CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK

Spencer Myers returns to the

gridiron for Maryland

The Daily Item The Danville NewsNovember 6, 2014

THE PANEL

The Daily Item’s Fearless Forecasters’ picks:

THE GAMES

THE FEARLESS FORECAST

RECORDS

Upper Dauphin (5-5) at Millersburg (5-5) (Friday)

Millersburg

Line Mtn.

Millersburg

Tri-Valley

Millersburg

Tri-Valley

Millersburg

Tri-Valley

Millersburg

Line Mtn.

Millersburg

Line Mtn.

Upper Dauphin

Line Mtn.

Millersburg

Line Mtn.

Upper Dauphin

Tri-Valley

Millersburg

Tri-Valley

Millersburg

Tri-Valley

Line Mtn. (5-5) at Tri-Valley (5-5) (Friday)

Fordham (8-1) at Bucknell (7-1) (Friday)

Fordham

Susque.

Fordham

Susque.

Fordham

McDaniel

Bucknell

McDaniel

Fordham

McDaniel

Bucknell

Susque.

Fordham

Susque.

Fordham

McDaniel

Bucknell

McDaniel

Bucknell

Susque.

Fordham

Susque.

Susquehanna (1-7) at McDaniel (1-7) (Saturday)

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Jersey Shore

Shamokin (5-5) at Jersey Shore (10-0) (Friday)

Montoursville(6-4) at Lewisburg (7-3) (Saturday)

Lewisburg

Loyalsock

Montours.

Loyalsock

Montours.

Loyalsock

Lewisburg

Loyalsock

Lewisburg

Mt. Carmel

Lewisburg

Mt. Carmel

Montours.

Loyalsock

Montours.

Loyalsock

Lewisburg

Loyalsock

Lewisburg

Mt. Carmel

Lewisburg

Mt. Carmel

Loyalsock (7-3) at Mt. Carmel (7-3) (Friday)

Robert AckerGuest forecaster

Dave BridgeGuest forecaster

Harold Gerst Jr.Guest forecaster

Chris SchliederGuest forecaster

Steve LeitzelGuest forecaster

Shawn WoodSports stringer

Harold RakerSportsstringer

Anthony MitchellSports reporter

BrianHoltzappleSportsreporter

Scott DudinskieSports reporter

Todd HummelSports reporter

CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK 2 GAME NIGHT MAGAZINE/The Daily Item/The Danville News Thursday, November 6, 2014

Last wk: 8-1Year: 69-21Pct.: .767

Last wk: 8-1Year: 67-23Pct.: .744

Last wk: 8-1Year: 62-28Pct.: .689

Last wk: 7-2Year: 66-25Pct.: .733

Last wk: 7-2Year: 63-27Pct.: .700

Last wk: 7-2Year: 72-18Pct.: .800

Last wk: 6-3Year: 68-22Pct.: .756

Last wk: 7-2Year: 61-29Pct.: .678

Last wk: 8-1Year: 66-24Pct.: .733

Last wk: 8-1Year: 63-27Pct.: .700

Last wk: 8-1Year: 68-22Pct.: .756

Shikellamy (6-4) at Selinsgrove (7-3) (Friday)

Selinsgrove Selinsgrove Selinsgrove Selinsgrove Selinsgrove Selinsgrove Selinsgrove Shikellamy Selinsgrove Selinsgrove Selinsgrove

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Southern Columbia

Hughesville(6-4) at Southern Col. (10-0) (Friday)

CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK

I still want to tee it up.

A new knee, hip, or shoulder can get you back in the fairway.

Our team of board certified surgeons, specially trained nurses, and physical therapists provide

comprehensive care using leading-edge technology and minimally invasive procedures in an environment

dedicated to orthopaedics. That means better outcomes, less discomfort, and a quicker return to the

lifestyle you enjoy.

Take the first step to a total joint replacement. Call 1-800-598-5096

3 The D

aily Item/ T

he Danville N

ews T

hu

rsday, N

ovem

ber 6, 2014

Route 54 • Turbotville • 649.5118 • www.ttnb.com

Good Luck Good Luck Green Dragons! Green Dragons!

The

Dai

ly It

em/T

he D

anvi

lle N

ews

Th

urs

day

, No

vem

ber

6, 2

014

4

When: 7:30 p.m. SaturdayWhere: Christy Mathewson-Memorial StadiumLast meeting: Lewisburg won 19-10 earlier this seasonRadio: 100.9 The Valley-FM, 7 p.m.MONTOURSVILLE WARRIORS (6-4)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr88 Cole Karschner 6-3 168 WR Jr.77 Ben Cerney 5-11 225 LT Jr.67 Bryce Berresford 5-11 231 LG Jr.55 Mike Signor 5-10 231 C Sr.79 Caleb Frantz 5-11 225 RG Jr.74 Logan Vargo 6-1 215 RT Jr.82 Nick Christ 6-2 235 TE Sr.11 Brycen Mussina 6-2 170 QB So.44 Kyle Lynch 5-8 181 FB Sr.22 Keith Batkowski 5-8 155 HB Jr. 1 Curtis Miller 5-10 175 SB Sr. 5 Nick Russo 5-8 165 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr10 Wyatt Entz 6-2 225 DE Sr.55 Mike Signor 5-10 231 NT Sr.61 Holden Lodge 5-10 198 DE Jr.77 Ben Cerney 5-11 225 LB Jr.44 Kyle Lynch 5-8 181 LB Sr.28 Garrett Hoffman 6-1 190 LB Jr.45 Logan McKeag 5-8 163 LB Jr. 3 Jacob Strasser 5-10 160 CB Jr.22 Keith Batkowski 5-8 155 S Jr.30 Nolan Ott 5-10 162 S So. 2 Andy Biber 5-10 160 CB Jr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat S.Williamsport W, 38-36Lewisburg L, 19-10Mifflinburg W, 48-41at Jersey Shore L, 27-21 OTShikellamy L, 20-18at Milton W, 49-0at Selinsgrove L, 35-0Shamokin W, 55-15at Hughesville W, 38-3Loyalsock W, 38-27District 4 Class AA PlayoffsQuarterfinalsat Lewisburg SaturdayLEWISBURG GREEN DRAGONS (7-3)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr26 Noah Inch 5-11 150 WR Jr.60 Jon Ward 6-0 240 OL Sr.54 Brandon Benfer 5-11 205 OL Sr.53 Alex Liscum 5-10 215 OL Jr.58 Matt Nash 6-1 195 OL Sr.56 Andrew Dufree 6-2 205 OL Jr.20 Jason Bonner 6-2 190 TE Sr. 8 Trent Gower 5-10 155 QB Jr. 7 Drew Newcomb 6-0 170 RB Sr.33 Logan Aikey 5-9 190 RB Sr.21 Matt Fedorjaka 6-2 165 WR Jr. 1 Max Reed 6-1 168 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr54 Brandon Benfer 5-11 205 DL Sr.60 Jon Ward 6-0 240 DL Sr.57 Brian Anderson 5-8 185 DL Sr.33 Logan Aikey 5-9 190 LB Sr.58 Matt Nash 6-1 195 LB Sr.44 Trey Delbaugh 5-9 155 LB So.24 Zach Pyers 6-0 160 LB Sr. 2 Trent Henger 6-2 170 LB Jr.26 Noah Inch 5-11 150 DB Jr.7 Drew Newcomb 6-0 170 DB Sr.21 Matt Fedorjaka 6-2 165 DB Jr.1 Max Reed 6-1 168 P Sr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultShikellamy L, 21-20at Montoursville W, 19-10Mount Carmel L, 32-14Milton W, 42-13at Central Mountain W, 50-6Central Columbia W, 49-7at Danville Fridayat Southern Columbia L, 31-14at Warrior Run W, 28-0Mifflinburg (at SU) W, 28-6District 4 Class AA Playoffs: QuarterfinalsMontoursville Saturday

Game Night

By Todd HummelThe Daily Item

LEWISBURG — There might not be two hotter teams in District 4 Class AA — non Southern Columbia division — than Montours-ville and Lewisburg.

The Warriors won their final three games of the reg-ular season and four of the their final five games, while the Green Dragons won six of their final seven games to grab the final home game in the first round.

On Saturday night, one of those hot streaks will come to an end when the Warriors visit the Green Dragons in the final game of the Dis-trict 4 Class AA quarterfi-nals at 7:30 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Sta-dium.

With Bucknell scheduled for a nationally televised home game on Friday night, Lewisburg coach Michael Ferriero wanted to stay in routine for the playoff game and return to Susquehanna University, where the Green Dragons beat Mifflinburg in the Little Brown Jug game last week.

However, Lewisburg isn’t in school Thursday and Fri-day, and Lewisburg athletic director Mark Temple also mentioned to him that it could be the last chance for Lewisburg’s seniors to play on their home field.

“We’re going to be out of our routine (for the off

days of school) and it gives us an extra day of rest,” Fer-riero said. “Hopefully, it also gives a chance to draw a larger crowd on Saturday night.”

Montoursville coach J.C. Keefer likes the chance for the extra rest, but admits it causes some changes in the Warriors’ routine.

“It changes our weekly structure and our game day structure,” Keefer said. “It does allow for an extra day

for rest, but for the winner, it makes for a short week the following week.”

The biggest difference in the Warriors has been the improvement of quarterback Brycen Mussina, who was just 10-of-24 for 80 yards and two interceptions in the first game. Mussina had thrown all eight of his interceptions this season through the first seven games of the year. In the last three games, Mus-sina is 31-of-51 for 507 yards

with nine touchdowns and no interceptions. For the season, Mussina has thrown for 1,490 yards and 17 touch-downs.

