one of only two teams to beat Dickinson last season. Dickinson knows the road to a conference title goes through a Blue Jays team that is poised to repeat.

SCHEDULE*Keystone Division game

Sept. 11 at Hobart College, 12*Sept. 17 Franlin & Marshall, 7*Sept. 25 at McDaniel College, 1*Oct. 2 Moravian College, 1*Oct. 8 at Johns Hopkins University, 7*Oct. 16 at Susquehanna University, 1*Oct. 22 Gettysburg College, 7*Oct. 30 Muhlenberg College, 1*Nov. 6 at Juniata College, 1*Nov. 13 at Ursinus College, 1

ROSTERNo. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Gordon Craig Sr 5’9 185 PK/P2 Gregory Lord Sr 5’8 175 RB3 Mike Rogers Sr 5’9 200 DB4 Robert Spriggs Fy 5’7 170 DB5 Cam De Fide Jr 6’2 180 WR6 Pete Hamill Sr 5’8 190 LB7 Andrew Fink Jr 5’9 200 DB8 Rick Bowie Jr 5’10 170 QB9 Nicko Nagel Jr 6’1 190 DB9 Marek Laco So 5’9 175 WR10 Michael Miller Fy 6’0 200 LB11 Ricky Martz Jr 6’0 175 QB12 Todd Smolinksy Fy 6’2 205 QB13 Russ Allen Fy 5’10 180 DB14 Tyler Gelband Fy 5’9 165 QB15 Jordan Kaufman Jr 6’0 190 QB16 Mike LoPresti Fy 5’9 170 WR17 Joey Scaglione Fy 6’2 180 WR18 Stephen Bajan So 6’0 200 DB19 Nick Baller Sr 6’1 180 WR20 Matt Miller So 5’8 190 DB20 Emmanuel Stern Fy 5’10 180 RB

21 Mike Shimkin Jr 5’8 178 RB22 Pat McNeal Sr 5’11 192 DB/LS23 Shea Licata Jr 5’5 161 RB24 Tim Smith Sr 5’10 215 RB25 Pat McBreen So 5’7 170 DB26 Brian Brown Fy 5’9 175 DB27 Scott Sullivan Jr 5’10 195 DB28 Mike Capone Fy 5’9 180 RB29 Raymond Irazarry So 5’9 160 DB29 Luc Vernerey Fy 5’10 185 RB30 Tyler Rosa’ Jr 6’0 200 WR/TE31 Craig Helfer Sr 5’10 195 WR32 Evan Fink Fy 5’10 210 RB33 Cole Glennon Sr 5’10 225 DL34 Bligh Cassidy So 5’10 205 RB35 Zach Deery Fy 5’9 185 RB36 Jack Connolly Sr 5’10 190 LB37 Jeb Smith So 5’7 185 LB38 Will Erikson So 5’10 173 DB39 Austin Burlington Fy 5’9 175 WR40 Joe Coffey Jr 5’10 202 LB41 Mike McKee Jr 6’3 220 DL42 Julian Rosen Jr 5’10 215 LB43 Kyle Smith Fy 5’10 200 RB45 Cyrus Bracken Fy 5’9 180 LB46 Matt Lang Jr 5’11 215 TE47 Matt Wood So 6’2 185 WR48 Michael Byrnes So 6’2 225 LB49 Ryan Stec Fy 5’9 195 LB50 Conor Dubin Fy 5’9 190 LB52 Michael Tucker Jr 6’0 245 OL53 Schuyler Simpson So 5’9 211 DL/LS54 Adam Farrell Sr 6’3 225 DL55 Ross Johnson Jr 6’0 230 DL56 Andrew Hubley Jr 6’2 240 OL57 Jon Umanzor So 5’8 215 LB

58 Kevin Wood Sr 5’8 205 LB59 Gus Umanzor Jr 5’11 275 OL60 T.J. Jones Fy 5’10 220 OL61 Eric Lopez Jr 5’9 245 OL62/44 Austen Steele Sr 5’10 220 RB63 Evan Dodson So 5’8 242 OL64 Bryan Conner Sr 5’8 265 OL65 Marc Baumann So 5’9 240 OL66 Christian Ruhl Fy 5’10 235 DL68 Bret Davis Fy 6’2 240 OL69 Nick Smith Jr 5’8 275 OL70 Sean Sullivan Fy 6’3 250 DL71 John Cordeaux Jr 5’8 245 DL73 Matt McDonald Jr 6’0 245 TE75 Fredd Reynaga Fy 6’2 230 OL76 Corwyn Gordon Jr 6’4 334 DL78 Casey Caslin So 6’0 300 OL80 Cory Fleisher Fy 6’1 180 WR82 Tyler Noll So 6’0 176 WR83 Gabe Cazares Sr 6’0 190 WR84 C.J. Metz Sr 5’6 165 WR85 Griff Davis Jr 5’9 170 WR86 Greg Capozza Fy 5’11 210 TE87 Andrew Downs Jr 6’3 255 DL88 James Karol Fy 6’3 205 WR89 Colin Rodgers Fy 5’8 170 WR90 Mike Grunde Jr 6’2 200 LB91 Walker Moriarty Fy 6’0 180 WR92 Mike Kogelschatz So 6’3 245 DL93 Justin Farrell So 5’10 165 P94 Josh Harrison Sr 6’2 230 DL95 Matt Giel Fy 6’2 230 DL96 Rich Lauvai So 6’0 200 LB97 Shane Mitchell Fy 6’1 200 LB98 Mike Gaspirino So 5’10 230 DL99 David London Jr 6’0 170 P/PK


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By Kurt BoppSentinel [email protected]

A year ago, Dickinson College head football coach Darwin Breaux had a veteran offense that helped take the pressure off an inexpe-rienced defense on the way to an 8-2 (6-2 Centennial Conference) season.

But after losing eight starters on offense in the offseason, the situ-ation has reversed: Breux knows his team’s strength is its defensive unit. Still, the Red Devils on the other side of the ball aren’t con-cerned about their lack of experi-ence.

In fact, senior running back and captain Tim Smith is excited.

“Anytime you have to replace a lot of players, there’s gonna be some question marks in areas,” Smith said. “It’s also an opportu-nity for everybody to kind of have their chance to rise up to the occa-sion. I’ve told the guys all you can do is everything asked to do.”

Star quarterback Ian Mitchell and wide reciever Pat O’Connor are gone. Mitchell is the Red Dev-ils’ career leader in passing yards, total offense and touchdowns, and

O’Connor leads in receiving yard-age, receptions and touchdowns through the air.

After a four-man race for the starting quarterback job, Breaux tagged junior Jordan Kaufman as the starter based on his perfor-mance in the team’s preseason. But replacing Mitchell isn’t Breaux’s main concern on offense. It’s the depth on his line.

“We’ve got some good kids there, but the depth is a concern at this point,” Breaux said. “We lost three kids to graduation, we lost another kid to financial-aid reasons and different things, so we lost four starters from last year’s offensive line. Guys have been fighting for spots, and I think we have a good nucleus, but not (a good) number of guys.”

Another area where the offense was hit in the offseason is at wide receiver, a position that had been dominated by O’Connor. Breaux said the team will spread the ball around more than in the past in an attempt to compensate.

But his overall mindset of a bal-anced attack remains unchanged.

“We’re gonna be as balanced as we can,” he said. “Ideally we like to run the football and control the line of scrimmage and control the clock, but we’re certainly going to be a balanced team.”

Dickinson College

New season, new faces for Devils


Dickinson’s Scott Sullivan carries the ball during practice at Biddle Field in Carlisle. The Red Devils lost eight starters on offense and have plenty of holes to fill this season.

Dickinson attempts ■

to replace eight starters on offense.

• See Devils, D35


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CV came through in clutch situations during the postseason to earn that dis-trict title. Returning quarterback Eric Sawyer, now a senior, hit Trevor Har-man, who has moved on to Shippens-burg University, for a 48-yard touch-down pass with six seconds to play for a 28-21 win over Wilson in the 3-AAAA semifinals.

A week later, Kevin Snyder, the Rut-gers recruit, intercepted Bishop McDe-vitt quarterback Matt Johnson’s pass in the end zone to seal the district final in the second overtime.

“I don’t want guys who just want to be here for the tradition or to put it on their resume,” Rimpfel said. “I want guys who want to compete, and we have that. We have seniors who hate to lose. That’s what drives them more than anything else.”

CV didn’t lose much last year, but two of those defeats still linger.

The first was the 38-35 loss to Central Dauphin in the regular-season finale. Rimpfel was less than pleased with his team’s defensive effort.

“It wasn’t just losing (to Central Dau-phin), but I didn’t think we ran well on defense,” Rimpfel said. “I thought af-ter that, you saw a different defensive squad. We ran from sideline to sideline, and that’s what you have to do.”

The other lingering loss was the sea-son-ending 35-13 loss to Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division rival State College in the PIAA semifinals.

The Eagles have a chance to return the favor when State College visits Chap-man Field on Sept. 24.

“We’ll be ready,” Rimpfel said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

CV has a lot of experience to rely on this year, as 11 of the 12 returning starters are seniors.

Snyder, who rushed for 1,337 yards and 24 touchdowns and added 109 tackles with three interceptions at his lineback-er post, is the CV player with the most hype. Snyder was The Sentinel’s Player of the Year on offense last season but had just as big an impact on defense.

“He made so many big plays, you look at our highlight tape, and game after game he’s making big plays,” Rimpfel said. “He just has to produce offensively.

“Defensively, we’re going to play him all over. He knows he has to be in good shape, too. This year, he’s going to play free safety, and we’ll put him at corner.

He’s athletic enough to do that and, secondly, he’s smart enough to handle things like that.”

As is the case every year, CV is faced with a daunting schedule.

Six of the Eagles’ opponents made the playoffs in 2009, including 3-AAAA runner-up Bishop McDevitt and PIAA finalist State College. CV also has tricky non-conference games against Red Lion to start the season and at 3-AAAA quar-terfinalist Central York in Week 2.

“York County teams have a history of getting after us in the early part of the season,” Rimpfel said. “Every year we think if you can survive the Common-wealth, you should be prepared for the playoffs. Just look at us last year.”

Eagles• Continued from D14


Cumberland Valley lineman Cooper Stump and his teammates take turns hitting the blocking sled during camp.


ABoVE: CV junior Cody Bush makes a catch.BELoW: Eagles coach Tim Rimpfel during camp.



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Elegant Atmosphere


A Closer lookClassification — AAAADivision — CommonwealthHead coach — Tim Rimpfel (22nd year, 276-91-3)Offensive coordinator — Tim RimpfelDefensive coordinator — Mike Whitehead Jr.Other assistants — Craig Schweitzer, John Bates, Jim Fry, Ron Audo.Last year — 12-3 overall, 3-2 division (third).Postseason — Defeated Muhlenberg, 42-7, in District 3 Class AAAA first round; defeated Central Dauphin, 24-21, in quarter-finals; defeated Wilson, 28-21 in semifinals; defeated Bishop McDevitt, 34-27 in double overtime in district final; lost to State College, 35-13, in PIAA Class AAAA semifinals.Key players lost — Travis Friend, FB-ILB; Trevor Harman, WR-DB-PR, Cory Salmon, OL-DL.Returning offensive starters (5) — Andrew Consevage, sr., C; Colton Kirkpatrick, sr., TE; Barry Lyons, sr., G; Eric Sawyer, sr., QB; Kevin Snyder, sr., RB.Returning defensive starters (7) — Lyons, DL; Kyle Friend, jr., DL; Kirkpatrick, LB; Dan Flynn, sr., LB; Snyder, LB; Kyle Brubaker, sr., FS; Drew Yetter, sr., CB.Other key returnees — Lance Geesey, jr., K-P; Brandon Beale, sr., OT; Jordan Bush, sr., RB-LB.Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 4-4 and 50Players to watch — Jeremy DiPetro, jr., RB-DB-KR, and J.J. Fen-cel, jr., DT. “Last year we just brought (DiPetro) up from JV as a sophomore when he had an ankle sprain,” Rimpfel said. “He could have used another year of experience, but he’s going to be pretty good. He can also catch the ball.”“(Fencel isn’t) tall, but he’s doing a heck of a job at defensive tackle. He has good pursuit down the line.”Team strength — Defensive front four, linebackers, running back, quarterback.Team concern — Fullback and split endGame to watch — Sept. 17 vs. Bishop McDevitt. Really, there isn’t another choice despite a schedule loaded with State Col-lege, Central Dauphin and Harrisburg. CV and McDevitt haven’t met in the regular season since 2007, but they did butt heads in the 3-AAAA final last year. CV won that snowy game, 34-27, in double overtime and should be the favorite in this one. That said, McDevitt is still powerful and has been pointing to this game for months, which will make for a playoff-type game at Chapman Field.

——SCHEDULE

*Commonwealth Division gameSept. 3 Red Lion, 7Sept. 10 at Central York, 7Sept. 17 Bishop McDevitt, 7*Sept. 24 State College, 7*Oct. 1 Chambersburg, 7*Oct. 8 at Central Dauphin, 7*Oct. 15 at Central Dauphin East, 7Oct. 22 Red Land

*Oct. 30 at Harrisburg, 1*Nov. 5 at Carlisle, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.3 Josh Deimler 10 5-7 145 SE-DB4 LaMont Dorsey 11 5-8 160 SE-DB5 Alex Cutia 11 6-1 160 SE-DB6 Scott Maronic 11 5-7 155 SE-DB7 Brady Miller 10 5-9 145 QB-DB8 Eric Sawyer 12 6-1 180 QB-FS9 Tyler Hartzell 10 5-8 150 RB-DB10 Brandon Stine 11 5-8 155 SE-DB11 Zach McLaren 12 5-9 180 QB-SS12 Kyle Brubaker 12 6-1 180 SE-DB-P13 Chad Brooks 12 5-10 160 SE-DB14 Lance Geesey 11 5-7 165 SE-SS-K16 Ben Fernback 10 6-0 160 QB-DB18 Joe DeCecco 11 5-9 155 RB-SS19 Michael Rice 12 6-2 165 QB-SS20 Aaron Hinish 11 5-8 160 RB-DB21 Garrett Long 10 5-7 145 RB-DB22 Jeremy DiPetro 11 5-8 170 RB-DB23 Drew Yetter 12 5-7 150 RB-DB24 Nick Richards 11 5-7 165 RB-LB25 Keaton Robson 11 5-9 150 SE-DE26 Corey Johnson 10 5-9 145 RB-DB27 Craig Yetter 10 5-9 145 RB-DB28 Max Noonan 11 5-9 180 RB-SS30 Jake Nulter 12 5-9 200 RB-LB32 Jeremy Salmon 10 6-2 195 FB-LB33 Kevin Snyder 12 6-3 211 RB-SS35 Matt Deibert 12 6-2 205 FB-DE36 Cody Bush 11 5-9 160 RB-LB37 McClain Fultz 10 5-9 160 FB-LB41 Colton Kirpatrick 12 6-2 206 TE-LB42 Jordan Busch 12 6-2 205 RB-LB43 Cole Johnson 11 6-0 180 FB-LB

44 Butch Waggoner 10 5-10 165 TE-LB45 Dan Flynn 12 6-0 200 FB-LB46 Mike Straub 11 5-11 225 FB-DE48 Dan Heise 10 5-10 180 FB-LB50 Kyle Friend 11 6-2 265 T-DT51 Nick Longstreet 10 5-9 165 G-LB52 Anthony Elkerton 12 5-8 208 C-DT53 Joseph Fencel 11 5-8 230 C-DT54 Ian Clelan 10 5-11 190 C-DT55 Andrew Consevage 12 6-2 235 C-DE57 Corey Gardner 10 5-9 190 G-DT59 Nathan Gardner 10 5-9 180 G-DT60 Jason Fenicle 10 5-8 175 G-LB61 Nick Carlson 12 6-0 195 G-DE62 Brandon Beale 12 5-10 240 G-DT63 Blake Wilkinson 12 6-0 200 G-DE64 Barry Lyons 12 6-3 235 G-DE65 Eric Kohr 11 5-9 180 G-LB66 Scott Weihbrecht 12 6-2 265 T-DT67 Mike Martino 12 6-0 210 T-DT68 Marty McDonnell 10 6-0 210 T-DT70 Kodi Halter 11 6-2 245 T-DT71 Matt Bova 11 6-0 240 T-DT72 Devon Blewett 11 6-4 210 T-DE73 Dan Lyons 10 6-1 193 G-DE75 Matt Marrazzo 10 6-1 215 G-DE76 Cooper Stump 11 6-4 250 T-DT77 Spence Sheely 10 6-0 227 T-DT78 Sean Curry 11 6-1 210 G-DE81 Isaac Shertzer 12 6-2 185 SE-SS82 Barry Lyons 12 6-3 235 TE-DE84 Brandon Fetrow 12 6-0 140 SE-DB85 Zach O’Dell 11 5-10 165 TE-DE86 Brian Aunspach 11 5-9 165 SE-SS87 Tyler Hanshaw 12 6-2 200 TE-DE88 Kieran Purcell 12 5-10 200 SE-SS90 Tom D’Arcy 10 6-4 160 TE-DE

Sentinel file photo

CV players celebrate with the 3-AAAA trophy in Hershey last year.

Sentinel file photo

Head coach Tim Rimpfel is gunning for his 10th District 3 Class AAAA title at Cumberland Valley and enters this season with a record of 276-91-3 in 22 years at the school.

in the three seasons since and, on average, has been on the short end of a 30-17 score. Last fall, the Mus-tangs scored 109 points but allowed 342. Opponents reached the 35-point mark on West Perry in six of its 10 games.

But that, along with the good seasons that have al-lowed Ream to post a career record of 66-57 at West Perry, is in the past. And that’s ex-actly where Ream wants to keep it.

“You can’t change what happened yesterday,” Ream said. “If you look at yester-day, you’re going to lose again. We’re taking it one practice at a time and one week at a time through the season.

“The kids have a good atti-tude at practice and are work-ing hard to try and make this a good season for them. We’re looking forward to the future.”

The recent run of losing sea-sons hasn’t affected the num-ber of kids who are putting on helmets and shoulder pads in Elliottsburg.

Ream said 58 players re-ported for the opening day of camp, which was a spike compared to recent years.

“We’re happy with that turnout,” Ream said. “We’ve been down in the numbers the last few years, and this year we’re back up. These kids want to be a part of some-thing.”

West Perry has some key parts to replace in quarterback Tony Miller, tight end/line-backer Ian Bond and running back/defensive back Brandon Varner. One of the bigger dis-appointments last year was the loss of running back/line-backer Chaz Sheaffer, who suffered a knee injury during a summer wrestling tourna-ment and never stepped on the field for West Perry.

Such was life for the Mus-tangs last year. This time around, Ream is looking at

this large group to build some depth.

“Hopefully out of those 58 we can be two, three or four deep,” Ream said. “When we practice and scrimmage we can put the more experienced kids against the more expe-rienced kids, and we can put the kids who are still learning against each other so they can get more reps.

“That way they’ll improve and get better.”

That’s not to say Ream isn’t going to lean heavily on his se-niors. It’s a group the coach glowed about during camp and one he’ll look at to lead his team both on and off the field. They have to be the ones who, if things go wrong, pick the younger players up and keep the morale high in what ev-eryone who is associated with the program hopes is a year when things return to their normal, winning ways.

It can’t be forgotten that this season was almost wiped out in early August when the school board failed to pass coaching salaries for the fall sports. It is a season that started with two weeks of limbo and one strange practice that athletic direc-tor Cory Hoffman oversaw because unpaid coaches — which is what the district’s head coaches were at that point — were not permitted to lead practices.

Eventually, the board passed the salaries, returning everything to normalcy.

“The kids were upbeat and positive and we went through the drills we were able to do,” Ream said of the first day. “The kids were positive, but we’ve moved on from it. It was a bump in the road. We couldn’t control it, but it got a positive vote and we just moved forward.”

Mustangs• Continued from D32

Donnie Eppley/Special to The Sentinel

ABOVE: West Perry running back Aaron Rahn picks up yards during practice.BELOW RIGHT: West Perry runs through drills dur-ing preseason camp.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Al Ream (13th year, 66-57)Offensive coordinator — Al Ream and T.J. QuakerDefensive coordinator — Bob BodenOther assistants — Aaron Wright, Derek Puchalsky, Kyle Ream, Craig May, Matt Harmon.Last year — 1-9 overall, 0-4 division (fifth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Tony Miller, QB-DE; Chaz Sheaffer, RB-LB; Ian Bond, TE-WR-S; Brandon Varner, RB-DB; Matt Bowman, SB-DE; Greg Dundore, OT-DT; Brent Gates, OT; Zach Blosser, RB-LB.Returning offensive starters (5) — Troy Hogan, sr., OG; Brandon Schmidt, sr., T; Zach Campbell, jr., OG; Derek Sheaffer, sr., RB-SB; Mitch Binger, sr., SE.Returning defensive start-ers (7) — Logan Gerst, sr., DE; Troy Hogan, sr., DT; Dylan Shumaker, sr., DL; D. Sheaffer, DB; Binger, DB; Jordan Peck, sr., LB; Drew Tush, sr., LB. Other key returnees — Steve Reynolds, jr., RB-LB; Jake Weber, jr., RB-LB; Aaron Rahn, jr., RB-LB; Kyle Mann, jr., OT.Offensive alignment — Mul-tipleDefensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Hogan. “He’s a good leader and dedicated to being a very good player,” Ream said.Team strength — No preferenceTeam concern — DepthGame to watch — Oct. 1 vs. Big Spring. It’s quite possible that West Perry will still be searching for win No. 1 at this point. The Mustangs have brutal games with Indian Valley, Milton Hershey, Mount Carmel and Greencastle-Antrim — all but the Milton Hershey game is on the road — before the Bulldogs make the trek to Elliottsburg. The second half of the season appears easier to navigate, but if the Mustangs can’t beat Big Spring, it’s going to be a long season for the West Perry faithful.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 at Indian Valley, 7Sept. 10 Milton Hershey, 7Sept. 17 at Mount Carmel, 7*Sept. 24 at Greencastle-Antrim, 7:30*Oct. 1 Big Spring, 7*Oct. 8 Shippensburg, 7*Oct. 15 at Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 22 Gettysburg, 7*Oct. 29 at James Buchanan, 7*Nov. 5 Northern, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.10 Trent Reed 12 5-8 140 QB-DB11 Logan Gerst 12 6-3 200 QB-DE12 Jake Weber 11 5-9 175 RB-LB13 Zach Smith 10 5-10 155 QB-DB14 Colton Abeling 11 6-0 165 WR-DB15 Keghan Morrison 10 6-2 150 WR-DB21 Damajah Maue 10 5-6 165 RB-LB22 Jamie Gibboney 11 5-8 160 RB-LB23 Tyler Shatto 11 5-5 130 WR-DB24 A.J. Rice 11 5-9 160 RB-LB25 Steve Reynolds 11 5-7 155 RB-LB28 Dalton Smeigh 11 6-0 160 WR-DB31 Ryan Olszewski 10 5-8 135 RB-LB32 Derek Sheaffer 12 5-8 180 RB-DB33 Kurtis Rider 10 5-6 180 RB-LB34 Aaron Rahn 11 5-11 170 RB-DB35 Collin Sheaffer 10 5-11 150 WR-LB40 Gordon Stone 10 5-3 130 RB-LB41 Jon Clark 12 5-7 145 FB-DE42 Austin Lentvorsky 12 6-0 170 RB-DE43 Jordan Peck 12 5-8 185 RB-LB44 Marshall Myers 10 5-3 112 WR-LB45 Zach Smith 10 5-8 140 RB-LB50 Ryan Masonis 11 5-9 200 OL-DL51 Rob Wolford 11 5-9 220 OL-DL52 A.J. Butler 11 6-0 245 OL-DL53 Vince Unger 12 5-9 180 OL-DL54 Drew Tush 11 5-7 230 OL-LB55 Kyle Boose 10 5-6 165 OL-LB56 Dustyn Mumma 11 5-9 230 OL-DL57 Tyler Hammaker 12 5-10 175 OL-LB58 Troy Hogan 12 6-3 225 OL-DE60 Tyler Templin 11 5-10 205 OL-DL61 Zach Campbell 11 5-10 240 OL-DL62 Shea Stone 11 5-11 210 OL-DE63 Matt Gordon 11 5-10 180 OL-DE64 Hunter Metcalf 10 6-0 180 OL-DL65 Dylan Shumaker 12 6-2 220 OL-DL66 Ben Hurley 10 5-11 160 OL-DE67 Ben Manning 10 5-7 150 OL-DE68 Mark Lesher 12 5-10 235 OL-DL70 Brandon Schmidt 12 6-0 220 OL-DL71 Kyle Mann 11 6-2 255 OL-DL72 Ethan Lehman 10 5-11 145 OL-DE73 John Reisinger 10 5-7 150 OL-DL74 Avery Farson 10 5-10 165 OL-DE75 Justin Clark 10 5-10 226 OL-DL76 Devon Parmelee 11 5-9 200 OL-DL77 Drew Holland 11 6-1 190 OL-DE80 Mark Shelley 10 5-10 170 TE-DE81 Jamin Wetzler 12 5-11 190 WR-LB82 Bryce Stambaugh 11 6-2 175 K83 Patrick Manning 11 6-1 80 TE-DE84 Tony Forlizzi 11 5-7 135 RB-LB85 Chase May 9 5-11 150 WR-DB88 Mitch Binger 12 6-0 165 WR-DB

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ABOVE LEFT: Nick Carlson (61) fights past Blake Wilkinson during preseason camp.ABOVE RIGHT: Zach McLaren (11) and Lance Geesey work on run blocking.

Sentinel file photo

CV senior tight end Colton Kirkpatrick is a receiving threat for the Eagles.

Sentinel file photo

LEFT: Senior quarter-back Eric Sawyer (8) is ready to begin his sec-ond season as a varsity starter after leading the Eagles to a 12-3 record last fall.

West Perry Mustangs

Better things in store for Ream?

By TRAVIs L. PIckEnsASSiSTAnT SPorTS [email protected]

Last year was a tough one for West Perry football.

The injury bug bit the Mus-tangs early and often as coach Al Ream’s team struggled through an ugly 1-9 season. The only win was against Waynesboro.

If there was a silver lining to West Perry’s third-straight los-ing season, it was that due to the injuries, a slew of underclassmen saw time.

“It was frustrating,” Ream said of the taxing 2009 season. “When you have a lot of depth and people pushing for start-ing spots, it’s not as frustrating. When you have limited players and you’re trying to work the younger kids in, that makes it harder.

“You never want to lose a play-er to injury, but you really don’t want to lose a frontline player to injury.”

West Perry had to deal with that time and again last year, but because of the bad breaks, Ream welcomes back 12 return-ing starters — five on offense and seven on defense.

“Every season you start from scratch, but the thing we have go-ing for us is the experience they gained last year will help them grow to the speed and the physi-cality of the varsity game,” Ream said. “Hopefully they mastered that and can pick it up and move forward from where they were last year.”

After a brilliant 9-2 season in 2006, West Perry has gone 7-22

donnie Eppley/Special to The Sentinel

West Perry football coach Al Ream offers instructions to a pair of players during preseason camp. The Mustangs are coming off a one-win season and have a tough slate of early games.

injuries derailed last ■

season, but West Perry hasn’t had a winning record since 2006.

• See Mustangs, D33


Ragni admitted that, as expected, there have been growing pains despite the fact that Trinity did open up the Wing-T in recent years. The last two seasons, the Sham-rocks operated out of the shotgun, which helped the transition but hasn’t made it a completely smooth one.

Luckily for Ragni, the play-ers embraced the new sys-tem, woke up early to work on routes and showed dedica-tion throughout the summer as the team visited various camps and 7-on-7 competi-tions.

“The quarterbacks and wide receivers worked tire-lessly with this thing,” Ragni said. “They were at Twin Ponds in January at 5 or 6 in the morning to run routes. The kids are excited to grasp it and get involved.

“Every high school kid would be excited to run routes and stretch plays. It’s brought a lot of enthusiasm.”

Another staple of the Trin-ity program, a nasty defense, is also going through chang-es.

Hard-nosed linebackers Matt Connors and Jeff Goy-ette have graduated, leaving two huge holes on defense: The Shamrocks return eight starters on defense and six on offense.

Logan Houck and Jeff Smith are the players expect-ed to take over for Connors and Goyette.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Ragni said. “Those are big shoes to fill with those guys.”

The new-look Shamrocks will, as usual, be tested right out of the gate this year.

Trinity opens with defend-ing District 3 and PIAA Class AA champion Lancaster Catholic tonight at Rossmere Stadium in Lancaster.

One year after blanking the Crusaders, 20-0, Trinity fell flat in a 42-0 loss last year.

It was the most points the Shamrocks allowed all sea-son.

“Any time you open up with a state champion ... they’re a good program, it’s a big program that finally made it over the mountain in win-ning the state title,” Ragni said. “With the addition of Boiling Springs, a natural rival for us, to the conference, we have a daunting schedule.”

Ragni’s first year improved after the loss to Catholic, but there were three other losses

— two against Middletown — when the Shamrocks scored a total of 13 points and found the end zone only once.

Now, with the move to the Spread, Ragni hopes to keep the tradition alive at Trinity.

“We’re not at the next step yet, which is winning the district and getting into a couple state games,” Ragni said. “That’s our goal. We’re a little short of that right now, but that’s what we’re working toward.”

Shamrocks• Continued from D30

Photos by Daniel Zampogna/Special to The Sentinel

ABOVE: Trinity coach Bill Ragni.BELOW: Trinity football players crash into each other during practice.

A Closer lookClassification — AADivision — CapitalHead coach — Bill Ragni (second year, 7-4)Offensive coordinator — Tim BoblickDefensive coordinator — Bill RagniOther assistants — Jamien Harvey, Tim Miller, Rob Lutz, Andy Eng-lish, Ryan Skotnicki, Anthony Taliani, Tim Walde, Bob Dill.Last year — 7-4 overall, 2-1 division (tied first)Postseason — Lost to Middletown, 11-3, in District 3 Class AA quar-terfinals.Key players lost — Matt Connors, LB; Jeff Goyette, C-LB.Returning offensive start-ers (6) — Patrick Dill, jr., QB; Jack Miller, jr., HB; Austin Durham, sr., RB; Chris Lenz, jr., WR; Logan Houck, sr., HB; Colin Rigney, sr., G; Returning defensive start-ers (8) — Miller, LB; Durham, LB; Lenz, DB; Houck CB-LB; Rigney, LB; Cameron Lipnicki, sr., DE; Kenner Brown, sr., NG; Logan Kuhn, sr., DE.Other key returnees — Gar-rett McNally, sr., OT; Hayden Akers, sr., OG-DT.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 4-3/Double Eagle FlexPlayer to watch — Danny Jackson, soph., WR-DB. “He has a ton of speed and he’s a very good kid,” Ragni said.Team strength — Running back and linebacker.Team concern — Secondary and offensive line.Game to watch — Sept. 24 vs. Steelton-Highspire. The Shamrocks stunned Steel-High on Cottage Hill last year in the latest installment of one of the Mid-Penn’s best small-school rivalries. This game is deep enough in the season that both squads should have all the kinks worked out, and the excuse of rust causing mistakes won’t hold water. If Trinity can navigate its tough early-season schedule, October will be a breeze compared to September.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 at Lancaster Catholic, 7*Sept. 10 Camp Hill, 7*Sept. 17 at Susquenita, 7*Sept. 24 Steelton-Highspire, 7*Oct. 1 at Middletown, 7*Oct. 8 East Pennsboro, 7Oct. 15 Donegal, 7*Oct. 22 at Palmyra, 7*Oct. 29 Milton Hershey, 7*Nov. 5 at Boiling Springs, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Patrick Devlin 12 5-9 147 RB-CB2 Nathan Hoellman 12 5-10 145 RB-DB3 Danny Jackson 10 5-10 160 HB-CB-S5 Jack Miller 11 5-9 175 HB-LB6 Dylan DeFrank 10 5-10 160 WR-LB7 Shane Mitchell 12 5-9 135 WR-DB8 Louis Guyer 10 5-10 140 QB-WR-DB9 Vincent Spinelli 11 6-0 170 QB-LB10 Nat Jensen 11 5-6 150 HB-DB11 Logan Houck 12 5-11 185 RB-DB12 Patrick Dill 11 6-2 188 QB-S13 Chris Lenz 11 6-2 175 WR-DB14 Thomas Pillion 10 6-0 140 WR-CB15 Nick Slonac 11 6-2 210 QB-DE-S17 Williams Edwards 10 6-0 170 WR-LB20 Austin Perry 10 5-11 160 G-LB21 Alex Cramer 10 6-0 150 WR-DB22 Adam Geiger 10 5-10 180 RB23 Matthew Bierowski 11 6-0 170 WR-DB24 Daniel Resavy 11 6-3 180 WR-DB25 Tyler Brett 10 5-10 150 G-DE-LB26 Javier Borraas 10 5-5 135 WR27 Elijah Brooks 10 5-4 109 WR-CB36 Austin Durham 12 6-0 205 RB-LB42 Hoki Chung 12 5-11 170 WR-DB50 Patrick Funk 11 5-9 185 OG-LB51 Patrick Madden 11 5-11 190 OG-LB52 Jeffrey Smith 12 6-0 210 WR-OL-LB53 Thomas Garman 10 5-9 195 C-LB54 Stephen Reisser 12 6-1 190 TE-DE55 Anthony Tate 12 5-10 210 C-DE-LB56 Colin Rigney 12 5-11 215 OG-LB57 Peter Sprague 11 6-3 215 OL-DL58 Dan Kenyon 11 6-1 170 TE-DE59 Chas Wagner 10 6-2 200 OT-DE-LB60 Gabe Policare 11 6-1 200 OT-DT61 Mike Kelly 10 5-9 185 OL-DL62/44 Cameron Lipnicky 12 6-3 220 FB-DE63 Ryan Grady 10 6-0 185 OT-DT-G-DL64 Matt Small 11 6-0 200 OT-DE65 Logan Kuhn 12 6-2 225 OT-DE66 Tanner Brown 12 5-7 220 C-DT67 Hayden Akers 12 5-11 230 OL-DL68 Robert Mott 10 5-7 150 OG-DE-DT71 Garrett McNally 12 6-6 305 OT-DT72 Andrew Kruger 10 5-10 295 OT-DT73 Mark Connolly 11 6-1 240 OT-DT74 Stephen Hocker 12 5-8 230 OT-DT75 Vikram Shenoy 11 6-4 290 OT-DT76 Jacob Dentler 11 6-1 230 OT-DT79 Joe Schwartz 11 6-3 225 C-DT80 Jake Diorio 10 6-3 168 OL-DL82 Greg Hempt 12 6-4 195 WR-TE

Daniel Zampogna/Special to The Sentinel

Trinity sophomore lineman Thomas Garman gets ready for a play.

East Pennsboro Panthers

Close losses still lingering

By TrAVis L. PickEnsASSiSTAnT SPorTS [email protected]

After finally taking a step for-ward in 2008, the East Pennsboro football team took one step back last fall.

The Panthers, coming off their first playoff appearance in seven years, failed to finish with a win-ning record (4-6) and missed the postseason. The talk during camp last year was about building on the previous year’s playoff berth and moving on to bigger and bet-ter things.

Four losses by seven points or less left the Panthers with a dis-appointing end result.

“We didn’t get blown out in a lot of games,” East Penn coach Todd Stuter said. “Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce in your direction, and it didn’t last year. We didn’t have the best turnover (differen-tial) last year, which is not good. You don’t win games when that happens.

“We turned the ball over more than we wanted to. That’s a focus of ours this year, to take care of the football.”

Another point of concern for Stuter is the offensive line. Nick Hinton, the center, and guards Andrew Livingston and Clinton Allwein return, but the Panthers were looking for two reliable tack-les throughout camp.

“When you’re throwing the ball around, you need protection,” Stuter said. “That’s a natural con-cern. We have some guys battling


Senior left guard Clinton Allwein, left, and senior defensive end Andrew Livingston practice blocking earlier this week. East Pennsboro qualified for the playoffs in 2008 for the first time in seven years but faltered last season and finished with a 4-6 record. The Panthers open their season tonight at 7 p.m. against Red Land.

Turnovers were a key ■

factor last year when East Penn finished 4-6 and lost four games by seven points or less

• See Panthers, D19


Trinity football coach Bill Ragni trusts his assistants.

So when they came to the second-year head coach in January with a proposition, Ragni listened. Their idea was an unorthodox one, at least for Trinity, so it required some seri-ous convincing.

When all was said and done and Ragni had digested the stats and fig-ures that his assistants brought to him, he made the decision: Trin-ity was going to drop the Wing-T as its primary offense and employ the pass-happy Spread.

“It took some convincing to move out of (the Wing-T),” said Ragni, who played in the offense at the University of Delaware. During his 15-year tenure as assistant coach at Trinity, the team never ran anything but the Wing-T.

“We have two junior quarterbacks (Patrick Dill and Nick Slonac) and some young specialists that we think can cause a lot of matchup problems

for teams we play,” Ragni said.“That’s what got me to go to the

Spread.”Ragni’s assistants sat down and

figured out that the Shamrocks ran all over teams that they were physi-cally superior to last season, but in games against comparable op-ponents, Trinity spun its collective wheels on its way to a 7-4 record and was one-and-done in the District 3 Class AA playoffs.