“The more Brycen plays the better he gets. His work ethic is what separates him from the pack,” Keefer said. “He stays after practice to throw in the net. He’ll even come down to the field to work on his punting. He wants to be the best at what-ever he does.”

“They have really im-proved since we’ve played them,” Ferriero added. “It’s one of the hottest teams in the district right now and they’ll have a chip on their shoulder since we’ve already beaten them.”

That has taken the pres-sure off the Warriors’ run-ning game, which was carry-ing them early in the season. Junior Keith Batkowski leads Montoursville with 1,704 yards on the ground and 15 touchdowns.

Lewisburg (7-3) is also a different team since that first meeting back in the second week. Senior Drew Newcomb nursed an ankle injury and carried just seven times for nine yards and missed the second half.

“He’s a difference maker,” Keefer said. “You try to get the football to your play-makers and with his ability to line up at several differ-ent positions, it allows them to get him the football quite a bit.”

n MoNToursville aT lewisBurg

Teams meet for in big rematch

Amanda August/The Daily Item

Lewisburg’s Logan Aikey runs the ball past a Mifflin-burg’s Garrett Ressler last week.

High School Football PodcastWednesdays on DailyItem.com Featuring:

Sports Editor Todd Stanford and Football Writer Todd Hummel.

Hosted by Shawn Wood.

FORD

“It’s worth the drive to Rt. 45!”

Sponsored By:

402 S. Turbot Ave., Milton, PA570.742.8755

CLEMENSMACHINE & AUTO INC.

5 The D

aily Item/T

he Danville N

ews T

hu

rsday, N

ovem

ber 6, 2014

When: Friday, 7 p.m.Where: Tigers StadiumLast meeting: Southern Columbia won 38-14 in 2007Radio: WHLM-AM, 930, FM 94.7, 104.3, 105.5, 6:30 p.m.Internet: blackdiamondsports.netHUGHESVILLE SPARTANS (6-4)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr56 Jacob Stutzman 5-11 220 LT Sr.52 Alex Welch 6-1 200 LG Jr.55 Patrick Hiller 5-10 170 C Jr.64 Nick Gorg 5-10 170 RG Sr.70 Josh Dauberman 6-3 250 RT So.13 Ethan Duff 6-1 205 TE Jr. 2 Jon Warg 6-1 165 WR Sr. 1 Sean Poust 5-10 160 WR Sr.25 Nick Yeager 5-7 165 RB Sr.23 Clint Snyder 6-1 185 RB Sr. 3 Logan Henry 6-0 185 QB Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr56 Jacob Stutzman 5-11 220 DE Sr.54 Luther Lozano 5-10 215 NG Jr.13 Ethan Duff 6-1 205 TE Jr.50 Christian Fish 5-8 165 ILB Sr.52 Alex Welch 6-1 200 ILB Jr.64 Nick Gorg 5-10 170 ILB Sr.21 Melvin Derhammer 5-7 160 OLB Jr. 8 Trey Smith 5-10 185 OLB Jr. 2 Jon Warg 6-1 165 CB Sr.25 Nick Yeager 5-7 165 S Sr.23 Clint Snyder 6-1 185 CB Sr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat East Juniata W, 46-14Athens W, 42-7at Montgomery W, 55-13Towanda L, 30-27at Warrior Run W, 42-15at South Williamsport L, 48-27Loyalsock L, 32-13Bloomsburg W, 44-14Montoursville L, 38-3at Muncy W, 21-0District 4 Class AA PlayoffsQuarterfinals

at Southern Columbia FridaySOUTHERN COLUMBIA TIGERS (10-0)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 1 Cameron Young 5-6 130 SE So.76 Aaron Kroh 6-2 330 LT Jr.65 Charles Wertman 5-7 220 LG Sr.70 Trent Donlan 5-10 250 C Sr.79 Josh Yoder 6-2 260 RG Jr.78 Grayson Belles 6-0 255 RT Sr.15 Gabe Delbo 5-9 165 TE Sr.14 Nick Becker 6-3 205 QB Jr.44 Matt Jeremiah 5-11 190 FB Sr. 5 Brad Noll 5-10 165 TB Sr. 28 Billy Marzeski 5-9 170 TB Jr.16 Billy Barnes 5-9 165 HB Sr.31 Steve Toczylousky 6-2 180 HB Jr.13 Tyler Keiser 5-11 165 K Jr.DEFENSENo Player Ht/Wt Pos Yr90 Chase Tillett 6-0 220 DE Jr.70 Trent Donlan 5-10 250 DT Sr.79 Josh Yoder 6-2 260 DT Jr.75 Jason Vought 5-11 225 DE Sr.28 Billy Marzeski 5-9 170 OLB Jr.16 Billy Barnes 5-9 165 ILB Sr.42 Matt Bell 6-1 185 ILB Jr.32 Jacob Potter 5-9 165 OLB Jr. 1 Cameron Young 5-6 130 CB Sr.31 Steve Toczylousky 6-2 180 S Jr.20 Mike Klebon 6-0 170 CB Sr.14 Nick Becker 6-3 205 P Jr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat Mifflinburg W, 40-14Bloomsburg W, 47-0Shamokin W, 52-14at Danville W, 46-0at Central Columbia W, 42-21at Mount Carmel W, 55-13at Warrior Run W, 57-0Lewisburg W, 31-14Central Mountain W, 55-13Selinsgrove W, 28-21District 4 Class AA PlayoffsQuarterfinalsHughesville Friday

Game Night

By Todd HummelThe Daily Item

CATAWISSA — It’s a rash of injuries that South-ern Columbia coach Jim Roth hasn’t been through in his long career.

After losing Luke Rarig in the first week of the season and Blake Marks on Oct. 17 to season-ending knee in-juries, sophomore halfback Hunter Thomas will also miss the rest of the season after breaking a bone in his lower leg in last week’s win over Selinsgrove.

“I don’t think we’ve ever lost two key skill players to season-ending injuries let alone three that would prob-ably be considered our top three skill guys on offense,” Roth said.

With Brad Noll and Billy Marzeski splitting time in Marks’ spot, Roth and his Tigers’ coaching staff moved Billy Barnes and Steve Toc-zylousky to halfback. Barnes hasn’t had an offensive snap this season in his first season of football since eighth grade. Toczylousky is a receiver for Southern Columbia.

“The way Billy picked stuff up on the defensive side of the ball, there isn’t any worries there,” Roth said. “I don’t know how far along they’ll get this week in prac-tice yet, but if we take care of business, they should be up to speed next week.”

Southern Columbia puts its undefeated record on the line in the first round of the

District 4 Class AA playoffs when the top-seeded Tigers host No. 8-seed Hughesville (6-4) at Tigers Stadium at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

It’s certainly been an out-standing turnaround for the Spartans under first-year head coach Dan Tucker. Hughesville, which didn’t win

its first game of the year un-til a victory in the final week of the season over Muncy, improved by five wins this season and qualified for the district playoffs for the first time since 2010, also the last time the Spartans had a win-ning season. Hughesville did qualify for the Eastern Con-

ference playoffs in 2011.The Spartans run a spread

offense, but still concentrate on the running game. Nick Yeager leads the team with 777 yards and 11 touchdowns, but four different Spartan running backs have at least 100 yards this season.

However, one can’t dis-count the Hughesville pass game, either. Senior quar-terback Logan Henry has thrown for 1,302 yards and 10 touchdowns. Sean Poust has been his favorite target with 29 grabs for 569 yards and six touchdown recep-tions.

“You really can’t prepare for the run or the pass, you have to prepare for the whole offense because they do both well,” Roth said. “They aren’t going to throw the ball a ton, but they can make plays in the passing game.”

Last week’s win over Selin-sgrove also provided a help for this week’s game with the Spartans. Though Hughes-ville doesn’t play the 3-5 like the Seals, the Spartans like to change their looks on the defensive line and give dif-ferent fronts like Selinsgrove does.

“They don’t move around like Selinsgrove does (up front), but they will give up a bunch of different looks,” Roth said. “It’s not the same scheme, but Hughesville presents the same type of problems for the offensive line.”

n HugHesville aT souTHerN columBia

Tigers still fighting injury bug

Justin Engle/The Daily Item

Southern Columbia’s Nick Becker scrambles against Lewisburg last month.

Geisinger Careworks provides walk-in healthcare without an appointment—seven days a week.

Careworks is open seven days a week, including nights and weekends. So, if you want to find out if that sniffle or irritation is something more but your doctor’s office is closed or you can’t get an appointment, just stop on by. We accept most major insurances and cash payments if uninsured.

Sick without a doctor or appointment?

mycareworks.com

Mon.-Fri. • 8:30 am – 7:30 pm Sat.-Sun. • 8 am – 6 pm

Danville 604 Continental Blvd., Suite 100 (Weis Plaza)

Bloomsburg 425 East 1st St. (Inside Medical Arts Building at Geisinger-Bloomsburg Hospital)

Also opening in Shamokin Dam this fall in the Colonial Village Plaza

The

Dai

ly It

em/T

he D

anvi

lle N

ews

Th

urs

day

, No

vem

ber

6, 2

014

6 Game Night

By Todd HummelThe Daily Item

MOUNT CARMEL — Carm DeFrancesco is the first to admit the Red Torna-does’ defense has not been up to snuff this season.

“Our defense has been maligned all season and it’s been terrible,” DeFrancesco said.

However, as Mount Car-mel prepares to host Loy-alsock in the quarterfinals of the District 4 Class AA playoffs, defense is exactly what the Red Tornadoes are going to hang their hats on.

When the Lancers (7-3) traveled to the Silver Bowl for the opening game of the year, the Mount Carmel de-fense held Loyalsock to its lowest output of the season in rushing yards, number of plays and time of posses-sion.

“We did something right in that game,” DeFran-cesco said. “They ran 51 plays against us and they ran 78 against Montours-ville last week. They only had a touchdown until there

were six minutes left in the game.”

Loyalsock has been nearly un-stoppable on offense this season under the tutelage of three-year starter Kyle Datres at quarter-back. Da-tres, already an explosive athlete in his own right, has been helped by the emergence of s ophomore t a i l b a c k Marty Clark. The two in the read op-tion have been nearly impossible to hold in check this season.

Datres has rushed for 1,332 yards this season and 20 touchdowns, while Clark has added 1,207 yards and 16 touchdowns as

the Lancers have rushed for 2,852 yards and 40 touch-downs as a team this year.

“We have seven films on Loyalsock and we have some experi-ence in fac-ing Datres,” DeFrancesco said. “We didn’t stop him, but we did a good job of con-trolling him at times.”

If teams are able to shut down the run game, D a t r e s , headed to the Univer-sity of North Carolina on a baseball scholarship, has thrown for 1,143

yards and 14 scores this sea-son. Datres has spread the ball around this season as three players — Nate Kri-

zan, Fletcher Quigley and Naza Short — have each caught exactly 20 passes this season.

Offensively, the Red Tor-nadoes have had little issues moving the ball this season. Halfback Blake Panko has rushed for 872 yards and 14 scores, while fullback Kyle Karyicki adds 669 yards and five scores. Quarter-back Dominic Farronato is second on the team with six rushing touchdowns.

An added plus for Mount Carmel (7-3): The Red Torndoes ran for 320 yards against the Lancers in the first game with both Panko and Karyicki going over 100 yards.

“We’re going to have to outscore them, but we’d also like to control the clock with the running game,” DeFran-cesco said. “We’ve been running the ball well over the last couple of weeks, we’ve just been so porous on defense, it’s gotten lost in the shuffle.”

n loyalsock aT mouNT carmel

Tornadoes have to face Datres againWhen: 7 p.m. FridayWhere: The Silver BowlLast meeting: Mount Carmel won, 25-22 earlier this seasonRadio: ESPN 92.3-FM, 6 p.m.; WGRC-FM, 92.3 and 91.9, 6:30 p.m.; Variety 99.7-FM, 6:45Internet: blackdiamondsport.net.LOYALSOCK LANCERS (7-3)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr24 Fletcher Quiqley 6-0 175 WR Sr.55 Justin Wood 6-4 285 RT Jr.66 Dan Harrison 6-3 305 RG Jr.71 Kaden Stensland 6-1 240 C Sr.51 Crae McCracken 6-3 235 LG So.75 Jake Glavin 6-3 290 LT Jr.15 Braden Ray 6-0 190 TE Jr. 3 Kyle Datres 6-1 185 QB Sr.33 Nate Rainey 5-10 220 FB Jr.28 Marty Clark 5-11 195 TB So. 6 Nazsa Short 6-4 160 WR Sr.20 Austin Champion 6-3 175 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht/Wt Pos Yr72 Chase Dunkleberger 6-4 280 DL Sr.57 James Jenks 6-1 260 DL Sr.50 Brennan Moodie 6-1 230 DL So.51 Crae McCracken 6-3 235 DE So.40 I-Keem Fogan 5-10 190 OLB Jr.32 Aaron Weaver 6-1 195 ILB Sr.33 Nate Rainey 5-10 220 ILB Jr.25 Dakota Bergquist 6-0 190 OLB Sr.24 Fletcher Quiqley 6-0 175 CB Sr.3 Kyle Datres 6-1 185 S/P Sr. 7 Marcus Williams 5-9 175 CB So.

2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat Mount Carmel L, 25-23at Central Columbia W, 56-42Danville W, 35-0at South Williamsport L, 34-26Muncy W, 49-12Montgomery W, 59-7at Hughesville W, 32-13Shikellamy W, 45-20Bloomsburg W, 55-0at Montoursville L, 38-27District 4 Class AA PlayoffsQuarterfinalsat Mount Carmel Friday

MOUNT CARMEL RED TORNADOES (7-3)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr12 Juwan Sullins 5-11 206 WR Sr.65 Gerard Reichwein 6-0 230 RT Jr.57 Glenn Barwicki 5-11 217 RG Jr.67 Dylan Fiamoncini 6-0 230 C Jr.71 Lee Amarose 6-3 265 LG Sr.52 Mike Kaminski 6-3 238 LT Sr.85 Christian Kelley 6-2 239 TE Sr. 4 Dominic Farronato 6-1 195 QB Jr.24 Blake Panko 5-7 171 TB Sr. 1 Kyle Karycki 6-1 210 FB Jr.27 Trayvon White 5-10 157 WR Sr.10 Tommy Belski 6-1 162 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr57 Glenn Barwicki 5-11 217 DT/P Jr.15 Gabe Bogutskie 6-1 200 NG Jr.52 Mike Kaminski 6-3 238 DT Sr.1 Kyle Karycki 6-1 210 OLB Jr.44 Allen Yancoskie 5-11 193 ILB Jr.24 Blake Panko 5-7 171 MLB Sr.55 Blayke Marlow 6-0 190 ILB So.85 Christian Kelley 6-2 239 OLB Sr.4 Dominic Farronato 6-1 195 CB Jr.3 Zach Tocyloskie 5-9 158 S Sr. 21 Lane Tanney 5-5 128 S So.27 Trayvon White 5-10 157 CB Sr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultLoyalsock W, 25-22Selinsgrove L, 61-6at Lewisburg W, 34-13Central Mountain W, 54-21at Danville W, 44-13Southern Columbia L, 55-13at North Schuylkill L, 53-21Warrior Run W, 47-21at Central Columbia W, 24-17, OTat Shamokin W, 33-32District 4 Class AA Playoffs: QuarterfinalsLoyalsock Friday

“We have seven films on Loyalsock and we have some

experience in facing Datres. We

didn’t stop him, but we did a good job of controlling him at times. ... We’re going to have to

outscore them, but we’d also like to control the clock with the running

game.”— MCA coach Carm

DeFrancesco

Now Accepting New Patients

Now Accepting Now Accepting New Patients New Patients

309 N. 5th St. • Suite E • Sunbury, PA www.shochpt.com • 570-286-7462

Specializing in rehab for: • Knee, Hip & Shoulder Replacement

• Neck & Back Pain • Foot/Ankle Pain & Plantar Fasciitis

• Worker’s Comp Injuries • Sport’s Medicine & Orthopedic Injuries

Accepting Most Insurances

Accepting Most Accepting Most Insurances Insurances

469477

Suzanne Shoch, Mark Shoch, PT with Gretchen Walter PT Assistant

S elinsgrove H otel

225 N. Market Street, Selinsgrove, PA • 374-1999 471184

FRIDAY, NOV. 7TH FRIDAY, NOV. 7TH

DINNER Ham Loaf

FRIDAY, NOV. 7th Karaoke Karaoke

7 The D

aily Item/T

he Danville N

ews T

hu

rsday, N

ovem

ber 6, 2014

Game Night

By Todd HummelThe Daily Item

SELINSGROVE — Fri-day night’s opponents in the District 4 Class AAA semifinals are certainly not strangers to each other.

“It’s a rivalry, but it’s a fun game for the kids,” Selins-grove coach Dave Hess said. “Neither team is going to have any problems getting up for the game.”

Shikellamy travels to Se-linsgrove at 7 p.m. for the second meeting between the two teams this season. The first game was a 27-7 victory for the Seals.

“It was a game that was much closer than the score indicated,” Hess said.

The Braves (6-4) moved the ball against the Seals with a short passing game, but were unable to convert their success into points in the first game.

“We moved the ball be-tween the 20s, but we were hurt by turnovers and pen-alties,” Shikellamy coach Todd Tilford said. “We need to be able to run the ball and control the clock to keep (Juvon) Batts and (Zach) Adams off the field.”

Shikellamy quarterback Christian Schlegel com-pleted 21 of 35 passes for 285 yards and a touchdown in that game, but the Braves were unable to move the ball on the ground against Selinsgrove. Shikellamy had just 71 rushing yards on 28 attempts.

“We have to make sure Schlegel doesn’t have the kind of night he had the first we played,” Hess said. “They killed us over and over with that short passing game.”

That makes the ability of the Shikellamy offensive line to deal with Selins-grove’s 3-5 defense and dif-ferent blitzes and stunts of paramount importance.

“Schlegel’s been really good when he gets time, we needed to be able to protect him versus Selinsgrove’s aggressive blitz scheme,”

Tilford said.The biggest difference

in the Seals from the first contest is the emergence of freshman starting quarter-back Logan Leiby. Leiby came off the bench in the second half against the Braves to complete 4 of 5 passes and a touchdown.

“Leiby gives them an-other running threat in the backfield,” Tilford said. “He’s really good with the play-action pass as well.”

Selinsgrove (7-3) is look-ing to bounce back from a close 28-21 loss to unde-

feated Southern Columbia. The Seals were driving with a chance late in the game to tie before Southern Colum-bia linebacker Billy Barnes picked off Leiby inside the red zone.