“We didn’t have much of a pass-ing game to go to,” Ragni said of the games that Trinity struggled to run the ball in. “When we put all the stats together, I thought this was what we had to do to get to the next level.

“We want to balance the run-pass ratio and make it closer to 50-50 in-stead of 80-20 or 90-10.”

donnie Eppley/special to the sentinel

Trinity linemen hit the blocking sled during preseason camp.

for positions, and through our scrimmages we’ll see how they work out.”

With a potential NCAA Division I quarterback, the Panthers will need to be up to snuff in the blocking department.

Kelvin White returns for his third year as the start-er under center for East Penn, and Stuter said he is receiving interest from most of the schools in the Patriot League plus James Madison Univer-sity, Fordham Universi-ty and the University of Connecticut. Senior tight end/defensive end Bryce Wilson is also generating interest from the same schools, Stuter said.

“He’s a nice-sized kid (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) and he has a real strong arm with a quick release,” Stuter said of White. “He makes good decisions, and when you run the Spread, you have a lot of choices to make.

“He has to make sure he’s making the right de-cisions and spreading the ball around.”

Last fall, White had a nice year with 84 com-pletions in 152 attempts for 1,205 yards, 11 touch-downs and six intercep-tions.

Wilson, who also has blocking duties, caught three passes for 95 yards and a touchdown.

De s p i te t h ose a e r i a l threats, the Panthers will try to remain balanced.

“It depends what the defense gives us,” Stuter said. “We’ll use Kelvin as a weapon running the ball as well, but we don’t want to run him too much, be-cause if something hap-pened to him, we could be in trouble.”

The realignment of the M id-Penn Conference

shuffled East Penn into a division with perennial playoff teams, in Camp H i l l , M i l to n He rs h ey, Steelton-Highspire and Trinity.

As an added bonus, de-fending District 3 and PIAA Class AA champion Lancaster Catholic visits Saxon Memorial Stadium

on Oct. 1.“We have nine teams

in our division, and it’s going to be wide open,” Stuter said. “There’s a lot of good teams in it, so losing one game won’t knock you out of a chance to win the league. Teams will knock each other off all year.”

Panthers• Continued from D18

photos by Curt Werner/special to the sentinel

aBOve: East Pennsboro coach Todd Stuter enters his 11th season as head coach with a 67-56 record.riGHT: East Penn sophomore running back Chase Shulda picks up yardage in a preseason scrimmage against Shippensburg.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — CapitalHead coach — Todd Stuter (11th year, 67-56)Offensive coordinator — Dave BorrellDefensive coordinator — Joe ShermeyerOther assistants — Ted Matter, Tom Couch, David Payne, Greg Campbell, Mark Morris.Last year — 4-6 overall, 2-3 division (fifth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Blake Wheeler, WR-DB; Max Miller, RB-LB; Tom-my Yeager, OL-DE; Will Frey, WR-DB.Returning offensive start-ers (6) — Kelvin White, sr., QB; Nick McMillen, sr., FB; Nick Hinton, jr., C; Andrew Livingston, sr., G; Clinton Allwein, sr., G; Bryce Wilson, sr., TE.Returning defensive start-ers (3) — Allwein, MLB; Wil-son, DE; Livingston, DE. Other key returnees — Devin Binner, sr., WR-DB; Joe Stevens, sr., WR-OLB.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 4-4Players to watch — White and WilsonTeam strength — Skill positionsTeam concern — Offensive lineGame to watch — Sept. 3 vs. Red Land. With both teams coming off losing seasons, this is a vital game to start the season. East Penn has anything but an easy schedule — defending PIAA Class AA cham-pion Lancaster Catholic is one of five playoff teams from 2009 the Panthers will play — so a win against Red Land, which has dropped back down to Class AAA, will do wonders.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 Red Land, 7*Sept. 10 Susquenita, 7*Sept. 17 at Steelton-Highspire, 7*Sept. 24 Middletown, 7Oct. 1 Lancaster Catholic, 7*Oct. 8 at Trinity, 7*Oct. 15 Palmyra, 7*Oct. 22 at Milton Hershey, 7*Oct. 29 Boiling Springs, 7*Nov. 5 at Camp Hill, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Alberto De Los Santos 12 5-11 165 WR-DB3 Joseph Stevens 12 5-9 175 WR-LB5 Austin Wilson 10 6-3 185 QB-DB10 Alexander Morgan 11 6-0 180 WR-DB12 Devin Binner 12 5-10 150 WR-DB13 Jacob Nieto 10 5-11 160 QB-DB15 Ryder King 11 6-0 165 WR-DB16 Kelvin White 12 6-3 210 QB-DB20 Parth Patel 11 5-11 160 WR-DB21 Chase Shulda 10 5-9 165 RB-LB22 Brandon Robinson 11 5-9 165 RB-DB23 Dakota Pentz 10 5-11 160 WR-DB24 Nicholas Gunn 12 5-9 150 WR-DB25 Caleb Dively 12 5-11 180 TE-LB27 Kevin Stago Jr. 11 5-11 715 RB-LB30 Dylan Quigley 10 5-9 150 WR-DB31 Taylor Walls 12 5-11 160 K32 Cody Hollingsworth 10 5-9 175 RB-LB33 Jonell Adams 12 5-5 130 WR-C34 Eric Rivera 11 5-11 170 WR-LB35 Scott Wright 10 6-0 250 OT-DT40 Matthew Shutt 10 5-9 150 RB-DB41 Nicholas McMillen 12 5-10 210 RB-LB42 Josiah Lewis 10 5-10 170 OG-DT43 Jeffery Bretz 12 5-10 160 RB-LB44 Jesse McAllister 11 5-10 210 RB-DT45 Samuel Putt 11 5-10 190 RB-DB50 Benjamin Staub 10 5-8 170 OG-LB51 Nickolys Hinton 11 5-11 240 C-DT53 Brian Ton 11 5-10 205 OT-DT54 Clinton Allwien 12 5-11 200 OG-LB55 Dylan Sundy 11 5-11 180 OG-LB60 Wasiullah Mohamed 12 6-0 200 OG-DE61 Brett Shurock 11 6-0 185 OG-DE63 Brandon Lehman 11 6-1 210 OT-DT67 Matthew Letterman 12 5-10 215 C-DT70 Dwayne Davis 12 5-11 210 OT-DT71 Andrew Livingston 12 6-0 210 OG-DE72 Daniel Alvarado 10 5-11 240 C-DT73 Ryan Forry 11 6-2 205 OT-DE74 Corbin Fuller 11 6-0 200 OT-DT75 John Bingaman 12 5-10 180 OG-DT77 Ryan Kuser 10 5-8 160 OG-DT80 Alexander Glaser 11 5-10 145 WR-DB81 Clay Durham 11 5-11 170 TE-DE82 Bryce Wilson 12 6-5 235 TE-DE83 Delvaughn Dennis 11 6-1 220 TE-DE84 Willie Barnes 10 6-1 165 WR-DB85 Dylan Yoos 10 6-3 205 TE-DE86 Patrick Lauer 10 5-10 150 WR-DB


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Trinity Shamrocks

A brave new world

daniel Zampogna/special to the sentinel

Trinity quarterback Patrick Dill will be tested with a new offense this year.

despite being ■

known as a Wing-t football team, trinity is embracing the spread offense this season.

• See Shamrocks, D31

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Classification — AADivision — CapitalHead coach — Bart Miller (second year, 5-5)Offensive coordinator — Earl MosleyDefensive coordinator — Bob FolkOther assistants — Tom Hailey, Russ Feeney, Jessee Snyder, Brian Ferry, Cody Page.Last year — 5-5 overall, 2-3 divisionPostseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Josh Shearer, RB-DB; Zach Kenny, TE-DB.Returning offensive starters (2) — Ethan Reichert, sr., QB; Jordan Fiegl, sr., G.Returning defensive start-ers (5) — Fiegle, sr., DE; Corey Stoak, sr., DE; Da-kota Weiland, jr., NG; Kurt Kenny, jr., LB; Mike Weldon, jr., CB.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Kenny: “He’s shown great leader-ship as an underclassman,” Miller said.Team strength — QuarterbackTeam concern — Offensive lineGame to watch — Sept. 10 at East Pennsboro. After a winnable opener against Newport at home, Susquenita might bring lots of motivation into this road test in Enola. Susquenita made great strides in Miller’s first season with a 5-5 record, and to keep the good times rolling, the Blackhawks need a fast start. East Penn, coming off a losing season, also needs a good start, which makes this a huge early season game in the area.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 Newport, 7:30*Sept. 10 at East Pennsboro, 7*Sept. 17 Trinity, 7*Sept. 24 at Palmyra, 7*Oct. 1 Milton Hershey, 7*Oct. 8 at Boiling Springs, 7*Oct. 15 Camp Hill, 7Oct. 23 at Bangor Pius X, 1*Oct. 29 at Steelton-Highspire, 7*Nov. 5 Middletown, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.5. A.J. Peck 10 5-10 170 QB-OLB6 Alec Patrick 11 5-8 170 SE-DB7 Michael Weldon 11 5-11 175 RB-S8 Dan Webber 12 5-10 175 RB-DB10 Ethan Reichert 12 6-1 180 QB-S11 Brett Morrison 9 5-10 160 QB-DB12 Andrew Kepner 10 6-0 175 HB-LB13 Brandon Parson 10 5-10 180 SE-DB14 Dan Svirbely 12 5-10 238 QB-LB18 Tony Stine 10 5-9 160 SE-DB20 Austin Sheibley 11 5-8 115 WR-DB22 Thad Strayer 12 5-9 175 FB-OLB23 Jordan Williams 12 5-10 175 FB-OLB25 Nevin Neumeyer 11 5-11 175 RB-OLB32 Todd Mullen 10 5-10 175 FB-OLB33 Kurt Kenny 11 6-0 170 RB-LB34 Randy Stine 12 5-9 180 FB-LB35 Alex Kruger 10 5-9 190 FB-ILB39 Nate Weaver 11 5-11 180 TE-DE44 Kurt Evans 11 5-11 185 TE-LB45 Dakota Weiland 11 5-10 180 OL-DL50 Michael Quigley 10 6-0 200 OL-DL51 Steven Gallagher 11 5-10 200 OL-DL54 Cory Thompson 10 6-0 220 OL-DL55 Jay Bennett 10 6-1 195 OL-DL56 Dean Lucia 10 6-0 210 OL-DL57 Will Archibald 10 6-0 180 OL-OLB58 Brent Stearner 10 6-2 200 OL-DL59 Jordan Fiegl 12 6-1 200 OL-DL60 Tony Gray 11 5-9 175 OL-DL65 Dakota Hansel 10 5-9 200 OL-LB66 Aleks Melnick 12 6-0 235 OL-DL70 Brandon Rowles 11 5-11 250 OL-DL71 Harry Hockenberry 12 5-11 240 OL-DL72 Jon Klinger 12 6-0 190 OL-DL73 Brandon Tonkin 11 6-2 225 OL-DL75 Nick Rhodes 11 5-11 195 OL-DL76 Bradley Snyder 11 5-11 210 OL-DL77 Aaron Hammaker 11 6-0 180 OL-DL78 Robert Lugo 11 5-10 240 OL-DL79 Blake Sunday 10 6-1 220 OL-DL80 Devin Crisamore 12 6-3 185 SE-DB82 Kyle King 11 5-11 200 SE-LB83 Hunter Walkers 10 5-8 160 SE-DB84 Brennan May 10 5-9 180 SE-DB85 Andrew Hansrote 12 5-11 170 SE-DB88 Drew Knowles 10 6-4 190 SE-DE89 Corey Stoak 12 5-10 190 SE-DE90 Dakota Reider 11 5-10 200 TE-DL92 Billy Ensminger 9 6-2 180 SE-DB


Mechanicsburg Wildcats

Experience gained will help


Last season was a learning ex-perience for the Mechanicsburg football team.

Breaking in 20 new starters, the Wildcats promptly lost their first four games before the speed of varsity football slowed down and the new players found their foot-ing.

Once that happened, the Wild-cats went on a six-game winning streak that didn’t end until a con-troversial block-in-the-back call negated a touchdown in the fourth quarter of an eventual 35-28 loss to West York in the District 3 Class AAA first round.

From the second half of the Week 4 game against Northern to that heartbreaking loss in the rain in the suburbs of York, coach Chris Hakel’s team made others take notice that the Mechanics-burg program isn’t about to let up anytime soon.

“We grew up from start to fin-ish,” Hakel said. “The way our season went was very indicative of that. The way our first four games went, I could tell we were getting better.

“After halftime of the North-ern game, we came out, and that’s when the kids started to under-stand what it would take to be successful, and it just carried over each week.”

Mechanicsburg returns 12 start-ers — seven on offense and five on defense — from the team that fin-ished 6-5 and nearly cracked the 3-AAA quarterfinals.

Led by senior quarterback James Rusenko, the Wildcats, who are 18-6 over the last two years, are poised to continue their winning ways.

But with a new schedule and di-vision — Mechanicsburg will call the Keystone Division home the next two years — Hakel isn’t ready to shoot for the stars quite yet.

“I think the expectations are high, but at the same time there are a lot of unknowns, in that the schedule is completely differ-ent,” Hakel said. “There are a lot of variables. Our league may be the most competitive in the Mid-Penn. Jason Malmont/the sentinel

Mechanicsburg teammates Kyle Lynch, left, and Ryan Greene participate in blocking drills dur-ing preseason camp.


streak enabled young players to mature during run to the playoffs.

• See Wildcats, D21

A Closer look

“He’s a top-notch stu-dent and a quality kid,” Miller said. “Every pro-gram would love to have a kid like him. We’re count-ing on him to step up and become more of a vocal leader to go along with his performance on the field. He has unbelievable ath-letic ability.”

Running the ground-based Wing-T, Reichert still put up solid numbers in his first year of varsity football action. Reichert completed 71 of 146 passes for 1,084 yards, nine touch-downs and seven inter-ceptions. The quarterback added three touchdowns and 169 rushing yards.

“He’s a tough, resilient kid,” Miller said. “He’s the kind of kid any coach would love to have in their program. I can’t say enough about him.”

The Blackhawks started fast last year in beating Newport, Middletown and James Buchanan, and the confidence has been grow-ing ever since.

Now, with the new sea-son set to start tonight with a tussle against Newport,

the team will need to start fast again or run the risk of losing their mojo.

“Our schedule is front, middle and end loaded,” Miller said. “We have to

hit the ground running against Newport. We have to get this started right, there’s no question about it. There’s no easy week in our league.”

Blackhawks• Continued from D28

photos by Jason Malmont/the sentinel

TOP: Alex Melnick, left, works with Brent Sterner on a blocking drill.aBOve: Drew Knowles, left, has a pass broken up by Andrew Hansrote.riGHT: Senior quarterback Ethan Reichert is in his second year leading the Blackhawks.


“There are a lot of ques-tion marks, but the good thing is we do have a good number of kids coming back.”

This time around, the only key player Hakel needs to replace is Tarik Leftenant. Granted, Leftenant leaves a huge void in the backfield after back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons.

A staple of Mechanicsburg football over the last three years, Leftenant, a shifty, speedy back, was the heart and soul of last year’s squad.

Hoping to replace Leften-ant is junior Ryan Greene and sophomores Cooper Miller and Joe Henessey.

“You can’t replace (Left-enant) with one person,” Hakel said. “We have sev-eral kids that will have to step up. What we’ll have to do is make sure we’re put-

ting them in situations that will take advantage of their skills.

“I’m optimistic, but we have a long way to go. So much of what we do is about timing, reading, run and react — things you can’t work on in the offseason.”

One of the stars who emerged last fall was Rusen-ko, who will begin his sec-ond year as a starter under center tonight.

Rusenko completed 99 of 193 passes for 1,450 yards, 12 touchdowns and six in-terceptions last fall. In the playoff loss to West York, Rusenko threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns. But he was also picked off twice.

“He got more patient as the year went along,” Hakel said. “His understanding of what we’re trying to do with each play, what we’re looking for, his presence in the pocket and his under-

standing of what defenses are trying to take away or willing to give up all im-proved.”

The Wildcats appeared to be set up for failure last year, but instead of folding, they fought until the bitter end and nearly beat the de-fending district champions in the playoffs.

Hakel will tell anyone who will listen that each year is a new beginning with new challenges. Last year, he knew his young squad wasn’t going to replicate the 12-1 record posted by the 2008 team, a situation that reset some goals.

This season, Hakel al-ready has an idea of what he wants to see out of this team.

“The challenge now is to not take a step backward,” Hakel said. “We have to dust off the rust and keep moving forward.”

Wildcats• Continued from D20

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — KeystoneHead coach — Chris Hakel (third year, 18-6)Offensive coordinator — Chris HakelDefensive coordinator — Jeff CostelloOther assistants — Tom Pearl, Ben Shea, Tony Rovito, Dan Hauser, Matt Barley, Andy Carter.Last year — 6-5, 3-2 division (third)Postseason — Lost to West York, 35-28, in District 3 Class AAA first round.Key players lost — Tarik Leftenant, RB.Returning offensive starters (7) — Sal Purpura, sr., WR; Tyler Botchie, sr., WR; Bryton Barr, jr., TE; Tedroy Lynch, sr., OT; Chris Brunner, sr., G; Trent Brown, sr., OT; James Rusenko, sr., QB. Returning defensive start-ers (5) — Lynch, DE; Barr, LB; Purpura, DB; Botchie, DB; Tyler Burgard, sr., DT.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 50Players to watch — Rusen-ko and Barr. “He’s a senior stepping into a role as a leader,” Hakel said of Rusenko. “He came into his own as last season went on, in terms of understanding what we’re trying to do and playing in the system.“(Barr) is only a junior but he’s a leader, and this will be his third year starting.”Team strengths — Quarterback and wide receiverTeam concern — Depth in both linesGame to watch — Sept. 17 vs. Northern. The border rivalry returns to John H. Frederick Field for another installment of what has be-come an annually exciting game. With the rise of Mechanicsburg — the Wildcats have been to the postseason each of the last two years — it’s now possible that this game could be a preview of a postseason battle. The last four games have been decided by eight points or less, but the Wildcats have won only one of those games, and that came by a 23-21 margin in 2008.

——SCHEDULE

*Keystone Division gameSept. 3 at Carlisle, 7*Sept. 10 Gettysburg, 7Sept. 17 Northern, 7Sept. 24 at Central Dauphin, 7*Oct. 1 Hershey, 7*Oct. 8 at Red Land, 7*Oct. 16 at Bishop McDevitt, 10:30 a.m.*Oct. 22 Susquehanna Twp., 7*Oct. 29 at Lower Dauphin, 7*Nov. 5 Cedar Cliff, 7

——

ROSTERNo. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Austin Schoffstall 12 6-4 205 WR-DB2 James Rusenko 12 6-3 200 QB-DB3 Mitchell Ramsey 10 5-8 155 QB-DB4 Alex Arroyo 10 5-8 135 WR-DB6 Tyler Rock 10 5-6 145 RB-DB7 Andrew Spanos 10 5-10 155 WR-DB9 Razgar Kareem 12 5-7 150 RB-DB11 Devon Fenicle 12 5-10 155 WR-DB12 Frank Rubinic 11 5-10 165 QB-DB17 Jon Guffey 12 5-11 150 WR-DB18 Mike Dowett 10 5-9 155 WR-DB19 Joe Becker 9 6-1 170 RB-LB20 Sal Purpura 12 6-0 170 WR-DB21 Anthony Stricker 12 6-3 190 WR-DB22 Bryton Barr 11 6-0 210 RB-LB23 Ahmed Ali 11 5-5 180 TE-DL25 Shante Rice 11 5-9 130 WR-DB27 Joe Hennessy 10 5-9 160 RB-LB28 Noah Beaver 12 5-10 155 RB-DB30 Tim Donmoyer 11 5-5 120 WR-DB32 Cooper Miller 10 5-4 165 RB-DB33 Devin Green-Smith 11 5-5 145 RB-DB35 Justin Madison 10 5-6 145 RB-DB40 Bobby Mentzer 10 5-10 185 RB-LB42 Gunner Boyer 11 6-1 185 RB-LB43 Ryan Greene 11 5-9 170 RB-DE44 Christian Long 10 5-7 150 WR-DB49 Zach Chirilla 11 5-8 155 TE-DE50 J.T. Heenan 11 5-9 185 OL-DL52 Nick Costea 11 5-10 210 OL-LB55 Adam Rice 12 5-7 210 OL-DL56 Jake Trump 10 6-4 235 OL-DE58 Matt Minner 11 5-11 200 OL-DE63 Tedroy Lynch 12 6-1 215 OL-DL66 Tim Duncan 11 6-0 185 RB-LB67 Ben Taylor 10 5-8 175 OL-DL71 Shane Morell 12 6-2 225 OL-DE72 Chris Brunner 12 6-0 255 OL-DL73 Dakota Landis 10 5-10 200 OL-DL74 Bobby Herr 11 6-4 320 OL-DL75 Nike Jonas 11 5-8 225 OL-DL78 Tyler Burgard 12 6-0 280 OL-DL79 Trent Brown 12 6-4 300 OL-DL80 Tyler Botchie 12 6-1 170 WR-DB81 Joey Krulock 10 5-8 165 WR-DB82 Kyle Lynch 10 6-0 160 TE-DE83 Matt Handlin 11 5-9 170 TE-LB85 J.J. Ellis 11 5-11 180 WR-DB88 Camryn Rice 10 5-8 125 WR-DB89 Sam Marlin 10 6-3 180 TE-DE94 David Arroyo 11 6-0 205 TE-DE96 Tucker Casey 10 5-10 155 WR-DB99 Austin Martz 12 5-8 135 K


ABOVE: Mechanicsburg coach Chris Hakel has led the Wildcats to the playoffs in each of his two years as head coach. BOTTOM RIGHT: Junior quarterback Frank Rubinic looks for an open receiver.

Susquenita Blackhawks

Fighting to keep respect

By TRAVIs L. PIckEnsASSiSTAnT SporTS [email protected]

Slowly but surely, second-year Susquenita football coach Bart Miller is starting to see improvement.

It started last year when the Black-hawks throttled Line Mountain, 27-7, to put themselves in position for a District 3 Class AAA playoff berth. The victory gave Susquenita a 5-4 record, meaning the team needed to win its road game at East Pennsboro in the regular-season finale to qualify for the postseason.

The Blackhawks lost, 24-8.“We beat East Penn and we sneak into

the playoffs,” said Miller, whose team finished with a non-losing record for the first time since 2002, when it went 6-4.

The changes continued in the offsea-son when Miller saw more dedication, especially from the core group of players he expects to lead his team. When camp rolled around in the middle of August, 51 players showed up. It was an increase of 11 from 2009.

“I’m pleased,” Miller said. “We’ve seen positive momentum, but we know we have to keep it rolling this year. We have to improve on last year to keep it going.

“We have a good nucleus of kids who worked out in the offseason, and they understand what it takes to get us where we need to go. We’re trying to change the culture. That’s priority No. 1.”

Maybe the second-most-important priority in Duncannon is working in 15 new starters. Only quarterback Ethan

Reichert and guard Jordan Fiegl return as starters on offense, while five players are back on defense.

The good news for Miller was that during camp, there was competition for those vacant spots. With 51 players in camp, nearly every position was up for grabs, and the battles for those spots pleased Miller, mainly because there wasn’t much competition last year.

“We had a hard time getting good looks out of our scout team,” Miller said, talking about last fall. “We’ve gotten a good effort from our (younger) kids because they know they’re in the mix and have a shot. That’s probably a little bit unique to (Susquenita) at this point.”

Miller raves about his young back-field, which will be led by Reichert, a senior who took over for the injured Derec Sauve last year and guided the Blackhawks through the season.

photos by Jason Malmont/The Sentinel

ABOVE: Kurt Kenny, left, and Todd Mullen battle each other during a tackling drill in August.BELOW: Susquenita coach Bart Miller.

After last year’s huge ■

step forward, Susquenita looks to reach the next level with another successful season.

“We’ve seen positive momentum, but we

know we have to keep it rolling this

year. We have to improve on last year

to keep it going.”

BART MILLERSuSquEniTA fooTbAll coAch

• See Blackhawks, D29


Northern football coach Rick Mauck has a bit of a dilemma.

In reality, it’s a pretty good prob-lem.

Mauck, who doubles as North-ern’s offensive coordinator, has to find a way to have two running backs — Matt Richmond and Kev-in Lytle — making an impact in every game the Polar Bears play this year.

“We manage. They can be in the game at the same time,” said Mauck, who runs a multiple of-fense. “We have lots of ways to get people the ball.”

Lytle came out of nowhere as a sophomore last year and rushed for 468 yards and six touchdowns, while Richmond, a senior, pitched in 563 yards and five touchdowns for the Polar Bears, who finished 8-3 but lost their District 3 Class AAA opener to Conestoga Valley, 35-0.

Mauck expects to use Rich-mond’s abilities as a receiver and return specialist to his advantage and is thrilled that Lytle added 15 pounds of muscle in the offsea-son.

“They shared (the ball) last year and didn’t get worn out. That meant they could help us on de-fense, too,” Mauck said. “Lytle had some really big games, and I think of the game Richmond had against Greencastle. He’s only 165 (pounds) but threw himself in there 24 times that night. He holds onto the ball and fights for every inch. He’s just a 100-per-center.”

Even with the return of Rich-mond and Lytle, Northern has some holes to fill. Big names like Kelton Mehls, Jacob Boone, Dan Blemler and Jake Warner are gone. Plus, the Polar Bears lost quarter-back Joe Tuschak when the senior decided to forgo football to focus on baseball during the fall.

“I’m glad we had him for two years,” Mauck said of Tuschak. “He’s a very talented athlete. I’m disappointed we don’t have him another year, but we wish him

well. We’ll just have to go and get the next guy ready.”

Tuschak’s replacement will be junior Alex Dale or sophomore Anthony Salomone, a Carlisle transfer.

Mauck said he was planning to use the team’s two scrimmages to determine which player will be the starter.

“Both guys are very dedicat-ed to learning things and look-ing forward to the opportunity,” Mauck said. “They’re both pretty

good athletes.”As a whole, Northern returns

five starters on offense and four on defense to a team that has grown accustomed to success.

After a year away from the top, Northern went 4-0 in the Capital Division last year to win the title. At the start of camp, 59 play-ers showed up to try to help the program remain one of the Mid-Penn Conference powers.

“We have a stable coaching staff with dedicated coaches

who come back year after year,” Mauck said. “That continuity helps you keep things together. There’s tremendous pride that the young men have in this pro-gram. I like to think we make it fun, but winning is fun, and so is being successful.

“We have some bigger chal-lenges this year, but there’s a lot of young energy and excite-ment.”


aBOve LeFT: Running back Todde` Statum leads the Greyhounds against Middletown tonight.aBOve riGHT: Lineman Steve Charles tips the scales at 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds.



Northern coach Rick Mauck talks to his team during camp. The Polar Bears hope to keep their strong tradition alive with anoth-er winning season, division title and playoff berth.

Northern Polar Bears

Stellar backs to carry the loadrichmond and ■

Lytle will both see a lot of touches while the new quarterback gets his feet wet.

• See Polar Bears, D23

“I’d say they’re at the level (of last year’s group) with the possibility of being a little better by the end of the season. We have three new starters, so they aren’t quite there yet, but they have the talent, and they’ll get there.”

Shippensburg returns 11 starters — six on offense and five on defense — from last year’s team that went 6-5 and lost to eventual District 3 champion and PIAA Class AAA runner-up Manheim Central, 49-8, in the open-ing round of district play.

It was the second time in three years the Greyhounds qualified for the postseason, but they have yet to taste success at the next level.

“That was the best game we ever lost,” Foust said of last year’s playoff ap-pearance. “We got a good look at their program and thought, ‘That’s where we want to be.’ We’re not going to be there today or tomor-

row, but they know we have something to work for.”

In terms of building the program back to respect-ability, it’s been a long road for Foust.

Entering his ninth year as head coach, Foust is 18 games under .500, but the Greyhounds haven’t had a losing season since 2006.

Now that the program is slowly turning the corner — Shippensburg had an im-pressive 65 players in camp — Foust is focused on tak-ing the next step. Last sea-son, the Greyhounds beat only one team, Pius X, with a winning record. In four games against eventual playoff qualifiers (including Manheim Central), Ship-pensburg was outscored, 140-36.

“We’re getting the kids to believe they can be suc-cessful,” Foust said. “We now know it’s possible to win games at Shippensburg. Now, the goal is to win more games at Shippensburg.”

Greyhounds• Continued from D26

Curt Werner/special to the sentinel

Shippensburg quarterback Marshal Witmer warms up during preseason camp.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Eric Foust (ninth year, 32-50)Offensive coordinator — Kevin GustafsonDefensive coordinator — Eric FoustOther assistants — Mike Heefner, Josh Sprenkle, Chris DeBias.Last year — 6-5 overall, 2-2 division (third)Postseason — Lost to Manheim Central, 49-8, in District 3 Class AAA first roundKey players lost — Greg Williams, WR-DB; Travis Faust, TE-LB; Keefer Fleigle, FB-LB; Tyler Fairchild, OT-DT.Returning offensive starters (6) — Chase Rhodes, sr., T; Matt Conner, sr., G; Todde Statum, sr., FB; Kafaun Shaffer, sr., HB; Dereck Mills, sr., WB; Zack McMullen, jr., TE.Returning defensive starters (5) — Mills, DB; John Baker, sr., LB; Shane Witmer, jr., LB; Conner, DL; Alex Harry, sr., DL.Other key returnees — Branson Allen, jr., LB. Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 52Player to watch — Marshal Witmer, jr., QB, “very talented ath-lete and should be fun to watch.”Team strength — Running backTeam concern — LinebackersGame to watch — Oct. 15 Northern. With two playoff apper-ances in the last three years, Foust has turned the program around. Now, the Greyhounds need to start beating big-name opponents. A glance at the schedule shows three opportunities for this: Sept. 3 vs. Middletown, Oct. 15 vs. Northern and Oct. 29 vs. Greencastle-Antrim. The fact that all three are at Memo-rial Stadium should help. The most important is the Northern

game. The Polar Bears have owned division play for years, and adding their name to the mantle will help put Shippensburg on the map.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 Middletown, 7Sept. 11 at Kennard-Dale, 1Sept. 17 Northeastern, 7*Sept. 24 at Big Spring, 7*Oct. 1 James Buchanan, 7*Oct. 8 at West Perry, 7*Oct. 15 Northern, 7*Oct. 22 at Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 29 Greencastle-Antrim, 7*Nov. 5 at Gettysburg, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.5 Trey Proctor 11 5-6 155 HB-S6 Hunter Wyrick 11 6-3 160 SE-DB7 Kasaun Shaffer 12 5-11 170 HB-DB10 Marshal Witmer 11 6-0 185 QB-DB11 Matt Chiappelli 11 6-3 180 SE-LB12 Britton Hastings 11 5-8 155 SE-DB13 Jeremy Musser 11 6-1 175 SE-DB14 Randy Hockenberry 10 5-7 145 SE-DB15 Gavin Lynch 10 5-8 125 SE-DB16 Dereck Mills 12 5-11 165 HB-DB18 Mac Miller 10 6-1 160 QB-DB19 Cody Mills 10 5-9 140 SE-DB20 Todde` Statum 12 5-10 210 FB-LB21 Robbie Keyes 10 6-2 205 TE-LB22 Zach Myers 11 5-9 165 HB-DB23 Tony Johnson 10 5-10 175 QB-DB24 Tyrell Kater 10 5-9 155 HB-DB25 Branson Allen 11 5-10 190 FB-LB26 Logan Swartz 10 5-8 140 HB-DB27 John Baker 12 5-9 175 HB-LB28 Kaleb Shields 10 5-9 150 SE-DB

31 Zac MucMullen 11 6-2 210 TE-LB35 Brandon Bass 10 5-10 175 HB-LB40 Devin Watson 10 5-6 145 TE-DB41 Eric Muthami 10 5-6 175 FB-DL42 Luke Allison 11 5-9 215 FB-LB44 Jeremy Wray 10 5-10 185 FB-LB46 Aaron Glass 10 5-10 180 TE-DL47 Brandon O’donnell 10 5-6 145 SE-DB48 Justin Pyne 10 5-10 160 TE-LB50 Mike Shunk 11 5-10 175 G-DT51 Chase Rhodes 12 6-2 260 C-DT52 Devin Stepler 11 5-9 155 T-DT54 Alex Harry 12 5-11 200 G-DT55 Jason Shindledecker 10 6-0 205 G-LB56 Kyle Hubert 10 5-8 200 T-DL57 Nathaniel Hart 10 5-11 205 T-DT58 Colin Ocker 10 5-11 215 G-DT59 Jayminn Shinn 10 5-8 180 T-DT60 Garrett VandeBrake 11 5-11 225 C-NG61 Ed Phillips 10 5-8 185 G-DT63 Ryan Frey 10 5-11 215 G-LB66 Colton Hammond 11 5-10 225 T-DT67 Jeremy Smith 11 5-11 180 G-DT68 Garrett Mowers 11 5-7 205 T-DT70 Matt Conner 12 5-11 255 G-DT71 Austin Horst 10 6-1 250 T-NG73 Brandon Johnson 11 5-10 210 T-DT75 Nate Harty 11 5-7 285 T-DT76 Justin Bock 10 5-9 245 T-DT77 Steve Charles 12 6-3 310 T-NG79 Cary Hess 10 6-2 220 C-DT80 Ben McCurdy 11 5-6 140 SE-DB81 Nate Thrush 10 5-10 150 SE-DB82 Matt Baer 10 5-11 155 SE-DB83 Reid Singhaus 10 6-2 165 SE-DB84 Pete Soler 11 5-1 110 SE-DB85 Dalton Peck 10 6-0 175 SE-LB86 Colby Craig 12 6-0 175 SE-DE87 Cody Ocker 10 6-0 170 TE-LB89 Shane Witmer 11 6-2 220 TE-LB


341 Baltimore Road, Shippensburg / 532-8806


Northern has a diffi-cult schedule with tricky road games at Mechanic-sburg, Gettysburg, Ship-pensburg and Greencas-tle-Antrim. That, added to games with non-con-ference foes Bermudian Springs and Muhlenberg, will be a serious challenge for a team that has only 11 seniors.

But the reliable run-nings backs will help ei-

ther Dale or Salomone as the Polar Bears look for another division crown.

“We’re hoping we can run the ball some. The passing game will devel-op,” Mauck said. “I really like our wideouts, but you work on developing the passing game. You don’t want to be stupid with it.

“We’ll do some things to get (the players) confi-dence, but I really believe we’ll be good enough to throw it some.”