“We were involved in a heck of a football game and we did everything we wanted to do in that game except win,” Hess said. “We are much happier to have the experience and we are very prepared heading into the playoffs because of that game.”

n sHikellamy aT seliNsgrove

Old rivals meet once again

Justin Engle/The Daily Item

Selinsgrove’s Angel Figueroa makes a catch against Southern Columbia last week.

When: Friday, 7 p.m.Where: Harold L. Bolig Memorial FieldLast meeting: Selinsgrove won 27-7 earlier this seasonRadio: Eagle 107.3-FM, 6 p.m.; WKOK-AM, 1070, 6:30 p.m.SHIKELLAMY BRAVES (6-4)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr27 John Schaeffer 5-10 175 WR Sr.54 Jonah Rees 6-0 215 OT Sr.50 Kobe Swanger 6-0 205 OG Jr.78 Derek Bussey 6-2 240 C So.52 Harrison Rees 6-1 235 OG Fr.75 Jacob Stine 6-6 270 OT So.83 Owen Long 6-0 220 TE Jr.10 Christian Schlegel 6-4 210 QB Jr.30 Brett McCreary 5-10 195 FB Sr. 7 Shawn Turber 6-0 175 LHB Jr.16 Matt Splitt 6-1 185 HB Sr.23 Nick Dunn 6-0 165 WR Sr.15 Seth Burk 5-5 135 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr83 Owen Long 6-0 220 DE Jr.76 Jeremy Bacon 5-9 255 DT Jr.78 Derek Bussey 6-2 240 DT So.34 Quaneer Ford 5-10 185 DE Sr. 8 Trey Cunningham 6-1 195 OLB So.30 Brett McCreary 5-10 195 ILB Sr. 64 Joe Snyder 5-9 200 ILB Sr.24 Gabe Tilford 5-10 165 OLB Fr.23 Nick Dunn 6-0 165 CB Sr. 7 Shawn Turber 6-0 175 S Jr.27 John Schaeffer 5-10 175 CB Sr.15 Seth Burk 5-5 135 P Sr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat Lewisburg W, 21-20Jersey Shore L, 27-7Selinsgrove L, 27-7at Mifflinburg W, 27-15at Montoursville W, 20-18Central Mountain W, 21-7at Shamokin L, 27-13at Loyalsock L, 45-20Danville W, 35-7Milton W, 35-7District 4 Class AAA playoffs: Semifinalat Selinsgrove FridaySELINSGROVE SEALS (7-3)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 8 Colin Hoke 5-11 175 Z Jr.77 Andrew Boob 6-0 221 RT Sr.72 Ryan Hoke 5-10 211 RG Jr.54 Brandon Hoover 5-11 190 C Sr.59 Jack Gaugler 6-0 239 LG Jr,79 Dalon Maxwell 6-3 323 LT Sr.80 Dylan Beaver 6-2 220 TE Sr.18 Logan Leiby 5-11 174 QB Fr.25 Zach Adams 6-0 190 FB Sr. 1 Juvon Batts 5-10 173 HB Jr.16 Angel Figueroa 6-1 179 X Sr.22 Joe Radel 5-10 175 K Jr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr77 Andrew Boob 6-0 221 DT Sr. 61 Christian Muniz 5-11 196 NG Jr.51 Tony Dressler 6-1 238 DT Fr. 9 Ethan Trautman 5-10 170 OLB Jr.59 Jack Gaugler 6-0 239 ILB Jr,54 Brandon Hoover 5-11 190 ILB Sr.21 Nate Bingaman 6-0 185 ILB Sr.25 Zach Adams 6-0 190 OLB/P Sr. 3 Angelo Martin 5-10 165 CB Jr.12 Isaiah Rapp 5-11 180 S Sr.11 Nic Swineford 6-0 177 CB Jr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultCentral Columbia W, 43-6at Mount Carmel W, 61-6at Shikellamy W, 27-7Shamokin W, 49-0Berwick L, 22-21at Mifflinburg W, 42-7Montoursville W, 35-0at Jersey Shore L, 16-10Milton W, 42-12at Southern Columbia L, 28-21District 4 Class AAA playoffs: SemifinalShikellamy Friday

The

Dai

ly It

em/T

he D

anvi

lle N

ews

Th

urs

day

, No

vem

ber

6, 2

014

8 Cover Story

Big Ten behemoth

By Harold RakerFor The Daily Item

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Hours after helping his Selin-sgrove High School football team win its only state cham-pionship on a Friday night in Hershey, Spencer Myers was shoveling snow and working out in the wrestling room.

Taking a break is never an option for the all-state foot-ball player and state cham-pion wrestler.

That mindset certainly proves beneficial this year for Myers.

The 2010 Selinsgrove graduate, a redshirt senior on

the University of Maryland wrestling team, returned to football and is contributing as a defensive tackle for the Ter-rapins in their maiden voyage in the Big Ten Conference.

Myers, who was a state runner-up wrestler as a junior and a champion as a senior, accepted a wrestling scholar-ship to Maryland. But after committing to that sport, he began to get some Division I football offers.

Myers decided he would wrestle for four years and then try to earn a tryout in the NFL. But, after taking a redshirt year as a junior, he decided to give college

football a try.Balancing the two sports

this fall, while keeping up with his academics, would be a strain on anyone. But Myers, who helped the Ter-rapins upset the Nittany Lions at Penn State last weekend, said this week, “I’m still do-ing pretty good at handling everything, but I have been focusing on football. I take off one or two days a week from wrestling to fully com-mit myself to football, to be at my best when they need me.

He said, “Overall I’ve been able to deal with it and figure out ways to make sure I am 100 percent ready to go.”

Myers said the wrestling coaches have been supportive of his decision from the start. “They are in my corner 100 percent of the way,” he said.

The 6-foot-3, 275-pound Myers has played in all nine games for the Terrapins (6-3 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) and has recorded 17 tackles (eight solo) with 2.5 tackles for loss and a half sack.

The son of Todd and Julia Myers said he knows there will be a quick turnaround from football to wrestling after the football team competes in its bowl game. The Terrapins became bowl-eligible with the win in State

College.“At the most, it will be a

couple days (between sports), but by the time I come back (to the wrestling team) I will be full bore. I will get my lungs back for wrestling for mid-January, and get those Big Ten matches in, get enough (to be eligible) for the Big Ten Tournament,” he said.

“Hopefully I will make the transition right away and make the nationals,” he said.

Myers is 86-26 and a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection.

“Right now, football is in the forefront, and I am just

Terps’ Myers draws raves on the mat and gridiron

Photo provided

Maryland’s Spencer Myers (back), a Selinsgrove graduate, was a three-time all-ACC wrestler. He’ll wrestle in the Big Ten this season.

worried about that,” said Myers, who had a couple of tackles and a quarterback hurry, and had a big hit on PSU quarterback Christian Hackenberg last week.

He believes he is getting a good amount of exposure in football to draw some NFL interest, averaging about 12 plays a game so far.

But the transition from wrestling to football was a challenge as well, after be-ing away from the latter for four years.

“Once I got into the swing of things, it took a few snaps, I got in there and it came back pretty quickly. I’m still learning things and there is still a lot of stuff I need to do to fully get back to where everything is 100 percent clear,” he said.

“I feel like I am doing pretty good right now, go-ing off everything I have been learning, and trying to put it into games,” he said.

One of his goals was to make it as a starter, but he is happy that he is getting playing time and is able to help the football team achieve its goals.

“I had high expectations for myself coming in and I believe I’ve achieved a lot of those goals and I am try-ing to do whatever I can to make a statement and help my team out,” Myers said.

Maryland’s move to the Big Ten is something that Myers believes was a plus both for he and the pro-gram and he is glad to be a part of that.

“It’s a pretty big year for Maryland athletics, but also for myself, because I get to help two separate teams out in two of the Big Ten’s biggest sports, football and wrestling,” he said.

Like his teammates, Myers was excited to play in Beaver Stadium this season, but, for the former Seal, a bigger draw was a reunion with his former Seal classmate and team-mate, Ryan Keiser.

But the latter, who was a starting safety for PSU,

sustained a career-ending injury in practice two weeks ago.

“We were pretty good friends in high school and when we were younger. It would have been awesome to play against one of my teammates. He’s a great

person and I’ve been fol-lowing him at Penn State. He turned into a hell of a player. It would have been great to play against him,” Myers added.

The Terrapins have three regular-season games left plus the bowl game. After

a bye this week, they host Michigan State in an 8 p.m. game on the Big Ten Net-work. They close out with a game at Michigan and a home contest with Rutgers.

“Every week, the sta-dium is just about packed. We have a pretty big fan

base and it makes it a nice atmosphere here. Hope-fully, with getting in the Big Ten and some of the wins that Maryland will get over some of these teams, (it) will bring even more people and we will keep building our fan base,” Myers said.

9 The D

aily Item/T

he Danville N

ews T

hu

rsday, N

ovem

ber 6, 2014

Cover Story

Daily Item file photo

Spencer Myers (77) is shown making a tackle during the Seals’ run to the 2009 Class AAA state champion-ship.