Polar Bears• Continued from D22

Photos by Curt Werner/Special to The Sentinel

ABOVE: Northern players work on blocking drills.BELOW: Coach Rick Mauck conducts practice.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Rick Mauck (12th year, 93-27)Offensive coordinator — Rick MauckDefensive coordinator — Tom WiseOther assistants — Marty Green, Garrett Mowery, Pat Hicks, Rick Marsilio, Josh Benson, Tyler Rees.Last year — 8-3 overall, 4-0 division (first)Postseason — Lost to Conestoga Valley, 35-0, in District 3 Class AAA first round.Key players lost — Kelton Mehls, OL-DL; Travis Wenger, OL-DL; Joe Tuschak, QB; Jacob Boone, FB-LB; Danny Blemler, TE; Jake Warner, WR-DB. Returning offensive starters (5) — Scott Reeder, sr., T; Matt Richmond, sr., RB; Kevin Lytle, jr., RB; Andrew Keirn, sr., WR; Chris Stefanon, sr., OL.Returning defensive starters (4) — Keirn, FS; Reeder, LB; Hoff-man, LB; Boudie Dawson, DE.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — MultipleDefensive alignment — MultiplePlayer to watch — Ricmond. “He’s a clutch performer in the return game, carrying the ball and coming out of the backfield,” Mauck said. “He’s a real gritty high school football player.”Team strength — Running backsTeam concern — Development of new quarterback and matu-ration of offensive and defensive linesGame to watch — Oct. 22 at Greencastle-Antrim. Unless some-thing drastic happens, this game will likely decide the Colonial Division. After a year off the throne, Northern responded with a 4-0 record in the slimmed-down Capital Division last year. Now

that the traditional Colonial Division is more or less back to together, there are more players, but the top two teams should remain at the top. Kaley Field is a scary place for opponents, so the Bears need to be wary.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 Bermudian Springs, 7:30Sept. 10 Muhlenberg, 7Sept. 17 at Mechanicsburg, 7*Sept. 24 Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 1 at Gettysburg, 7*Oct. 8 James Buchanan, 7*Oct. 15 at Shippensburg, 7*Oct. 22 at Greencastle-Antrim, 7*Oct. 29 Big Spring, 7*Nov. 5 at West Perry, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.2 Zacc Thomas 10 5-8 150 RB-DB-K3 Tyler Potteiger 12 5-10 174 WR-DB5 Matt Richmond 12 5-9 170 RB-DB6 Elijah Locke 10 5-9 172 RB-DB7 Alex Dale 11 5-11 168 QB-DB8 Andrew Keirn 12 6-1 182 WR-FS9 John Gamber 10 5-10 160 WR-DB10 Isaiah Locke 10 5-8 150 WR-DB11 Antonio Paluscio 12 5-7 155 WR-DB12 Anthony Salamone 10 5-10 175 QB-DB13 Jesse Rocco 12 6-0 160 WR-DB14 Collin Thomas 10 5-9 145 QB-DB16 Derick Kauffman 10 5-10 165 QB-RB-DB18 Tristan Kalinay 10 6-1 172 QB-DB19 Trey Vajdic 10 5-9 165 RB-DB-K20 Ricky LeBlanc 10 5-9 152 RB-LB21 Kevin Lytle 11 6-1 209 RB-LB22 Troy Sinclair 12 5-9 185 RB-LB24 Trevor Zack 10 5-6 140 WR-DB25 Travis Saylor 10 6-2 174 WR-FS

26 Tanner Lowery 12 5-10 185 RB-TE-LB28 Jesse Cummiskey 11 5-10 172 WR-DB30 Andy Reed 10 5-9 172 TE-LB31 Cody McLaughlin 11 6-1 175 TE-LB32 A.J. McClintock 10 6-1 190 TE-LB34 Dominic Salamone 11 5-11 214 RB-LB36 Jake Harris 10 6-3 165 TE-DE39 Ryan Hoffman 11 5-10 182 TE-LB44 Richard Settle 9 5-10 189 RB-LB46 Brett Lemmon 10 5-9 185 RB-DE47 Dylan Thomas 10 5-10 198 TE-LB-K50 Kevin Mulholland 10 5-9 225 OL-DL51 Skylor Ford 11 5-10 212 OL-DL52 Tony Reed 5-10 238 OL-DL53 Ryan Geiger 11 5-11 212 OL-DL54 Dylan Tamecki 11 5-11 224 OL-DL55 Heath Rupp 11 6-3 241 OL-DL56 Scott Reeder 12 6-2 222 OL-LB57 Kyle Sinclair 10 5-10 188 OL-LB59 Ryan Gordon 12 5-10 245 OL-DL61 Austin Shambaugh 12 5-11 230 OL-DL62 Boudi Dawson 12 6-2 230 OL-DE63 Ian Murphy 11 5-11 185 OL-DL64 Adrian LaRosa 11 6-2 255 OL-DL65 Cody Derendinger 11 5-9 185 OL-DL66 Nick Lodovici 10 6-1 218 OL-DL67 Zach Lotz 10 5-10 185 OL-DL68 Zach Staton 10 6-4 214 OL-DL70 Chris Stefanon 12 6-2 215 OL-DL71 Ian Fanton 11 5-11 216 OL-DL72 Derek Yeagy 10 6-0 195 OL-DL73 Schuyler Foor 10 6-1 208 OL-DL74 Zack Barber 11 6-6 290 OL-DL75 Cody Stricker 12 5-10 190 OL-DL76 Nate Bichard 10 6-3 235 OL-DL77 Eli Delaware 11 5-10 199 OL-DL78 Ryan Markle 10 6-0 252 OL-DL79 Brendan Seamans 10 6-1 218 OL-DL80 Eric McFadden 10 5-7 142 WR-DB83 Spencer Egolf 11 6-0 195 TE-DE


Northern football players run through conditioning drills on the eve of the season. Northern qualified for the District 3-AAA playoffs last year but was eliminated in the first round.

Shippensburg Greyhounds

Witmer, Shaffer to help Statum


There’s more than one reason Shippensburg football coach Eric Foust is excited about his backfield.

Sure, record-setting senior fullback Todde` Statum is back after rushing for 1,770 yards and 18 touchdowns last fall. Statum’s rushing total broke the school record of 1,642 yards in a season set by Merle Friese in 1977.

“I expect (Statum) to be bet-ter this year,” Foust said. “He had a very good offseason and worked very hard. He’s really fo-cused and ready to get this sea-son started.

“He has very good speed and power with great vision.”

Complementing Statum, and big reasons why Foust is opti-mistic about this group, are se-nior halfback Kasaun Shaffer and first-year starting quarterback Marshal Witmer, a junior.

Shaffer rushed for 499 yards and seven touchdowns last year, while Witmer gained experience

in a reserve role and is now ready to take over.

“With Marshal, we can be more balanced and throw a lit-tle bit more,” Foust said. “He’s hard-nosed, he runs well and has a very good arm. We’re hap-py with the progress he’s made this offseason.

“He got to play the second half against Manheim Central (in the District 3 Class AAA playoffs) and had 35 rushing yards and threw a touchdown. He has the offense down and he’s meshed well with the linemen.”

Speaking of the guys in the trenches, Shippensburg is again blessed with large bodies.

One year after its five of-fensive linemen checked in at an average of 275 pounds, this year’s group averages 255. The biggest of the bunch is senior left tackle Steve Charles, who tilts the scales at 6-foot-3 and 320 pounds.

That size is great, but in an offense like the Wing-T, the big guys are also expected to move.

“Matt (Conner) and Garrett (Vanderbrake) are big bodies that can move well,” Foust said. “The tackles can be a little big-ger, but they do their jobs very well.


Shippensburg senior running back Todde` Statum returns after setting the school’s single-season rushing record last fall.

With a large line ■

leading the way, a potent backfield should be able to run wild.

• See Greyhounds, D27


Red Land Patriots

A return to physicalityBy Travis L. PickensAssistAnt sports [email protected]

Last season was an abnormality for Red Land’s football team.

At least head coach Frank Gay hopes it was.

The lack of wins during a 3-7 campaign that kept the Patriots at home for the play-offs for the first time since 2005 was the least of Gay’s concerns.

“(Last year) killed me because we pride ourselves, and we always have, on being physical, and when people played Red Land, they realized we came after them,” Gay said. “It was tough to take.”

Gay said that more often than not during the 2009 season, his team was physically inferior to its competition. The Patriots al-lowed 40 or more points three times.

“We talked about it all offseason,” Gay said. “The kids bought into the offseason strength program and the weight room.

“All we had to do was show them the film and how we got beat up pretty good up front. They realized we have to do some-thing about this, or it could get ugly.”

How much improvement was made won’t be known until Red Land and its 19 return-ing starters meet East Pennsboro at Saxon Memorial Field tonight at 7.

During camp, Gay was excited over the physicality of his team.

“We got into a little scrap in the first scrimmage (against Northeastern), and the kids didn’t back down. That’s really impor-tant to me,” Gay said. “We’re not going to be a cheap-shot team, but I saw them rally around each other and have each other’s backs. That was really important. We talked about unity and having each other’s backs.”


David Gilhooly wraps up Tanner Hubbard during tackling drills. Red Land coach Frank Gay was not happy with how his team was pushed around the field last fall and has tried to make his players understand that to win football games, they need to be more physical. With a difficult schedule, the Patriots will need to be much improved from last year, when they went 3-7.

After being bullied ■

for most of the 2009 season, coach Frank Gay’s team wants to dish out punishment to its opponents.

• See Patriots, D25

Red Land has an edge over most teams in that it returns four of five starters on the offensive line. Three of the returning starters are seniors who were part of a unit that struggled last year, which should make the group tougher this time around.

And, for the offense to have any hope, it’s vital that the line is improved in all facets.

“We worked all spring on the running game, and we have to be able to run the foot-ball to open up the offense,” Gay said. “I keep saying (the offense) relies on (senior quarterback Spencer Gay). He’s calling the shots, and he’s the key to our offense. We feel with this quarterback we have a third running back in the backfield at all times.

“With that offensive line being a strength, we feel that’s huge to be able to move the football.”

Red Land starts with three games out of its division — at East Pennsboro, Dallas-town and at Dover — before entering Keystone Division play against Lower Dauphin on Sept. 24. It’s a division that will arguably be one of the most competitive in the conference.

“It’s super tough from top to bottom,” the coach said. “With (Bishop) McDevitt coming in, that makes it real difficult. We really want to get out to a fast start. We want to get off to a fast start and have some confidence.”

If it qualifies for the post-season, Red Land will be back at the Class AAA level, which is where the program was classified when it cap-tured its only district foot-ball crown, in 2006.

During camp, the Patri-ots had 52 players. It was an increase of nearly 10 from 2009, and Gay easily found things for them to do.

“It’s a manageable num-ber for us,” Gay said. “There’s not a whole lot of kids standing around. They all get a lot of reps. I really like this number.”

Patriots• Continued from D24


aBOve: Red Land football coach Frank Gay experienced a rare losing season last fall. This year, the Patriots are in the ultra-competitive Keystone Division.BOTTOM riGHT: Deryan George and teammates practice during camp.

“(Last year) killed me because we pride ourselves, and we

always have, on being physical.”

frank GayrEd lAnd FootbAll coAch

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — KeystoneHead coach — Frank Gay (eighth year, 43-35)Offensive coordinator — Tom PeiferDefensive coordinator — Eric DepewOther assistants — Wayne Snellbaker, John Greene, Jack Murray, Nick Helkias, Bruce Belskey, Scotty Acri, Thomas Bonadee, Joe Tresco, Tom Peifer, Chad Weaver.Last year — 3-7 overall, 1-4 division (fourth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Brad Medellin, QB; Adam Keller, WR-OLB-K; Ethan Noss, WR-DB.Returning offensive start-ers (9) — Tyler Hubbard, sr., LT; Taylor Stewart, sr., G; Brandt Fetrow, sr., C; Brett Niederreither, jr., RT; Jeff Scaramuzzino, sr., TE; Devin Howard, sr., WR; Bill Wilt, sr., WR; Nick Diller, sr., RB; Ricky Kraynak, jr., RB. Returning defensive starters (10) — Zach Prexta, jr., DE; Nie-derreither,, T; Tyler Hubbard, T; Tanner Hubbard, jr., DE; Kraynak, LB; Jeff Lancione, sr., LB; Scaramuzzino, LB; Diller, DB; James Tresco, sr., DB; Wilt, DB.Other key returnees — Spencer Gay, QB-DB; Austin Hoover, LB; David Gilhooly, OL.Offensive alignment — Multiple ProDefensive alignment — Multiple 40Players to watch — Diller and Tyler Hubbard.Team strength — Offensive lineTeam concern — Depth at wide receiverGame to watch — Oct. 1 vs. Cedar Cliff. While it’s true the Patriots are back to the Class AAA level — Red Land fluctuates between AAAA and AAA in most sports — the schedule didn’t get any easier. Red Land opens with Dallastown, which has high expectations, before embarking on a nasty division schedule that includes a crossover with defending 3-AAAA runner-up Cumberland Valley, followed by a trip to powerful Bishop McDevitt. Cedar Cliff isn’t a pushover, but in this rivalry, records, past results and the daunting schedule can be put aside for one night.

——SCHEDULE

*Keystone Division gameSept. 3 at East Pennsboro, 7Sept. 10 Dallastown, 7Sept. 17 at Dover, 7*Sept. 24 Lower Dauphin, 7*Oct. 1 at Cedar Cliff, 7*Oct. 8 Mechanicsburg, 7*Oct. 15 Hershey, 7Oct. 22 at Cumberland Valley, 7*Oct. 30 at Bishop McDevitt, 10:30 a.m.*Nov. 5 Susquehanna Twp., 7

——

ROSTERNo. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Aaron Skonecki 11 6-1 170 K3 Tyler Howell 10 5-8 150 WR-DB4 Spencer Gay 12 5-10 175 QB-DB5 John Ford 9 5-10 150 WR-RB-DB6 Taylor Bryant 11 5-10 160 WR-DB8 Darrin Stover 10 5-8 155 WR-QB-DB9 Tom McCullough 10 5-11 155 RB-LB10 James Tresco 12 5-8 165 WR-DB11 William Wilt 12 6-1 160 WR-DB12 Kyle Biddle 10 6-0 150 QB-DB14 Ricky Kraynak 11 6-0 205 RB-LB16 Jeff Lancione 12 5-9 185 WR-LB18 George Gekas 11 5-8 160 WR-DB20 Bobby Heffelfinger 11 6-0 160 WR-LB21 Nick Diller 12 5-10 190 RB-DB22 Bret Chester 11 5-7 170 RB-LB23 Devin Howard 12 6-0 180 WR-DB24 Kyle Searfoss 10 5-11 185 RB-LB28 William Keckler 11 5-9 180 RB-LB30 Nick Smith 10 5-9 190 RB-LB31 Nathan Wadley 11 5-8 150 RB-DB32 Tyler Mebust 11 5-9 185 RB-LB35 Christian Fetrow 10 5-9 175 RB-LB36 Zach Boisvert 12 5-10 170 WR-DB37 Josh Keckler 10 5-9 170 RB-QB-LB39 Austin Hoover 11 5-10 180 RB-LB44 Jeff Scaramazino 12 5-11 205 TE-LB52 Tyler Hubbard 12 6-0 255 OL-DL53 Cody Umstead 10 6-4 250 OL-DL54 Brandt Fetrow 12 6-0 245 OL-DL55 Bret Niederreither 11 6-3 265 OL-DL56 William Husser 10 5-10 205 OL-DL57 Dylan Soster 10 5-11 225 OL-DL58 Joel Hertzog 10 5-10 220 OL-DL59 Calvin Buffington 11 5-11 240 OL-DL60 Jon Loy 10 5-7 165 OL-DL63 Tanner Hubbard 11 6-2 210 OL-DL65 Tyler Hunderkoffler 10 5-10 225 OL-DL66 David Gilhooly 11 6-3 230 OL-DL71 David Kephart 11 6-5 250 OL-DL72 Taylor Stewart 12 5-10 210 OL-DL73 Zach Prexta 11 6-2 210 OL-DL74 Logan Gotshall 10 6-5 210 OL-DL81 Aaron Payne 11 6-1 160 WR-DB82 Austin Calhoun 10 6-0 170 WR-LB83 Logan Hodges 11 5-10 175 TE-LB84 Kyle Klinedinst 11 6-4 180 TE-DL85 DeRyan George 10 5-11 150 WR-DB86 Richard Pugh 11 5-9 155 WR-DB87 Steffen Six 11 5-9 120 WR-DB88 Kyle Davaney 10 6-0 165 TE-LB


Red Land Patriots

A return to physicalityBy Travis L. PickensAssistAnt sports [email protected]

Last season was an abnormality for Red Land’s football team.

At least head coach Frank Gay hopes it was.

The lack of wins during a 3-7 campaign that kept the Patriots at home for the play-offs for the first time since 2005 was the least of Gay’s concerns.

“(Last year) killed me because we pride ourselves, and we always have, on being physical, and when people played Red Land, they realized we came after them,” Gay said. “It was tough to take.”

Gay said that more often than not during the 2009 season, his team was physically inferior to its competition. The Patriots al-lowed 40 or more points three times.

“We talked about it all offseason,” Gay said. “The kids bought into the offseason strength program and the weight room.

“All we had to do was show them the film and how we got beat up pretty good up front. They realized we have to do some-thing about this, or it could get ugly.”

How much improvement was made won’t be known until Red Land and its 19 return-ing starters meet East Pennsboro at Saxon Memorial Field tonight at 7.

During camp, Gay was excited over the physicality of his team.

“We got into a little scrap in the first scrimmage (against Northeastern), and the kids didn’t back down. That’s really impor-tant to me,” Gay said. “We’re not going to be a cheap-shot team, but I saw them rally around each other and have each other’s backs. That was really important. We talked about unity and having each other’s backs.”


David Gilhooly wraps up Tanner Hubbard during tackling drills. Red Land coach Frank Gay was not happy with how his team was pushed around the field last fall and has tried to make his players understand that to win football games, they need to be more physical. With a difficult schedule, the Patriots will need to be much improved from last year, when they went 3-7.

After being bullied ■

for most of the 2009 season, coach Frank Gay’s team wants to dish out punishment to its opponents.

• See Patriots, D25

Red Land has an edge over most teams in that it returns four of five starters on the offensive line. Three of the returning starters are seniors who were part of a unit that struggled last year, which should make the group tougher this time around.

And, for the offense to have any hope, it’s vital that the line is improved in all facets.

“We worked all spring on the running game, and we have to be able to run the foot-ball to open up the offense,” Gay said. “I keep saying (the offense) relies on (senior quarterback Spencer Gay). He’s calling the shots, and he’s the key to our offense. We feel with this quarterback we have a third running back in the backfield at all times.

“With that offensive line being a strength, we feel that’s huge to be able to move the football.”

Red Land starts with three games out of its division — at East Pennsboro, Dallas-town and at Dover — before entering Keystone Division play against Lower Dauphin on Sept. 24. It’s a division that will arguably be one of the most competitive in the conference.

“It’s super tough from top to bottom,” the coach said. “With (Bishop) McDevitt coming in, that makes it real difficult. We really want to get out to a fast start. We want to get off to a fast start and have some confidence.”

If it qualifies for the post-season, Red Land will be back at the Class AAA level, which is where the program was classified when it cap-tured its only district foot-ball crown, in 2006.

During camp, the Patri-ots had 52 players. It was an increase of nearly 10 from 2009, and Gay easily found things for them to do.

“It’s a manageable num-ber for us,” Gay said. “There’s not a whole lot of kids standing around. They all get a lot of reps. I really like this number.”

Patriots• Continued from D24


aBOve: Red Land football coach Frank Gay experienced a rare losing season last fall. This year, the Patriots are in the ultra-competitive Keystone Division.BOTTOM riGHT: Deryan George and teammates practice during camp.

“(Last year) killed me because we pride ourselves, and we

always have, on being physical.”

frank GayrEd lAnd FootbAll coAch

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — KeystoneHead coach — Frank Gay (eighth year, 43-35)Offensive coordinator — Tom PeiferDefensive coordinator — Eric DepewOther assistants — Wayne Snellbaker, John Greene, Jack Murray, Nick Helkias, Bruce Belskey, Scotty Acri, Thomas Bonadee, Joe Tresco, Tom Peifer, Chad Weaver.Last year — 3-7 overall, 1-4 division (fourth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Brad Medellin, QB; Adam Keller, WR-OLB-K; Ethan Noss, WR-DB.Returning offensive start-ers (9) — Tyler Hubbard, sr., LT; Taylor Stewart, sr., G; Brandt Fetrow, sr., C; Brett Niederreither, jr., RT; Jeff Scaramuzzino, sr., TE; Devin Howard, sr., WR; Bill Wilt, sr., WR; Nick Diller, sr., RB; Ricky Kraynak, jr., RB. Returning defensive starters (10) — Zach Prexta, jr., DE; Nie-derreither,, T; Tyler Hubbard, T; Tanner Hubbard, jr., DE; Kraynak, LB; Jeff Lancione, sr., LB; Scaramuzzino, LB; Diller, DB; James Tresco, sr., DB; Wilt, DB.Other key returnees — Spencer Gay, QB-DB; Austin Hoover, LB; David Gilhooly, OL.Offensive alignment — Multiple ProDefensive alignment — Multiple 40Players to watch — Diller and Tyler Hubbard.Team strength — Offensive lineTeam concern — Depth at wide receiverGame to watch — Oct. 1 vs. Cedar Cliff. While it’s true the Patriots are back to the Class AAA level — Red Land fluctuates between AAAA and AAA in most sports — the schedule didn’t get any easier. Red Land opens with Dallastown, which has high expectations, before embarking on a nasty division schedule that includes a crossover with defending 3-AAAA runner-up Cumberland Valley, followed by a trip to powerful Bishop McDevitt. Cedar Cliff isn’t a pushover, but in this rivalry, records, past results and the daunting schedule can be put aside for one night.

——SCHEDULE

*Keystone Division gameSept. 3 at East Pennsboro, 7Sept. 10 Dallastown, 7Sept. 17 at Dover, 7*Sept. 24 Lower Dauphin, 7*Oct. 1 at Cedar Cliff, 7*Oct. 8 Mechanicsburg, 7*Oct. 15 Hershey, 7Oct. 22 at Cumberland Valley, 7*Oct. 30 at Bishop McDevitt, 10:30 a.m.*Nov. 5 Susquehanna Twp., 7

——

ROSTERNo. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Aaron Skonecki 11 6-1 170 K3 Tyler Howell 10 5-8 150 WR-DB4 Spencer Gay 12 5-10 175 QB-DB5 John Ford 9 5-10 150 WR-RB-DB6 Taylor Bryant 11 5-10 160 WR-DB8 Darrin Stover 10 5-8 155 WR-QB-DB9 Tom McCullough 10 5-11 155 RB-LB10 James Tresco 12 5-8 165 WR-DB11 William Wilt 12 6-1 160 WR-DB12 Kyle Biddle 10 6-0 150 QB-DB14 Ricky Kraynak 11 6-0 205 RB-LB16 Jeff Lancione 12 5-9 185 WR-LB18 George Gekas 11 5-8 160 WR-DB20 Bobby Heffelfinger 11 6-0 160 WR-LB21 Nick Diller 12 5-10 190 RB-DB22 Bret Chester 11 5-7 170 RB-LB23 Devin Howard 12 6-0 180 WR-DB24 Kyle Searfoss 10 5-11 185 RB-LB28 William Keckler 11 5-9 180 RB-LB30 Nick Smith 10 5-9 190 RB-LB31 Nathan Wadley 11 5-8 150 RB-DB32 Tyler Mebust 11 5-9 185 RB-LB35 Christian Fetrow 10 5-9 175 RB-LB36 Zach Boisvert 12 5-10 170 WR-DB37 Josh Keckler 10 5-9 170 RB-QB-LB39 Austin Hoover 11 5-10 180 RB-LB44 Jeff Scaramazino 12 5-11 205 TE-LB52 Tyler Hubbard 12 6-0 255 OL-DL53 Cody Umstead 10 6-4 250 OL-DL54 Brandt Fetrow 12 6-0 245 OL-DL55 Bret Niederreither 11 6-3 265 OL-DL56 William Husser 10 5-10 205 OL-DL57 Dylan Soster 10 5-11 225 OL-DL58 Joel Hertzog 10 5-10 220 OL-DL59 Calvin Buffington 11 5-11 240 OL-DL60 Jon Loy 10 5-7 165 OL-DL63 Tanner Hubbard 11 6-2 210 OL-DL65 Tyler Hunderkoffler 10 5-10 225 OL-DL66 David Gilhooly 11 6-3 230 OL-DL71 David Kephart 11 6-5 250 OL-DL72 Taylor Stewart 12 5-10 210 OL-DL73 Zach Prexta 11 6-2 210 OL-DL74 Logan Gotshall 10 6-5 210 OL-DL81 Aaron Payne 11 6-1 160 WR-DB82 Austin Calhoun 10 6-0 170 WR-LB83 Logan Hodges 11 5-10 175 TE-LB84 Kyle Klinedinst 11 6-4 180 TE-DL85 DeRyan George 10 5-11 150 WR-DB86 Richard Pugh 11 5-9 155 WR-DB87 Steffen Six 11 5-9 120 WR-DB88 Kyle Davaney 10 6-0 165 TE-LB


341 Baltimore Road, Shippensburg / 532-8806


Northern has a diffi-cult schedule with tricky road games at Mechanic-sburg, Gettysburg, Ship-pensburg and Greencas-tle-Antrim. That, added to games with non-con-ference foes Bermudian Springs and Muhlenberg, will be a serious challenge for a team that has only 11 seniors.

But the reliable run-nings backs will help ei-

ther Dale or Salomone as the Polar Bears look for another division crown.

“We’re hoping we can run the ball some. The passing game will devel-op,” Mauck said. “I really like our wideouts, but you work on developing the passing game. You don’t want to be stupid with it.

“We’ll do some things to get (the players) confi-dence, but I really believe we’ll be good enough to throw it some.”

Polar Bears• Continued from D22

Photos by Curt Werner/Special to The Sentinel

ABOVE: Northern players work on blocking drills.BELOW: Coach Rick Mauck conducts practice.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Rick Mauck (12th year, 93-27)Offensive coordinator — Rick MauckDefensive coordinator — Tom WiseOther assistants — Marty Green, Garrett Mowery, Pat Hicks, Rick Marsilio, Josh Benson, Tyler Rees.Last year — 8-3 overall, 4-0 division (first)Postseason — Lost to Conestoga Valley, 35-0, in District 3 Class AAA first round.Key players lost — Kelton Mehls, OL-DL; Travis Wenger, OL-DL; Joe Tuschak, QB; Jacob Boone, FB-LB; Danny Blemler, TE; Jake Warner, WR-DB. Returning offensive starters (5) — Scott Reeder, sr., T; Matt Richmond, sr., RB; Kevin Lytle, jr., RB; Andrew Keirn, sr., WR; Chris Stefanon, sr., OL.Returning defensive starters (4) — Keirn, FS; Reeder, LB; Hoff-man, LB; Boudie Dawson, DE.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — MultipleDefensive alignment — MultiplePlayer to watch — Ricmond. “He’s a clutch performer in the return game, carrying the ball and coming out of the backfield,” Mauck said. “He’s a real gritty high school football player.”Team strength — Running backsTeam concern — Development of new quarterback and matu-ration of offensive and defensive linesGame to watch — Oct. 22 at Greencastle-Antrim. Unless some-thing drastic happens, this game will likely decide the Colonial Division. After a year off the throne, Northern responded with a 4-0 record in the slimmed-down Capital Division last year. Now

that the traditional Colonial Division is more or less back to together, there are more players, but the top two teams should remain at the top. Kaley Field is a scary place for opponents, so the Bears need to be wary.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 Bermudian Springs, 7:30Sept. 10 Muhlenberg, 7Sept. 17 at Mechanicsburg, 7*Sept. 24 Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 1 at Gettysburg, 7*Oct. 8 James Buchanan, 7*Oct. 15 at Shippensburg, 7*Oct. 22 at Greencastle-Antrim, 7*Oct. 29 Big Spring, 7*Nov. 5 at West Perry, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.2 Zacc Thomas 10 5-8 150 RB-DB-K3 Tyler Potteiger 12 5-10 174 WR-DB5 Matt Richmond 12 5-9 170 RB-DB6 Elijah Locke 10 5-9 172 RB-DB7 Alex Dale 11 5-11 168 QB-DB8 Andrew Keirn 12 6-1 182 WR-FS9 John Gamber 10 5-10 160 WR-DB10 Isaiah Locke 10 5-8 150 WR-DB11 Antonio Paluscio 12 5-7 155 WR-DB12 Anthony Salamone 10 5-10 175 QB-DB13 Jesse Rocco 12 6-0 160 WR-DB14 Collin Thomas 10 5-9 145 QB-DB16 Derick Kauffman 10 5-10 165 QB-RB-DB18 Tristan Kalinay 10 6-1 172 QB-DB19 Trey Vajdic 10 5-9 165 RB-DB-K20 Ricky LeBlanc 10 5-9 152 RB-LB21 Kevin Lytle 11 6-1 209 RB-LB22 Troy Sinclair 12 5-9 185 RB-LB24 Trevor Zack 10 5-6 140 WR-DB25 Travis Saylor 10 6-2 174 WR-FS

26 Tanner Lowery 12 5-10 185 RB-TE-LB28 Jesse Cummiskey 11 5-10 172 WR-DB30 Andy Reed 10 5-9 172 TE-LB31 Cody McLaughlin 11 6-1 175 TE-LB32 A.J. McClintock 10 6-1 190 TE-LB34 Dominic Salamone 11 5-11 214 RB-LB36 Jake Harris 10 6-3 165 TE-DE39 Ryan Hoffman 11 5-10 182 TE-LB44 Richard Settle 9 5-10 189 RB-LB46 Brett Lemmon 10 5-9 185 RB-DE47 Dylan Thomas 10 5-10 198 TE-LB-K50 Kevin Mulholland 10 5-9 225 OL-DL51 Skylor Ford 11 5-10 212 OL-DL52 Tony Reed 5-10 238 OL-DL53 Ryan Geiger 11 5-11 212 OL-DL54 Dylan Tamecki 11 5-11 224 OL-DL55 Heath Rupp 11 6-3 241 OL-DL56 Scott Reeder 12 6-2 222 OL-LB57 Kyle Sinclair 10 5-10 188 OL-LB59 Ryan Gordon 12 5-10 245 OL-DL61 Austin Shambaugh 12 5-11 230 OL-DL62 Boudi Dawson 12 6-2 230 OL-DE63 Ian Murphy 11 5-11 185 OL-DL64 Adrian LaRosa 11 6-2 255 OL-DL65 Cody Derendinger 11 5-9 185 OL-DL66 Nick Lodovici 10 6-1 218 OL-DL67 Zach Lotz 10 5-10 185 OL-DL68 Zach Staton 10 6-4 214 OL-DL70 Chris Stefanon 12 6-2 215 OL-DL71 Ian Fanton 11 5-11 216 OL-DL72 Derek Yeagy 10 6-0 195 OL-DL73 Schuyler Foor 10 6-1 208 OL-DL74 Zack Barber 11 6-6 290 OL-DL75 Cody Stricker 12 5-10 190 OL-DL76 Nate Bichard 10 6-3 235 OL-DL77 Eli Delaware 11 5-10 199 OL-DL78 Ryan Markle 10 6-0 252 OL-DL79 Brendan Seamans 10 6-1 218 OL-DL80 Eric McFadden 10 5-7 142 WR-DB83 Spencer Egolf 11 6-0 195 TE-DE


Northern football players run through conditioning drills on the eve of the season. Northern qualified for the District 3-AAA playoffs last year but was eliminated in the first round.

Shippensburg Greyhounds

Witmer, Shaffer to help Statum


There’s more than one reason Shippensburg football coach Eric Foust is excited about his backfield.

Sure, record-setting senior fullback Todde` Statum is back after rushing for 1,770 yards and 18 touchdowns last fall. Statum’s rushing total broke the school record of 1,642 yards in a season set by Merle Friese in 1977.

“I expect (Statum) to be bet-ter this year,” Foust said. “He had a very good offseason and worked very hard. He’s really fo-cused and ready to get this sea-son started.

“He has very good speed and power with great vision.”

Complementing Statum, and big reasons why Foust is opti-mistic about this group, are se-nior halfback Kasaun Shaffer and first-year starting quarterback Marshal Witmer, a junior.

Shaffer rushed for 499 yards and seven touchdowns last year, while Witmer gained experience

in a reserve role and is now ready to take over.

“With Marshal, we can be more balanced and throw a lit-tle bit more,” Foust said. “He’s hard-nosed, he runs well and has a very good arm. We’re hap-py with the progress he’s made this offseason.

“He got to play the second half against Manheim Central (in the District 3 Class AAA playoffs) and had 35 rushing yards and threw a touchdown. He has the offense down and he’s meshed well with the linemen.”

Speaking of the guys in the trenches, Shippensburg is again blessed with large bodies.

One year after its five of-fensive linemen checked in at an average of 275 pounds, this year’s group averages 255. The biggest of the bunch is senior left tackle Steve Charles, who tilts the scales at 6-foot-3 and 320 pounds.

That size is great, but in an offense like the Wing-T, the big guys are also expected to move.

“Matt (Conner) and Garrett (Vanderbrake) are big bodies that can move well,” Foust said. “The tackles can be a little big-ger, but they do their jobs very well.


Shippensburg senior running back Todde` Statum returns after setting the school’s single-season rushing record last fall.

With a large line ■

leading the way, a potent backfield should be able to run wild.

• See Greyhounds, D27


Northern football coach Rick Mauck has a bit of a dilemma.

In reality, it’s a pretty good prob-lem.

Mauck, who doubles as North-ern’s offensive coordinator, has to find a way to have two running backs — Matt Richmond and Kev-in Lytle — making an impact in every game the Polar Bears play this year.

“We manage. They can be in the game at the same time,” said Mauck, who runs a multiple of-fense. “We have lots of ways to get people the ball.”

Lytle came out of nowhere as a sophomore last year and rushed for 468 yards and six touchdowns, while Richmond, a senior, pitched in 563 yards and five touchdowns for the Polar Bears, who finished 8-3 but lost their District 3 Class AAA opener to Conestoga Valley, 35-0.

Mauck expects to use Rich-mond’s abilities as a receiver and return specialist to his advantage and is thrilled that Lytle added 15 pounds of muscle in the offsea-son.

“They shared (the ball) last year and didn’t get worn out. That meant they could help us on de-fense, too,” Mauck said. “Lytle had some really big games, and I think of the game Richmond had against Greencastle. He’s only 165 (pounds) but threw himself in there 24 times that night. He holds onto the ball and fights for every inch. He’s just a 100-per-center.”

Even with the return of Rich-mond and Lytle, Northern has some holes to fill. Big names like Kelton Mehls, Jacob Boone, Dan Blemler and Jake Warner are gone. Plus, the Polar Bears lost quarter-back Joe Tuschak when the senior decided to forgo football to focus on baseball during the fall.

“I’m glad we had him for two years,” Mauck said of Tuschak. “He’s a very talented athlete. I’m disappointed we don’t have him another year, but we wish him

well. We’ll just have to go and get the next guy ready.”

Tuschak’s replacement will be junior Alex Dale or sophomore Anthony Salomone, a Carlisle transfer.

Mauck said he was planning to use the team’s two scrimmages to determine which player will be the starter.

“Both guys are very dedicat-ed to learning things and look-ing forward to the opportunity,” Mauck said. “They’re both pretty

good athletes.”As a whole, Northern returns

five starters on offense and four on defense to a team that has grown accustomed to success.

After a year away from the top, Northern went 4-0 in the Capital Division last year to win the title. At the start of camp, 59 play-ers showed up to try to help the program remain one of the Mid-Penn Conference powers.

“We have a stable coaching staff with dedicated coaches

who come back year after year,” Mauck said. “That continuity helps you keep things together. There’s tremendous pride that the young men have in this pro-gram. I like to think we make it fun, but winning is fun, and so is being successful.

“We have some bigger chal-lenges this year, but there’s a lot of young energy and excite-ment.”


aBOve LeFT: Running back Todde` Statum leads the Greyhounds against Middletown tonight.aBOve riGHT: Lineman Steve Charles tips the scales at 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds.



Northern coach Rick Mauck talks to his team during camp. The Polar Bears hope to keep their strong tradition alive with anoth-er winning season, division title and playoff berth.

Northern Polar Bears

Stellar backs to carry the loadrichmond and ■

Lytle will both see a lot of touches while the new quarterback gets his feet wet.

• See Polar Bears, D23

“I’d say they’re at the level (of last year’s group) with the possibility of being a little better by the end of the season. We have three new starters, so they aren’t quite there yet, but they have the talent, and they’ll get there.”

Shippensburg returns 11 starters — six on offense and five on defense — from last year’s team that went 6-5 and lost to eventual District 3 champion and PIAA Class AAA runner-up Manheim Central, 49-8, in the open-ing round of district play.

It was the second time in three years the Greyhounds qualified for the postseason, but they have yet to taste success at the next level.

“That was the best game we ever lost,” Foust said of last year’s playoff ap-pearance. “We got a good look at their program and thought, ‘That’s where we want to be.’ We’re not going to be there today or tomor-

row, but they know we have something to work for.”

In terms of building the program back to respect-ability, it’s been a long road for Foust.

Entering his ninth year as head coach, Foust is 18 games under .500, but the Greyhounds haven’t had a losing season since 2006.

Now that the program is slowly turning the corner — Shippensburg had an im-pressive 65 players in camp — Foust is focused on tak-ing the next step. Last sea-son, the Greyhounds beat only one team, Pius X, with a winning record. In four games against eventual playoff qualifiers (including Manheim Central), Ship-pensburg was outscored, 140-36.

“We’re getting the kids to believe they can be suc-cessful,” Foust said. “We now know it’s possible to win games at Shippensburg. Now, the goal is to win more games at Shippensburg.”