The

Dai

ly It

em/T

he D

anvi

lle N

ews

Th

urs

day

, No

vem

ber

6, 2

014

10

What: Friday 7 p.m.Where: Thompson Street StadiumLast meeting: Jersey Shore won, 36-14, during 2014 regular seasonSHAMOKIN INDIANS (5-5)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 6 Tom Campbell 6-0 157 SE Jr.79 Adam Miller 6-1 251 LT Jr.56 Christian Duganitz 6-1 212 LG Sr.68 Mitch McGinn 6-2 214 C Sr.52 Garrett Zalar 6-0 237 RG Jr.59 Matt Fabian 6-0 262 RT Sr.48 Logan Mirolli 6-2 208 TE Sr.11 Tucker Yost 6-3 215 QB Sr. 4 John Demsko 5-6 144 RB Sr. 3 Preston Burns 5-5 177 RB/WR Jr. 7 Russell Henz 5-10 149 FL Jr.10 Alek Washuta 5-8 150 K So.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 9 Elijah Kelley 5-10 163 DE Sr.56 Christian Duganitz 6-1 212 DT Sr.52 Garrett Zalar 6-0 237 DT Jr.5 K.C. Long 5-8 184 NG Sr.59 Matt Fabian 6-0 262 DT Sr.3 Preston Burns 5-5 177 DE Jr.48 Logan Mirolli 6-2 208 LB Sr.12 Josiah Miller 6-1 173 LB Sr.23 Ty Berge 5-7 155 CB Jr.15 Nate Shurock 5-11 147 CB Jr.27 Alex Kiefer 5-10 153 S Jr. or4 John Demsko 5-6 144 S Sr6 Tom Campbell 6-0 157 P Jr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultLine Mountain W, 7-0Central Mountain W, 40-12at Southern Columbia L, 52-14at Selinsgrove L, 49-0at Milton W, 35-14Jersey Shore L, 36-14Shikellamy W, 27-13at Montoursville L, 55-15at Mifflinburg W, 33-28Mount Carmel L, 33-32 (OT)PlayoffsDistrict 4 Class AAA semi-finalsat Jersey Shore FridayJERSEY SHORE BULLDOGS (10-0)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr25 Derek Leese 6-2 167 WR Sr.75 Issac Stetts 6-1 210 T Jr.66 Jacob Huling 6-0 225 G Sr.71 Noah Paulhamus 6-1 195 C Sr.78 Tim Wool 6-1 240 G Sr.61 Cameron Boughter 6-3 235 T Jr.43 Dominic Loffredo 6-0 190 TE Sr. 3 Logan English 6-1 195 QB Sr.31 Bryce Charles 6-0 235 FB Jr.24 Levi Lorson 5-9 178 TB Jr.21 Brody Smith 6-1 171 WR Sr. 9 Colby Koch 6-1 185 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr43 Dominic Loffredo 6-0 190 DE Sr.62 Lane Reighard 6-0 240 DT Jr.31 Bryce Charles 6-0 235 NT Jr.61 Cameron Boughter 6-3 230 DT Jr.40 Zach Miller 6-0 205 DE Sr.24 Levi Lorson 5-9 178 LB Jr.29 Chris Bashaw 5-8 160 LB Sr.25 Derek Leese 6-2 167 CB Sr. 7 Travis Bradley 6-0 185 S Jr.33 Boone Costa 5-8 160 S Sr.21 Brody Smith 6-1 171 CB Sr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultBellefonte W, 31-7at Shikellamy W, 27-7at Athens W, 23-0Montoursville W, 27-21Mifflinburg W, 41-6at Shamokin W, 36-14at Milton W, 47-0Selinsgrove W, 16-10Bald Eagle Area W, 33-0Central Mountain W, 56-13PlayoffsDistrict 4 Class AAA semifinalsShamokin Friday

Game Night

By Marion ValanoskiFor The Daily Item

COAL TOWNSHIP — Pat DiRienzo was faced with a double-edge sword of problems heading into prep-aration for this week’s Dis-trict 4 playoff opener Friday against undefeated Jersey Shore. First, and foremost, getting his Indians’ squad emotionally ready to play following last week’s drain-ing effort against backyard rival Mount Carmel in the annual Coal Bucket game, and secondly, somehow push that game back into the memory banks and pre-pare for the Bulldogs.

The first-year Shamokin coach believes when the opening whistle is blown his football team will answer the bell and try to knock off Jersey Shore and earn a berth in next week’s D-4 title contest.

“It was a gut-wrenching emotional contest and the players were upset with the end result,” DiRienzo said. “However, afterwards we stressed the big picture and that was qualifying for the postseason and making the District 4 playoffs, and re-gardless of what happened in the past and our two teams’ records when we line up Friday, both of us will be 0-0 and that’s the way we are looking at it.”

Shamokin enters the matchup 5-5 following last week’s 33-32 overtime loss to Mount Carmel, while Jer-sey Shore is 10-0 and enjoy-ing probably the best year in school history.

The Bulldogs beat the Indians in Week 6, 36-14. In that encounter, junior tailback Levi Lorson car-ried the ball 49 times for 268 yards and scored three touchdowns while the de-fense held the Indians to just 91 on the ground.

“Jersey Shore is a qual-ity opponent and there’s no

secret what they want to do and that’s tell you, here we come, try and stop us,” Di-Rienzo said. “Lorson plays bigger than what he actually is size-wise and he never leaves the field as he goes right over and plays line-backer for the Bulldogs, and we must try and find a way to curtail him on both sides of the ball. As a team they are not overly big, but they are very quick and aggres-sive and come right at you.”

Lorson is the primary jewel in the Jersey Shore offensive attack with 291 carries for 1,556 yards and 11 touchdowns, followed by Bryce Charles with 345 yards and 3 TDs. Logan English has completed 81-144 passes for 1,219 yards and 17 TDs with only five interceptions.

Brody Smith is the team’s leading receiver with 31 catches for 636 yards and seven touchdowns, while Dominic Loffredo has con-

tributed 14 receptions for 246 yards. Defensively, Lof-fredo has been a force, with 65 tackles, while Charles has pitched in with 62.

“Our offense has stepped it up the past two weeks and that’s important,” the Indi-ans’ coach said. “What we must do this time around is block better on the line, es-pecially against their ends, and hold our blocks better.”

Tucker Yost will be the obvious focal point for the Jersey Shore defense. The senior quarterback to date

has rushed for 663 yards on 113 carries and tallied 10 TDs while completing 73-144 passes for 981 yards and nine touchdowns. John Demsko has contributed 600 yards rushing and six touchdowns and junior Tom Campbell heads the list of receivers with 30 catches for 438 yards and four touch-downs.

“We haven’t changed much for any opponent and this time around will be no different,” DiRienzo said.

n shaMokiN aT jersey shore

Indians have to refocus on Bulldogs

Justin Engle/The Daily Item

Shamokin’s Elijah Kelley pursues Mount Carmel’s Treyvon White during last week’s game.

Norm Minnier, BC - HIS Two Convenient Locations

596 Second St • Northumberland & 1000 Medical Rd • Millersburg

570-473-1200 • 877-696-4949 • www.minnierhearing.com 464679

11 The D

aily Item/T

he Danville N

ews T

hu

rsday, N

ovem

ber 6, 2014

When: Friday 7 p.m.Where: Bulldogs StadiumLast meeting: Tri-Valley won, 21-14, earlier this yearLINE MT. EAGLES (5-5)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr45 Logan Snyder 6-2 160 WR Sr.51 Elijah Zablosky 6-1 200 LT Sr.30 Jonathan Lenker 6-2 195 LG Jr.61 Hunter Masser 5-10 200 C Sr.50 Ben Bidding 5-10 200 RG So.60 Garrett Kieffer 6-4 270 RT So.80 Brendan Renn 6-1 200 TE Jr. 2 Ryan Reed 6-0 170 QB Sr.36 Hunter Hojnacki 5-9 200 FB Sr. 7 Kenny Boyer 5-8 160 TB So.17 Justin Michael 5-10 180 WR Sr.10 Brent Osman 5-11 185 K So.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr43 Colton Gaw 6-2 175 DE Sr.60 Garrett Kieffer 6-4 270 DT So.51 Elijah Zablosky 6-1 200 NG Sr.76 Chad Mace 6-4 275 DT Sr.30 Jonathan Lenker 6-2 195 DE Jr.55 Clint Riehl 5-9 190 LB Sr.36 Hunter Hojnacki 5-9 200 LB Sr.27 Zach Bobb 5-10 160 CB Sr. 2 Ryan Reed 6-0 170 SS/P Sr. 3 Garrett Hepner 6-2 175 FS Sr.34 Cameron Newman 5-6 135 CB Sr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat Shamokin L, 7-0at Susquenita W, 31-6Millersburg L, 26-7Juniata L, 47-21at Tri-Valley L, 21-14Halifax W, 24-6at Upper Dauphin W, 14-7St. Joe’s Cath. Acad. W, 42-14Williams Valley L, 29-7at East Juniata Oct. 31PlayoffsEastern Conference semi-finalsat Tri-Valley Friday

TRI-VALLEY BULLDOGS (5-5)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr15 Jaden Buchanan 6-3 170 SE Jr.23 Chase Schaeffer 5-11 170 FL Jr.51 Danny Scheib 5-10 215 LG Fr.52 Danny Opozda 6-2 255 LT Jr.56 Devin Schwalm 5-10 255 C Jr.73 Hunter Herb 6-1 230 RT Jr.53 Beau Rothermel 6-1 215 RG Sr.35 Anthony Snyder 5-9 165 FB Sr.28 Tyler Lucas 5-9 150 HB Jr.32 Jake Kroh 6-0 180 TE So. 1 Hunter Harner 6-0 175 QB Sr.66 Cole Smeltz 5-11 170 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr88 Jericho Zemencik 6-2 190 DE Sr.55 Bryon Rusinko 5-10 190 DT So.73 Hunter Herb 6-1 230 DT Jr.54 Dan Opozda 6-2 225 DE Jr.28 Tyler Lucas 5-9 150 OLB Jr.33 Dan Scheib 5-10 215 ILB Fr.35 Anthony Snyder 5-9 165 ILB Sr.23 Chase Schaeffer 5-11 170 OLB Jr.15 Jaden Buchanan 6-3 170 CB Jr. 5 Josh Chacon 5-10 165 CB Sr. 1 Hunter Harner 6-0 175 S Sr.15 Jaden Buchanan 6-3 170 P Jr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat Millersburg W, 31-14Upper Dauphin L, 12-0at Williams Valley L, 28-12Jim Thorpe L, 20-14Line Mountain W, 21-14at Juniata W, 18-6at Halifax W, 41-14Pine Grove L, 19-8East Juniata W, 45-16at Newport L, 49-12PlayoffsEastern Conference semifinalsLine Mountain Friday

Game Night

By Marion ValanoskiFor The Daily Item

MANDATA — Line Mountain and Tri-Valley enter the opening round of the Eastern Conference football playoffs Friday having ended the regular season with completely dif-ferent results, as both teams head into the postseason in search of one more chance to finish in championship fashion.