Greyhounds• Continued from D26

Curt Werner/special to the sentinel

Shippensburg quarterback Marshal Witmer warms up during preseason camp.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Eric Foust (ninth year, 32-50)Offensive coordinator — Kevin GustafsonDefensive coordinator — Eric FoustOther assistants — Mike Heefner, Josh Sprenkle, Chris DeBias.Last year — 6-5 overall, 2-2 division (third)Postseason — Lost to Manheim Central, 49-8, in District 3 Class AAA first roundKey players lost — Greg Williams, WR-DB; Travis Faust, TE-LB; Keefer Fleigle, FB-LB; Tyler Fairchild, OT-DT.Returning offensive starters (6) — Chase Rhodes, sr., T; Matt Conner, sr., G; Todde Statum, sr., FB; Kafaun Shaffer, sr., HB; Dereck Mills, sr., WB; Zack McMullen, jr., TE.Returning defensive starters (5) — Mills, DB; John Baker, sr., LB; Shane Witmer, jr., LB; Conner, DL; Alex Harry, sr., DL.Other key returnees — Branson Allen, jr., LB. Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 52Player to watch — Marshal Witmer, jr., QB, “very talented ath-lete and should be fun to watch.”Team strength — Running backTeam concern — LinebackersGame to watch — Oct. 15 Northern. With two playoff apper-ances in the last three years, Foust has turned the program around. Now, the Greyhounds need to start beating big-name opponents. A glance at the schedule shows three opportunities for this: Sept. 3 vs. Middletown, Oct. 15 vs. Northern and Oct. 29 vs. Greencastle-Antrim. The fact that all three are at Memo-rial Stadium should help. The most important is the Northern

game. The Polar Bears have owned division play for years, and adding their name to the mantle will help put Shippensburg on the map.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 Middletown, 7Sept. 11 at Kennard-Dale, 1Sept. 17 Northeastern, 7*Sept. 24 at Big Spring, 7*Oct. 1 James Buchanan, 7*Oct. 8 at West Perry, 7*Oct. 15 Northern, 7*Oct. 22 at Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 29 Greencastle-Antrim, 7*Nov. 5 at Gettysburg, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.5 Trey Proctor 11 5-6 155 HB-S6 Hunter Wyrick 11 6-3 160 SE-DB7 Kasaun Shaffer 12 5-11 170 HB-DB10 Marshal Witmer 11 6-0 185 QB-DB11 Matt Chiappelli 11 6-3 180 SE-LB12 Britton Hastings 11 5-8 155 SE-DB13 Jeremy Musser 11 6-1 175 SE-DB14 Randy Hockenberry 10 5-7 145 SE-DB15 Gavin Lynch 10 5-8 125 SE-DB16 Dereck Mills 12 5-11 165 HB-DB18 Mac Miller 10 6-1 160 QB-DB19 Cody Mills 10 5-9 140 SE-DB20 Todde` Statum 12 5-10 210 FB-LB21 Robbie Keyes 10 6-2 205 TE-LB22 Zach Myers 11 5-9 165 HB-DB23 Tony Johnson 10 5-10 175 QB-DB24 Tyrell Kater 10 5-9 155 HB-DB25 Branson Allen 11 5-10 190 FB-LB26 Logan Swartz 10 5-8 140 HB-DB27 John Baker 12 5-9 175 HB-LB28 Kaleb Shields 10 5-9 150 SE-DB

31 Zac MucMullen 11 6-2 210 TE-LB35 Brandon Bass 10 5-10 175 HB-LB40 Devin Watson 10 5-6 145 TE-DB41 Eric Muthami 10 5-6 175 FB-DL42 Luke Allison 11 5-9 215 FB-LB44 Jeremy Wray 10 5-10 185 FB-LB46 Aaron Glass 10 5-10 180 TE-DL47 Brandon O’donnell 10 5-6 145 SE-DB48 Justin Pyne 10 5-10 160 TE-LB50 Mike Shunk 11 5-10 175 G-DT51 Chase Rhodes 12 6-2 260 C-DT52 Devin Stepler 11 5-9 155 T-DT54 Alex Harry 12 5-11 200 G-DT55 Jason Shindledecker 10 6-0 205 G-LB56 Kyle Hubert 10 5-8 200 T-DL57 Nathaniel Hart 10 5-11 205 T-DT58 Colin Ocker 10 5-11 215 G-DT59 Jayminn Shinn 10 5-8 180 T-DT60 Garrett VandeBrake 11 5-11 225 C-NG61 Ed Phillips 10 5-8 185 G-DT63 Ryan Frey 10 5-11 215 G-LB66 Colton Hammond 11 5-10 225 T-DT67 Jeremy Smith 11 5-11 180 G-DT68 Garrett Mowers 11 5-7 205 T-DT70 Matt Conner 12 5-11 255 G-DT71 Austin Horst 10 6-1 250 T-NG73 Brandon Johnson 11 5-10 210 T-DT75 Nate Harty 11 5-7 285 T-DT76 Justin Bock 10 5-9 245 T-DT77 Steve Charles 12 6-3 310 T-NG79 Cary Hess 10 6-2 220 C-DT80 Ben McCurdy 11 5-6 140 SE-DB81 Nate Thrush 10 5-10 150 SE-DB82 Matt Baer 10 5-11 155 SE-DB83 Reid Singhaus 10 6-2 165 SE-DB84 Pete Soler 11 5-1 110 SE-DB85 Dalton Peck 10 6-0 175 SE-LB86 Colby Craig 12 6-0 175 SE-DE87 Cody Ocker 10 6-0 170 TE-LB89 Shane Witmer 11 6-2 220 TE-LB


“There are a lot of ques-tion marks, but the good thing is we do have a good number of kids coming back.”

This time around, the only key player Hakel needs to replace is Tarik Leftenant. Granted, Leftenant leaves a huge void in the backfield after back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons.

A staple of Mechanicsburg football over the last three years, Leftenant, a shifty, speedy back, was the heart and soul of last year’s squad.

Hoping to replace Leften-ant is junior Ryan Greene and sophomores Cooper Miller and Joe Henessey.

“You can’t replace (Left-enant) with one person,” Hakel said. “We have sev-eral kids that will have to step up. What we’ll have to do is make sure we’re put-

ting them in situations that will take advantage of their skills.

“I’m optimistic, but we have a long way to go. So much of what we do is about timing, reading, run and react — things you can’t work on in the offseason.”

One of the stars who emerged last fall was Rusen-ko, who will begin his sec-ond year as a starter under center tonight.

Rusenko completed 99 of 193 passes for 1,450 yards, 12 touchdowns and six in-terceptions last fall. In the playoff loss to West York, Rusenko threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns. But he was also picked off twice.

“He got more patient as the year went along,” Hakel said. “His understanding of what we’re trying to do with each play, what we’re looking for, his presence in the pocket and his under-

standing of what defenses are trying to take away or willing to give up all im-proved.”

The Wildcats appeared to be set up for failure last year, but instead of folding, they fought until the bitter end and nearly beat the de-fending district champions in the playoffs.

Hakel will tell anyone who will listen that each year is a new beginning with new challenges. Last year, he knew his young squad wasn’t going to replicate the 12-1 record posted by the 2008 team, a situation that reset some goals.

This season, Hakel al-ready has an idea of what he wants to see out of this team.

“The challenge now is to not take a step backward,” Hakel said. “We have to dust off the rust and keep moving forward.”

Wildcats• Continued from D20

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — KeystoneHead coach — Chris Hakel (third year, 18-6)Offensive coordinator — Chris HakelDefensive coordinator — Jeff CostelloOther assistants — Tom Pearl, Ben Shea, Tony Rovito, Dan Hauser, Matt Barley, Andy Carter.Last year — 6-5, 3-2 division (third)Postseason — Lost to West York, 35-28, in District 3 Class AAA first round.Key players lost — Tarik Leftenant, RB.Returning offensive starters (7) — Sal Purpura, sr., WR; Tyler Botchie, sr., WR; Bryton Barr, jr., TE; Tedroy Lynch, sr., OT; Chris Brunner, sr., G; Trent Brown, sr., OT; James Rusenko, sr., QB. Returning defensive start-ers (5) — Lynch, DE; Barr, LB; Purpura, DB; Botchie, DB; Tyler Burgard, sr., DT.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 50Players to watch — Rusen-ko and Barr. “He’s a senior stepping into a role as a leader,” Hakel said of Rusenko. “He came into his own as last season went on, in terms of understanding what we’re trying to do and playing in the system.“(Barr) is only a junior but he’s a leader, and this will be his third year starting.”Team strengths — Quarterback and wide receiverTeam concern — Depth in both linesGame to watch — Sept. 17 vs. Northern. The border rivalry returns to John H. Frederick Field for another installment of what has be-come an annually exciting game. With the rise of Mechanicsburg — the Wildcats have been to the postseason each of the last two years — it’s now possible that this game could be a preview of a postseason battle. The last four games have been decided by eight points or less, but the Wildcats have won only one of those games, and that came by a 23-21 margin in 2008.

——SCHEDULE

*Keystone Division gameSept. 3 at Carlisle, 7*Sept. 10 Gettysburg, 7Sept. 17 Northern, 7Sept. 24 at Central Dauphin, 7*Oct. 1 Hershey, 7*Oct. 8 at Red Land, 7*Oct. 16 at Bishop McDevitt, 10:30 a.m.*Oct. 22 Susquehanna Twp., 7*Oct. 29 at Lower Dauphin, 7*Nov. 5 Cedar Cliff, 7

——

ROSTERNo. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Austin Schoffstall 12 6-4 205 WR-DB2 James Rusenko 12 6-3 200 QB-DB3 Mitchell Ramsey 10 5-8 155 QB-DB4 Alex Arroyo 10 5-8 135 WR-DB6 Tyler Rock 10 5-6 145 RB-DB7 Andrew Spanos 10 5-10 155 WR-DB9 Razgar Kareem 12 5-7 150 RB-DB11 Devon Fenicle 12 5-10 155 WR-DB12 Frank Rubinic 11 5-10 165 QB-DB17 Jon Guffey 12 5-11 150 WR-DB18 Mike Dowett 10 5-9 155 WR-DB19 Joe Becker 9 6-1 170 RB-LB20 Sal Purpura 12 6-0 170 WR-DB21 Anthony Stricker 12 6-3 190 WR-DB22 Bryton Barr 11 6-0 210 RB-LB23 Ahmed Ali 11 5-5 180 TE-DL25 Shante Rice 11 5-9 130 WR-DB27 Joe Hennessy 10 5-9 160 RB-LB28 Noah Beaver 12 5-10 155 RB-DB30 Tim Donmoyer 11 5-5 120 WR-DB32 Cooper Miller 10 5-4 165 RB-DB33 Devin Green-Smith 11 5-5 145 RB-DB35 Justin Madison 10 5-6 145 RB-DB40 Bobby Mentzer 10 5-10 185 RB-LB42 Gunner Boyer 11 6-1 185 RB-LB43 Ryan Greene 11 5-9 170 RB-DE44 Christian Long 10 5-7 150 WR-DB49 Zach Chirilla 11 5-8 155 TE-DE50 J.T. Heenan 11 5-9 185 OL-DL52 Nick Costea 11 5-10 210 OL-LB55 Adam Rice 12 5-7 210 OL-DL56 Jake Trump 10 6-4 235 OL-DE58 Matt Minner 11 5-11 200 OL-DE63 Tedroy Lynch 12 6-1 215 OL-DL66 Tim Duncan 11 6-0 185 RB-LB67 Ben Taylor 10 5-8 175 OL-DL71 Shane Morell 12 6-2 225 OL-DE72 Chris Brunner 12 6-0 255 OL-DL73 Dakota Landis 10 5-10 200 OL-DL74 Bobby Herr 11 6-4 320 OL-DL75 Nike Jonas 11 5-8 225 OL-DL78 Tyler Burgard 12 6-0 280 OL-DL79 Trent Brown 12 6-4 300 OL-DL80 Tyler Botchie 12 6-1 170 WR-DB81 Joey Krulock 10 5-8 165 WR-DB82 Kyle Lynch 10 6-0 160 TE-DE83 Matt Handlin 11 5-9 170 TE-LB85 J.J. Ellis 11 5-11 180 WR-DB88 Camryn Rice 10 5-8 125 WR-DB89 Sam Marlin 10 6-3 180 TE-DE94 David Arroyo 11 6-0 205 TE-DE96 Tucker Casey 10 5-10 155 WR-DB99 Austin Martz 12 5-8 135 K


ABOVE: Mechanicsburg coach Chris Hakel has led the Wildcats to the playoffs in each of his two years as head coach. BOTTOM RIGHT: Junior quarterback Frank Rubinic looks for an open receiver.

Susquenita Blackhawks

Fighting to keep respect

By TRAVIs L. PIckEnsASSiSTAnT SporTS [email protected]

Slowly but surely, second-year Susquenita football coach Bart Miller is starting to see improvement.

It started last year when the Black-hawks throttled Line Mountain, 27-7, to put themselves in position for a District 3 Class AAA playoff berth. The victory gave Susquenita a 5-4 record, meaning the team needed to win its road game at East Pennsboro in the regular-season finale to qualify for the postseason.

The Blackhawks lost, 24-8.“We beat East Penn and we sneak into

the playoffs,” said Miller, whose team finished with a non-losing record for the first time since 2002, when it went 6-4.

The changes continued in the offsea-son when Miller saw more dedication, especially from the core group of players he expects to lead his team. When camp rolled around in the middle of August, 51 players showed up. It was an increase of 11 from 2009.

“I’m pleased,” Miller said. “We’ve seen positive momentum, but we know we have to keep it rolling this year. We have to improve on last year to keep it going.

“We have a good nucleus of kids who worked out in the offseason, and they understand what it takes to get us where we need to go. We’re trying to change the culture. That’s priority No. 1.”

Maybe the second-most-important priority in Duncannon is working in 15 new starters. Only quarterback Ethan

Reichert and guard Jordan Fiegl return as starters on offense, while five players are back on defense.

The good news for Miller was that during camp, there was competition for those vacant spots. With 51 players in camp, nearly every position was up for grabs, and the battles for those spots pleased Miller, mainly because there wasn’t much competition last year.

“We had a hard time getting good looks out of our scout team,” Miller said, talking about last fall. “We’ve gotten a good effort from our (younger) kids because they know they’re in the mix and have a shot. That’s probably a little bit unique to (Susquenita) at this point.”

Miller raves about his young back-field, which will be led by Reichert, a senior who took over for the injured Derec Sauve last year and guided the Blackhawks through the season.

photos by Jason Malmont/The Sentinel

ABOVE: Kurt Kenny, left, and Todd Mullen battle each other during a tackling drill in August.BELOW: Susquenita coach Bart Miller.

After last year’s huge ■

step forward, Susquenita looks to reach the next level with another successful season.

“We’ve seen positive momentum, but we

know we have to keep it rolling this

year. We have to improve on last year

to keep it going.”

BART MILLERSuSquEniTA fooTbAll coAch

• See Blackhawks, D29

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Classification — AADivision — CapitalHead coach — Bart Miller (second year, 5-5)Offensive coordinator — Earl MosleyDefensive coordinator — Bob FolkOther assistants — Tom Hailey, Russ Feeney, Jessee Snyder, Brian Ferry, Cody Page.Last year — 5-5 overall, 2-3 divisionPostseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Josh Shearer, RB-DB; Zach Kenny, TE-DB.Returning offensive starters (2) — Ethan Reichert, sr., QB; Jordan Fiegl, sr., G.Returning defensive start-ers (5) — Fiegle, sr., DE; Corey Stoak, sr., DE; Da-kota Weiland, jr., NG; Kurt Kenny, jr., LB; Mike Weldon, jr., CB.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Kenny: “He’s shown great leader-ship as an underclassman,” Miller said.Team strength — QuarterbackTeam concern — Offensive lineGame to watch — Sept. 10 at East Pennsboro. After a winnable opener against Newport at home, Susquenita might bring lots of motivation into this road test in Enola. Susquenita made great strides in Miller’s first season with a 5-5 record, and to keep the good times rolling, the Blackhawks need a fast start. East Penn, coming off a losing season, also needs a good start, which makes this a huge early season game in the area.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 Newport, 7:30*Sept. 10 at East Pennsboro, 7*Sept. 17 Trinity, 7*Sept. 24 at Palmyra, 7*Oct. 1 Milton Hershey, 7*Oct. 8 at Boiling Springs, 7*Oct. 15 Camp Hill, 7Oct. 23 at Bangor Pius X, 1*Oct. 29 at Steelton-Highspire, 7*Nov. 5 Middletown, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.5. A.J. Peck 10 5-10 170 QB-OLB6 Alec Patrick 11 5-8 170 SE-DB7 Michael Weldon 11 5-11 175 RB-S8 Dan Webber 12 5-10 175 RB-DB10 Ethan Reichert 12 6-1 180 QB-S11 Brett Morrison 9 5-10 160 QB-DB12 Andrew Kepner 10 6-0 175 HB-LB13 Brandon Parson 10 5-10 180 SE-DB14 Dan Svirbely 12 5-10 238 QB-LB18 Tony Stine 10 5-9 160 SE-DB20 Austin Sheibley 11 5-8 115 WR-DB22 Thad Strayer 12 5-9 175 FB-OLB23 Jordan Williams 12 5-10 175 FB-OLB25 Nevin Neumeyer 11 5-11 175 RB-OLB32 Todd Mullen 10 5-10 175 FB-OLB33 Kurt Kenny 11 6-0 170 RB-LB34 Randy Stine 12 5-9 180 FB-LB35 Alex Kruger 10 5-9 190 FB-ILB39 Nate Weaver 11 5-11 180 TE-DE44 Kurt Evans 11 5-11 185 TE-LB45 Dakota Weiland 11 5-10 180 OL-DL50 Michael Quigley 10 6-0 200 OL-DL51 Steven Gallagher 11 5-10 200 OL-DL54 Cory Thompson 10 6-0 220 OL-DL55 Jay Bennett 10 6-1 195 OL-DL56 Dean Lucia 10 6-0 210 OL-DL57 Will Archibald 10 6-0 180 OL-OLB58 Brent Stearner 10 6-2 200 OL-DL59 Jordan Fiegl 12 6-1 200 OL-DL60 Tony Gray 11 5-9 175 OL-DL65 Dakota Hansel 10 5-9 200 OL-LB66 Aleks Melnick 12 6-0 235 OL-DL70 Brandon Rowles 11 5-11 250 OL-DL71 Harry Hockenberry 12 5-11 240 OL-DL72 Jon Klinger 12 6-0 190 OL-DL73 Brandon Tonkin 11 6-2 225 OL-DL75 Nick Rhodes 11 5-11 195 OL-DL76 Bradley Snyder 11 5-11 210 OL-DL77 Aaron Hammaker 11 6-0 180 OL-DL78 Robert Lugo 11 5-10 240 OL-DL79 Blake Sunday 10 6-1 220 OL-DL80 Devin Crisamore 12 6-3 185 SE-DB82 Kyle King 11 5-11 200 SE-LB83 Hunter Walkers 10 5-8 160 SE-DB84 Brennan May 10 5-9 180 SE-DB85 Andrew Hansrote 12 5-11 170 SE-DB88 Drew Knowles 10 6-4 190 SE-DE89 Corey Stoak 12 5-10 190 SE-DE90 Dakota Reider 11 5-10 200 TE-DL92 Billy Ensminger 9 6-2 180 SE-DB


Mechanicsburg Wildcats

Experience gained will help


Last season was a learning ex-perience for the Mechanicsburg football team.

Breaking in 20 new starters, the Wildcats promptly lost their first four games before the speed of varsity football slowed down and the new players found their foot-ing.

Once that happened, the Wild-cats went on a six-game winning streak that didn’t end until a con-troversial block-in-the-back call negated a touchdown in the fourth quarter of an eventual 35-28 loss to West York in the District 3 Class AAA first round.

From the second half of the Week 4 game against Northern to that heartbreaking loss in the rain in the suburbs of York, coach Chris Hakel’s team made others take notice that the Mechanics-burg program isn’t about to let up anytime soon.

“We grew up from start to fin-ish,” Hakel said. “The way our season went was very indicative of that. The way our first four games went, I could tell we were getting better.

“After halftime of the North-ern game, we came out, and that’s when the kids started to under-stand what it would take to be successful, and it just carried over each week.”

Mechanicsburg returns 12 start-ers — seven on offense and five on defense — from the team that fin-ished 6-5 and nearly cracked the 3-AAA quarterfinals.

Led by senior quarterback James Rusenko, the Wildcats, who are 18-6 over the last two years, are poised to continue their winning ways.

But with a new schedule and di-vision — Mechanicsburg will call the Keystone Division home the next two years — Hakel isn’t ready to shoot for the stars quite yet.

“I think the expectations are high, but at the same time there are a lot of unknowns, in that the schedule is completely differ-ent,” Hakel said. “There are a lot of variables. Our league may be the most competitive in the Mid-Penn. Jason Malmont/the sentinel

Mechanicsburg teammates Kyle Lynch, left, and Ryan Greene participate in blocking drills dur-ing preseason camp.


streak enabled young players to mature during run to the playoffs.

• See Wildcats, D21

A Closer look

“He’s a top-notch stu-dent and a quality kid,” Miller said. “Every pro-gram would love to have a kid like him. We’re count-ing on him to step up and become more of a vocal leader to go along with his performance on the field. He has unbelievable ath-letic ability.”

Running the ground-based Wing-T, Reichert still put up solid numbers in his first year of varsity football action. Reichert completed 71 of 146 passes for 1,084 yards, nine touch-downs and seven inter-ceptions. The quarterback added three touchdowns and 169 rushing yards.

“He’s a tough, resilient kid,” Miller said. “He’s the kind of kid any coach would love to have in their program. I can’t say enough about him.”

The Blackhawks started fast last year in beating Newport, Middletown and James Buchanan, and the confidence has been grow-ing ever since.

Now, with the new sea-son set to start tonight with a tussle against Newport,

the team will need to start fast again or run the risk of losing their mojo.

“Our schedule is front, middle and end loaded,” Miller said. “We have to

hit the ground running against Newport. We have to get this started right, there’s no question about it. There’s no easy week in our league.”

Blackhawks• Continued from D28


TOP: Alex Melnick, left, works with Brent Sterner on a blocking drill.aBOve: Drew Knowles, left, has a pass broken up by Andrew Hansrote.riGHT: Senior quarterback Ethan Reichert is in his second year leading the Blackhawks.


Trinity football coach Bill Ragni trusts his assistants.

So when they came to the second-year head coach in January with a proposition, Ragni listened. Their idea was an unorthodox one, at least for Trinity, so it required some seri-ous convincing.

When all was said and done and Ragni had digested the stats and fig-ures that his assistants brought to him, he made the decision: Trin-ity was going to drop the Wing-T as its primary offense and employ the pass-happy Spread.

“It took some convincing to move out of (the Wing-T),” said Ragni, who played in the offense at the University of Delaware. During his 15-year tenure as assistant coach at Trinity, the team never ran anything but the Wing-T.

“We have two junior quarterbacks (Patrick Dill and Nick Slonac) and some young specialists that we think can cause a lot of matchup problems

for teams we play,” Ragni said.“That’s what got me to go to the

Spread.”Ragni’s assistants sat down and

figured out that the Shamrocks ran all over teams that they were physi-cally superior to last season, but in games against comparable op-ponents, Trinity spun its collective wheels on its way to a 7-4 record and was one-and-done in the District 3 Class AA playoffs.

“We didn’t have much of a pass-ing game to go to,” Ragni said of the games that Trinity struggled to run the ball in. “When we put all the stats together, I thought this was what we had to do to get to the next level.

“We want to balance the run-pass ratio and make it closer to 50-50 in-stead of 80-20 or 90-10.”

donnie Eppley/special to the sentinel

Trinity linemen hit the blocking sled during preseason camp.

for positions, and through our scrimmages we’ll see how they work out.”

With a potential NCAA Division I quarterback, the Panthers will need to be up to snuff in the blocking department.

Kelvin White returns for his third year as the start-er under center for East Penn, and Stuter said he is receiving interest from most of the schools in the Patriot League plus James Madison Univer-sity, Fordham Universi-ty and the University of Connecticut. Senior tight end/defensive end Bryce Wilson is also generating interest from the same schools, Stuter said.

“He’s a nice-sized kid (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) and he has a real strong arm with a quick release,” Stuter said of White. “He makes good decisions, and when you run the Spread, you have a lot of choices to make.

“He has to make sure he’s making the right de-cisions and spreading the ball around.”

Last fall, White had a nice year with 84 com-pletions in 152 attempts for 1,205 yards, 11 touch-downs and six intercep-tions.

Wilson, who also has blocking duties, caught three passes for 95 yards and a touchdown.

De s p i te t h ose a e r i a l threats, the Panthers will try to remain balanced.

“It depends what the defense gives us,” Stuter said. “We’ll use Kelvin as a weapon running the ball as well, but we don’t want to run him too much, be-cause if something hap-pened to him, we could be in trouble.”

The realignment of the M id-Penn Conference

shuffled East Penn into a division with perennial playoff teams, in Camp H i l l , M i l to n He rs h ey, Steelton-Highspire and Trinity.

As an added bonus, de-fending District 3 and PIAA Class AA champion Lancaster Catholic visits Saxon Memorial Stadium

on Oct. 1.“We have nine teams

in our division, and it’s going to be wide open,” Stuter said. “There’s a lot of good teams in it, so losing one game won’t knock you out of a chance to win the league. Teams will knock each other off all year.”

Panthers• Continued from D18


aBOve: East Pennsboro coach Todd Stuter enters his 11th season as head coach with a 67-56 record.riGHT: East Penn sophomore running back Chase Shulda picks up yardage in a preseason scrimmage against Shippensburg.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — CapitalHead coach — Todd Stuter (11th year, 67-56)Offensive coordinator — Dave BorrellDefensive coordinator — Joe ShermeyerOther assistants — Ted Matter, Tom Couch, David Payne, Greg Campbell, Mark Morris.Last year — 4-6 overall, 2-3 division (fifth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Blake Wheeler, WR-DB; Max Miller, RB-LB; Tom-my Yeager, OL-DE; Will Frey, WR-DB.Returning offensive start-ers (6) — Kelvin White, sr., QB; Nick McMillen, sr., FB; Nick Hinton, jr., C; Andrew Livingston, sr., G; Clinton Allwein, sr., G; Bryce Wilson, sr., TE.Returning defensive start-ers (3) — Allwein, MLB; Wil-son, DE; Livingston, DE. Other key returnees — Devin Binner, sr., WR-DB; Joe Stevens, sr., WR-OLB.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 4-4Players to watch — White and WilsonTeam strength — Skill positionsTeam concern — Offensive lineGame to watch — Sept. 3 vs. Red Land. With both teams coming off losing seasons, this is a vital game to start the season. East Penn has anything but an easy schedule — defending PIAA Class AA cham-pion Lancaster Catholic is one of five playoff teams from 2009 the Panthers will play — so a win against Red Land, which has dropped back down to Class AAA, will do wonders.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 Red Land, 7*Sept. 10 Susquenita, 7*Sept. 17 at Steelton-Highspire, 7*Sept. 24 Middletown, 7Oct. 1 Lancaster Catholic, 7*Oct. 8 at Trinity, 7*Oct. 15 Palmyra, 7*Oct. 22 at Milton Hershey, 7*Oct. 29 Boiling Springs, 7*Nov. 5 at Camp Hill, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Alberto De Los Santos 12 5-11 165 WR-DB3 Joseph Stevens 12 5-9 175 WR-LB5 Austin Wilson 10 6-3 185 QB-DB10 Alexander Morgan 11 6-0 180 WR-DB12 Devin Binner 12 5-10 150 WR-DB13 Jacob Nieto 10 5-11 160 QB-DB15 Ryder King 11 6-0 165 WR-DB16 Kelvin White 12 6-3 210 QB-DB20 Parth Patel 11 5-11 160 WR-DB21 Chase Shulda 10 5-9 165 RB-LB22 Brandon Robinson 11 5-9 165 RB-DB23 Dakota Pentz 10 5-11 160 WR-DB24 Nicholas Gunn 12 5-9 150 WR-DB25 Caleb Dively 12 5-11 180 TE-LB27 Kevin Stago Jr. 11 5-11 715 RB-LB30 Dylan Quigley 10 5-9 150 WR-DB31 Taylor Walls 12 5-11 160 K32 Cody Hollingsworth 10 5-9 175 RB-LB33 Jonell Adams 12 5-5 130 WR-C34 Eric Rivera 11 5-11 170 WR-LB35 Scott Wright 10 6-0 250 OT-DT40 Matthew Shutt 10 5-9 150 RB-DB41 Nicholas McMillen 12 5-10 210 RB-LB42 Josiah Lewis 10 5-10 170 OG-DT43 Jeffery Bretz 12 5-10 160 RB-LB44 Jesse McAllister 11 5-10 210 RB-DT45 Samuel Putt 11 5-10 190 RB-DB50 Benjamin Staub 10 5-8 170 OG-LB51 Nickolys Hinton 11 5-11 240 C-DT53 Brian Ton 11 5-10 205 OT-DT54 Clinton Allwien 12 5-11 200 OG-LB55 Dylan Sundy 11 5-11 180 OG-LB60 Wasiullah Mohamed 12 6-0 200 OG-DE61 Brett Shurock 11 6-0 185 OG-DE63 Brandon Lehman 11 6-1 210 OT-DT67 Matthew Letterman 12 5-10 215 C-DT70 Dwayne Davis 12 5-11 210 OT-DT71 Andrew Livingston 12 6-0 210 OG-DE72 Daniel Alvarado 10 5-11 240 C-DT73 Ryan Forry 11 6-2 205 OT-DE74 Corbin Fuller 11 6-0 200 OT-DT75 John Bingaman 12 5-10 180 OG-DT77 Ryan Kuser 10 5-8 160 OG-DT80 Alexander Glaser 11 5-10 145 WR-DB81 Clay Durham 11 5-11 170 TE-DE82 Bryce Wilson 12 6-5 235 TE-DE83 Delvaughn Dennis 11 6-1 220 TE-DE84 Willie Barnes 10 6-1 165 WR-DB85 Dylan Yoos 10 6-3 205 TE-DE86 Patrick Lauer 10 5-10 150 WR-DB


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Trinity Shamrocks

A brave new world

daniel Zampogna/special to the sentinel

Trinity quarterback Patrick Dill will be tested with a new offense this year.

despite being ■

known as a Wing-t football team, trinity is embracing the spread offense this season.

• See Shamrocks, D31


Ragni admitted that, as expected, there have been growing pains despite the fact that Trinity did open up the Wing-T in recent years. The last two seasons, the Sham-rocks operated out of the shotgun, which helped the transition but hasn’t made it a completely smooth one.

Luckily for Ragni, the play-ers embraced the new sys-tem, woke up early to work on routes and showed dedica-tion throughout the summer as the team visited various camps and 7-on-7 competi-tions.

“The quarterbacks and wide receivers worked tire-lessly with this thing,” Ragni said. “They were at Twin Ponds in January at 5 or 6 in the morning to run routes. The kids are excited to grasp it and get involved.

“Every high school kid would be excited to run routes and stretch plays. It’s brought a lot of enthusiasm.”

Another staple of the Trin-ity program, a nasty defense, is also going through chang-es.

Hard-nosed linebackers Matt Connors and Jeff Goy-ette have graduated, leaving two huge holes on defense: The Shamrocks return eight starters on defense and six on offense.

Logan Houck and Jeff Smith are the players expect-ed to take over for Connors and Goyette.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Ragni said. “Those are big shoes to fill with those guys.”

The new-look Shamrocks will, as usual, be tested right out of the gate this year.

Trinity opens with defend-ing District 3 and PIAA Class AA champion Lancaster Catholic tonight at Rossmere Stadium in Lancaster.

One year after blanking the Crusaders, 20-0, Trinity fell flat in a 42-0 loss last year.

It was the most points the Shamrocks allowed all sea-son.

“Any time you open up with a state champion ... they’re a good program, it’s a big program that finally made it over the mountain in win-ning the state title,” Ragni said. “With the addition of Boiling Springs, a natural rival for us, to the conference, we have a daunting schedule.”

Ragni’s first year improved after the loss to Catholic, but there were three other losses

— two against Middletown — when the Shamrocks scored a total of 13 points and found the end zone only once.

Now, with the move to the Spread, Ragni hopes to keep the tradition alive at Trinity.

“We’re not at the next step yet, which is winning the district and getting into a couple state games,” Ragni said. “That’s our goal. We’re a little short of that right now, but that’s what we’re working toward.”

Shamrocks• Continued from D30

Photos by Daniel Zampogna/Special to The Sentinel

ABOVE: Trinity coach Bill Ragni.BELOW: Trinity football players crash into each other during practice.

A Closer lookClassification — AADivision — CapitalHead coach — Bill Ragni (second year, 7-4)Offensive coordinator — Tim BoblickDefensive coordinator — Bill RagniOther assistants — Jamien Harvey, Tim Miller, Rob Lutz, Andy Eng-lish, Ryan Skotnicki, Anthony Taliani, Tim Walde, Bob Dill.Last year — 7-4 overall, 2-1 division (tied first)Postseason — Lost to Middletown, 11-3, in District 3 Class AA quar-terfinals.Key players lost — Matt Connors, LB; Jeff Goyette, C-LB.Returning offensive start-ers (6) — Patrick Dill, jr., QB; Jack Miller, jr., HB; Austin Durham, sr., RB; Chris Lenz, jr., WR; Logan Houck, sr., HB; Colin Rigney, sr., G; Returning defensive start-ers (8) — Miller, LB; Durham, LB; Lenz, DB; Houck CB-LB; Rigney, LB; Cameron Lipnicki, sr., DE; Kenner Brown, sr., NG; Logan Kuhn, sr., DE.Other key returnees — Gar-rett McNally, sr., OT; Hayden Akers, sr., OG-DT.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 4-3/Double Eagle FlexPlayer to watch — Danny Jackson, soph., WR-DB. “He has a ton of speed and he’s a very good kid,” Ragni said.Team strength — Running back and linebacker.Team concern — Secondary and offensive line.Game to watch — Sept. 24 vs. Steelton-Highspire. The Shamrocks stunned Steel-High on Cottage Hill last year in the latest installment of one of the Mid-Penn’s best small-school rivalries. This game is deep enough in the season that both squads should have all the kinks worked out, and the excuse of rust causing mistakes won’t hold water. If Trinity can navigate its tough early-season schedule, October will be a breeze compared to September.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 at Lancaster Catholic, 7*Sept. 10 Camp Hill, 7*Sept. 17 at Susquenita, 7*Sept. 24 Steelton-Highspire, 7*Oct. 1 at Middletown, 7*Oct. 8 East Pennsboro, 7Oct. 15 Donegal, 7*Oct. 22 at Palmyra, 7*Oct. 29 Milton Hershey, 7*Nov. 5 at Boiling Springs, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Patrick Devlin 12 5-9 147 RB-CB2 Nathan Hoellman 12 5-10 145 RB-DB3 Danny Jackson 10 5-10 160 HB-CB-S5 Jack Miller 11 5-9 175 HB-LB6 Dylan DeFrank 10 5-10 160 WR-LB7 Shane Mitchell 12 5-9 135 WR-DB8 Louis Guyer 10 5-10 140 QB-WR-DB9 Vincent Spinelli 11 6-0 170 QB-LB10 Nat Jensen 11 5-6 150 HB-DB11 Logan Houck 12 5-11 185 RB-DB12 Patrick Dill 11 6-2 188 QB-S13 Chris Lenz 11 6-2 175 WR-DB14 Thomas Pillion 10 6-0 140 WR-CB15 Nick Slonac 11 6-2 210 QB-DE-S17 Williams Edwards 10 6-0 170 WR-LB20 Austin Perry 10 5-11 160 G-LB21 Alex Cramer 10 6-0 150 WR-DB22 Adam Geiger 10 5-10 180 RB23 Matthew Bierowski 11 6-0 170 WR-DB24 Daniel Resavy 11 6-3 180 WR-DB25 Tyler Brett 10 5-10 150 G-DE-LB26 Javier Borraas 10 5-5 135 WR27 Elijah Brooks 10 5-4 109 WR-CB36 Austin Durham 12 6-0 205 RB-LB42 Hoki Chung 12 5-11 170 WR-DB50 Patrick Funk 11 5-9 185 OG-LB51 Patrick Madden 11 5-11 190 OG-LB52 Jeffrey Smith 12 6-0 210 WR-OL-LB53 Thomas Garman 10 5-9 195 C-LB54 Stephen Reisser 12 6-1 190 TE-DE55 Anthony Tate 12 5-10 210 C-DE-LB56 Colin Rigney 12 5-11 215 OG-LB57 Peter Sprague 11 6-3 215 OL-DL58 Dan Kenyon 11 6-1 170 TE-DE59 Chas Wagner 10 6-2 200 OT-DE-LB60 Gabe Policare 11 6-1 200 OT-DT61 Mike Kelly 10 5-9 185 OL-DL62/44 Cameron Lipnicky 12 6-3 220 FB-DE63 Ryan Grady 10 6-0 185 OT-DT-G-DL64 Matt Small 11 6-0 200 OT-DE65 Logan Kuhn 12 6-2 225 OT-DE66 Tanner Brown 12 5-7 220 C-DT67 Hayden Akers 12 5-11 230 OL-DL68 Robert Mott 10 5-7 150 OG-DE-DT71 Garrett McNally 12 6-6 305 OT-DT72 Andrew Kruger 10 5-10 295 OT-DT73 Mark Connolly 11 6-1 240 OT-DT74 Stephen Hocker 12 5-8 230 OT-DT75 Vikram Shenoy 11 6-4 290 OT-DT76 Jacob Dentler 11 6-1 230 OT-DT79 Joe Schwartz 11 6-3 225 C-DT80 Jake Diorio 10 6-3 168 OL-DL82 Greg Hempt 12 6-4 195 WR-TE

Daniel Zampogna/Special to The Sentinel

Trinity sophomore lineman Thomas Garman gets ready for a play.

East Pennsboro Panthers

Close losses still lingering


After finally taking a step for-ward in 2008, the East Pennsboro football team took one step back last fall.

The Panthers, coming off their first playoff appearance in seven years, failed to finish with a win-ning record (4-6) and missed the postseason. The talk during camp last year was about building on the previous year’s playoff berth and moving on to bigger and bet-ter things.

Four losses by seven points or less left the Panthers with a dis-appointing end result.

“We didn’t get blown out in a lot of games,” East Penn coach Todd Stuter said. “Sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce in your direction, and it didn’t last year. We didn’t have the best turnover (differen-tial) last year, which is not good. You don’t win games when that happens.

“We turned the ball over more than we wanted to. That’s a focus of ours this year, to take care of the football.”

Another point of concern for Stuter is the offensive line. Nick Hinton, the center, and guards Andrew Livingston and Clinton Allwein return, but the Panthers were looking for two reliable tack-les throughout camp.

“When you’re throwing the ball around, you need protection,” Stuter said. “That’s a natural con-cern. We have some guys battling


Senior left guard Clinton Allwein, left, and senior defensive end Andrew Livingston practice blocking earlier this week. East Pennsboro qualified for the playoffs in 2008 for the first time in seven years but faltered last season and finished with a 4-6 record. The Panthers open their season tonight at 7 p.m. against Red Land.

Turnovers were a key ■

factor last year when East Penn finished 4-6 and lost four games by seven points or less

• See Panthers, D19

L.B. SMITH *

from


L.B. SMITH25In STock

new focuS’S



ABOVE LEFT: Nick Carlson (61) fights past Blake Wilkinson during preseason camp.ABOVE RIGHT: Zach McLaren (11) and Lance Geesey work on run blocking.

Sentinel file photo

CV senior tight end Colton Kirkpatrick is a receiving threat for the Eagles.

Sentinel file photo

LEFT: Senior quarter-back Eric Sawyer (8) is ready to begin his sec-ond season as a varsity starter after leading the Eagles to a 12-3 record last fall.

West Perry Mustangs

Better things in store for Ream?

By TRAVIs L. PIckEnsASSiSTAnT SPorTS [email protected]

Last year was a tough one for West Perry football.

The injury bug bit the Mus-tangs early and often as coach Al Ream’s team struggled through an ugly 1-9 season. The only win was against Waynesboro.

If there was a silver lining to West Perry’s third-straight los-ing season, it was that due to the injuries, a slew of underclassmen saw time.

“It was frustrating,” Ream said of the taxing 2009 season. “When you have a lot of depth and people pushing for start-ing spots, it’s not as frustrating. When you have limited players and you’re trying to work the younger kids in, that makes it harder.

“You never want to lose a play-er to injury, but you really don’t want to lose a frontline player to injury.”

West Perry had to deal with that time and again last year, but because of the bad breaks, Ream welcomes back 12 return-ing starters — five on offense and seven on defense.

“Every season you start from scratch, but the thing we have go-ing for us is the experience they gained last year will help them grow to the speed and the physi-cality of the varsity game,” Ream said. “Hopefully they mastered that and can pick it up and move forward from where they were last year.”

After a brilliant 9-2 season in 2006, West Perry has gone 7-22

donnie Eppley/Special to The Sentinel

West Perry football coach Al Ream offers instructions to a pair of players during preseason camp. The Mustangs are coming off a one-win season and have a tough slate of early games.

injuries derailed last ■

season, but West Perry hasn’t had a winning record since 2006.

• See Mustangs, D33



717.458.8105



Come as you are.


Elegant Atmosphere


A Closer lookClassification — AAAADivision — CommonwealthHead coach — Tim Rimpfel (22nd year, 276-91-3)Offensive coordinator — Tim RimpfelDefensive coordinator — Mike Whitehead Jr.Other assistants — Craig Schweitzer, John Bates, Jim Fry, Ron Audo.Last year — 12-3 overall, 3-2 division (third).Postseason — Defeated Muhlenberg, 42-7, in District 3 Class AAAA first round; defeated Central Dauphin, 24-21, in quarter-finals; defeated Wilson, 28-21 in semifinals; defeated Bishop McDevitt, 34-27 in double overtime in district final; lost to State College, 35-13, in PIAA Class AAAA semifinals.Key players lost — Travis Friend, FB-ILB; Trevor Harman, WR-DB-PR, Cory Salmon, OL-DL.Returning offensive starters (5) — Andrew Consevage, sr., C; Colton Kirkpatrick, sr., TE; Barry Lyons, sr., G; Eric Sawyer, sr., QB; Kevin Snyder, sr., RB.Returning defensive starters (7) — Lyons, DL; Kyle Friend, jr., DL; Kirkpatrick, LB; Dan Flynn, sr., LB; Snyder, LB; Kyle Brubaker, sr., FS; Drew Yetter, sr., CB.Other key returnees — Lance Geesey, jr., K-P; Brandon Beale, sr., OT; Jordan Bush, sr., RB-LB.Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 4-4 and 50Players to watch — Jeremy DiPetro, jr., RB-DB-KR, and J.J. Fen-cel, jr., DT. “Last year we just brought (DiPetro) up from JV as a sophomore when he had an ankle sprain,” Rimpfel said. “He could have used another year of experience, but he’s going to be pretty good. He can also catch the ball.”“(Fencel isn’t) tall, but he’s doing a heck of a job at defensive tackle. He has good pursuit down the line.”Team strength — Defensive front four, linebackers, running back, quarterback.Team concern — Fullback and split endGame to watch — Sept. 17 vs. Bishop McDevitt. Really, there isn’t another choice despite a schedule loaded with State Col-lege, Central Dauphin and Harrisburg. CV and McDevitt haven’t met in the regular season since 2007, but they did butt heads in the 3-AAAA final last year. CV won that snowy game, 34-27, in double overtime and should be the favorite in this one. That said, McDevitt is still powerful and has been pointing to this game for months, which will make for a playoff-type game at Chapman Field.

——SCHEDULE

*Commonwealth Division gameSept. 3 Red Lion, 7Sept. 10 at Central York, 7Sept. 17 Bishop McDevitt, 7*Sept. 24 State College, 7*Oct. 1 Chambersburg, 7*Oct. 8 at Central Dauphin, 7*Oct. 15 at Central Dauphin East, 7Oct. 22 Red Land

*Oct. 30 at Harrisburg, 1*Nov. 5 at Carlisle, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.3 Josh Deimler 10 5-7 145 SE-DB4 LaMont Dorsey 11 5-8 160 SE-DB5 Alex Cutia 11 6-1 160 SE-DB6 Scott Maronic 11 5-7 155 SE-DB7 Brady Miller 10 5-9 145 QB-DB8 Eric Sawyer 12 6-1 180 QB-FS9 Tyler Hartzell 10 5-8 150 RB-DB10 Brandon Stine 11 5-8 155 SE-DB11 Zach McLaren 12 5-9 180 QB-SS12 Kyle Brubaker 12 6-1 180 SE-DB-P13 Chad Brooks 12 5-10 160 SE-DB14 Lance Geesey 11 5-7 165 SE-SS-K16 Ben Fernback 10 6-0 160 QB-DB18 Joe DeCecco 11 5-9 155 RB-SS19 Michael Rice 12 6-2 165 QB-SS20 Aaron Hinish 11 5-8 160 RB-DB21 Garrett Long 10 5-7 145 RB-DB22 Jeremy DiPetro 11 5-8 170 RB-DB23 Drew Yetter 12 5-7 150 RB-DB24 Nick Richards 11 5-7 165 RB-LB25 Keaton Robson 11 5-9 150 SE-DE26 Corey Johnson 10 5-9 145 RB-DB27 Craig Yetter 10 5-9 145 RB-DB28 Max Noonan 11 5-9 180 RB-SS30 Jake Nulter 12 5-9 200 RB-LB32 Jeremy Salmon 10 6-2 195 FB-LB33 Kevin Snyder 12 6-3 211 RB-SS35 Matt Deibert 12 6-2 205 FB-DE36 Cody Bush 11 5-9 160 RB-LB37 McClain Fultz 10 5-9 160 FB-LB41 Colton Kirpatrick 12 6-2 206 TE-LB42 Jordan Busch 12 6-2 205 RB-LB43 Cole Johnson 11 6-0 180 FB-LB

44 Butch Waggoner 10 5-10 165 TE-LB45 Dan Flynn 12 6-0 200 FB-LB46 Mike Straub 11 5-11 225 FB-DE48 Dan Heise 10 5-10 180 FB-LB50 Kyle Friend 11 6-2 265 T-DT51 Nick Longstreet 10 5-9 165 G-LB52 Anthony Elkerton 12 5-8 208 C-DT53 Joseph Fencel 11 5-8 230 C-DT54 Ian Clelan 10 5-11 190 C-DT55 Andrew Consevage 12 6-2 235 C-DE57 Corey Gardner 10 5-9 190 G-DT59 Nathan Gardner 10 5-9 180 G-DT60 Jason Fenicle 10 5-8 175 G-LB61 Nick Carlson 12 6-0 195 G-DE62 Brandon Beale 12 5-10 240 G-DT63 Blake Wilkinson 12 6-0 200 G-DE64 Barry Lyons 12 6-3 235 G-DE65 Eric Kohr 11 5-9 180 G-LB66 Scott Weihbrecht 12 6-2 265 T-DT67 Mike Martino 12 6-0 210 T-DT68 Marty McDonnell 10 6-0 210 T-DT70 Kodi Halter 11 6-2 245 T-DT71 Matt Bova 11 6-0 240 T-DT72 Devon Blewett 11 6-4 210 T-DE73 Dan Lyons 10 6-1 193 G-DE75 Matt Marrazzo 10 6-1 215 G-DE76 Cooper Stump 11 6-4 250 T-DT77 Spence Sheely 10 6-0 227 T-DT78 Sean Curry 11 6-1 210 G-DE81 Isaac Shertzer 12 6-2 185 SE-SS82 Barry Lyons 12 6-3 235 TE-DE84 Brandon Fetrow 12 6-0 140 SE-DB85 Zach O’Dell 11 5-10 165 TE-DE86 Brian Aunspach 11 5-9 165 SE-SS87 Tyler Hanshaw 12 6-2 200 TE-DE88 Kieran Purcell 12 5-10 200 SE-SS90 Tom D’Arcy 10 6-4 160 TE-DE

Sentinel file photo

CV players celebrate with the 3-AAAA trophy in Hershey last year.

Sentinel file photo

Head coach Tim Rimpfel is gunning for his 10th District 3 Class AAAA title at Cumberland Valley and enters this season with a record of 276-91-3 in 22 years at the school.

in the three seasons since and, on average, has been on the short end of a 30-17 score. Last fall, the Mus-tangs scored 109 points but allowed 342. Opponents reached the 35-point mark on West Perry in six of its 10 games.

But that, along with the good seasons that have al-lowed Ream to post a career record of 66-57 at West Perry, is in the past. And that’s ex-actly where Ream wants to keep it.

“You can’t change what happened yesterday,” Ream said. “If you look at yester-day, you’re going to lose again. We’re taking it one practice at a time and one week at a time through the season.

“The kids have a good atti-tude at practice and are work-ing hard to try and make this a good season for them. We’re looking forward to the future.”

The recent run of losing sea-sons hasn’t affected the num-ber of kids who are putting on helmets and shoulder pads in Elliottsburg.

Ream said 58 players re-ported for the opening day of camp, which was a spike compared to recent years.

“We’re happy with that turnout,” Ream said. “We’ve been down in the numbers the last few years, and this year we’re back up. These kids want to be a part of some-thing.”

West Perry has some key parts to replace in quarterback Tony Miller, tight end/line-backer Ian Bond and running back/defensive back Brandon Varner. One of the bigger dis-appointments last year was the loss of running back/line-backer Chaz Sheaffer, who suffered a knee injury during a summer wrestling tourna-ment and never stepped on the field for West Perry.

Such was life for the Mus-tangs last year. This time around, Ream is looking at

this large group to build some depth.

“Hopefully out of those 58 we can be two, three or four deep,” Ream said. “When we practice and scrimmage we can put the more experienced kids against the more expe-rienced kids, and we can put the kids who are still learning against each other so they can get more reps.

“That way they’ll improve and get better.”

That’s not to say Ream isn’t going to lean heavily on his se-niors. It’s a group the coach glowed about during camp and one he’ll look at to lead his team both on and off the field. They have to be the ones who, if things go wrong, pick the younger players up and keep the morale high in what ev-eryone who is associated with the program hopes is a year when things return to their normal, winning ways.

It can’t be forgotten that this season was almost wiped out in early August when the school board failed to pass coaching salaries for the fall sports. It is a season that started with two weeks of limbo and one strange practice that athletic direc-tor Cory Hoffman oversaw because unpaid coaches — which is what the district’s head coaches were at that point — were not permitted to lead practices.

Eventually, the board passed the salaries, returning everything to normalcy.

“The kids were upbeat and positive and we went through the drills we were able to do,” Ream said of the first day. “The kids were positive, but we’ve moved on from it. It was a bump in the road. We couldn’t control it, but it got a positive vote and we just moved forward.”

Mustangs• Continued from D32

Donnie Eppley/Special to The Sentinel

ABOVE: West Perry running back Aaron Rahn picks up yards during practice.BELOW RIGHT: West Perry runs through drills dur-ing preseason camp.

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Al Ream (13th year, 66-57)Offensive coordinator — Al Ream and T.J. QuakerDefensive coordinator — Bob BodenOther assistants — Aaron Wright, Derek Puchalsky, Kyle Ream, Craig May, Matt Harmon.Last year — 1-9 overall, 0-4 division (fifth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Tony Miller, QB-DE; Chaz Sheaffer, RB-LB; Ian Bond, TE-WR-S; Brandon Varner, RB-DB; Matt Bowman, SB-DE; Greg Dundore, OT-DT; Brent Gates, OT; Zach Blosser, RB-LB.Returning offensive starters (5) — Troy Hogan, sr., OG; Brandon Schmidt, sr., T; Zach Campbell, jr., OG; Derek Sheaffer, sr., RB-SB; Mitch Binger, sr., SE.Returning defensive start-ers (7) — Logan Gerst, sr., DE; Troy Hogan, sr., DT; Dylan Shumaker, sr., DL; D. Sheaffer, DB; Binger, DB; Jordan Peck, sr., LB; Drew Tush, sr., LB. Other key returnees — Steve Reynolds, jr., RB-LB; Jake Weber, jr., RB-LB; Aaron Rahn, jr., RB-LB; Kyle Mann, jr., OT.Offensive alignment — Mul-tipleDefensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Hogan. “He’s a good leader and dedicated to being a very good player,” Ream said.Team strength — No preferenceTeam concern — DepthGame to watch — Oct. 1 vs. Big Spring. It’s quite possible that West Perry will still be searching for win No. 1 at this point. The Mustangs have brutal games with Indian Valley, Milton Hershey, Mount Carmel and Greencastle-Antrim — all but the Milton Hershey game is on the road — before the Bulldogs make the trek to Elliottsburg. The second half of the season appears easier to navigate, but if the Mustangs can’t beat Big Spring, it’s going to be a long season for the West Perry faithful.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 at Indian Valley, 7Sept. 10 Milton Hershey, 7Sept. 17 at Mount Carmel, 7*Sept. 24 at Greencastle-Antrim, 7:30*Oct. 1 Big Spring, 7*Oct. 8 Shippensburg, 7*Oct. 15 at Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 22 Gettysburg, 7*Oct. 29 at James Buchanan, 7*Nov. 5 Northern, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.10 Trent Reed 12 5-8 140 QB-DB11 Logan Gerst 12 6-3 200 QB-DE12 Jake Weber 11 5-9 175 RB-LB13 Zach Smith 10 5-10 155 QB-DB14 Colton Abeling 11 6-0 165 WR-DB15 Keghan Morrison 10 6-2 150 WR-DB21 Damajah Maue 10 5-6 165 RB-LB22 Jamie Gibboney 11 5-8 160 RB-LB23 Tyler Shatto 11 5-5 130 WR-DB24 A.J. Rice 11 5-9 160 RB-LB25 Steve Reynolds 11 5-7 155 RB-LB28 Dalton Smeigh 11 6-0 160 WR-DB31 Ryan Olszewski 10 5-8 135 RB-LB32 Derek Sheaffer 12 5-8 180 RB-DB33 Kurtis Rider 10 5-6 180 RB-LB34 Aaron Rahn 11 5-11 170 RB-DB35 Collin Sheaffer 10 5-11 150 WR-LB40 Gordon Stone 10 5-3 130 RB-LB41 Jon Clark 12 5-7 145 FB-DE42 Austin Lentvorsky 12 6-0 170 RB-DE43 Jordan Peck 12 5-8 185 RB-LB44 Marshall Myers 10 5-3 112 WR-LB45 Zach Smith 10 5-8 140 RB-LB50 Ryan Masonis 11 5-9 200 OL-DL51 Rob Wolford 11 5-9 220 OL-DL52 A.J. Butler 11 6-0 245 OL-DL53 Vince Unger 12 5-9 180 OL-DL54 Drew Tush 11 5-7 230 OL-LB55 Kyle Boose 10 5-6 165 OL-LB56 Dustyn Mumma 11 5-9 230 OL-DL57 Tyler Hammaker 12 5-10 175 OL-LB58 Troy Hogan 12 6-3 225 OL-DE60 Tyler Templin 11 5-10 205 OL-DL61 Zach Campbell 11 5-10 240 OL-DL62 Shea Stone 11 5-11 210 OL-DE63 Matt Gordon 11 5-10 180 OL-DE64 Hunter Metcalf 10 6-0 180 OL-DL65 Dylan Shumaker 12 6-2 220 OL-DL66 Ben Hurley 10 5-11 160 OL-DE67 Ben Manning 10 5-7 150 OL-DE68 Mark Lesher 12 5-10 235 OL-DL70 Brandon Schmidt 12 6-0 220 OL-DL71 Kyle Mann 11 6-2 255 OL-DL72 Ethan Lehman 10 5-11 145 OL-DE73 John Reisinger 10 5-7 150 OL-DL74 Avery Farson 10 5-10 165 OL-DE75 Justin Clark 10 5-10 226 OL-DL76 Devon Parmelee 11 5-9 200 OL-DL77 Drew Holland 11 6-1 190 OL-DE80 Mark Shelley 10 5-10 170 TE-DE81 Jamin Wetzler 12 5-11 190 WR-LB82 Bryce Stambaugh 11 6-2 175 K83 Patrick Manning 11 6-1 80 TE-DE84 Tony Forlizzi 11 5-7 135 RB-LB85 Chase May 9 5-11 150 WR-DB88 Mitch Binger 12 6-0 165 WR-DB

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By Kurt BoppSentinel [email protected]

A year ago, Dickinson College head football coach Darwin Breaux had a veteran offense that helped take the pressure off an inexpe-rienced defense on the way to an 8-2 (6-2 Centennial Conference) season.

But after losing eight starters on offense in the offseason, the situ-ation has reversed: Breux knows his team’s strength is its defensive unit. Still, the Red Devils on the other side of the ball aren’t con-cerned about their lack of experi-ence.

In fact, senior running back and captain Tim Smith is excited.

“Anytime you have to replace a lot of players, there’s gonna be some question marks in areas,” Smith said. “It’s also an opportu-nity for everybody to kind of have their chance to rise up to the occa-sion. I’ve told the guys all you can do is everything asked to do.”

Star quarterback Ian Mitchell and wide reciever Pat O’Connor are gone. Mitchell is the Red Dev-ils’ career leader in passing yards, total offense and touchdowns, and

O’Connor leads in receiving yard-age, receptions and touchdowns through the air.

After a four-man race for the starting quarterback job, Breaux tagged junior Jordan Kaufman as the starter based on his perfor-mance in the team’s preseason. But replacing Mitchell isn’t Breaux’s main concern on offense. It’s the depth on his line.

“We’ve got some good kids there, but the depth is a concern at this point,” Breaux said. “We lost three kids to graduation, we lost another kid to financial-aid reasons and different things, so we lost four starters from last year’s offensive line. Guys have been fighting for spots, and I think we have a good nucleus, but not (a good) number of guys.”

Another area where the offense was hit in the offseason is at wide receiver, a position that had been dominated by O’Connor. Breaux said the team will spread the ball around more than in the past in an attempt to compensate.

But his overall mindset of a bal-anced attack remains unchanged.

“We’re gonna be as balanced as we can,” he said. “Ideally we like to run the football and control the line of scrimmage and control the clock, but we’re certainly going to be a balanced team.”

Dickinson College

New season, new faces for Devils


Dickinson’s Scott Sullivan carries the ball during practice at Biddle Field in Carlisle. The Red Devils lost eight starters on offense and have plenty of holes to fill this season.

Dickinson attempts ■

to replace eight starters on offense.

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CV came through in clutch situations during the postseason to earn that dis-trict title. Returning quarterback Eric Sawyer, now a senior, hit Trevor Har-man, who has moved on to Shippens-burg University, for a 48-yard touch-down pass with six seconds to play for a 28-21 win over Wilson in the 3-AAAA semifinals.

A week later, Kevin Snyder, the Rut-gers recruit, intercepted Bishop McDe-vitt quarterback Matt Johnson’s pass in the end zone to seal the district final in the second overtime.

“I don’t want guys who just want to be here for the tradition or to put it on their resume,” Rimpfel said. “I want guys who want to compete, and we have that. We have seniors who hate to lose. That’s what drives them more than anything else.”

CV didn’t lose much last year, but two of those defeats still linger.

The first was the 38-35 loss to Central Dauphin in the regular-season finale. Rimpfel was less than pleased with his team’s defensive effort.

“It wasn’t just losing (to Central Dau-phin), but I didn’t think we ran well on defense,” Rimpfel said. “I thought af-ter that, you saw a different defensive squad. We ran from sideline to sideline, and that’s what you have to do.”

The other lingering loss was the sea-son-ending 35-13 loss to Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division rival State College in the PIAA semifinals.

The Eagles have a chance to return the favor when State College visits Chap-man Field on Sept. 24.

“We’ll be ready,” Rimpfel said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

CV has a lot of experience to rely on this year, as 11 of the 12 returning starters are seniors.

Snyder, who rushed for 1,337 yards and 24 touchdowns and added 109 tackles with three interceptions at his lineback-er post, is the CV player with the most hype. Snyder was The Sentinel’s Player of the Year on offense last season but had just as big an impact on defense.

“He made so many big plays, you look at our highlight tape, and game after game he’s making big plays,” Rimpfel said. “He just has to produce offensively.

“Defensively, we’re going to play him all over. He knows he has to be in good shape, too. This year, he’s going to play free safety, and we’ll put him at corner.

He’s athletic enough to do that and, secondly, he’s smart enough to handle things like that.”

As is the case every year, CV is faced with a daunting schedule.

Six of the Eagles’ opponents made the playoffs in 2009, including 3-AAAA runner-up Bishop McDevitt and PIAA finalist State College. CV also has tricky non-conference games against Red Lion to start the season and at 3-AAAA quar-terfinalist Central York in Week 2.

“York County teams have a history of getting after us in the early part of the season,” Rimpfel said. “Every year we think if you can survive the Common-wealth, you should be prepared for the playoffs. Just look at us last year.”

Eagles• Continued from D14


Cumberland Valley lineman Cooper Stump and his teammates take turns hitting the blocking sled during camp.


ABoVE: CV junior Cody Bush makes a catch.BELoW: Eagles coach Tim Rimpfel during camp.


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Cumberland Valley senior running back Kevin Snyder is one of 12 returning starters on a team that won the District 3 Class AAAA title last December. Snyder, who is also an outside linebacker/safety, has ver-bally agreed to play for Rutgers University next season.

Cumberland Valley Eagles

Champs deal with the target

By Travis L. PickensASSiStAnt SportS [email protected]

For the first time in quite a few years, Cumberland Val-ley is playing with a target on its back.

That’s what happens when a team returns to prominence with its ninth district football champion-ship and nearly plays for its second state title.

Now, the key is living up to the expectations that come with a No. 6 preseason state ranking (Pennsylvania Foot-ball News) in Class AAAA and with having 12 starters — five on offense and seven on de-fense, including a 1,000-yard rusher who has made 100-plus tackles at linebacker and has verbally committed to Rutgers University.

“You want to try to take it

one game at a time,” legend-ary CV coach Tim Rimpfel said. “(The players) want to do well and do better than last year, but the thing is, you have to work hard for that. We have a lot of pride in what we ac-complished last year, but we know we were fortunate and made plays to get there.”

Everyone will ■

be out to beat CV, which won its ninth district 3-AAAA title last december.

• See Eagles, D15

“We have a lot of pride in what we

accomplished last year, but we know we

were fortunate and made plays to get there. ”

Tim rimPfeLCV footbAll CoACh

The Red Devils averaged 48 rush-es per game last season and passed 24 times, and Breaux said that is the kind of attack the team likes. Handling most of the carries out of the backfield for Dickinson will be Smith and senior running back Gregory Lord. Breaux considers both starters.

The defense brings back eight

starters, including senior safety Pat McNeal and senior linebacker Kevin Wood, the two other captains.

And one season after he and his teammates held opponents to less than 22 points per game, McNeal has high expectations for the de-fense.

“I want to be the best in the league,” he said. “I think we have the experience and talent to do that.”

The defense lost Michael Max-

well, who led the team in intercep-tions (six) and was second with tackles (68). But six of the top seven tackle leaders are back.

Breaux said the team has six play-ers competing for three linebacker positions, and has depth on the line.

McNeal, who is also a longsnap-per, said that though he is confi-dent in the defense, he hopes the special-teams unit steps it up this season.

“We’ve been mediocre the past few years,” he said. “It’s all about effort on special teams. If we give it that 100 percent effort, we’ll be great. We’ve got a lot of talent, es-pecially some new guys. We’ve got speed.”

The special-teams unit will feel the loss of O’Connor, who led the team in punt return yards. But the team hopes that senior Craig Helfer will have a breakout season return-

ing kicks.Despite the new look on offense

and new faces on special teams, the Red Devils hope to build off their second-place finish and come away with a Centennial Conference title.

“Every few years, you may have a turnover,” Smith said. “Ian Mitchell and Pat O’Connor were all fresh-men at one point. You’ve gotta rise to the occasion and take advantage of the opportunity.”

Devils• Continued from D34

A Closer look

Conference — CentennialHead coach — Darwin Breaux (18th year, 110-64-1)Offensive coordinator — BreauxDefensive coordinator — Joel QuattroneOther assistants — Mick Chronister (DL), Kory David (LB), Bob Gamble (K), Bob Jazwinski (DL), Ben Miller (OL), Mike Miller (OL), Ian Mitchell (QB), Steve Reider (WR), Scott Shank (RB)Last year — 8-2, 6-2 confer-ence (t-second)Key players lost — Ian Mitchell, QB; Pat O’Connor, WR; Michael Maxwell, DBReturning offensive starters (3) — Tim Smith, sr., RB; Tyler Rosa, jr., WR/TE; Eric Lopez, jr., OLReturning defensive starters (8) — Pat McNeal, sr., DB; Kevin Wood, sr., LB; Pete Hamill, sr., LB; Andrew Fink, jr. DB; Jack Con-nolly, sr. LB; Corwyn Gordon, jr. DL; Adam Farrell, sr., DL; Joe Cof-fey, jr., LB; Josh Harrison, sr., DLOther key returnees — Gordon Craig, PK/P, sr.Offensive alignment — MultipleDefensive alignment — Base 4-3Players to watch — Jordan Kaufman, jr., QB. Coach Breaux on Kaufman: “He’s a very athletic kid; he’s also a baseball kid, so a two-sport guy. He’s been in a lot of competitive situations. We’ll continue to look for balance, throwing the football and running it, and the quarterback’s gotta be able to do both on our offense.”Team strengths — Tailbacks and defenseTeam concern — Depth in offensive linesGame to watch — Johns Hopkins, Oct. 8; Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg College may be key rivals for the Red Devils, but Johns Hopkins is the defending Centennial Conference cham-pion and one of only two teams to beat Dickinson last season. Dickinson knows the road to a conference title goes through a Blue Jays team that is poised to repeat.

SCHEDULE*Keystone Division game

Sept. 11 at Hobart College, 12*Sept. 17 Franlin & Marshall, 7*Sept. 25 at McDaniel College, 1*Oct. 2 Moravian College, 1*Oct. 8 at Johns Hopkins University, 7*Oct. 16 at Susquehanna University, 1*Oct. 22 Gettysburg College, 7*Oct. 30 Muhlenberg College, 1*Nov. 6 at Juniata College, 1*Nov. 13 at Ursinus College, 1

ROSTERNo. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Gordon Craig Sr 5’9 185 PK/P2 Gregory Lord Sr 5’8 175 RB3 Mike Rogers Sr 5’9 200 DB4 Robert Spriggs Fy 5’7 170 DB5 Cam De Fide Jr 6’2 180 WR6 Pete Hamill Sr 5’8 190 LB7 Andrew Fink Jr 5’9 200 DB8 Rick Bowie Jr 5’10 170 QB9 Nicko Nagel Jr 6’1 190 DB9 Marek Laco So 5’9 175 WR10 Michael Miller Fy 6’0 200 LB11 Ricky Martz Jr 6’0 175 QB12 Todd Smolinksy Fy 6’2 205 QB13 Russ Allen Fy 5’10 180 DB14 Tyler Gelband Fy 5’9 165 QB15 Jordan Kaufman Jr 6’0 190 QB16 Mike LoPresti Fy 5’9 170 WR17 Joey Scaglione Fy 6’2 180 WR18 Stephen Bajan So 6’0 200 DB19 Nick Baller Sr 6’1 180 WR20 Matt Miller So 5’8 190 DB20 Emmanuel Stern Fy 5’10 180 RB

21 Mike Shimkin Jr 5’8 178 RB22 Pat McNeal Sr 5’11 192 DB/LS23 Shea Licata Jr 5’5 161 RB24 Tim Smith Sr 5’10 215 RB25 Pat McBreen So 5’7 170 DB26 Brian Brown Fy 5’9 175 DB27 Scott Sullivan Jr 5’10 195 DB28 Mike Capone Fy 5’9 180 RB29 Raymond Irazarry So 5’9 160 DB29 Luc Vernerey Fy 5’10 185 RB30 Tyler Rosa’ Jr 6’0 200 WR/TE31 Craig Helfer Sr 5’10 195 WR32 Evan Fink Fy 5’10 210 RB33 Cole Glennon Sr 5’10 225 DL34 Bligh Cassidy So 5’10 205 RB35 Zach Deery Fy 5’9 185 RB36 Jack Connolly Sr 5’10 190 LB37 Jeb Smith So 5’7 185 LB38 Will Erikson So 5’10 173 DB39 Austin Burlington Fy 5’9 175 WR40 Joe Coffey Jr 5’10 202 LB41 Mike McKee Jr 6’3 220 DL42 Julian Rosen Jr 5’10 215 LB43 Kyle Smith Fy 5’10 200 RB45 Cyrus Bracken Fy 5’9 180 LB46 Matt Lang Jr 5’11 215 TE47 Matt Wood So 6’2 185 WR48 Michael Byrnes So 6’2 225 LB49 Ryan Stec Fy 5’9 195 LB50 Conor Dubin Fy 5’9 190 LB52 Michael Tucker Jr 6’0 245 OL53 Schuyler Simpson So 5’9 211 DL/LS54 Adam Farrell Sr 6’3 225 DL55 Ross Johnson Jr 6’0 230 DL56 Andrew Hubley Jr 6’2 240 OL57 Jon Umanzor So 5’8 215 LB

58 Kevin Wood Sr 5’8 205 LB59 Gus Umanzor Jr 5’11 275 OL60 T.J. Jones Fy 5’10 220 OL61 Eric Lopez Jr 5’9 245 OL62/44 Austen Steele Sr 5’10 220 RB63 Evan Dodson So 5’8 242 OL64 Bryan Conner Sr 5’8 265 OL65 Marc Baumann So 5’9 240 OL66 Christian Ruhl Fy 5’10 235 DL68 Bret Davis Fy 6’2 240 OL69 Nick Smith Jr 5’8 275 OL70 Sean Sullivan Fy 6’3 250 DL71 John Cordeaux Jr 5’8 245 DL73 Matt McDonald Jr 6’0 245 TE75 Fredd Reynaga Fy 6’2 230 OL76 Corwyn Gordon Jr 6’4 334 DL78 Casey Caslin So 6’0 300 OL80 Cory Fleisher Fy 6’1 180 WR82 Tyler Noll So 6’0 176 WR83 Gabe Cazares Sr 6’0 190 WR84 C.J. Metz Sr 5’6 165 WR85 Griff Davis Jr 5’9 170 WR86 Greg Capozza Fy 5’11 210 TE87 Andrew Downs Jr 6’3 255 DL88 James Karol Fy 6’3 205 WR89 Colin Rodgers Fy 5’8 170 WR90 Mike Grunde Jr 6’2 200 LB91 Walker Moriarty Fy 6’0 180 WR92 Mike Kogelschatz So 6’3 245 DL93 Justin Farrell So 5’10 165 P94 Josh Harrison Sr 6’2 230 DL95 Matt Giel Fy 6’2 230 DL96 Rich Lauvai So 6’0 200 LB97 Shane Mitchell Fy 6’1 200 LB98 Mike Gaspirino So 5’10 230 DL99 David London Jr 6’0 170 P/PK


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What did Shippensburg Univer-sity’s first outright PSAC football championship in 28 years earn the team?

Very little respect, apparently.The Red Raiders, who went 6-1

in conference play last season — earning victories over then-No. 3 Bloomsburg, No. 15 Edinboro and No. 18 California along the way — were picked to finish fourth in the 2010 PSAC Eastern Division Pre-season Coaches Poll last month, despite returning five All-Confer-ence players.

Shippensburg already has one blemish on its 2010 schedule: a 35-27 loss to Shepherd in its home opener last Saturday — the team’s sixth straight loss to Shepherd.

But while everyone seems to ex-pect less from Shippensburg this season, the team still has high hopes.

Shippensburg bid farewell to one of the most prolific pass catchers in school history as well as to a ser-viceable quarterback. However, the Red Raiders return a slew of skill-position players on offense and, if some of the young defensive play-ers can improve as the season pro-gresses, Shippensburg could once again take the PSAC by surprise.

Carrying the team’s banner on offense will once again be redshirt senior halfback Kevin Marshall, sophomore halfback Mike Frenette and redshirt sophomore fullback Kevin Herod: the team’s three-headed rushing attack in the run-heavy Wing-T offense.

“You have a lot of different run-ning styles and abilities (among the three backs),” said co-captain Drew Gallardy, a redshirt senior right tackle. “(Frenette) is maybe as good of a receiver as he is a running back. (Herod) is the guy that can

excite everybody in the building as soon as he touches the ball. He’s that fast.

“I think it’s safe to say they can complement each other well, es-pecially since you can move them to wherever you need to in this of-fense.”

The three backs should have plenty of protection as well. Ship returns four starters across the of-fensive line and, as Gallardy put it, there is very little work to be done in terms of forming one cohesive offensive line.

“With four guys returning ... we are one unit,” he said. “You look at the film (from the game vs. Shep-herd), we were there. We’re where we need to be.”

The challenge, as Shepherd pre-sented it last weekend, will be for the Red Raiders to cope when op-posing defenses focus on stopping the run. The Rams flooded the box

against Ship last Saturday and, while Frenette found room on the outside to break off a few nice runs, a lot of pressure was put on the Red Raiders’ passing game to step up and move the chains.

An uneasy prospect, consider-ing the team doesn’t have a definite No. 1 quarterback yet.

Last year’s starter, Chad DiFebbo, tossed 27 touchdown passes and piled up 2,507 yards. Coupled with receiver Mike Harris, the school’s all-time receptions leader, Ship had a potent passing attack to keep defenses honest.

This year, the passing attack is a jumbled mess of talent. Redshirt sophomore Steven Adams emerged as the early favorite to start at quarterback, coming off the bench early against Shepherd and throw-ing three touchdown passes to rally his team back into the game. Sophomore Bryan Barley, listed as

a return specialist on the preseason depth chart, hauled in a pair of touchdown catches.

But at this point, very little is set in stone.

“We were planning to play them two series, two series, two series,” head coach Rocky Rees said of the quarterback situation in the sea-son opener. “(Redshirt junior Dave) Chervansky didn’t get a chance to do anything in his two series, and the guys didn’t help him out at all with penalties, so I left him in there for four or five. Then we went with (Adams), and he didn’t get two (se-ries), he got the rest of the game.

“(Chervansky) is a student of the game of football. He’s like having another coach on the sideline. But the guy that can move the sticks is the guy that will play.”

Rees said Adams has the edge at this point and has been “working to maintain his leverage” in practice.

“Both were told going in that they’d both play (against Shep-herd),” Gallardy said. “(Adams) did the most with his opportunity. There were things both of them did well, but there were things both of them need to correct. Since the spring, there was always the ques-tion of which one of them was go-ing to be the guy ... like coach said, there’s still a lot of time to deter-mine who’s going to be the guy to play up to their potential.”

The problem on defense, as it stands now, is depth. Eight sec-ond-string defenders are redshirt sophomores or younger, and con-sistent play throughout an entire game could be an issue.

But several veterans return to lead the defense, including team senior co-captain Riley Bowen at strong-side linebacker, and finding leader-ship won’t be an issue.

“(Bowen) is a tremendous out-side linebacker for his size,” Rees said. “And he can, if need be, move to the inside, even though he’s not the prototype big guy in there. But he’s tough to block, aggressive.”

But in spots, the Ship defense is very young. Redshirt freshman Dainen Green is a starter at defen-sive end, and redshirt freshman Avery Coleman, a starter at strong-side cornerback, had a rough out-ing against Shepherd.

“We have some experience back there in (redshirt junior cornerback Marcellus) Sammons and (redshirt senior free safety Jamahn) McCol-lough,” Rees said. “But Shepherd picked on the freshman last week. They got some success off him. But again, he’s a redshirt freshman; we’re hoping he’ll get better.”

While Ship has at least a few ca-pable starters back on offense and defense, the kicking game could be in for some series growing pains. True freshman Drew Newcomer takes over at placekicker, redshirt freshman Nate Schmidt will be handling punts, and true freshman Kyle Kush is in charge of holding for Newcomer.

Shippensburg University

Raiders set out to defend title

Curt Werner/Special to the Sentinel

Shippensburg University players participate in blocking drills under a cage on the team’s prac-tice field on the Shippensburg University campus this preseason. The Red Raiders return four starters along the offensive line.

Ship must settle on ■

a quarterback, replace losses on defense.

• See Raiders, D37


and inexperienced, but both can be very good football players.”