The Eagles put together an impressive and over-powering performance in not only beating East Ju-niata, 48-6, but more im-portantly, ending the year with a 5-5 mark and earn-

ing the opportunity to per-form in the EC playoffs af-ter failing to qualify for the District 4 Class A Tourna-ment, while the Bulldogs, who also failed to make the D-11 field, dropped to 5-5 after losing to undefeated Tri-Valley League member Newport, 49-12.

Against the Tigers, what stood out more than any-thing else was the dominat-ing play of both the offen-sive and defensive lines of the Eagles, eliciting praise from head coach Rodney Knock, who indicated that the game was won on the line of scrimmage and that the Line Mountain line continues to improve even

at this late stage of the sea-son.

Quarterback Ryan Reed was responsible for put-ting four scoring drives to-gether, as he rushed for 123 yards on just eight carries in the victory while scor-ing one touchdown’ he also completed 6-10 passes for 121 years and three TDs. For the season, he’s rushed for 597 yards and tallied eight TDs while complet-ing 74 of 159 for five scores. Tailback Ken Boyer con-tributed 81 on the ground in just nine rushes and has accumulated 722 on the season while reaching the end zone 11 times.

n liNe MouNTaiN aT Tri-Valley

Eagles looking for trip to EC finalWhen: Friday, 7 p.m.Where: Indians StadiumLast meeting: Millersburg won, 28-27, earlier this year

UPPER DAUPHIN TROJANS (5-5)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr11 Alex Uhler 6-0 145 WR Jr. or20 Tanner Miller 5-6 140 WR/FL Sr.51 Cole Zimmerman 6-2 205 LT Jr.55 Masen Bellis 6-2 205 LG Fr.54 Cody Zerby 5-8 184 C Jr.57 Dakotah Wiest 6-0 260 RT Sr.78 Matt Deitrich 5-10 205 RG Sr. 4 Cameron Fornwald 5-9 150 TB Sr.30 Cole Reed 6-1 215 FB Sr.12 Aaron Cleveland 6-3 162 QB Jr.10 Ethan Schell 6-4 206 TE Sr.16 Peyton Barge 6-0 171 WR/TE Sr.11 Alex Uhler 6-0 145 K Jr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr51 Cole Zimmerman 6-2 205 DE Jr.15 Evan Hoffman 5-6 163 NG So.78 Matt Deitrich 5-10 205 DT Sr.54 Cody Zerby 5-8 184 DT Jr.10 Ethan Schell 6-4 206 DE Sr.55 Masen Bellis 6-2 205 ILB Fr.17 Drake Lenker 5-10 145 LB/DB Jr.11 Alex Uhler 6-0 145 DB Jr. or16 Peyton Barge 6-0 171 DB Sr. 4 Cameron Fornwald 5-9 150 DB Sr.11 Alex Uhler 6-0 145 P Jr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultCamp Hill L, 50-27at Tri-Valley W, 12-0at Halifax W, 28-21Williams Valley L, 20-3St. Joe’s Catholic W, 31-16Pine Grove W, 41-7Line Mountain L, 14-7at Newport L, 49-13Millersburg L, 28-27at Susquenita W, 35-28PlayoffsEastern Conference semifinalsat Millersburg Friday

MILLERSBURG INDIANS (5-5)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 8 Ethan Troutman 6-4 205 SE Sr. 5 Robbie Burger 6-0 145 SE Sr.62 Austin Simpkins 6-3 225 LT Sr.65 Cole Hoover 5-10 220 LG Sr.53 Austin Hoke 5-10 190 C Jr.70 Gavin Carter 5-11 220 RG Jr.74 Matt Horchler 5-10 235 RT Fr.10 Christian Wingard 6-0 165 QB/K So. 9 Connor Keim 5-10 170 FB Sr.23 Cole Shomper 5-9 175 SB Sr.14 Austin Lehman 5-8 150 SB Jr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr56 Mitchell Hahn 6-2 185 DE Sr.65 Cole Hoover 5-10 220 DT Sr.72 Ben Bostdorf 6-2 265 DT Fr. 4 Lukas Cassel 6-0 180 DE Sr. 9 Connor Keim 5-10 170 OLB/P Sr.36 Austin Marks 5-7 170 ILB Sr.53 Austin Hoke 5-10 190 ILB Jr. 8 Ethan Troutman 6-4 205 OLB Sr.22 Tyler Hesen 5-9 170 CB Jr. 5 Robbie Burger 6-0 145 CB Sr.14 Austin Lehman 5-8 150 S Jr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultTri-Valley L, 31-14Williams Valley L, 24-21at Line Mountain W, 26-7Halifax W, 48-6at Pine Grove L, 26-19at East Juniata W, 31-0Newport L, 49-28Juniata L, 45-21at Upper Dauphin W, 28-27at Kennard-Dale W, 49-18PlayoffsEastern Conference SemifinalsUpper Dauphin Friday

By Shawn WoodFor The Daily Item

MILLERSBURG — For the second time in three weeks, Millersburg will face Upper Dauphin, this time in the East-ern Conference semifinals on Friday night in Millersburg.

The winner plays the winner of Line Mountain-Tri-Valley next week.

On Oct. 24 in Elizabethville, Upper Dauphin (5-5) led 21-7 at halftime only to see the In-dians (5-5) rally in the second half for a 28-27 win .

“It’s a tribute to our kids, they fought hard and we used the mantra that the playoffs were starting the week we played Upper Dauphin and it’s win-and-you-advance,” Millerburg coach Brad Hatter said. “They bought into that and they’ve played harder in the last couple of weeks of the season. For their hard work, they get rewarded with a play-off game.”

The comeback win over the Trojans was part of Mill-ersburg going 3-2 in its last

five games in the Tri-Valley League. The Indians are 1-4 at home this season and two of the four losses came to Tri-Valley League co-league champions Juniata and Newport.

Millersburg, which last ap-peared in the playoffs in 2012, beat Upper Dauphin back in 2009 in the District 3 Cham-pionship game in Hershey, 15-12.

“You can take some confi-dence in the fact that you beat a team once before, but you can’t take the confidence for granted,” Hatter said. “Upper Dauphin probably feels like they gave one away when we

beat them the other week, and they’ll be a hungry team.”

Not lost on Hatter’s part is the fact that Upper Dauphin senior running back Cam Fornwald rushed for more than 200 yards against his team in that game.

“I don’t know if you can stop someone like him, but we have to contain him and limit his yards by playing aggres-sively against him on defense,” he said.

The Trojans may be without fullback Cole Reed according to head coach Brent Bell. Reed did not play last week against Susquenita.

n upper dauphiN aT MillerSBurg

Trojans, Indians meet again

The

Dai

ly It

em/T

he D

anvi

lle N

ews

Th

urs

day

, No

vem

ber

6, 2

014

12

Game Night

By Harold RakerFor The Daily Item

EMMITSBURG, Md. — Don’t bother to tell Steve Briggs that his team’s Centen-nial Conference opponent this weekend, McDaniel, is also 1-7, just like his Susquehanna University Crusaders.

The reason? Well, there are two. First, Briggs and his staff have enough problems trying to patch together a competi-tive team from the ashes that been scattered about the pro-gram this season.

Secondly, he doesn’t want anyone to think that, because the Green Terror are 1-7, that they are not a good team.

“What we are doing is fo-cusing more on our fundamen-tals. I don’t care about their record (1-7 overall, 0-7 CC). We’ve got to focus on what we do, and do it as best as we can and make plays,” he said.

The Crusaders, already without senior receiver Den-zel Walker and junior fullback Tim Wade, also had to play without starting quarterback, freshman Nick Crusco, for the second half of last week’s frustrating 13-8 home loss to Franklin & Marshall.

If he allows himself to look back on the five losses that came by a touchdown or less, Briggs sees a lot of reasons the Crusaders (1-7, 0-7) could not pull those games out and sport a winning record.

“We have to make plays,” Briggs said. “We’ve had nu-merous drops, numerous missed assignments, we’ve had everything from blocked kicks to missed kicks and that is what happens when you’re playing a lot of young guys.

“Everybody is fighting for a win, but we are a bit under-manned,” he said.