The defense is much more unsettled than the offense, with a mere four starters returning: Lebo is back as a defensive end; Matt Sowers and Jordan Durris are set at linebacker and Smith in the secondary.

That unit is a great concern for Cantafio, who has a team with the ability to score in bunches but one that might struggle to stop opponents.

“We have a lot of holes to fill defensively,” Cantafio said. “I hope every week we get better, but it’s tough to tell. Offensively, we have a lot of experience. Defensive-ly, we do not.

“Hopefully they can be consistent, because offen-sively, we can score some points. It’s the defense that will be the key to our sea-son.”

Thanks to the realignment of the Mid-Penn Confer-ence, the Colts are in the Keystone Division with six Class AAA foes. Cedar Cliff remains Class AAAA.

Regardless of the techni-cal classification, Cantafio is convinced the Keystone suits his school’s size bet-ter than the Commonwealth Division, which has only AAAA schools.

“The bottom line is, we don’t belong playing State College and Cumberland Valley, regardless of what people say,” Cantafio said. “We’re where we belong. We’re competing against schools our size, and this is where we belong. It won’t be any easier, but let’s face it, the difference with State College and CV is their num-bers and depth compared to us. That’s the difference. They have a few more play-ers than we do.”

Despite the switch in

leagues, the schedule is anything but easy for Cedar Cliff. The three non-con-ference games — Elizabeth-town, South Western and Lampeter-Strasburg — are against teams with legiti-mate playoff aspirations, and the division includes five teams that made the playoffs

in 2009. Bishop McDevitt, in Class AAAA, and Susque-hanna Twp., in AAA, were district runners-up last fall.

“This division is going to be so equally matched that every weekend is going to be a battle,” Cantafio said. “It’s going to be a heck of a divi-sion.”

Colts• Continued from D12

A Closer lookClassification — AAAADivision — KeystoneHead coach — Jim Cantafio (27 years overall, third at Cedar Cliff, 11-10)Offensive coordinator — Jim CantafioDefensive coordinator — Mike SternerOther assistants — Bob Miller, Colin Gillin, Scott Henne, Tom Sa-coman, Robert Hooton, Bob Schnarrs, Jordan Berrian, Ed Romano, Ken Shaffer.Last year — 6-5 overall, 3-1 division (second)Postseason — Lost to South Western, 41-34, in District 3 Class AAAA first round.Key players lost — Danny Moore, RB; Tate Moore-Jacobs, RB-LB. Returning offensive starters (7) — Tim Kelly, sr., QB; Tyler jr., Orris, QB; Eric Campbell, sr., G; Josh Lebo, sr. TE; Adam Breneman, soph., WR; Ryan Smith, sr., WR; Nol Aru, jr., WR.Returning defensive starters (4) — Lebo, DE; Matt Sowers, jr., LB; Jordan Durris, jr., LB; Smith, DB.Other key returnees — None.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 3-3 StackPlayer to watch — Brene-man. “He started every game as a freshman,” Can-tafio said. “He’s going to be a tremendous threat at wide receiver and outside linebacker or defensive end.”Team strength — Quarterback.Team concern — Running back. Game to watch — Nov. 5 at Mechanicsburg. Were it not for Bishop McDevitt being in this division, the regular-season-ending game between Cedar Cliff and Mechanicsburg might be the de facto Key-stone Division championship game. Regardless, there might not be a better place on the schedule for a game involving two teams that will be prepping for long playoff runs.

——SCHEDULE

*Keystone Division gameSept. 3 Elizabethtown, 7Sept. 9 South Western, 7Sept. 17 at Lampeter-Strasburg, 7*Sept. 24 at Hershey, 7*Oct. 1 Red Land, 7*Oct. 9 at Bishop McDevitt, 10:30 a.m.*Oct. 15 at Susquehanna Twp., 7*Oct. 22 Lower Dauphin, 7Oct. 29 Chambersburg, 7*Nov. 5 at Mechanicsburg, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Nol Aru 11 6-3 180 WR-DB2 Jake McLaughlin 10 5-4 105 QB-DB3 William Hopkins 10 5-9 150 WR-DB4 I’Quan Strickland 11 5-9 165 RB-LB5 Xavier Baney 10 5-11 175 RB-DB7 Andrew Ford 9 6-1 165 QB-DB8 Ray Sacedor 11 5-9 150 WR-DB9 Zach Rush 10 5-5 110 QB-DB10 Jaquan McIntyre 10 5-9 155 WR-DB11 Jake Robinson 11 5-11 160 WR-DB12 Tyler Orris 11 5-8 150 QB-DB13 Tim Kelly 12 6-1 180 QB-DB16 Devine Davis 11 5-9 160 WR-DB17 Rick Morel 10 5-9 150 WR-DB18 Kareen Mitchell 11 5-11 160 WR-DB19 Christopher Walker 10 5-9 150 WR-DB20 Alex Siegfried 11 5-11 160 RB-LB22 Jacob Bowen 10 5-7 145 WR-DB26 Manuel Domenech 11 5-7 150 WR-DB27 Daylynn Smith 11 5-2 145 RB-DB28 Brady Ney 12 5-10 185 RB-LB30 Andrew Krajcsik 12 5-11 235 RB-LB31 Jesse Gochenaur 11 5-9 160 WR-DB33 Joel Chapman 11 5-10 185 RB-LB34 Austin Reefer 10 5-6 145 RB-DB36 Yousses Ajlane 10 5-8 140 RB-LB40 Deshaun Woodson 11 5-7 180 RB-LB43 Stefan Lazarevic 12 6-0 205 RB-DE45 Adrian Gochenaur 11 5-9 180 TE-DE50 Eric Yeager 10 5-6 190 OL-DL51 Matt Sowers 11 5-10 200 OL-LB52 Jake Zeigler 10 5-8 150 OL-LB54 Jordan Duras 11 5-9 180 OL-LB57 Jacob Emond 10 5-11 200 OL-DL58 Logan Boal 10 5-9 175 OL-LB59 Steve Harding 11 5-10 170 OL-LB60 Matt McCullough 10 5-10 225 OL-DL63 Brady Kaufold 11 6-0 220 C-DL64 Travis Reimer 11 6-0 225 OL-DL68 Dave Newcomer 10 6-0 200 OL-DL71 Devin O’Keefe 10 6-1 335 OL-DL72 Josh Knepper 10 5-10 170 OL-DL73 Josh King 11 6-0 250 OL-DL74 Justin Jones 12 6-3 310 OT-DT75 C.J. Law 12 6-2 210 OL-DL77 Eric Campbell 12 6-1 250 OL-DL78 Dalton Sersch 11 5-11 240 OL-DL79 Dave Warrenfeltz 10 6-1 230 OL-DL84 Ryan Smith 12 5-10 145 WR-DB85 Leo Echevarria 12 5-9 140 WR-DB86 Josh Musselman 10 6-1 180 TE-LB87 Adam Breneman 10 6-4 210 WR-DB88 Zachary Sacoman 12 5-11 170 TE-DL89 Josh Lebo 12 6-4 210 TE-DE


Cedar Cliff coach Jim Cantafio oversees a preseason practice session.


ABoVE: Jordan Duras (54) wraps up Josh King dur-ing a tackling drill.BELoW: Junior quarterback Tyler Orris looks for an open receiver.


new fusions30 in stockL.B. sMitH L.B. SMITH

A Closer look

Classification: NCAA Division IIConference: Pennsylvania State Athletic

ConferenceDivision: EasternHead coach: Rocky Rees (154-119-2 all-

time, 118-104-1 at Shippensburg)Assistant coaches: Mark Maciejewski

(assistant head coach/secondary); Pete Lee (offensive coordinator/offensive line/kickers); Mike Burket (defensive coordi-nator/linebackers); J.C. Morgan (running backs); Chance Powell (wide receivers/passing game coordinator); Tunde Agboke (defensive line); Mark Luther (secondary); Tony Johnson (secondary); Robert Rollins (defensive line); John Wetzel (offensive line)

Last year: 9-3, 6-1 PSAC East (PSAC champions)

Returning offensive starters (7): Kev-in Herod (6-1, 225, R-So. FB); Mike Frenette (5-9, 180, So. HB); Kevin Marshall (5-11, 185, R-Sr. HB); Steve Hohenwarter (6-2, 265, Jr. LT); Bobby Muller (6-2, 245, R-So. LG); Peter Kreisher (6-3, 3-5, R-Jr. C); Drew Gallardy (6-2, 280, Sr. RT)

Returning defensive starters (6): Andy Horn (6-3, 225, R-Sr. DT); Erik Van Ness (6-0, 260, R-Sr. DL); Mark Kahlil Smith (5-11, 285, R-So. DL); Riley Bowen (6-0, 200, Sr. LB); Vinnie Ranauto (5-11, 200, Jr. LB); Ja-mahn McCollough (5-11, 185, Sr. FS)

Offensive alignment: Multiple Wing-TDefensive alignment: Multiple 4-3Players to watch: Offense — Frenette.

The secret’s out on the sophomore, who piled up 769 total yards last season and led the three-headed rushing attack in yards per carry with 5.6. Still, Frenette is a player to watch this year based on his potential. Anytime a true freshman steps onto the field as a starter and produces, he gathers plenty of hype as far as his potential going forward, and a lot of pressure can fall on him to improve upon his solid freshman campaign. All three of the team’s leading rushers return this season, so it’s likely Frenette will simply duplicate his produc-tion from last year. But Rees was excited about Frenette’s potential as both a rusher and pass catcher, and the sophomore led the team in rushing yards in the season opener against Shepherd, so you never know. Maybe Frenette will be even more productive this year than the last. Defense — Terence Glenn (6-0, 169, R-Jr. CB). Glenn is a transfer from Rhode Island, A Division I Football Championship Subdivision pro-gram, and though he is listed as a backup at weakside cornerback, Rees expects him to contribute greatly after acclimating to Ship’s defensive system. “We think he can make something happen,” Rees said.

Team strength: The run game. At least, ideally. In a Wing-T offense — heavily de-

pendent on a strong ground game to open things up for the play-action passing game — the two halfbacks and fullback are re-sponsible for setting the tone. A veteran offensive line struggled to clear much run-ning room in the opener, but Shepherd committed its defense to stuffing the box. It’s too early to write off the Ship run game. In fact, as Rees pointed out after the loss to Shepherd, the outside running lanes were working just fine. There’s no reason to think that Ship won’t have the same dominant rushing attack as last season.

Team weakness: Depth along the de-fensive line. Ship lost two of its best pass rushers along the defensive front to “rea-sons not forseen,” as Rees put it. Defensive lineman Tyton Brunner chose not to return, and redshirt sophomore lineman Zach Col-lins “is on the team but cannot play any games this year.” Redshirt freshman Dain-en Green has been pressed into duty at de-fensive end, and the second-string across the line includes two redshirt freshmen and one redshirt sophomore. The starters are experienced enough for the most part, but when depth is needed late in games, there could be some problems.

Games to watch: at West Chester, Oct. 7, 8 p.m. and vs. Bloomsburg, Oct. 16, 1 p.m. In back-to-back weeks this season, Ship will square off with two of its toughest and most anticipated opponents. Blooms-burg was ranked No. 16 in Lindy’s Sports Division II Top 25 preseason poll this sea-son and, though West Chester struggled against some upper-tier PSAC teams last season, it managed to defeat then-No. 10 Bloomsburg in its second-to-last game of 2009.

_____Schedule

*PSAC Eastern Division gameAug. 28 vs. Shepherd, 1Sept. 11 vs. Gannon, 1Sept. 18 at Clarion, 6Sept. 25 vs. C.W. Post, 1Oct. 2 at Kutztown, 1:05Oct. 7 at West Chester, 8Oct. 16 vs. Bloomsburg, 1Oct. 23 vs. Cheyney, 1Oct. 30 vs. Millersville, 1Nov. 6 at East Stroudsburg, 1:05Nov. 13 at Mercyhurst, noon

_____Roster

No. Name Pos. Yr. Ht. Wt.1 Taimur Harris SE R-So 6-0 166

2 Bryan Barley SE So 6-0 1763 Jeryl Cole HB R-Fr 5-11 2114 Roshaan McCain HB R-Jr 5-10 1815 Kevin Herod FB R-So 6-1 2316 Bryan Culler DB R-Jr 6-2 1827 Jacob Baskerville SE R-So 6-2 1958 Marcellus Sammons DB R-Jr 6-1 2089 Pete O’Connor QB R-Fr 6-4 20210 Tyrik Clary LB R-So 6-2 21011 Mike Goode DB R-Fr 5-11 18312 Kyle Kush DB Fr 5-11 18913 Pat Schuhl FB So 6-1 21714 Antione Singleton DB Fr 5-9 17415 Dillon Mazzoni QB Fr 6-2 18016 Dave Chervansky QB R-Jr 6-0 20317 Steven Adams QB R-So 6-5 21218 Zach Zulli QB R-Fr 6-2 17919 Nate Schmidt K R-Fr 6-3 17320 Jon Eisemann HB Fr 5-10 17521 Avery Coleman DB R-Fr 5-10 17522 Kevin Marshall HB R-Sr 5-11 18323 Jamahn McCollough S R-Sr 6-0 19124 Mike Frenette HB So 5-9 19325 Tyrig Kershaw S R-Fr 6-0 19026 Mike Lloyd DB R-So 5-9 16426 David Tyler HB Fr 5-10 18027 Xavier Selby SE Fr 6-3 17728 Marcus Cooper DB Fr 5-9 15929 Terence Glenn DB R-Jr 6-0 16930 Cody Plesnar TE Fr 6-0 20631 Kyle Karpinski S R-Fr 5-11 18732 Camryn LaSalle HB R-Fr 5-8 18233 Vinnie Ranauto LB Jr. 6-0 20634 Drew Newcomer K Fr 5-11 19335 Michael Baber HB Fr 5-9 18436 Corey Hunt S R-So 6-0 18837 Dakota Kessler DB R-Fr 6-1 17338 Brian Sourber LB Fr 6-2 19139 Trevor Mack DB Fr 5-11 17840 James Cooper DB Fr 5-11 15441 Riley Brown LB Sr 6-1 20242 Nik Rosenberry TE R-So 6-5 24143 Chris Johnson LB R-Fr 5-11 20244 Cody Flemming LB R-So 6-1 22045 Matt Robertson LB Fr 5-9 20446 Drew Sneeringer LB R-Fr 6-3 19548 Zach Sheard LB Fr 6-0 19748 Josh Shearer SE Fr 6-0 19749 Josh Kramarenko HB Fr 6-0 20350 Sean Sadosky LB Fr 6-1 22151 Joe Weaver OL Fr 6-3 29552 Drew Gallardy OL R-Sr 6-2 27254 Beau Hoffman LB R-Jr 6-0 21655 Theo Davis LB Fr 6-3 20856 John Garnier OL R-So 6-1 26757 Peter Kreisher OL R-Jr 6-3 32058 Steve Hohenwarter OL R-Jr 6-2 26761 Tyler Fairchild OL Fr 6-0 30262 Bobby Mullen OL R-So 6-2 26063 Greg Bamberger OL Fr 6-2 32464 Justin Bloom OL R-Fr 6-2 25666 Shay Ceglar OL R-Fr 6-1 24570 Myles Roche OL R-Jr 6-5 26372 Tim Latham OL Fr 6-4 29073 Chris Restino OL R-So 6-2 26174 Andrew Lesagonicz OL Fr 6-2 27775 Kevin Mosely DL R-Jr 6-1 27277 Jason Brady OL R-Fr 6-3 29380 Charlie McCairns LB Fr 6-2 22181 Alex Kuljian TE Fr 6-4 23482 Brian Heitz TE R-Jr 6-4 24283 Jake Biondi TE R-Sr 6-3 22984 Lance Kopp SE Fr 6-2 18285 Matt Koontz SE Fr 6-3 21286 Andrew Millay TE Fr 6-2 22287 Trevor Harman SE Fr 6-2 18688 Will Killeen SE R-Fr 6-0 18989 Mike Schmidt LB R-Fr 6-5 22390 Andy Horn DL R-Jr 6-4 24191 Phil Long DL R-Fr 6-1 27292 Dainen Green DL R-Fr 6-3 24493 Kyle Mahorney TE Fr 6-4 20394 Zach Collins DL R-So 5-11 26695 James Brennan LB Fr 6-0 19096 Mark Kahlil Smith DL R-So 6-0 30397 Erik Van Ness DL R-Jr 6-1 26098 Saeed Khateeb DL R-So 6-2 23699 Jake Metz DL R-Fr 6-7 225

Redshirt freshman Shay Ceglar slides into the vacant starting spot at longsnapper.

“Our kicking game is a weakness,” Rees said. “We lost our kicker and our punt-er and our longsnapper and our shortsnapper from last year. They’re all new faces.

“We thought they might wet their diaper (in the home opener), but I thought they came through fairly well ... We’ve got a true fresh-man doing the holding and redshirt freshmen doing the snapping and kicking. There’s mistakes happening, but as they go they’ll get better.”

Despite the quarterback situation and fresh faces, not everyone is balking over Shippensburg’s chance to repeat success in the PSAC.

Lindy’s Sports tabbed the Red Raiders as its preseason No. 15 — the second-high-est-ranked PSAC school be-hind No. 6 California. Ship was unranked in the 2010 American Football Coaches Association Preseason Divi-sion II Coaches’ Poll but re-ceived 11 votes.

And while the team is 0-1 already this season, the loss to Shepherd could mean very little to Ship’s success in the long run. After all, follow-ing a 34-23 loss to the Rams in the 2009 season opener, the Red Raiders went 8-1 and reached the second round of the NCAA Division II play-offs.

“You don’t get crowned a champion in week one, as we found out last year,” Gallardy said. “We still have big, lofty expectations.”

Raiders• Continued from D36


Shippensburg sophomore Mike Frenette hauls in a pass during preseason camp.


Cedar Cliff Colts

Things are finally looking up

By TRAvis L. PiCkensASSISTANT SPORTS [email protected]

In 27 years of coaching high school football, Cedar Cliff coach Jim Cantafio has never faced a sit-uation quite like this.

When the Colts open their sea-son tonight against Elizabethtown at West Shore Stadium, both se-nior Tim Kelly and junior Tyler Orris will see time under center.

Orris, who started all 11 games at quarterback last fall after Kelly was injured in the preseason, com-pleted 136 of 239 passes for 1,824 yards, 17 touchdowns and 13 in-terceptions as a sophomore. Orris added 131 yards and two touch-downs on the ground.

“They’re both very smart and tremendous athletes, and they are football smart,” Cantafio said. “They can run, they can throw. They can do it all. It’s the first time in my coaching career that I’ve had two quarterbacks on the same team

that are so talented.”Despite the fact that Cantafio has

two reliable options at the most important position, he doesn’t think it will give Cedar Cliff an ad-vantage over defenses. The reason is that Kelly and Orris excel at ev-ery facet of the position.

“I’ve never had a quarterback position so close like this, never,” Cantafio said. “Either one can do everything; it’s not like in the NFL when one is a drop-back passer and the other is a sprinter.

“These guys can run, they can do anything I need them to do. Both of them can win football games.”

Cedar Cliff, coming off a 6-5 season, is loaded on offense with seven returning starters. The two quarterbacks have big targets in wide receivers Adam Breneman and Ryan Smith plus tight end Josh Lebo.

But the running back position is a question mark thanks to the graduation of Dan Moore and Tate Moore-Jacobs.

Cantafio is expecting Joel Chap-man, a junior, and sophomore Xavier Baney to step up.

“They have two different styles,” Cantafio said. “Chapman is a physical runner, and Xavier has the cat-quick moves. Both are young


Cedar Cliff tight end Josh Lebo is one of many returning skill-position players for Cedar Cliff this year. The Colts also boast two quality starting quarterbacks in junior Tyler Orris and senior Tim Kelly.

There are some ■

questions on defense but a loaded offense will keep the Colts in contention all season.

• See Colts, D13


Christian Kuntz has always had an easy time staying in shape. Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, track and field in the spring: Staying active year-round was the key.

So when the former Trinity standout says Penn State’s offsea-son conditioning program is no joke, it must be tough.

“Just coming into a major Di-vision I program, I was really fo-cused on getting conditioned,” the redshirt freshman wide receiver said. “I ran track in high school and thought (spring training) would be a breeze. But offseason workouts are no joke here.”

After spending a season on the Nittany Lions’ foreign team as a wideout, surviving another close call with his knee and absorbing as much of the PSU playbook as pos-sible, Kuntz is ready to step into a real-game situation and do what he can to help Penn State this sea-son.

“It was mainly a learning year. I needed it,” said Kuntz, who made the transition from pass-catch-

ing running back to full-time re-ceiver when he committed to PSU last year. “(The position change) wasn’t that hard. At Trinity, I came out of the backfield and caught a lot.”

Kuntz has a strong pedigree for the position: His father, Fran, played wide receiver for the Uni-versity of Maryland.

Working with the foreign team during his redshirt season last fall, Kuntz didn’t appear in any games for the Nittany Lions, but he got plenty of experience facing a Divi-sion I defense in practice.

“I was on the foreign team, going against the first-team, second-team defense,” Kuntz said. “You go against some good competition.”

Kuntz was ready to take the next step. He was looking forward to the 2010 Blue White scrimmage — what would have been his first experience playing in front of a crowd at Beaver Stadium.

Instead, he suffered a near-ca-tastrophe.

After tearing the medial col-lateral ligament in his left knee following a 46-yard run against Middletown on Oct. 13, 2008, Kuntz’s senior basketball season was wiped out. It was debatable whether he’d even be able to re-turn in time for the spring track season, and it was a great ac-complishment when the Trinity athlete won a pair of PIAA Class AA gold medals in the 110- and

300-meter hurdles in the spring of 2009.

When he left Trinity, it seemed his knee problems were behind him — until the week before the 2010 Blue White.

Kuntz suffered a sprain in the knee during spring drills on April 10 and was forced to miss the scrimmage.

“It wasn’t nearly as bad, just a sprain,” Kuntz said of the injury. “After rehabbing it, it’s 10 times stronger.”

The rehab process wasn’t any-thing new for Kuntz. Following the MCL injury in ‘08, he dedicated two or three days each week to re-hab. After the sprain, Kuntz said, he “stayed on top of it” every day this spring and summer.

Now, Kuntz is healthy once again. In fact, it seems his body is doing everything it can to accom-modate his new position. Since last season, the redshirt freshman said, he’s grown an inch and added 10 to 15 pounds of muscle.

He also said he’s developed as an individual after serving a year un-der legendary head coach Joe Pa-terno, and said he’s happy to have had the redshirt season last year to take in the 83-year-old’s wisdom.

“Not only to learn the system, but to mature as a man,” Kuntz said. “It’s something (Paterno) re-ally preaches.

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LEFT: Carlisle returns junior Cody Failor at quarterback.RIGhT: Chris Wuestner, a defensive back, slips by Brian Griggs during preseason camp.

Penn State Football

Dream delayed, but not lost for Kuntztrinity grad ■

overcomes scare with knee, ready for season.


Penn State redshirt freshman wide receiver Christian Kuntz, a 2009 graduate of Trinity High School, is hoping to earn some playing time this season. • See Kuntz, D43




717.458.8105



Come as you are.


Elegant Atmosphere

A Closer lookClassification — AAAADivision — CommonwealthHead coach — Josh Oswalt (first year)Offensive coordinator — Jason ThurstonDefensive coordinator — Justin OswaltOther assistants — Dave Eav-enson, Brad Nailor, Richard Rayborn, Randol Thomas, Tony Weber.Last year — 2-8 overall, 1-3 division (fourth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Travis Mease, RB-LB, Isaiah Wright, WR-CB.Returning offensive start-ers (5) — Lance Windish, sr., T; Cody Failor, jr., QB; Jordan Woodall, sr., FB; Damon Nailor, sr., G; Chris Wuestner, jr., WR. Returning defensive starters (5) — Windish, sr., DT; Matt Quattrone, soph., LB; Woodall, sr., LB; Wuestner, jr., S; Lee Townsend, sr., DE.Other key returnees — NoneOffensive alignment — Wing-T

Defensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Woodall or Failor. “When you run the Wing-T,” Josh Oswalt said, “you need them both to be successful.”Team strength — Running backsTeam concern — Offensive and defensive line depthGame to watch — Oct. 15 at Chambersburg. Carlisle didn’t catch any breaks in the scheduling department. Of its 10 opponents, seven made the district playoffs and three played for a district champion-ship. Chambersburg was one of those playoff teams from 2009 but, just like Carlisle, the Trojans are breaking in a new coach. This is one of the few games on the schedule that Carlisle can look at and feel comfortable about, and games like these are the ones Carlisle must start winning.

——SCHEDULE

*Commonwealth Division gameSept. 3 Mechanicsburg, 7Sept. 10 Lower Dauphin, 7Sept. 17 Red Lion, 7*Sept. 25 at Harrisburg, 1Oct. 1 Susquehanna Twp., 7*Oct. 8 at State College, 7*Oct. 15 at Chambersburg, 7*Oct. 22 Central Dauphin, 7

*Oct. 29 at Central Dauphin East, 7*Nov. 5 Cumberland Valley, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Akeem Ramsey 11 5-10 140 QB-DB2 Cody Failor 11 5-1 166 QB-DB3 Dominic Ortiz 11 5-9 144 RB-DB4 Brian Goodling 10 5-8 164 QB-LB5 Keegan Love 11 5-8 171 RB-DB10 Jake Myers 11 5-7 130 WR-DB11 Max Breschi 9 5-10 159 QB-LB12 Nathan Marks 10 5-11 146 WR-DB14 Brendan Almeida 10 5-8 121 WR-DB20 Brian Griggs 10 5-6 123 WR-DB21 Jonathan Mundell 10 5-3 150 RB-DB22 Chris Wuestner 11 6-0 182 WR-DB23 Jamel Wilson 12 5-7 170 RB-LB24 Dorian Naiditch 9 5-3 124 PK26 Matt Quattrone 10 5-7 160 RB-LB31 Devin Cherry 10 5-9 154 WR-DL32 Jordan Woodall 12 5-9 209 RB-LB33 Shon Nyero 11 5-8 166 RB-LB42 Shayvan Murray 11 5-9 186 RB-LB

43 Haden Orth 10 5-7 154 RB-LB44 Hunter Robb 11 5-9 192 RB-LB45 Lee Townsend 12 6-0 229 TE-DL48 Caleb Davis 10 6-1 176 TE-DL49 Cody Wood 12 5-7 145 RB-LB50 Damon Nailor 12 5-10 189 OL-DL51 Drew Frohm 12 5-9 234 OL-DL52 Timothy Palmer II 11 5-11 200 OL-LB53 Michael Gould 10 5-9 172 OL-DL54 Jesse Ruth 11 5-7 165 OL-LB58 Austin McMullan 10 5-7 137 OL-LB59 Caine Sigel 10 5-10 158 OL-DL60 Ted Thorson 10 5-5 170 OL-LB61 Tyler Smeltz 11 5-6 176 OL-DL65 Brandon Padua 10 5-11 170 OL-DL68 Kevin Powers 10 5-8 158 OL-LB70 Hunter Barbour 10 6-4 262 OL-DL72 Lance Windish 12 5-11 242 OL-DL73 Tino Kezic 10 6-0 269 OL-DL75 Layton Brooks 12 5-9 230 OL-DL76 Nick Roth 9 5-10 182 OL-DL77 Joseph Graham 10 6-2 332 OL-DL81 Bamasa Bailor 9 5-10 156 WR-DB86 Ben Miller 11 5-9 176 TE-DL


He’s the best player you’ve nev-er heard of in Happy Valley. His one-handed touchdown recep-tion along the left sideline in a 2008 Maryland 4A regional high school football playoff game will go down as one of the greatest plays in the greater Washington D.C. area that season.

For now, former Eleanor Roos-evelt standout Derrick Thomas has a more humble role, back-ing up junior D’Anton Lynn at left cornerback for the Penn State Nittany Lions. But it’s just a matter of time before the red-shirt freshman gets his chance to show what he can do at Beaver Stadium.

After all, he came from PSU’s own private reserve of talent in 2008 — the D.C. beltway area.

While at Eleanor Roosevelt as a safety and wide receiver, Thomas had a pretty easy time focusing on his defensive duties, playing alongside cornerback Stephon Morris.

“Our defensive backs, it was re-

ally easy to play,” Thomas said. “I was playing safety, Stephon at corner. I could just leave him on an island. If a certain team had two good receivers, I’d move to corner.”

It was a banner year for the Raiders, going 10-0 in the regu-lar season and reaching the state regional finals. Thomas, then a Rivals.com four-star recruit and top-50 cornerback recruit ac-cording to both Rivals and Scout.com, earned DigitalSports All-Beltway Wide Receiver honors with 25 receptions for 601 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Thomas fielded offers from about a half-dozen Division I programs during his junior year at Eleanor Roosevelt. Though his hometown of Greenbelt, Md., was less than 10 miles from the Uni-versity of Maryland, he decided on the rolling farms and easygo-ing atmosphere of Central Pa.

“The reason was I had been in Maryland and D.C. all my life,” Thomas said. “I didn’t want my college experience to be there. I wanted a different lifestyle.

“What really helped (my deci-sion) was (PSU redshirt junior) Chaz Powell. He showed me the system. He cared more (than players at other schools). He showed me the basics.”

It wasn’t long before Thomas returned the favor. Just a couple

of weeks after he committed to Penn State in 2008, the Raiders standout convinced Morris to do the same. Though Morris was considered only a three-star re-cruit by both Rivals and Scout, he quickly earned his keep at Penn State as a true freshman last sea-son, playing in every game and recording 30 tackles.

“I committed first, during my junior year. Stephon committed a couple weeks after me,” Thomas said.

“I knew Stephon since sev-enth or eighth grade. We ran track against each other (in mid-dle school) ... I decided to go (to PSU), and then put the pressure on (Morris) to go.”

Though Thomas was the first to commit and the more highly touted prospect, Morris is the one expected to carry a larger work-load this season. The 5-foot-8, 182-pound sophomore is in line to start at right cornerback.

And he has plenty to prove. Morris feels he was misjudged during the recruitment process in his junior year of high school, when he drew little Division I interest, and despite earning 16 tackles for a loss during his se-nior season at Eleanor Roosevelt, was denounced by many scouts as lacking physicality.

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Penn State sophomore cornerback Stephon Morris is just one of several young players PSU recruited from the Washington D.C. beltway area• See Beltway, D43


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“They want to change,” Oswalt said of the group of leaders he’s leaning on at Carlisle. “I look at them just like I looked at my group at Shippensburg. They want to see change, and that select group took charge and got them to the PSAC championship and made it to the national playoffs.

“It takes a select group of guys to step up and say we want to take this by the horns and run with it.”

Carlisle, with five re-turning starters on each side of the ball, will rely on a young backfield to replace Travis Mease. One of the changes Oswalt implemented was moving Jordan Woodall from half-back to fullback.

Woodall is joined in the backfield by three other fullbacks and four half-backs, none of whom is a senior.

“I think (Woodall) can be one of the best in the area,” Oswalt said. “I compare him to (for-mer CV standout a n d Penn State fullback) Dan Lawlor, one of my best friends. Dan came to one of our workouts, and I said, ‘(Woodall) runs a lot like you but he’s a little faster than you were in

high school.’“It’s all about how hard

he wants to work, though. Does he have Danny’s work ethic? No, but he has more talent.”

To compete in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Di-vision, Woodall will need help. Cody Failor returns at quarterback, but the Herd has inexperience and depth issues on both lines.

With a brutal schedule that includes defending District 3-AAAA cham-pion Cumberland Valley and reigning PIAA Class AAAA runner-up State College, nothing is go-ing to come easy this fall, which is exactly how Os-walt would have it.

“ I d i d n ’t k n ow h ow good this conference was before I took the job,” Oswalt said facetious-ly. “Look, our guys take pride in (the conference). I take pride in it. It’s go-ing to make us better. It definitely puts you in good company. Would we rather play schools that aren’t any good? No. I don’t think we’d get ex-cited. We have a chal-lenge.

“We practice every day thinking those teams are gaining on us so we have to make every practice count.”

Herd• Continued from D9

photos by Jason Malmont

ABoVE: Carlisle coach Josh Oswalt will begin his career as a head coach by trying to revive the Herd’s program.LEFT: Sophomore quarterback Brian Goodling is expected to see some time in relief of starting quar-terback Cody Failor.


Michael Mauti had no problem fielding questions from a throng of reporters during Penn State foot-ball media day in August. He had the calm, confident demeanor of a leader who is ready to take charge of a young defense this season.

But in the shadow of his confi-dence is plenty of inexperience.

Mauti’s first year at PSU created plenty of buzz around the highly touted inside-linebacker recruit. He enrolled early, arriving on campus in January of 2008, the same month he competed in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl — the prestigious annual high school all-star game played in Texas.

He played in every game as a true freshman in ‘08 with 26 tackles. He already was considered a starting-caliber linebacker heading into his sophomore year.

Then, the rising star tore the an-terior cruciate ligament in his right knee last August. He donned a medical redshirt, and his ‘09 season was lost.

All things considered, Mauti has just one season of reserve duty un-

der his belt. But the redshirt sopho-more doesn’t see it that way.

To him, this is his season to step forward and take command of a linebacking unit that bid farewell to all three of its primary starters after last season.

“As far as my career, I haven’t even scratched the surface,” Mauti said. “I have three seasons left ... but I’ve been here for two-and-a-half years. I don’t think you have to be a certain age to assume a leader-ship role.”

The talent of last year’s lineback-ing corps was typical for Penn State teams over the years. Navorro Bow-man, Josh Hull and Sean Lee were the starters at the position when the ‘09 season began, and all three were 2010 NFL Draft selections. Lee went to Dallas in the second round, Bowman to San Francisco in the third and Hull to St. Louis in the seventh.

It was the first time three PSU linebackers were taken in the same draft since 1992 — when Mark D’Onofrio (second round), Keith Goganious (third) and Andre Powell (eighth) were all selected — and the fourth time since 1960.

However, given the players’ draft positions in each of the four in-stances, the argument can be made that, when healthy, last year’s line-backing corps was the deepest in PSU history.

Which, of course, left quite the leadership void in the PSU defense

heading into the 2010 season.The unit lacks consistent starting

experience. Redshirt junior Nathan Stupar made two starts last season, and senior Bani Gbadyu earned five starts.

This year’s group features plenty of hype. Six of the seven lineback-ers listed on the team’s preseason depth chart — Gbadyu, Stupar, Mauti, senior Chris Colasanti, red-shirt sophomore Michael Yancich and sophomore Gerald Hodges — were dubbed four-star recruits by rivals.com.

However, it would be easy to look at other veteran defensive players for leadership on the team. The sec-ondary is loaded with veterans, in-cluding redshirt junior safeties Nick Sukay and Drew Astorino, each of whom started every game last year. Junior defensive end Jack Crawford also started every game and has the big-play potential to inspire by ex-ample.

But Mauti doesn’t see it that way. Penn State isn’t called Linebacker U for nothing — the Nittany Lions have produced so many stars at the position that it has become the source of leadership on the team, even when the linebackers are a lit-tle green.

“We have a lot of great leaders in our senior class, but the linebacker position is considered a senior role,” Mauti said. “I strive to be that guy.”

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Carlisle Thundering Herd

Tough task for new coach

By TrAvis L. PickensASSiStAnt SpoRtS [email protected]

First-year Carlisle football coach Josh Oswalt wants to change the culture of his school’s program.

And he’s not cutting corners to do it.

On the surface, Carlisle is run-ning the same offense that for-mer coach Brett Ickes ran during his four years at the Carlisle helm. During that time, the Thundering Herd went 6-34 and failed to sniff the postseason.

Oswalt isn’t sticking with the Wing-T because it was used by the last regime. He’s using it be-cause it’s something Oswalt is familiar with and something he thinks will help Carlisle win foot-ball games, which will in turn help change what has become a losing culture.

“Honestly, it had nothing to do with what Carlisle was doing last year,” Oswalt said about sticking

with the offensive scheme. “It’s more of my background and my offensive coordinator’s back-ground. I think when you’re in high school, you’re not going to have the linemen to run a zone scheme or anything like that. You have smaller guys, so why not take that to your advantage? You can pull guards, pull tackles and use the misdirection that the Wing-T is all about.”

Oswalt’s offensive coordinator is Jason Thurston, who was an as-sistant coach under Eric Foust at Shippensburg Area Senior High School last fall. Foust, with the help of Thurston, revived the

Greyhounds’ program. Oswalt, a graduate of Cum-

berland Valley High School and Shippensburg University, also had a hand in turning around

a struggling program last fall when he was a graduate assis-tant and defensive line coach at Shippensburg. The Red Raid-ers, coming off a losing season,

won the PSAC championship and hosted an NCAA Division II playoff game.


Carlisle junior quarterback Cody Failor hands the ball off to Matt Quattrone during preseason camp. Despite a change in coaches, the Herd is sticking with the Wing-T offense.

oswalt inherits a ■

team that as gone 6-34 over the last four years and is moving back into the Mid-penn Commonwealth.

“our guys take pride in (the

conference). i take pride in it. it’s

going to make us better. it definitely puts you in good

company.”

Josh oswALTCARliSle footbAll CoACh

• See Herd, D10

Penn State Football

Finding the next leader at linebackerSlew of big-time ■

recruits ready to step up for pSU.


Penn State senior linebacker Chris Colasanti is one of at least a half-dozen players battling for three open starting positions this season.• See Linebacker, D43


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By RUSTy MILLERAP SPortS Writer

It’s the end of the Big Ten as we know it.

With Nebraska joining in 2011 — not to mention the possibility of others also climbing aboard the expansion train — the Big Misno-mer puts its 11-team alignment on the field for one final time this fall.

Next season the conference will go to a divisional setup and begin playing a conference champion-ship extravaganza.

It’s enough to bring pause to many longtime Big Ten lovers.

“It’s truly an end of an era,” said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. “A new era will begin in ’11.”

The final go-round won’t lack for subplots: Can Tressel’s Buck-eyes match the record of six straight Big Ten titles? Will Mich-igan coach Rich Rodriguez ever get things turned around inside the refurbished Big House? Does anybody know how to block man-eaters Adrian Clayborn at Iowa or Greg Jones of Michigan State? And how many victories (cur-rently 394) will Penn State coach Joe Paterno have when he turns a sprightly 84 on Dec. 21?

Iowa is expected to challenge the Buckeyes for the conference crown again, along with Penn State and Wisconsin.

A look at the league in projected order of finish:

_____

OHIO STATE Key players: QB terrelle Pryor, De

Cameron Heyward, LB ross Homan, Wr DeVier Posey, oG Justin Boren. re-turning starters: 9 offense, 5 defense.

Notes: Buckeyes can match Big ten record (ohio State, 1972-77) with sixth straight league title. ... tressel enters 11th season in Columbus at 94-21 (.817) overall and 59-13 (.819) in Big ten games. ... He’s second only to Michigan’s Bo Schembechler (.850 from 1969-89) in Big ten winning percentage among coaches with at least a decade on job. ... Pryor had ar-throscopic surgery on his left knee in

February, says he is healthy and ready to go. ... Buckeyes host Miami Hurri-canes on Sept. 11.

_____

IOWAKey players: QB ricky Stanzi, Wr

Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, De Adrian Clayborn, SS tyler Sash. returning starters: 7 offense, 8 defense.

Notes : Sophomore rBs Jewel Hampton, Brandon Wegher and Adam robinson battle for time. Coach Kirk Ferentz likely won’t name a starter un-til just before Sept. 4 opener against eastern illinois, though Hampton is suspended for that game. ... Clayborn, who spurned the NFL draft for one more season, leads s one of the na-tion’s best D-lines. ... Wisconsin, ohio State, Penn State and Michigan State come to iowa City.

_____

WISCONSIN Key players: rB John Clay, QB Scott

tolzien, Lt Gabe Carimi, LB Chris Bor-land. returning starters: 10 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Clay was Big ten offen-sive player of year and Borland was

league’s top freshman. ... Wisconsin went 10-0 when rushing for at least 150 yards. ... tolzien threw for 2,705 yards. ... Badgers still young bunch with only 13 seniors on roster.

_____

MICHIGAN STATE Key players: LB Greg Jones, QB Kirk

Cousins, Wr/Kr Keshawn Martin, Dt Jerel Worthy. returning starters: 7 of-fense, 6 defense.

Notes: Jones was only Big ten player named a first-team AP All-American last season, ranking third in the nation in tackles per game. ... Spartans have made it to three straight bowl games under coach Mark Dantonio. ... Keith Nichol converting from QB to Wr. ... Spartans might use some 3-4 defense to capitalize on surplus of LBs.

_____

PENN STATE Key players: rB evan royster, Wr

Derek Moye, oL Stefen Wisniewski, De Jack Crawford. returning starters: 6 offense, 5 defense.

Notes: JoePa begins his record 45th season looking for a new QB. Fresh-man robert Bolden and sophs Kevin

Newsome and Matt McGloin are top candidates to replace graduated Daryll Clark. ... royster needs 481 yards to break Curt Warner’s school rushing re-cord of 3,398. ... Defense needs three new LBs after Sean Lee, Navorro Bow-man and Josh Hull were taken in NFL draft.

_____

MICHIGAN Key players: QBs tate Forcier and

Denard robinson, Wr Junior Heming-way, LB obi ezeh, CB troy Woolfolk. re-turning starters: 7 offense, 8 defense.

Notes: rodriguez needs a good sea-son to keep his job after losing school-record nine games in his debut and flopping to 5-7 last season with only one Big ten win. ... Forcier was No. 1 QB as a freshman last year, but might get beat out by the speedy robinson. ... Playmakers desperately needed to help a defense that has been awful the past two years and lost De Brandon Graham and CB Donovan Warren.

_____

NORTHWESTERN Key players: QB Dan Persa, Wr

Sidney Stewart, Dt Corbin Bryant, LB Quentin Davie. returning starters: 8 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: the Wildcats have big holes to fill (De Corey Wootton, QB Mike Kaf-ka, CB Sherrick McManis) after an 8-5 season that ended with a wild 38-35 overtime loss to Auburn in outback Bowl. ... Biggest question is at QB, where Persa takes over after throwing for 224 yards as a sophomore. ... te Drake Dunsmore is one of more versa-tile tes in the Big ten, with 47 catches for 523 yards.

_____

ILLINOIS Key players: QB Nathan Scheel-

haase, rB Mikel LeShoure, LBs ian thomas and Martez Wilson. returning starters: 5 offense, 7 defense.

Notes: Scheelhaase steps in for graduated Juice Williams and, though he’s never played a college down, coaches already are talking up his leadership. ... Most of coach ron Zook’s staff lost their jobs after last season. New o coordinator is Paul Petrino, brother of Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino. ... Petrino will add something

not seen much in Zook’s five seasons: the huddle. ... LB Wilson running out of chances to live up to recruiting hype after missing virtually all of last season with injury.

_____

PURDUE Key players: QB robert Marve, rB

ralph Bolden, Wr Keith Smith, De ryan Kerrigan. returning starters: 6 offense, 6 defense.

Notes: Bolden tore ACL in right knee and had surgery in May. His status is uncertain. He ran for 935 yards last season. ... Former QB Justin Siller, sus-pended last season, returns. He could see time at every offensive skill po-sition. ... Smith caught 91 passes for 1,100 yards in ’09. ... Kerrigan had 13 sacks last year.

_____

MINNESOTA Key players: QB Adam Weber, rB

DeLeon eskridge, Wr/Kr troy Stou-dermire, S Kim royston. returning starters: 9 offense, 2 defense.

Notes: Fifth-year senior Weber plays for his fourth offensive coordi-nator, Jeff Horton, after failing to find a rhythm in ’09 with a weak running game and an unstable oL. Weber won the job over MarQueis Gray. ... Coach tim Brewster enters his fourth sea-son with pressure to get the Gophers over that 6-6 hump. that may be dif-ficult: 3 of 4 Big ten home games are against top-10 teams from ’09. Plus, USC pays tCF Bank Stadium a visit. ... royston broke left leg in April and is working way back.

_____

INDIANA Key players: Dt Larry Black Jr., QB

Ben Chappell, Wr tandon Doss, LB tyler replogle. returning starters: 6 offense, 4 defense.

Notes: Hoosiers switching from 4-3 D to 3-4. ... Doss was second in Big ten with 80.2 yards receiving per game. ... indiana will be wearing new uniforms this season, the most noticeable dif-ference being that the stripes will be on the shoulder of the jersey instead of the pants. ... Mitchell evans, a Wr who lined up at QB in Hoosiers’ ver-sion of wildcat formation last season, is moving to the secondary.

Big Ten Predictions

Swan song: last year for 11-team Big Ten

Associated Press

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes are primed for another Big Ten title this year.

“We have a good admin-istration that takes care of the coaches. That makes it easier.”

Kindler’s staff has re-mained intact with a base of what Kindler described as hard-core Camp Hill guys who understand what it takes to compete in the Mid-Penn Conference against bigger schools.

Camp Hill plays only one other Class A school — Steel-ton-Highspire — and has six Class AAA opponents on the schedule.

A program that normally battles numbers received a lifeline in the spring when the school decided to do away with the junior varsity squad. The move sent the ninth-graders to varsity and boosted Camp Hill’s numbers into the mid-30s.

“I know a lot of other schools might laugh, but we’re not used to having that many kids,” Kindler said. “It took us a day just to get ac-climated.”

After the departure of an exceptionally talented class following the 2008 district fi-nal, Camp Hill is still search-ing for players to step into the spotlight and lead. The Lions struggled through a 2-8 sea-son last year and were ham-mered by Steelton-High-spire in the District 3 Class A quarterfinals. Regardless of the drop in numbers and the lack of wins last year, Kindler remains focused on the goal he sets every year: winning a state title.

“We’re just trying to get through this year and have a decent (record), then next year is the year,” Kindler said. “Our goal is to win the state title. We’re nowhere near that this year, but hopefully that changes in the next few. We have a good bunch of kids.”

The young players listen to a veteran staff that they know has had success in the past

and hope to keep Camp Hill’s winning tradition strong.

“I think they understand that when we say things, they know it’s for real and it’s not just stuff we made up,”

Kindler said. “When you have young kids, you do more teaching, and that’s what coaching is all about. Hope-fully some wins come along with it.”


Lions• Continued from D7

A Closer look

Classification — ADivision — CapitalHead coach — Frank Kindler (16th year, 115-59)Offensive coordinator — Steve ShoverDefensive coordinator — Frank KindlerOther assistants — Bill Bingham, George Yeager, Tim Bigelow, Larry Hall.Last year — 2-8 overall, 0-3 division (fourth)Postseason — Lost to Steelton-Highspire, 49-13, in District 3 Class A quarterfinals.Key players lost — Alex Patchin, QB-RB-LB-S; Pete Anastasio, NG-LB; Matt Robertson, RB-LB; Christian Ruhl, OL-DL; Luke Hamm, WR-CB.Returning offensive start-ers (2) — Jake Bingham, jr., QB; Ryan Herr, soph., WR.Returning defensive start-ers (3) — Quinn Frashetta, soph., CB; Bingham, jr., DE; Kevin Chrencik, jr., DE.Other key returnees — Steve Murray, jr., RB-LB.Offensive alignment — SpreadDefensive alignment — 5-2Player to watch — No preferenceTeam concern — Offensive and defensive linesGame to watch — Oct. 1 vs. Boiling Springs. Camp Hill, which always battles low numbers, usually has to rely on its heart and toughness to stay in games against deeper opponents. It helps that Boiling Springs is an easy opponent for the Lions to get up for. The Bubblers were one of Camp Hill’s near misses last year in a 2-8 season that included a 13-9 loss to Boiling Springs. If Camp Hill can improve on last year’s 1-2 record in games decided by six points or less, Kindler will have an easier time sleeping at night.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 at Biglerville, 7*Sept. 10 at Trinity, 7*Sept. 17 Palmyra, 7*Sept. 25 at Milton Hershey, 1:30

*Oct. 1 Boiling Springs, 7Oct. 8 ELCO, 7*Oct. 15 at Susquenita, 7*Oct. 22 Steelton-Highspire, 7*Oct. 30 at Middletown, 2*Nov. 5 East Pennsboro, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.1 Mike Hahn 11 5-11 145 QB-DE3 Tyler Simpson 11 6-0 165 WR-DE5 Jake Bingham 11 6-0 199 QB-LB7 Marcellas Hayes 11 6-0 155 QB-DB10 Alex Sheffield 11 5-11 170 WR-DB12 Philip Lowe 10 6-0 168 QB-DB14 Steve Crom 11 5-8 135 K-P18 Deshawn Williams 10 6-1 160 WR-DB20 Ryan Herr 10 6-3 190 WR-DB21 Quinn Frassetta 10 5-9 170 RB-DB24 Steve Murray 11 5-11 180 RB-LB25 Tim Lehotsky 11 6-2 165 WR-DE30 Chad Bronson 10 6-0 155 WR-DB31 Jared Kronicz 9 5-11 160 WR-DE32 Mario Ponce 10 5-8 150 RB-DB33 Michael Towadros 9 5-5 127 RB-DB35 Teddy Ramsey 10 5-10 185 RB-LB40 Alex Talbert 9 5-7 135 WR-DB45 Shan Ali 10 5-9 135 WR-DE50 Kevin Chrencik 11 6-1 195 OL-DE51 Zach Kronicz 11 6-5 222 OL-DL55 Bobby Hummel 11 6-0 189 OL-DL60 Cameron Ruhl 10 5-9 193 OL-DL61 Ross Benton 9 5-9 220 OL-DL63 Josh Updegraff 9 5-9 225 OL-DL65 Jake Bailey 11 6-0 170 OL-LB66 William Cree 10 5-10 198 OL-DL70 Tim Cree 12 6-5 250 OL-DL76 Andrew Bucher 9 5-10 160 OL-DL80 Blake Goosen 10 5-6 130 WR-DB81 Joe Soyos 10 5-11 160 WR-DB85 Rachit Anand 12 6-0 185 WR-DL88 Jon Tanguay 11 5-8 150 WR-DB

Photos by Michael Bupp/the Sentinel

ABOVE: Camp Hill coach Frank Kindler.BELOW: Camp Hill quarterback Jake Bingham.

Michael Bupp/the Sentinel

Camp Hill junior offensive/defensive lineman Kevin Chrencik battles a team-mate during camp.

By GENARO C. ARMASAP SPortS Writer

STATE COLLEGE — Joe Paterno is now peerless in his profession.

His friend and last remain-ing contemporary among major college football coaches, Bobby Bowden, retired after last season. With Bowden out at Florida State, the career victories record is pretty much Paterno’s to keep — whether he cares about it or not.

Paterno knows he’s in the twi-light of his own Hall of Fame ca-reer at Penn State, but still gives no hint of exactly when the end will come. These days, nobody seems to be itching to see Joe go.

At 83 years old, Paterno’s health has become as closely watched as that of a pope — every hint of a limp analyzed, every slip-up with words parsed.

But at this point it makes no sense asking when Joe will go. His contract runs through 2011 for whatever that’s worth. In the meantime, in case you didn’t no-tice, the Nittany Lions are hum-ming again, racking up wins (11 last year) and challenging for championships. And that still gets JoePa fired up.

“You like the competition,” he said recently at Beaver Stadium. “If you don’t like it, you ought to get out of it, that’s the way I’ve always felt about it.”

Paterno has 394 victories, while Bowden finished with 389 — mi-nus 12 that were vacated by Flor-ida State this year because of an academic cheating scandal.

The next milestone for Paterno is the 400-win club, a mark that only Eddie Robinson (408) and John Gagliardi (471) have reached. JoePa could get there by late Oc-tober.

“You know, when I’m down and looking up, are they going to put 399 on top of me or are they going to put 401,” Paterno asked at Big Ten media day in Chicago. “Who the hell cares? I won’t know.”

But his devoted blue-and-white fans are no doubt keeping track

— and not just of wins and losses.The health watch started in ear-

nest in 2006 after Paterno tore left knee ligaments in a sideline colli-sion with a player during a game at Wisconsin.

Early in the 2008 season, Pa-terno hurt his hip after trying to show his players how to execute an onside kick in practice. He needed hip replacement surgery in De-cember — but only after leading the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. Both the knee and hip injuries forced Paterno to coach from the press box.

Earlier this year, Paterno was able to shed his smoky thick-rimmed glasses after getting laser eye surgery. “Robo-coach,” he was nicknamed by one of his staffers.

A new concern emerged this off-season after Paterno missed Big Ten meetings in May and three appearances before alumni groups around the state, stops typically

part of his summer schedule.The rumor mill churned anew.

Was this really it for JoePa?His spokesmen and family said

Paterno was sidelined by a nagging intestinal bug. Paterno in June also told The Associated Press he had a second ailment after suffering an overreaction to antibiotics pre-scribed for dental work.

Speaking slightly slower and in a lower tone of voice the first day of Big Ten media days, Paterno pleaded he was just fine and ready for the season. He repeated as much in State College recently.

“I have one request,” he said to start off the news conference at the packed Beaver Stadium media room. “Please, don’t ask if I’m go-ing to die. Believe me, I got a few more days left.”

His son and quarterbacks coach, Jay Paterno, watches the back-and-forth with some amusement. “It used to be they’d ask him when

(was he) going to retire. Now they’re asking when is he going to kick the bucket,” he joked.

For his part, the younger Paterno hasn’t noticed his father slowing down.

“It didn’t concern me because I’ve been at the house with my kids. He’s chased them ... I haven’t seen that element of him slowing down,” Jay Paterno said.

The boss, though, has said he’s less of a hands-on coach on the field than he used to be, allowing his loyal assistants to do the bulk of that work — though Paterno is still known to pull a player aside for some face time if he’s unhappy. Paterno said he prefers “to stick his two cents in” at staff meetings.

Paterno also plans to make fewer appearances on Thursday night radio show broadcasts throughout the state.

He said it’s become more of a problem for him in recent years because he has to go on the air right after practice.

“It’s a pain in the rear end. I want to get home. I want to start doodling, figure out what has to get done, so that maybe I can fig-ure out a couple things for the game on Saturday,” Joe Paterno said. “And I don’t get paid a lot of money.”

He’s also got a Wednesday speaking engagement with hard-core fans and a pregame radio show on Saturdays, and Paterno said he wasn’t sure how many of those appearances he would get to.

Linebackers coach Ron Vander-linden disagreed with Paterno’s suggestion that the head coach might be letting the assistants “carry him” more.

“That’s one of the great marks of his leadership, that he lets you coach on the field, which makes it a lot more fun. You don’t have somebody looking over your shoulder all the time,” Vanderlin-den said. “But, if he sees some-thing he wants to discuss with you, he will definitely talk it over in the staff room.”

Whenever Paterno does call it

quits, here’s a list of some coach-es who could be in the running to take over, with internal candidates listed first:

• Tom Bradley, Penn State de-fensive coordinator. The energetic Bradley, a master recruiter, is ar-chitect of a defense consistently among the best in the country. He’s the most talked-about inter-nal candidate among fans.

• Larry Johnson, Penn State defensive line coach. Another top-notch recruiter, Johnson has opened a pipeline into the Wash-ington-Baltimore area that has helped get recent stars like Der-rick Williams and Aaron Maybin to Happy Valley. Also known for developing top linemen such as Maybin, Tamba Hali and, most re-cently, Jared Odrick.

• Jay Paterno. He has the mar-quee name and has answered critics questioning whether he benefited from nepotism by de-veloping QB success stories in Mi-chael Robinson and Daryll Clark, though the Anthony Morelli era was considered a flop. His father has said that Penn State might not be the best place for him to start his head coaching career.

• Al Golden, Temple coach. He spearheaded the Owls’ rise from FBS afterthought to MAC title contender.

Played tight end for Paterno from 1987-91, and coached line-backers at Penn State in 2000. Golden has also made coaching stops at Boston College and Vir-ginia.

• Greg Schiano, Rutgers coach. Defensive backs coach at Penn State from 1991-96 and a native of New Jersey — a fertile recruiting ground for the Nittany Lions.

• Kirk Ferentz, Iowa coach. A Pennsylvania native who grew up a Penn State fan, Ferentz has turned the Hawkeyes into a Big Ten contender, though he’s under contract through 2015 at about $3 million a year.

But for now, Penn State is not in the market for a coach — and it’s anyone’s guess when they will be. 1100 Market Street, LeMoyne / 761-6700 / 800-422-ForD / www.LbSMithForD.coM

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Stability of staff drives program

By TRAviS L. PiCkENSASSiStAnt SPortS [email protected]

Players come and players go, but the coaching staff at Camp Hill has remained largely unchanged.

That’s why the Lions, who are one of the younger teams in the area, will be competitive almost every weekend this fall. They may not win every game, but their opponent will know they had to battle.

That’s the mindset head coach Frank Kindler, in his 16th year, has instilled in his players. But the season won’t be a walk in the park, as Camp Hill boasts only three seniors and a mere five returning starters.

“We’ll just practice hard and work on fundamentals,” Kindler said as to how he’s trying to acclimate his play-ers to varsity football. “They’re play-ing with enthusiasm and hustling.

“We like what we’re seeing.”Kindler, a graduate of rival Trinity,

came to Camp Hill after eight years as an assistant coach at Trinity and one at Cumberland Valley. George Yeager, one of Kindler’s good friends and the athletic director at Camp Hill, invited him to apply for the position of head coach. Kindler was awarded the job and hasn’t left since.

“I’m a businessman and have no aspirations to coach at a bigger school,” Kindler said. “I do it because it’s a hobby and I love it. When I leave (Camp Hill), I won’t go to a another school and coach, I’ll just be done.

Kindler’s loyalty to ■

Camp Hill has helped the team build a reputation as one of the toughest in the area.

“i’m a businessman and have no

aspirations to coach at a bigger school. i do it because it’s a hobby and i love it.”

FRANk kiNdLERCAmP Hill footbAll CoACH

• See Lions, D8

Penn State Football

Questions abound but JoePa still going

Jason malmont/the Sentinel

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, 83, isn’t going to be around forever, but no apparent heir to his position has been made clear.


Camp Hill Lions

michael bupp/the Sentinel

Josh Updegraff, right, battles Kevin Chrencik during preseason camp last month.

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Members of the Boiling Springs football team practice their punt formation.

The perfect leader in the linebacking corps could be a playmaker like Mauti, or the man with the most starting ex-perience — Gbadyu.

Or, it could be someone like Cola-santi: the model of perseverence and patience.

Despite being highly touted coming out of Brother Rice High School in Michigan, Colasanti has never quite had the chance to show University Park students just what he’s capable of.

He filled in on the special-teams squad and provided depth at line-backer during his freshman year. He battled Josh Hull for a starting posi-tion during his sophomore year but never quite won out. He sat out the first four games last season before in-juries to starting linebackers forced the coaching staff to play him spar-ingly.

Colasanti never won a starting job

but was never given a redshirt. He was a three-time All-Catholic Conference selection in high school, but some-how has been relegated to the bench for most of his college career.

With three starting spots up for grabs, this is the chance Colasanti has been waiting for.

“I’ve been waiting three years for this opportunity,” he said. “I’m ready to go mentally and physically.

“Last year, it was frustrating not playing the first four games and hav-ing to come in and play because of people getting hurt. But there’s no sense in getting upset about it. God has another plan.”

Like all the linebackers at Penn State this season, Colasanti is eager to seize as much playing time as pos-sible. He and Mauti both said they felt that, with the depth of talent and no returning starters, as many as six or seven linebackers could be part of the weekly rotation, unless someone steps above the rest to earn some con-sistent playing time.

But for this unit to become com-plete, a leader will need to take charge sooner than later. And despite a com-plete lack of starting experience, just one season of college football and a surgically repaired knee, Mauti is ready to make his case.

“I’ve played my fair share of football games,” he said. “I don’t consider my-self inexperienced.”

Linebacker• Continued from D40

“They thought I wasn’t physical, that I didn’t have size,” Morris said with a shrug. “I just wanted to be a good overall team guy. To be physical. Coaches wanted to see if I could be physical here, too.”

Of course, Morris’ time at Penn State hasn’t just been a platform to show up his nay-sayers, and his experience at Penn State so far hasn’t come without its share of valuable lessons.

During preseason drills in early August, Morris suffered a neck injury when he made a less-than-perfect hit on a teammate.

The sophomore was carted off the field and driven to a local hospital via ambulance, where he underwent X-rays before medical personnel even dared to unscrew his facemask.

Despite the scary scene, Morris came out of it with-out any major problems.

“They always say, ‘Hit with your head up,’” Morris said with a smile several days lat-er.

Thomas’ recruitment con-tributions apparently didn’t end with Morris. According to Thomas, he helped put some pressure on Westlake High School running back

Devon Smith, another 2008 All-Beltway selection, who filled in well as a part-time wide receiver for Penn State last season as a true fresh-man.

In fact, the Nittany Lions loaded up on talent from the Prince George’s Coun-ty Conference that season, including Morris, Thomas, redshirt freshman wide re-ceiver Brandon Moseby-Felder (Oxon Hill) and red-shirt freshman cornerback Mike Wallace (Good Coun-sel). Redshirt freshman safe-ty Malcolm Willis (Lackey) hails from the nearby South-ern Maryland Athletic Con-ference, and another ‘09 Lackey grad, All-Beltway Defensive Back Darrell Giv-ens, originally committed to PSU before de-committing to play for Rutgers.

Penn State isn’t the right fit for every major recruit pursued by head coach Joe Paterno and his assistants over the last couple of years. Five-star quarterback Ter-relle Pryor said University Park was too “countryside” for him when he committed to rival Ohio State before the 2008 season.

But for Thomas and Mor-ris, country living is just fine.

“I came here, and it was the best decision of my life,” Morris said.

Beltway• Continued from D39

“It’s incredible. He’s still out there yelling, getting everyone riled up.”

Though Kuntz is ready to take the field, his chances of playing this sea-son remain slim. Seven other wide-outs are listed on the preseason depth chart instead of Kuntz. Second-string sophomore wide receiver Curtis Drake suffered a broken leg during

preseason camp that will force him to miss a couple of months, but Kuntz is still buried on the priority list.

Kuntz remained optimistic, how-ever, that the rotation at wideout will allow him to see the field this year.

“We’re real deep and talented,” Kuntz said. “It’d be hard for us not to play everybody ... All I can do is work my hardest in practice and show what I can do.”

Kuntz at least has a very admira-ble consolation prize: a full athletic scholarship to one of the best aca-demic institutions in the state.

But the Trinity grad will keep dreaming of the day he’ll get to catch a pass in front of 110,000 screaming fans at Beaver Stadium.

“Academics are big for me,” he said. “But on the football field, I’d love to be out there for the Lions.”

Kuntz• Continued from D38

2010 Penn State Football RoSteRNo. Name Pos. Cl./El. Ht. Wt.1 Robert Bolden QB Fr/Fr 6-3 2211 Nick Sukay S Sr/Jr 6-1 2092 Chaz Powell CB Sr/Jr 6-1 1963 Brandon Beachum RB Jr/Jr 6-0 2254 Shawney Kersey WR So/Fr 6-1 1975 Derrick Thomas CB So/Fr 6-0 1785 Graham Zug WR Sr/Sr 6-2 1856 Gerald Hodges LB So/So 6-2 2286 Derek Moye WR Sr/Jr 6-5 2027 Curtis Drake WR So/So 5-11 1728 D’Anton Lynn CB Jr/Jr 6-1 2008 B. Moseby-Felder WR So/Fr 6-2 1769 Michael Zordich RB Jr/So 6-1 23610 Paul Jones QB Fr/Fr 6-3 23910 Malcolm Willis S So/Fr 5-11 21711 Khairi Fortt LB Fr/Fr 6-2 23311 Matthew McGloin Qb Jr/So 6-1 20912 Stephon Morris CB So/So 5-8 18512 Kevin Newsome QB So/So 6-2 22513 Andrew Dailey S Sr/Jr 6-2 22214 Evan Lewis CB Jr/So 5-10 18214 Mike Wallace CB So/Fr 5-9 184

15 Bani Gbadyu LB Sr/Sr 6-1 24116 Shelton McCullough CB Gr/Sr 6-0 18716 Shane McGregor QB Jr/So 6-1 20517 Christian Kuntz WR So/Fr 6-4 21218 Andrew Goodman WR Jr/So 6-0 18518 Alex Kenney WR Fr/Fr 6-0 19019 Justin Brown WR So/So 6-3 21619 Garrett Venuto QB So/Fr 6-0 21720 Devon Smith WR So/So 5-7 15721 Stephfon Green TB Sr/Jr 5-10 19722 Evan Royster TB Gr/Sr 6-1 22823 S. Obeng-Agyapong S So/Fr 5-10 19624 Derek Day RB Jr/So 5-9 19625 Silas Redd TB Fr/Fr 5-10 19726 Curtis Dukes TB So/Fr 6-1 23727 Jacob Fagnano S Jr/So 6-0 20327 Tariq Tongue WR So/Fr 5-8 16528 Drew Astorino S Sr/Jr 5-10 19328 David Soldner K Jr/So 6-1 22729 Kevin Kowalishen RB Jr/So 5-10 18929 Russell Nye PK Jr/So 6-0 16330 Anthony Fera PK So/Fr 6-2 21030 Ryan Keiser DB Fr/Fr 6-1 191

31 Nick Delligatti LB So/Fr 6-0 20632 Dakota Royer LB Fr/Fr 6-1 21833 Michael Yancich LB Jr/So 6-2 23634 Nate Stupar LB Sr/Jr 6-1 23135 Pat Zerbe FB So/Fr 6-1 23636 Kyle Johnson S Sr/Jr 6-0 19036 Collin Wagner K Sr/Sr 5-9 18337 Joe Suhey RB Sr/Jr 6-1 22738 Tyler Ahrenhold S Sr/Jr 6-0 18540 Glenn Carson LB Fr/Fr 6-3 23340 Zach Zwinak FB Fr/Fr 6-1 22641 J.R. Refice DT So/Fr 6-0 26542 Michael Mauti LB Jr/So 6-2 22943 Mike Hull LB Fr/Fr 6-0 21344 Michael Fuhrman KS Jr/So 5-10 22544 Kevion Latham DE Sr/Jr 6-2 25245 Alex Butterworth P Fr/Fr 5-10 19146 Kenny Pollock LB Jr/So 6-0 19447 Jordan Hill DT So/So 6-1 30948 Chris Colasanti LB Sr/Sr 6-2 24149 A.J. Firestone P Fr/Fr 6-0 22150 DeOn’tae Pannell OL Jr/Jr 6-5 31752 Brian Irvin DE Jr/So 6-3 240

52 Chima Okoli T Sr/Jr 6-4 29153 Jon Rohrbaugh KS Sr/Jr 6-0 22454 Matt Stankiewitch OL Jr/So 6-3 29354 James Van Fleet LB Jr/So 6-0 22455 Tom Ricketts OL Fr/Fr 6-5 26856 Eric Latimore DE Sr/Jr 6-6 28057 Emery Etter KS So/Fr 6-1 23058 Adam Gress T So/Fr 6-6 29359 Peter Massaro DE Jr/So 6-4 25560 Ty Howle C So/Fr 6-0 29061 Stefen Wisniewski G Sr/Sr 6-3 30662 Frank Figueroa G So/Fr 6-3 28563 Alex Mateas OL Fr/Fr 6-3 30864 John Urschel G So/Fr 6-3 28665 Miles Dieffenbach OL Fr/Fr 6-3 28967 Quinn Barham OL Sr/Jr 6-3 29868 Doug Klopacz C Sr/Sr 6-3 28670 Anthony Tortorelli G Sr/Jr 6-0 26571 Devon Still DT Sr/Jr 6-5 31172 Khamrone Kolb OL Fr/Fr 6-5 33773 Mark Arcidiacono G So/Fr 6-4 27974 Johnnie Troutman G Sr/Jr 6-4 32375 Evan Hailes DT Fr/Fr 6-1 308

75 Eric Shrive OL So/Fr 6-6 29976 Nate Cadogan T So/Fr 6-5 29777 Lou Eliades T Gr/Sr 6-4 31078 Mike Farrell T Jr/So 6-6 30379 Luke Graham OL Fr/Fr 6-4 28180 Andrew Szczerba TE Sr/Jr 6-6 25481 Jack Crawford DE Jr/Jr 6-5 27181 Ryan Scherer WR Jr/So 5-8 16782 Kevin Haplea TE Fr/Fr 6-4 24983 Brad Bars DE Fr/Fr 6-3 22184 Kyle Baublitz DE Fr/Fr 6-5 25785 Ollie Ogbu DT Sr/Sr 6-1 30086 C.J. Olaniyan DE Fr/Fr 6-3 23087 Jonathan Stewart TE Sr/Jr 6-2 24688 J.D. Mason TE Jr/So 6-4 23689 Garry Gilliam TE So/Fr 6-6 26390 Sean Stanley DE So/So 6-1 23291 DaQuan Jones DT Fr/Fr 6-3 30593 James Terry DT Jr/So 6-3 31294 Mikel Berry DT Jr/So 6-2 26896 Cody Castor DE Jr/So 6-3 26199 Brandon Ware DT Jr/So 6-3 337

Michael Mauti

With the Mid-Penn’s re-alignment, Heiser knows it won’t be a cakewalk.

“It’s not going to be that easy,” Heiser said. “We have (six) games against teams that were in the playoffs last year, and they’re bringing people back.

“We have to prepare our-selves and take it one game at a time.”

The Bubblers open with perennial small-school power Littlestown and host the always dangerous Milton Hershey in Week 3. Down the stretch, Boiling Springs plays at Steelton-Highspire, at home vs. Middletown, at East Pennsboro and at home vs. Trinity to close the regular season.

Heiser admits that last year won’t have much of an im-pact on this season, but the good vibes from the current six-game winning streak are sure to carry over to this eve-ning when the Bubblers head to Adams County.

“They kids kept improving as the season went on,” He-sier said. “The wins helped us keep making progress, but that’s over and done with. This year we have a whole new schedule, and it’s a very difficult schedule.

“We’re preparing for the future.”

Boiling Springs will rely on two stable running backs to

carry the offense.Drew Hunter is a junior

tailback, and David Cook is a senior Z-back who also will be counted on to make catches.

“Both are unique in their own way, and they come ready to work every day,” Heiser said. “It’s a nice group to work with. They’re sup-porting one another. That makes it easier when they’re not nit-picking but working hard with each other.”

Who will be throwing passes to Cook and talented senior wide receivers Roland Miller and Dylan Randall was in doubt during camp.

Returning starter Jared Bliss, a junior, completed 49 of 93 passes for 569 yards, three touchdowns and nine interceptions last fall. Bliss,

who added three rushing touchdowns, is up against junior Jordan Schmick for the job.

Despite not attempting a varsity pass last season, Schmick was pushing Bliss for the job, Heiser said.

“He did a lot of work for himself in the offseason,” Heiser said.

Two players are vying for one spot, but Heiser said the competition was a friendly one and both understood the big picture.

“The nice thing about them is they’re good com-petitors and also good team-mates at the same time,” he said. “They’re helping each other, but they’re both working and paying atten-tion. Hard work has paid off for both of them.”


Bubblers• Continued from D5 a CloSeR look

Classification — AADivision — CapitalHead coach — Matt Heiser (ninth year, 44-39).Offensive coordinator — Richard BiskingDefensive coordinator — Matt HeiserOther assistants — Andre Gillmore, Al Bo, Nate Fryer, Jeff Geisel-man.Last year — 6-4 overall, 3-2 division (second)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Patrick Christie, OT; Jake Grove, LB; Aaron Marsh, LB; John Keller, LB; Alex Deroba, LB.Returning offensive start-ers (9) — Matt Luebbers, sr., TE; Kevin Stritch, jr., T; Nate Mann, sr., C; Nick Landry, sr., RG; Drew Hunter, jr., RB; David Cook, sr., RB; Roland Miller, sr., WR; Dylan Ran-dall, sr., WR; Jared Bliss, jr., QB.Returning defensive start-ers (7) — Eliezer Lopez, sr., CB; Cook, FS; Logan Mur-phy, jr., OLB; Mann, DL; Tylor Unger, sr., DL; Nick Rouse, sr., DL; Luebbers, DL-LB.Other key returnees — Landry, sr., MLB; Nate Flickinger, sr., FB-LB; Derek Earnst, sr., FB; Sam Gitt, jr., OT-NG; Sam Dell, sr., K.Offensive alignment — MultipleDefensive alignment — StackPlayer to watch — Hunter and CookTeam strength — Running backsTeam concern — Offensive and defensive linesGame to watch — Sept. 17 vs. Milton Hershey. What has become an annual war is back at Ecker Field for the second year in a row. These two have not played a game that has been decided by more than seven points since 2004 when Milton Hershey won at home, 47-16. The next year, Boiling Springs won by seven, but the Bubblers haven’t beaten Milton Hershey in four tries since that win.

——SCHEDULE

*Capital Division gameSept. 3 at Littlestown, 7Sept. 10 at Palmyra, 7*Sept. 17 Milton Hershey, 7Sept. 24 Columbia, 7*Oct. 1 at Camp Hill, 7*Oct. 8 Susquenita, 7

*Oct. 15 at Steelton-Highspire, 7*Oct. 22 Middletown, 7*Oct. 29 at East Pennsboro, 7*Nov. 5 Trinity

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.2 David Cook 12 6-0 175 WR-RB-DB3 Connor Deroba 12 5-11 170 WR-DB4 Mitchel Ptaszek 10 5-5 125 QB-DB5 Jordan Schmick 11 5-11 175 QB-LB8 Zach Luther 11 5-10 175 RB-DB9 Sam Dell 12 6-1 185 K-P10 Eliezar Lopez 12 6-1 185 WR-DB11 Jerrod Bliss 11 6-3 220 QB-DL12 Derek Earnst 12 6-1 210 QB-FB-LB14 Ryan Miller 11 5-7 155 RB-LB15 Brett Baker 10 6-3 160 WR-DB18 Dylan Randall 11 6-4 175 WR-DB20 Josh Knaub 11 6-0 170 WR-DB22 Andrew Mellott 10 5-9 160 RB-LB24 Craig Redmond 12 6-3 185 TE-LB25 Drew Hunter 11 5-9 190 RB-DB26 A.J. Price 11 5-10 165 WR-DB28 Kraig Donnelly 11 5-11 170 RB-LB30 James Lieto 11 5-10 165 RB-DB33 Garrett Enck 10 5-10 170 RB-LB34 Roland Miller 12 5-6 150 WR-DB42 Matt Luebbers 12 6-2 190 TE-LB44 Casey Scheetz 11 6-1 165 RB-LB45 Ryan Zorn 10 5-9 180 RB-LB47 Nate Flickinger 12 5-10 175 FB-LB50 Nick Landry 12 5-10 205 OL-LB54 Nick Rouse 12 6-3 180 TE-OL-DL56 Nate Mann 12 6-0 210 OL-DL59 Kevin Stritch 11 5-10 275 DL-OL63 Mike Snyder 11 6-0 225 OL-DL65 Matthew Brockman 10 6-2 180 OL-DL66 Jerrod Steis 12 5-9 210 OL-DL68 Noah Davis 9 6-4 220 OL-DL71 Doug Newcomer 12 5-10 230 OL-DL72 Dylan McKeehan 11 6-2 220 OL-DL73 Logan Murphy 11 6-4 185 TE-OL-LB74 Brian Kuykendall 12 5-11 185 OL-DL75 Sam Gitt 11 6-3 325 OL-DL76 Tylor Unger 12 6-3 275 OL-DL77 Tyler Stevick 9 6-0 220 OL-DL84 Correy Gaul 12 6-2 225 TE-OL-DL


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Boiling Springs Bubblers

Strong finish breeds expectations


Boiling Springs was close to having a special season in 2009.