Briggs reluctantly talked about McDaniel, saying, “I have nothing but great respect for their coaches and their players. They can beat us and they can beat us handily. Our

guys know that we have to play our best football.”

Although the scoreboard has not looked favorable for the Green Terror, Briggs said that they have two outstanding se-nior receivers in Nick O’Melia (40 catches, 508 yards, 3 touchdowns) and Mike Ol-iveto (39-566, 2). “They have burned us in the past,” Briggs said, noting that both are four-year starters, with O’Melia being a fifth-year player.

He said that, defensively, “They are very young, but they are scrappy.”

Briggs also knows the talent of McDaniel sophomore rover Tyler Krebs, a Selinsgrove High grad.

“I am really impressed with Tyler Krebs and what he’s done down there. I know Tyler very well and they are a team that can win and they’ve already shown that,” Briggs said.

Krebs has started every game and has 37 tackles (24 solo) and an interception.

“They played a tough Dick-inson team in a game that went back and forth (Dickinson won 33-28) and they scored over 30 points (31 in a loss) against a good Juniata team.”

Briggs also said the quar-terback, sophomore Matt Cal-lahan (112-194-1,368, 8 TDs), beat out a senior for the posi-tion and “he makes them go.”

They have good size on both lines and we know we’re in for a battle,” Briggs added.

Walker, who has a sprained MCL in his knee, will not practice this week and his status for Saturday is undeter-mined. The game is a home-coming for Walker, who hails from Baltimore.

Briggs said that Crusco, who injured his shoulder and didn’t practice at all last week, has returned to the practice field and will start Saturday. Wade (lower back) will not play.

n susqueHaNNa aT mcdaNiel

Crusaders looking for 2nd winWhen: 1 p.m. SaturdayWhere: Scott S. Blair StadiumLast meeting: McDaniel won, 43-42, in 2013Radio: WQSU 88.9 FM, 12:30 p.m.MCDANIEL GREEN TERROR (1-7)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 2 Nick O’Melia 6-1 195 SE Sr.61 Riley Johnson 6-0 255 LT Jr.71 Marshall Brown 6-3 275 LG So.76 Ted Gramiak 6-4 285 C Sr.54 Vince Gorgone 5-11 280 RG Fr.68 Zack Jones 6-2 285 RT Fr.89 Ben Weber 6-2 250 TE Fr. 5 Matty Callahan 5-11 175 QB So.33 Matt Miller 5-10 230 FB Jr. 6 Tayahd Campbell 5-9 205 RB Fr. 7 Mike Oliveto 6-0 190 FL Sr.69 Mike Casper 6-0 200 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr51 Eddie Kendall 5-10 210 DE Jr.77 Duane Lucas 6-3 350 DT So.67 Hunter Metcalf 6-2 240 DT So.91 Andy Ullmann 6-3 230 DE So.41 Matt Quattrone 5-8 190 SLB So.52 Brandon Jones 6-0 230 MLB Jr.55 Drew Scott 5-11 225 WLB Fr.14 Dan Trainor 5-10 190 CB Jr.11 Nick Marino 5-11 185 FS Fr.21 Tyler Krebs 6-2 205 R So. 1 Robin Martin 6-0 180 CB Jr.13 Brett Haas 6-0 195 P Jr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/Resultat Catholic L, 34-31at Moravian L, 28-7Muhlenberg L, 59-10Ursinus L, 42-13at Gettysburg L, 47-7at Franklin & Marshall L, 31-7Dickinson L, 33-28at Juniata L, 56-31Susquehanna Saturdayat Johns Hopkins Nov. 15SUSQUEHANNA CRUSADERS (1-7)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr80 Will Howell 6-3 185 SE Jr.73 Elijah Long 6-1 285 LT Jr.74 Ken Milano 6-1 285 LG Sr.77 Anthony Shipe 6-0 305 C Sr.62 Tom Haughey 5-11 250 RG Fr.79 Ryan Pearce 6-4 290 RT Jr.86 Devon Pearce 6-5 220 TE So.36 Pat Murtha 6-0 220 FB Sr.10 Nick Crusco 5-10 180 QB Fr.21 Ian Richardson 5-8 175 TB Sr.12 Casey Crotty 6-1 185 Z Sr.47 Spencer Hotaling 6-3 170 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr40 Phil Pecora 6-1 245 DE Jr.98 Kyle Prpich 6-0 250 DT Fr.72 John Daku 6-4 280 NT Fr.42 Robert Keller 5-9 205 LB Sr.27 Tom McLoughlin 6-1 200 OLB Jr. 3 Jim Barry 6-0 228 ILB Jr.54 Jordan Duras 5-9 195 ILB Jr.28 Ian Murray 5-9 185 SS Sr. 8 Cody Miller 5-10 175 CB Sr.13 Jameal Hammond 6-0 170 CB Jr.16 C.J. Williams 6-0 185 CB So.47 Spencer Hotaling 6-3 170 P Sr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/Resultat Lycoming L, 47-13Johns Hopkins L, 27-20at Dickinson L, 29-28Gettysburg L, 31-21Muhlenberg L, 24-20at Moravian W, 24-21at Ursinus L, 44-14F&M L, 13-8at McDaniel SaturdayJuniata Nov. 16

Justin Engle/The Daily Item

Susquehanna’s Ian Richardson is tackled by Franklin & Marshall’s Aaron Fant during last week’s game.

CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK 13 The D

aily Item/T

he Danville N

ews T

hu

rsday, N

ovem

ber 6, 2014

When: Friday 6:30 p.m.Where: Christy Mathewson-Memorial StadiumLast meeting: Fordham won, 23-21, last seasonRadio: 107.3 FMTV: CBS Sports NetworkFORDHAM RAMS (8-1)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 6 Peter Maetzold 6-2 209 QB Sr.22 Chase Edmonds 5-9 185 RB Fr. 1 Sam Ajala 6-1 198 X Sr. 5 Tebucky Jones 6-0 195 Z Sr.24 Brian Wetzel 5-11 190 H Sr.84 Dan Light 6-4 265 TE Sr.78 Anthony Coyle 6-5 295 RT Fr.62 Matt Stolte 6-3 271 RG Sr.60 Joe Mizera 6-3 275 C Sr.76 G. Mayweather 6-4 318 LG Jr.64 Mason Halter 6-8 290 LT Sr.94 Michael Marando 5-7 157 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr50 Nick Merino 6-0 243 DE Sr.99 DeAndre Slate 6-2 270 NG Sr.13 Justin Yancey 6-0 300 DT Sr.90 Brett Biestek 6-4 270 DE Sr.44 Austin Hancock 6-2 233 WLB Sr.54 Victor DiFusco 6-0 234 MLB Sr. 6 George Dawson 6-2 201 SLB So.32 Ian Williams 6-1 199 CB Sr. 4 Levon Williams 6-1 202 FS Sr.36 Jake Dixon 5-11 200 SS Sr.10 Jordan Chapman 6-1 187 CB Sr.19 Joe Pavlik 5-11 185 P So.

2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultSaint Francis W, 52-23at Villanova L, 50-6Rhode Island W, 54-7at Columbia W, 49-7at Holy Cross W, 45-16Lafayette W, 42-18Penn W, 60-22at Lehigh W, 48-27Colgate W, 37-13at Bucknell FridayGeorgetown Nov. 15at Army Nov. 22

BUCKNELL BISON (6-1)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 2 Bobby Kaslander 6-2 200 WR Jr.71 Ramy Kased 6-6 320 RT Jr.66 Devlin Brennan 6-4 290 RG So.77 Brandon Noblett 6-2 285 C Sr.72 Lonnie Rawles 6-4 290 LG Sr.70 Julie’n Davenport 6-7 320 LT So.88 Patrick Kelly 6-3 230 TE Sr. 6 R.J. Nitti 6-4 220 QB So.33 Daniel McManus 6-0 260 FB Sr. 4 C.J. Williams 6-1 205 HB So.18 Will Carter 5-10 180 WR So. 1 Derek Maurer 6-0 180 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht/Wt Pos Yr15 Jimmy King 6-1 250 DE Jr.97 D. B-Youngblood 6-1 285 NG Sr.40 Abdullah Anderson 6-4 260 DT Fr.52 Dylan McDonnell 6-1 255 DE Sr.27 Evan Byers 6-0 235 MLB Sr.37 Lee Marvel 6-0 215 SLB Sr. 5 Clayton Ewell 6-1 195 SS Jr.43 Louis Taglianetti 5-11 200 FS Jr.28 Connor Golden 6-0 200 WS Fr.20 Colin Jonov 5-11 195 CB Fr. 8 Nick O’Brien 5-10 195 CB So. 1 Derek Maurer 6-0 180 P Sr.

2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/ResultVMI W, 42-38at Marist W, 22-0at Sacred Heart W, 36-20Cornell W, 20-7at Bryant L, 34-15at Lehigh W, 45-24at Georgetown W, 22-17Lafayette W, 27-24 (OT)Fordham Fridayat Holy Cross Nov. 15Colgate Nov. 22

Game Night

By The Daily Item

LEWISBURG — It quite possibly could be the big-gest college football game in recent memory at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Sta-dium.

No. 9 Fordham (8-1 over-all, 4-0 Patriot League) vis-its Bucknell (7-1, 3-0) in a nationally televised game at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night.

With the Patriot League title in the balance, the Bison will be looking for 13th win in 15 games and beat the Rams for the fifth time in six tries at home. A Fordham victory clinches at least a tie for the title for the Rams and the Patriot League’s automatic berth in the I-AA playoffs, while the Bison will control its own destiny in the race for the league title and playoff berth. Bucknell has not won a Patriot League title since 1996.