Unfortunately for the Bubblers, their season slipped away after only four games. During their four-game losing streak at the start of the sea-son, the Bubblers lost two games by seven points or less and dropped an-other by 14.

It was a frustrating way to start and effectively doomed the Bubblers’ season before it was halfway over.

“Nobody wants to start out that way,” Boiling Springs coach Matt Heiser said.

The 27-20 loss to Milton Hershey on Sept. 25, however, was the last time Boiling Springs tasted defeat. The Bubblers won three games that were decided by four points or less and nearly cracked the District 3 Class AA playoffs.

From that team, 16 starters re-turn — nine on offense and seven on defense — hoping to help Boiling Springs reach the postseason for the first time since 2006. Jason Malmont/the sentinel

Boiling Springs football coach Matt Heiser led the Bubblers to a 6-4 record last season. The team won its final six games after starting the season 0-4.


streak is on the line as a new season dawns.

• See Bubblers, D6

“(Chapman) was way ahead of his time as far as having an offsea-son program that was much more than just lifting weights,” Rimp-fel said. “A lot of schools open a weight room and let the kids do what they want. But (our play-ers) have specific lifts each day, and the thing is, these kids know the offseason program is here for them.

“If you let it up to the kids, they’ll think of a thousand excuses to avoid it.”

When veteran coach Jim Canta-fio was hired at Cedar Cliff in the winter of 2008, he found a group of players who had done exactly what Rimpfel alluded to. Shortly after the 2007 season, Cedar Cliff was looking for a coach to replace Ron Davis, and during the search, the offseason program took a back seat.

What Cantafio experienced blew him away.

“In all my years of coaching, I had never been around a weak-er group of kids,” Cantafio said. “They were so physically weak, I couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘How can we win a game when our line-men can’t squat 300 pounds?’

“Now we have a couple kids who can squat 400 or 500. We’re getting to the point where we can compete physically.”

Then and nowOver time, Cantafio improved

Cedar Cliff’s offseason program, but he still battles with players who try to avoid the weight room.

It’s a common problem no mat-ter the program — the dedica-tion isn’t at the level it was when someone like Mickey Marotti was in high school.

Marotti, the University of Flor-ida’s strength and conditioning coach, grew up in a small town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh and dedicated himself to the Ambridge High School football team’s off-season program, mainly because he didn’t have anything better to do.

“Kids today live in an enabled world where things are handed to them,” said Marotti, who was a

member of the Gators’ staff when they won national football titles in 2007 and 2009. “They have a lot at their fingertips with all the technology — the Playstations, Internet and Facebook. When I grew up, there was none of that. I was lucky to have an Atari.

“So I had to find things to do, and (lifting) was one avenue.”

What started as a way to pass the time soon became something Marotti, who has made coaching stops at Ohio State, West Virgin-ia, Cincinnati and Notre Dame, couldn’t live without.

He always loved football, but the strength and conditioning side offered new challenges, which is something, Marotti said, that today’s players might shy away from. The offseason program isn’t meant to be easy, but Marotti had an energetic staff pushing him forward.

“I got into this as a high school athlete because I loved my coach-es and my strength coach,” Ma-rotti said. “They had energy, they pumped you up, and I wanted to be around someone like that. If I had a deadbeat strength coach, I wouldn’t want to be around him.

“They made it fun, but also challenging, and it gave you a sense of self worth when you ac-complished something. That’s how I got into it.”

The offseason program at any high school in Pennsylvania is voluntary — PIAA guidelines say offseason work cannot be manda-tory — yet most days Rimpfel has a solid turnout. On a Wednesday morning in late July, Rimpfel said roughly 80 players showed up for the team’s session.

“The kids go away on vacation or go to camps, and that’s fine; but the kids who don’t show up all summer, they’re the ones once we get to camp that are going to find other things to do,” Rimpfel said. “Football and wrestling are two of the sports that if you’re not sure about it, you’re not going to make it.

“It’s too demanding physically, time-wise and all that. You’ll see those kids who don’t show up — within two or three days, (they’re) knocking on the door

saying, ‘Can we talk?’ Then they hand you their helmet.”

Cantafio doesn’t pretend to have an offseason program at Cumberland Valley’s level.

Cedar Cliff, a small Class AAAA school, battles numbers like few other schools its size in the Mid-Penn, which means Cantafio rarely will see large numbers of players showing up in the winter, spring and sum-mer.

To his credit, Cantafio has done his best to make parents aware of the importance of an offseason program.

“The parents need to push their kids to get them in there, and for some, that’s a challenge,” Cantafio said. “Over the sum-mer, we had 23 different lifting workouts. You can’t afford to miss any of those 23. Any time you miss a weight-room work-out, you miss the chance to get stronger and better. You can’t make it up; you can’t go in after missing a day and go twice as hard.

“You have to be there three to four days a week and work as hard as you possibly can. That was a challenge for our kids, and

it still is a challenge.”

Why the need?Because of the focus on the

offseason programs, football is unique and often steps on the toes of other sports.

Strength is such a vital part of the game that many coaches want their players working to become stronger year-round. Rimpfel said he doesn’t encoun-ter too many conflicts with other coaches and actually encourages his players to participate in other sports.

“I really think our kids on the basketball court are necessary for that team to be successful. In our area, basketball is physical. We’re not going to have (a lot of tall) kids, so you have to be physi-cal, and that’s the football play-ers,” Rimpfel said. “You look at the upper weights in wrestling, it’s always the football players. In the spring, I love it when the kids run track. That’s great, but some of the other sports just don’t un-derstand.”

Marotti, who played college football for West Liberty State, agrees that it’s good for football players to participate in other

sports but says they shouldn’t forget how important it is to hit the weights.

“I don’t think it’s good to fo-cus on one sport, but I believe strength and conditioning is a huge component of being a suc-cessful athlete,” Marotti said. “I think it should be in their daily deal.”

Rimpfel said he can tell a lot about his players’ mental tough-ness by being around them for the bulk of the year.

He knows CV won’t always have the most talented team in Penn-sylvania, but usually the Eagles will trot out 11 players on each side of the ball who have been toughened by the offseason pro-gram and understand the work it takes to clear an obstacle.

On their way to the 3-AAAA championship last fall, the Ea-gles had to clear both mental and physical roadblocks. There was a regular-season-ending loss to Central Dauphin that tested the players’ ability to bounce back and eventually helped them in a last-second win over those same Rams two weeks later.



Danny Heise does squats in the Cumberland Valley weight room behind Chapman Field.



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“We still struggle with schemes a little, but we’re getting better with it,” Stroh said. “We’re much further ahead than we were last year. The younger kids are still very slow to catch on. They’re still struggling, but we have to stay after them.”

The youth programs all run schemes similar to what the varsity uses, which helps with familiar-ity, and Stroh said he has a concern that worries him much more than what of-fense and defense are being used by the youngsters.

“It’s extremely important at the youth level to learn the correct fundamentals and techniques,” Stroh said. “If they don’t, it doesn’t matter what they run.”

Stroh is a realist and un-derstands that the Bull-dogs probably won’t win a PIAA championship this year. It’s been a long time since the team experienced much success, so the vet-eran coach isn’t judging this season on wins and losses. When it’s all said and done, Stroh knows the attitude toward the pro-gram needs to change to help him change the cul-ture at Big Spring. That’s what he is most concerned with.

“I’m looking for a lot of

growth as far as accepting responsibility for an ac-tion,” Stroh said. “I want to see them have a will-ingness to sacrifice for the team instead of worry-ing about themselves. We need to come together as a team. Right now, we’re a

bunch of individuals, and I think that’s always been an issue here.

“It’s a sign of the times. Everybody talks about ‘me’ instead of ‘we.’ Every-one wants to be a star and not do the dirty work, but that’s not how life works.”

Bulldogs• Continued from D3

A Closer lookClassification — AAADivision — ColonialHead coach — Brent Stroh (fourth year, 5-25)Offensive coordinator — Brent StrohDefensive coordinator — Chuck HickesOther assistants — Carl Creek, Mike Barry, Bill Owens, Jesse Killinger.Last year — 3-7 overall, 1-3 division (fourth)Postseason — Did not qualifyKey players lost — Zack Stroh, QB-DB; Cory Cassell, FB-OLB; Tyler Baum, TE-DE; Garrett Adams, SE-S; Nick Sheaffer, SE-S; Aris Thiombiano, CB; Hunter Bailey, C-LB; Matt Keck, G-OLB; Terry Mentzger, G. Returning offensive starters (5) — Josh Bloser, sr., TE; Christian Bloss-er, sr., OT-DT; Janosch Beauchamp, sr., OG; Austin Coyle, sr., TB; Matt Gibson, sr., WB. Returning defensive starters (5) — Bloser, sr., DE; Colby Whitten, sr., LB; Dakota Matthews, jr., DE; Sean McCarntey, sr., DT; Gib-son, sr., OLB.Other key returnees — Mat-thews, sr., OL; Josh Kreamer, sr., OG; Kasey Willis, sr., C; Lucas Christleib, sr., WR-DB; Jordan Houck, jr., WR-CB; Beauchamp, DL; Barry De-itch, sr., QB-OLB; Williams Wiser, sr., FB-LB; Coyle, sr., DB; McCartney, sr., OL; Josh Stewart, jr., OT-DT. Offensive alignment — Wing-TDefensive alignment — 4-4Player to watch — Coyle. “He’s a senior and has the experience of start-ing on offense,” Stroh said. “He’s one of our better running backs so we’re hoping for bigger and better things from him.” Team strength — Inside linebackers.Team concern — Depth on offensive and defensive lines.Game to watch — Oct. 1 at West Perry. Big Spring starts the season with at least three winnable games in its first four. Out-of-conference foes in Millersburg, Octorara and Kennard-Dale could be had before the an-nual Little Brown Jug rivalry against Shippensburg. It’s conceivable that Big Spring is 4-0 when it makes the trip to West Perry in early October. If that’s the case, the Bulldogs will have a shot at the playoffs.

——SCHEDULE

*Colonial Division gameSept. 3 Millersburg, 7Sept. 11 at Octorara, 1

Sept. 17 Kennard-Dale, 7*Sept. 24 Shippensburg, 7*Oct. 1 at West Perry, 7*Oct. 8 Waynesboro, 7:30*Oct. 15 at Gettysburg 7*Oct. 22 James Buchanan, 7*Oct. 29 at Northern, 7*Nov. 5 at Greencastle-Antrim, 7

——ROSTER

No. Player Yr. Ht. Wt. Pos.6 Josh Bloser 12 6-2 200 TE-DL7 Barry Deitch 12 6-1 185 QB-LB8 Tim Hair 10 5-4 125 WR-DB10 Hunter Kotzmoyer 10 5-11 170 RB-DB11 Kody Tidd 11 5-11 170 TE-LB13 James Grier 10 6-2 190 QB-LB14 Levi Crum 10 5-7 130 WB-DB15 Lucas Christlieb 12 6-1 170 WR-DB19 Tyler Durham 12 5-8 145 K-P21 Tyler Moore 11 6-1 165 WB-DB22 Jordan Houck 11 6-1 175 WR-DB23 Jake Bales 10 5-5 130 RB-DB24 Matt Gibson 12 6-1 185 WB-LB26 Kevin Boyd 10 5-7 150 WB-LB30 Austin Coyle 12 5-9 10 RB-DB33 Kyle Keen 10 6-2 210 RB-LB35 Dairrein Buskey 11 6-2 170 WR-DB40 Ben Webber 10 6-1 175 TE-LB42 Colby Whitten 12 6-1 240 RB-LB43 Justin Vioral 10 5-9 145 WR-DB51 Sean McCartney 12 6-1 215 OL-DL52 Charles Kinsler 10 5-9 180 OL-LB53 Ben Bailey 10 5-11 205 C-DL54 Dakota Matthews 11 6-0 250 OL-DL55 Janosch Beauchamp 12 6-1 210 OL-LB56 Austin Hershey 11 6-0 200 C-DL60 Adam Pierce 11 6-0 300 OL-DL65 David Thumma 11 6-1 220 OL-DL66 Tyler Gutshall 10 6-1 225 OL-DL67 Josh Stewart 11 6-1 270 OL-DL68 Eric Dzezinski 10 6-2 180 OL-DL75 Kyle Croutch 10 6-0 180 OL-DL78 Josh Kreamer 12 5-11 270 OL-DL79 Christian Blosser 12 6-6 270 OL-DL87 Dacota Bigler 11 6-4 160 WR-DB88 Peter Gauthier 11 6-1 150 WR-DB


TOP LEFT: Big Spring running back Colby Whitten (42) pushes linebacker Matt Gibson backward during a drill in preseason camp. LEFT: Big Spring coach Brent Stroh, in his fourth year at the school, offers instructions during camp. The Bulldogs are 5-25 under Stroh but are looking for their third straight season with multiple wins.

Against Wilson in the semi-finals and Bishop McDevitt in the final, CV drew on the strength that it built during the long offseason months to cap-ture two thrilling victories.

At some point over those five weeks, a weaker group might have wilted.

“We can talk about our of-fense or our defense and all that, but if you get 11 kids out there who are totally com-mitted and have worked their butts off, they’re not going to quit,” Rimpfel said. “You have some kids who, as soon as they get down, they’ll roll over; they don’t get back up.

“But these kids want to be pushed.”

That’s the mindset Cantafio hopes to instill at Cedar Cliff.

He’s trying to convey to his players why they need the weight room and conditioning tests in the summer heat. It might not seem important on a hot June morning, but under the lights on a Friday night, it’s usually ob-vious which teams worked the hardest in the offseason.

“We don’t have a lot of kids that want to put in the year-round commitment and work in the weight room and other things,” Cantafio said. “A lot of kids don’t want to be in the weight room three days a week in the summer. They don’t want to do all the extra that you have to do.

“A basketball player can b e g rea t w i t h o u t to u c h -ing weights, but you can’t be a good football player with-out touching weights. Lifting is such a major component of football.”

At a smaller school like Me-chanicsburg, the offseason program is just as important.

Prior to the 2008 season, when the Wildcats were un-beaten in the regular season on their way to 12-1 record and a semifinal apperance in the District 3 Class AAA playoffs, coach Chris Hakel raved about

the commitment his players had to the offseason program.

Last year, when 20 of those 21 starters were lost to gradu-ation, the offseason program came through again and helped the young Wildcats finish the regular season 6-4 and reach the postseason, which was a minor miracle with only one returning starter.

Hakel gave credit to boys basketball coach Bob Strickler and baseball coach Clay McAl-lister for understanding how vital the offseason program is to the football team’s success.

“We have the same con-cerns other Class AAA schools have,” Hakel said. “You’re battling other sports in what used to be a couple (football players) in the offseason do-ing things here and there. It’s now evolved into full-blown offseason workouts. The kids are pulled in all different di-rections.

“The good thing is we have some coaches (Strickler and McAllister) who understand that, and we sit down before the summer starts and are able to balance everything out.”

A good balanceWith so much attention being

paid to glistening weight rooms on college campuses, anoth-er crucial part of an offseason football program normally is overlooked.

Football players don’t sim-ply lift in the off months, they also focus on their speed and

agility. And that includes the big offensive linemen, which makes it crucial for coaches to find a balance among strong, fast and agile.

“You have to keep the mindset that it’s an acceleration game involving movement,” Marotti said. “If you get into how much a guy lifts, how much this or that or how much weight a guy gains, you’ll have issues. You still have to move around, play fast and run.”

The Southeastern Conference has a reputation for big, fast linemen, and Marotti has had a hand in building some of them. And though the Mid-Penn is a far cry from the SEC and a few notches lower in the level of play, it remains vital to have big linemen who can move.

“ The o ld axi o m i s that strength makes you slow and being too strong makes you slow, but not if you do the agil-ity and the flexibility along with it,” Rimpel said. “It’s the whole package.”

This year, Rimpfel doesn’t ex-pect to have a lineman — offen-sive or defensive — weigh less than 230 pounds. It’s going to be a mammoth line that takes the field Friday night against Red Lion, but no matter how big or strong those linemen are, if CV is to replicate its success of 2010, those guys will need to be able to move.

“It’s great,” Rimpfel said, “if you can push a barn down; but if you can’t run around that barn, it doesn’t help us.”


“You have to keep in mind that it’s an acceleration game involving movement. ... You still have to

move around, play fast and run.”

MickEY MArOTTiUniverSiTy of florida STrengTh and condiTioning coach

What role supplements play in strength and conditioning

With the expectation that foot-ball players get bigger, stronger and faster comes a related issue that coaches and schools are starting to accept as reality.

The major concern is no longer so much about high school players being on steroids but rather about players who seek to gain an edge by legally purchasing dietary supple-ments in stores.

There’s a risk involved, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate dietary supplements, thanks to Sen. Or-rin Hatch, a Republican from Utah who lobbied to keep supplements outside the realm of the FDA juris-diction.

“Many of these supplements do not have to list what’s in their bottles,” said Cumberland Valley football coach Tim Rimpfel, who reminds his players to bulk up by eating a healthy meal within an hour of lifting. “Because of politics you have some people who I truly believe, (who) have tested positive for steroids, that say, ‘I haven’t tak-en any steroids, I’ve just been taking these tablets.’

“The bottles don’t list the ste-roids. That’s the problem right there.”

If a former presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, has his way, that problem will be fixed.

McCain, on Feb. 3, introduced a bill in the Senate that would allow the FDA to control what supple-

ments contain.Obviously the bill, dubbed the Di-

etary Supplement Safety Act, is not a Hatch favorite and has been met with opposition from the industry.

“This issue is changing by the minute,” Hatch told nutritionalout-look.com earlier this month. “I’ve been talking to John McCain a lot over the past few days and, as a re-sult of those conversations, he now understands the serious impact this will have on (the) industry. ... He has told me that he does not want to do anything to hinder the ability of consumers to purchase their dietary supplements. ... I think he’s coming around. In fact, I know he is.”

Hatch and those who manufac-ture supplements aren’t the only ones opposed to the bill.

The Facebook group, STOP the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, boasted 12,855 members late in August.

Because of the availability of both supplements and steroids, schools like Cumberland Valley offer drug testing.

“That’s one thing (steroids) they’ll test on,” Rimpfel said. “Whether it’s that or some other drug, it always scares me. We’re paid to push these kids to make sure they’re in condi-tion. How are we supposed to tell whether a kid a is high on some-thing? That’s why we have the test-ing.”



CV coach Tim Rimpfel conducts a summer workout.

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There’s something positive to build on


Speaking early in summer camp, Big Spring High School football coach Brent Stroh was optimistic.

In his fourth year of trying to revive the Bulldogs’ moribund program, Stroh finally is seeing change.

“We’re starting to get there,” said Stroh, who has a 5-25 record at Big Spring. “We’ve had our best offseason (program) since (the coaching staff has) been here, and this team is the most experienced we’ve had here.

“Those things are good, but then we have to put it together on the field. We tend to look for excuses for things that don’t turn out right instead of accepting responsibil-ity.”

The Bulldogs started well last year with wins over Boiling Springs and West Perry in the first two weeks. But then the wheels fell off, and Big Spring didn’t win again until it beat Hanover, 24-14, in the season finale.

Regardless, last season was the first time the program experienced multiple wins since 2004 when the Bulldogs finished 4-6. The

last time Big Spring had a winning record (7-3) was in 2003.

It’s been baby steps for Stroh and his staff, but they have a plan for how they expect to win mul-tiple games in back-to-back sea-sons for the first time in six years.

“First of all, you have to fo-cus on the fundamental aspect — get them to play fundamentally sound,” Stroh said. “They need to learn to get pad under pad, tackle properly and be precise in block-ing and their schemes.

“Plus, the recent tradition, we’re trying to overcome that. I want them to take pride in what they’re doing. They have to expect bet-ter things instead of expecting the worst. Then you have to establish a work ethic. I’m not saying we’re a lazy team, but some guys work really hard and some don’t. We have to be on the same page.”

Big Spring returns 10 starters — five on offense, five on defense — and Stroh can lean on at least 11 others who saw time last year to show their experience.

Big Spring returned 17 start-ers last year, but the offense was moving from the Spread to the Wing-T. This year, the offense and defense are running what they ran last year: The offense will stick with the Wing-T, while the defense will again employ the 4-4.


James Grier, left, hands off to Ben Webber during Big Spring’s preseason football camp. The Bulldogs went 4-6 last year and haven’t had a winning record since 2003.

Accountability is ■

the key for program to continue improving.

• See Bulldogs, D4

Mid-Penn Conference ProjectionscOMMOnWeaLTH

Outlook: Carlisle and Central dau-phin East have moved back up to the conference’s big-school division to take Altoona’s place. Unfortunately for the newcomers, we don’t see them making many waves in what should be a stacked division. Last season, division rivals Cumberland Valley and state College met in the piAA Class AAAA semifinals. the Little Lions might take a step back this year, but they won’t totally fall off the board. this time around, CV wears the target as the division favorite.


1. cumberland valley (12-3) — travis Friend and trevor Harman are key losses, but the Eagles return the bulk of the team that won the district 3 Class AAAA crown last year. that said, it’s easy to forget CV finished third in the division after regular-season losses to state College and Central dauphin. Having a division i recruit in running back/linebacker Kevin snyder (rutgers) sure won’t hurt coach tim rimpfel run his Wing-t offense to perfection.

2. Harrisburg (5-6) — Here’s the deal with the Cougars: they have talent as usual, but we’re worried about how focused this group is while dealing with the drama surrounding coach George Chaump. if the players remain focused, they shouldn’t have much trouble with the rest of the divi-sion. We’re banking on that oct. 30 home date with Cumberland Valley to decide the division.

3. central Dauphin (9-3) — Glen Mcnamee’s team is coming off a sea-son in which it shared the division crown with state College. truthfully, the rams have what it takes to win another title thanks to an experienced line, but they’ll have to do it with some new faces at the skill positions.

4. chambersburg (5-6) — We might have the trojans rated a little too high, but first-year coach Mark saunders seems to have his players believing they can compete. Last year, in david Carruthers’ final season, the trojans broke through with a playoff appearance.

5. state college (12-3) — to count the key players who graduated from last year’s state finalist requires more than five fingers. to name a few, Alex Kenney, Colby Way and Jack de-Boeuf are gone. With those depar-tures probably went state’s shot at repeating in the division (it shared the title with Central dauphin). the good news for the Little Lions is that no matter their record, they’ll be in the district 6-8-9-10 subregional and

have a shot at advancing through the playoffs.

6. carlisle (2-8) — the going won’t be easy for Carlisle in its return to the Commonwealth, but first-year coach Josh oswalt knows the league (he’s a CV graduate) and is very high on his team. the key for Carlisle is to play competitive football week in and week out and avoid major injuries, something it didn’t do last year.

7. central Dauphin east (1-9) — the most impressive thing this team accomplished last year wasn’t its de-feat of Altoona for its only win. Even better than that win, East pushed eventual state runner-up state Col-lege to the brink on a sunday after-noon in october. the Little Lions only led 7-3 in the fourth quarter before pulling away with two late touch-downs. More performances like that, and first-year coach Brian Bowman’s team might move out of the base-ment.

_____

keysTOneOutlook: if it weren’t for the huge

elephant in the room (we’re looking at you, Bishop Mcdevitt), this would be one heck of a division race. Cedar Cliff, Mechanicsburg, Hershey, Lower dauphin and red Land will all be neck-and-neck, while susquehanna twp. is the defending district 3-AAA runner-up. it’s true, the indians lose a good amount, but don’t count them out of the battle for second place. this might, with the exception of the Crusaders, be the most competitive division in the conference.


1. Bishop McDevitt (12-1) — Mcdevitt always battles depth is-sues on the lines, but if it builds huge halftime leads — as is normally the case — those starters will only be playing 24 minutes. With at least two division i recruits, the Crusaders are the team to beat.

2. susquehanna Twp. (12-2) — there are a lot of parts to replace if the indians hope to make a return to the district 3-AAA final. there’s always talent, speed and size on the roster — two transfers who are bat-tling for the quarterback job won’t hurt — so don’t count susquehanna twp. out just yet.

3. Mechanicsburg (6-5) — A year after returning only one starter, the Wildcats look primed to make at least some noise. Coach Chris Hakel needs to replace durable running back tarik Leftenant, but compared to last year, this team is loaded with experience and should be the third-best team in the division.

4. cedar cliff (6-5) — Jim Can-tafio, in his third year as head coach, has high expectations for his team. the Colts have most of their skill guys back and are gunning for at least an-other runner-up finish. they’ve been second to Mcdevitt the last two years, but the bigger picture is how much the team has improved.

5. red Land (3-7) — After a few great years, coach Frank Gay’s out-fit returned to earth last fall and struggled through a losing season. We’re sure the patriots have circled the wagons in hopes of avoiding an-other tough season, but the schedule is daunting.

6. Lower Dauphin (4-6) — Af-ter beating its head against the wall while being classified AAAA the last four years, Lower dauphin is back to AAA and hopes to make a splash. the Falcons saw moderate success playing with the big boys, but just be-cause their opponents’ enrollments are smaller, the level of competition doesn’t get any easier in this division.

7. Hershey (9-3) — When a team like Hershey checks in this low, it’s obvious the division is loaded. the trojans are coming off a strong year that saw them advance to the district 3-AAA quarterfinals in Mark painter’s first year as head coach.

_____

cOLOniaLOutlook: this division has all

the makings of a top-heavy group. if someone other than northern or Greencastle-Antrim comes away with the title, it can be considered an upset. that said, don’t count out shippensburg with its record-setting running back and mammoth offen-sive line. Another darkhorse is Get-tysburg, which has a new coach and could be a surprise in the division if not in district 3. the Colonial is look-ing at either a two-team breakaway or a tough fight among two stalwarts and two teams that want respect.


1. northern (8-3) — the polar Bears have some question marks, but they also return two very reliable running backs in Kevin Lytle and Matt richmond. now that the division has expanded to eight teams, it’s going to be harder for northern to reach the top, but rick Mauck knows how to win the big games and, as is the case almost every year, the other teams will be looking up at northern come november.

2. shippensburg (6-5) — We’re once again fascinated by the size of this team’s line. the projected start-

ers average 250 pounds and will be blocking for todde statum, who set the school’s single-season rushing record last year.

3. Greencastle-antrim (7-3) — After a year at the top, the Blue devils faltered in a game at northern and finished runner-up to the polar Bears. Along the way, G-A blasted shippensburg to help keep the Grey-hounds from finishing in second.

4. Gettysburg (3-7) — now that sam Leedy has retired, we’ll see how quickly the Warriors can get back to the level they reached three years ago when the team finished as 3-AAA runner-up.

5. Big spring (3-7) — the Bull-dogs are showing improvement under coach Brent stroh, but they aren’t at the level needed to chal-lenge in this division. stroh’s fourth year will tell a lot about where the program is heading.

6. Waynesboro (2-8) — the indi-ans are still searching for that magi-cal season when they challenge for a division title and crack the playoffs. right now, success has to be judged on what the team does on the field.

7. West Perry (1-9) — things have to start looking up for coach Al ream’s outfit soon, right? Well, with a brutal early-season schedule, mental toughness is mandatory in Elliottsburg. the other thing West perry needs is depth. With games against indian Valley and Mount Car-mel right away, the Mustangs could be banged up before they know it.

8. James Buchanan (1-8) — the rockets showed some positives last year with a win over palmyra and a two-point loss to eventual play-off qualifier Mechanicsburg. Unfor-tunately, now James Buchanan is heading to an arguably more difficult division, and wins will be at a pre-mium.

_____

caPiTaLOutlook: this division should

be fairly balanced the whole way through. Boiling springs returns 16 starters from last year’s 6-4 team and can likely make a push toward the top of the division, where heavy-weights Milton Hershey, steelton-Highspire and trinity dwell. Even the teams that might finish near the bottom of the division — Camp Hill comes to mind — will be tough week in and week out.


1. Trinity (7-4) — Changing from the Wing-t to the spread won’t be an easy transition, but by the middle of the season, if not sooner, the sham-

rocks should be feeling more com-fortable. plus, trinity’s most difficult division games, with the exception of Boiling springs on nov. 5, are at CoBo Field.

2. steelton-Highspire (8-3) — the rollers are a little young, and that could be an issue in a division this tough. difficult trips to trinity, Milton Hershey and Camp Hill loom large in the division race. if steel-High can get through those games without a loss, the rollers will win this division.

3. Milton Hershey (7-4) — the school was bumped up to Class AAA for the postseason, but that fact won’t matter during the regular season. Milton Hershey shared the tiny four-team patriot division title last year and will be hard-pressed to crack the top two.

4. Boiling springs (6-4) — if the Bubblers find a way to win close games, this could be a special fall in south Middleton twp. But the verdict is still out on this group, which won its final six games of the 2009 sea-son. the only problem was that none of those wins came against a team that finished with a winning record.

5. Middletown (8-4) — once the postseason rolls around, the Blue raiders will be in the same Class AAA boat as Milton Hershey. Before then, Middletown has work to do in the division, and despite returning star running back rodney ramsey, it’s unlikely that coach roy o’neill’s club will be able to make a serious push for the division title.

6. east Pennsboro (4-6) — this team needs to figure out how to win close games. Last year, the panthers posted an 0-4 record in games decided by seven points or less. that’s not a good way to chal-lenge for a division or qualify for the playoffs.

7. Palmyra (4-6) — the Cougars have a solid group returning, but we’re still mystified with how last season ended for them. palmyra went in the tank after losing to dela-ware power red Lion Christian, and with tough games early — Boiling springs, at steel-High, Middletown — the team’s mental toughness will be tested imediately.

8. camp Hill (2-8) — the Lions are one year away from making a serious move both in the division and on the district stage. Unfortu-nately, coach Frank Kindler needs to find a way to get his young team through this season with minimal injuries and their mental strength still intact.


sentinel file photo

Trinity and running back Logan Houck are favored to win the Mid-Penn Capital Division.


Big Spring Bulldogs


650 E. High Street, Carlisle, PA 17013 / 258-442240 Noble Boulevard., carlisle, PA 17013 / 218-6656

Cover Story


On a muggy Friday morning in late July-, the defending District 3 Class AAAA football champions were sweating.

Many of Cumberland Valley High’s football players could be found either in the weight room behind Chapman Field, at the track surrounding the stadium’s grass surface or on the patch of pavement in front of the conces-sion stand.

Whether they were return-ing starters or wide-eyed fresh-men, anyone who showed up for the voluntary workout was put

through a circuit of speed, agility and strength drills.

In front of the concession stand, head coach Tim Rimpfel sat at a metal picnic table with papers spread out in front of him and a stopwatch. Rimpfel was putting the players through the dreaded dot drill, which involves hopping back and forth to certain dots on a rubber mat. The drill takes be-tween 40 seconds and just over a minute to complete and is much more difficult than it looks.

It isn’t an exercise that brings to mind powerful bodies crashing into each other on a Friday night in the fall, but it’s one of the many drills that football teams do to prepare for those nights.

“When we test, whether it’s quickness testing or strength testing, some kids say, ‘Boy, I feel pressure with the other kids watching,’ Rimpfel said. “Well, heck (in the fall), there’s going to be 5,000 people in the stands watching you, too. It’s a good

preparation for them. Peer pres-sure is great.

“With the quickness testing and the mile, we post the scores and it puts pressure on them, but we also want to see how competitive they are, too.”

Cumberland Valley’s offseason football program has been around for a long time.

In the 1970s, legendary CV coach Harry Chapman took a page out of Bernard Lange’s book and built his own benches and squat racks out of wood. Fifty years ear-lier, Lange, a priest at Notre Dame who was also an avid weight-lifter and carpenter, did the same thing and eventually was asked by Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne to help teach his players how to lift weights properly.

Lange’s expertise was almost solely in weightlifting, but Chap-man’s program was much more.

Strength of programs built in offseasonMore than other ■

sports, year-round work is required for football teams to succeed.

photos by Michael Bupp/the sentinel

aBOve: Scott Maronic does dumbbell presses during an off-season session at Cumberland Valley.On THe cOver: CV’s Jordan Bush does curls using a bent bar.


What’s InsIde

High schoolsBig spring d3Boiling springs d5Camp Hill d7Carlisle d9Cedar Cliff d12Cumberland Valley d14

East pennsboro d18Mechanicsburg d20northern d22red Land d24shippensburg d26susquenita d28trinity d30

West perry d32Mid-penn projections d46the sentinel picks d47

collegedickinson College d34shippensburg University d36penn state d38

High School Football Commentary

The worst bracket in the state


Postseason football is still 10 weeks away, but it’s never to early to question the PIAA and the Western Pennsylvania Interscho-lastic Athletic League.

Those two organizations have combined to create one of the most ridiculous playoff setups that we’ve ever seen.

In Class AAAA, there’s a strange thing called the District 6-8-9-10 subre-gional. It’s an open tour-nament that any team in those districts, regardless of record, can join.

That’s the path State College, a member of the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division, must travel in the postseason because the Little Lions, despite call-ing a District 3 conference home, are not technically in District 3.

We’ve said in this space before that State College should be in the District 3 playoffs, but without the Little Lions, that subre-gional gets even worse.

Two of the teams in it this year — Brashear and Erie Strong Vincent — were Class AAA the last two years. Coincidentally, those are two of the three teams, not including State College, in the subregional that had a winning record last year. Central Mountain

is the other. The Wildcats were 6-5 last season.

Unfortunately, the win-ner of that bracket enters state play at the quarter-final level. Last year, when State College finished as PIAA runner-up, was an exception. More often than not the winner of this subregional won’t stand a chance against the WPIAL winner.

So here’s how to elimi-nate this bracket and make the Class AAAA field more competitive:

• Allow State College to qualify through District 3. It’s the path SC coach Al Wolski prefers.

• Force the WPIAL to implement a power rank-ing system that allows the other five teams to qualify for its 16-team bracket if they do so. This doesn’t mean those teams have to join the WPIAL but if they accumulate enough points to participate in the play-offs, that should be an op-tion for them.

If both of these ideas come to fruition, the western half of the AAAA field would involve two brackets, with the District 3 and WPIAL champions meeting in the state semi-finals.

It also makes the regular season mean something. Right now in districts 6, 8, 9 and 10 the regular sea-son means nothing for the Class AAAA teams.


Sentinel PickSWeek1

Guest Picker:Brett Smith

Former Sports Editor

Mechanicsburgat Carlisle

Travis L. Pickens

Last week:0-0

Last Season:117-50

Tom Ash

Last week:0-0

Last Season:114-53

Ron Rogers

Last week:0-0

Last Season:N/A

Guest Picker

Last week:0-0

Last Season:113-54

Andy Sandrik

Last week:0-0

Last Season:119-48

Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg Mechanicsburg

Middletownat Shippensburg

Red Landat East Pennsboro

Bermudian Springsat Northern

Boiling Springsat Littlestown

Camp Hillat Biglerville

Elizabethtownat Cedar Cliff

Millersburgat Big Spring

Newportat Susquenita

Red Lion atCumberland Valley

Trinity atLancaster Catholic

West Perryat Indian Valley

Gatewayat Bishop McDevitt

Boise Statevs. Virginia Tech

Middletown

East Pennsboro

Northern

Boiling Springs

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Susquenita

Cumberland Valley

Trinity

Indian Valley

Bishop McDevitt

Virginia Tech

Shippensburg

Red Land

Northern

Littlestown

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Newport

CumberlandValley

LancasterCatholic

Indian Valley

Gateway

Boise State

Middletown

Red Land

Northern

Littlestown

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Millersburg

Susquenita

CumberlandValley

LancasterCatholic

IndianValley

BishopMcDevitt

Boise State

Shippensburg Shippensburg

Red Land

Northern

Boiling Springs

Camp Hill

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Susquenita

CumberlandValley

LancasterCatholic

IndianValley

BishopMcDevitt

Boise State

Red Land

Northern

Boiling Springs

Biglerville

Cedar Cliff

Big Spring

Newport

CumberlandValley

Trinity

Indian Valley

BishopMcDevitt

Boise State

D48 — The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa., Friday, September 3, 2010 www.cumberlink.com

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FTWFootball this Week

Section D

September 3, 2010

Strength and conditioning a key element to finding success for area high school teams

2010 Season Preview Edition

•High school previews • Local college previews • Week 1 picks

Work it out

Penn State reloads at linebacker

- page D38

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