However, the Rams once again possess one of the most potent offensives in Division I-AA. 2013 Patriot League offensive player of the year — Mike Nebrich - returns at quarterback for Fordham. Nebrich has thrown for 2,596 yards and 22 touchdowns this sea-son, but missed last week’s game with an injury. Before missing the Colgate game, Nebrich had thrown 18 touchdowns and just one in-terception over the previous four contests.

One can’t discount the Rams rushing offense as well. Freshman Chase Ed-monds ranks second nation-ally in rushing yards (146.9 per game) for a Fordham that averages 43.7 points per game.

Bucknell is looking to win its fifth straight home game on Friday night and are en-tering its most successful part of its season over the past four as Bucknell is 7-3

in the month of Novemem-ber, includng nearly upset-ting Fordham on the road last year before dropping a 23-21 contest.

Though Susan and Bison have had successful defense over their tenure, Bucknell’s biggest improvement has come on the offensive end of the ball. Bucknell has had at least 400 yards of total of-fense nine times under head coach Joe Susan. Eight of those have happened in the last 15 games, including five

this year.Bucknell has thrown for

300 yards in a game twice this season after not having accomplished the feat since the final game of the 1994 season and the Bison are averagin 245 yards through the air on the season, just off the program single-season record of 246.5. Tight end Josh Hartman and receiver Will Carter became the first pair of teammates to go over 100-receiving yards in a single contest for Bucknell

since 2010. Hartman’s seven catch, 134-yard three TD performance earned him Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week award.

Notes: Bloomsburg High graduate Colby Klinger-man, a freshman receiver for the Bison, started his frist career game against Lafaeytte last week ... Buck-nell last defeated a ranked team when it downed No. 15 Lehigh, 48-10, on Oct. 26 of last year.

n fordham aT buckNell

Bison meet Rams in PL showdown

Justin Engle/The Daily Item

Bucknell quarterback R.J. Nitti goes back to pass during last week’s game against Lafayette.

Don’t Party Without Us!

Colonial Village Plaza • Shamokin Dam • 570.743.6704

Decorations • Tableware • Balloons & More!

with Tailgating Supplies From

The

Dai

ly It

em/T

he D

anvi

lle N

ews

Th

urs

day

, No

vem

ber

6, 2

014

14

When: Saturday 12 p.m.Where: Memorial StadiumLast meeting: Indiana won, 44-24, last seasonTelevision: Big Ten NetworkRadio: WKOK 1070 AM, 10:30 a.m.

PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (4-4)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr7 Eugene Lewis 6-1 204 X So.5 DaeSean Hamilton 6-1 203 Z Fr.14 C. Hackenberg 6-3 234 QB So. 1 Bill Belton 5-10 204 RB Sr.18 Jesse James 6-7 271 TE Jr.59 Andrew Nelson 6-5 306 RT Fr.72 Brian Gaia 6-3 297 RG So.66 Angelo Mangiro 6-3 312 C Jr.70 Brendan Mahon 6-4 304 LG Fr. or53 Derek Dowrey 6-3 324 LG So.76 Donovan Smith 6-5 335 LT Jr.80 Matt Zanellato 6-1 203 F Jr.97 Sam Ficken 6-2 191 K Sr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr18 Deion Barnes 6-4 249 DE Jr.98 Anthony Zettel 6-5 276 DT Jr.99 Austin Johnson 6-4 312 DT So.86 C.J. Olaniyan 6-3 259 DE Sr. 5 Nyeem Wartman 6-1 238 OLB So.43 Mike Hull 6-0 225 MLB Sr.26 Brandon Bell 6-1 228 OLB So. 9 Jordan Lucas 6-0 198 CB Jr. 2 Marcus Allen 6-2 198 FS Fr. 4 Adrian Amos 6-0 211 SS Sr.10 Trevor Williams 6-1 190 CB Jr.37 Chris Gulla 6-0 200 P Fr. or92 Danny Pasquariello 6-0 193 P Fr.2014 ScheduleOpponent Date/ResultUCF W, 26-24Akron W, 21-3at Rutgers W, 13-10Massachusetts W, 48-7Northwestern L, 29-6at Michigan L, 18-13Ohio State L, 31-24 (2 OT)Maryland L, 20-19at Indiana SaturdayTemple Nov. 15at Illinois Nov. 22Michigan St. Nov. 29INDIANA HOOSIERS (3-5)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr78 Jason Spriggs 6-7 300 LT Jr.68 David Kaminski 6-4 295 LG Jr.64 Collin Rahrig 6-2 285 C Sr.67 Dan Feeney 6-4 305 RG So.62 Ralston Evans 6-4 290 RT Jr. 1 Shane Wynn 5-7 167 WR Sr.14 Nick Stoner 6-1 190 WR Sr. 5 J-Shun Harris 5-8 162 WR Fr.12 Zander Diamont 6-1 175 QB Fr. 6 Tevin Coleman 6-1 210 RB Jr.85 Michael Cooper 6-5 256 TE Jr. or88 Anthony Corsaro 6-3 253 TE Jr.92 Griffin Oakes 5-10 201 K Fr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr99 Adarius Rayner 6-2 307 DT Jr.74 Nate Hoff 6-2 305 NT Fr. or93 Ralph Green 6-5 307 NT So.95 Bobby Richardson 6-3 286 DE Sr.56 Nick Mangieri 6-5 260 DE Jr. 4 Forisse Hardin 6-1 230 SLB Sr. 2 T.J. Simmons 6-0 230 MLB So.42 David Cooper 6-1 236 WLB Sr.24 Tim Bennett 5-9 185 LCB Sr.40 Antonio Allen 5-10 205 FS So.37 Mark Murphy 6-2 215 SS Sr.17 Michael Hunter 6-1 192 RCB Jr.36 Erich Toth 6-3 200 P Jr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/ResultIndiana St. W, 28-10at Bowling Green L, 45-42at Missouri W, 31-27Maryland L, 37-15North Texas W, 49-24at Iowa L, 45-29Michigan St. L, 56-17at Michigan L, 34-10Penn St. Saturdayat Rutgers Nov. 15at Ohio St. Nov. 22Purdue Nov. 29

Game Night

John McGonigalPhiladelphia Daily News

STATE COLLEGE — He did it in high school and a bit in spring camp, but you won’t see Penn State place-kicker Sam Ficken punting anytime soon.

The senior, who is 17-for-19 on field-goal attempts this season, has shown his leg on many occasions on three-point tries and kick-offs.

But instead of suggest-ing that he could take over punting duties - an area that has hurt Penn State this season - Ficken is offering a vote of confidence to those struggling at the position.

“We have faith in our guys right now,” Ficken said.

Though, no one would blame Ficken if that weren’t the case.

Penn State’s punters - red-shirt freshman Chris Gulla and true freshman Daniel Pasquariello - have been detrimental to the team this season, more often than not, failing to switch fields and putting the defense in inop-portune positions.

Gulla, the Week 1 starter and primary punter this season, has averaged 37.3 yards per punt on 28 at-tempts, which ranks 122nd in the country among quali-fied players. Pasquariello has been given more of an opportunity recently, but hasn’t produced; on the season, he’s averaging 36.5 yards per attempt.

Their combined efforts rank worst in the Big Ten and near the bottom of the barrel nationally.

Punting has been espe-cially troublesome in the Nittany Lions’ last three losses.

On opposing scoring drives following a Penn State punt against Mary-land, Ohio State and Michi-gan, the average starting

field position was the Lions’ 47-yard line.

The punts in those in-stances? 24, 29, 32, 35 and 37 yards.

So what’s the issue? Is it leg power or mechanics?

Head coach James Frank-lin chalks it up to waning confidence.

“They were really consis-tent and confident at the end of camp, didn’t have success early on and haven’t really been able to bounce back from it yet,” Franklin said at his weekly news conference yesterday.

While it hasn’t shown on Saturdays, Ficken echoed Franklin’s thoughts on the punters’ job well- done in preseason camp and prac-tice.

That not translating into games has caused Gulla and Pasquariello frustration.

But Ficken has been through that before.

After making only two of

seven field-goal attempts in the first five games of his sophomore year, Ficken had to persevere to get to the point he’s at now.

He’s passing along les-sons he learned in that rough stretch to Gulla and Pasquariello.

“I told them the only way to get through it is to keep a positive attitude and work your butt off,” Ficken said.

According to Ficken, Gulla and Pasquariello are doing just that: working to get better, day in and day

out.If Penn State wants to al-

leviate some pressure on its defense, and at least even out the field position battle in its final four games this year, the punters will be crucial.

Ficken believes they can turn things around.

“They’re on the preci-pice of being really good,” Ficken said. “I think you’ll see throughout the rest of the year that they’re going to do better. They expect to do better.”

n peNN sTaTe

Lions need some help punting

The Associated Press

Penn State punter Daniel Pasquariello gets off a punt during the second half of Saturday’s game.

15 The D

aily Item/T

he Danville N

ews T

hu

rsday, N

ovem

ber 6, 2014

When: Saturday 1 p.m.Where: Hubert Jack StadiumLast meeting: Bloomsburg won, 56-10, in 2013Radio: WHLM 930 AM, 1 p.m.

BLOOMSBURG HUSKIES (9-0)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr50 Dakota Hoagland 6-4 300 LT Jr.62 Christian Whiteside 6-3 275 LG Jr.63 Ryan Geiger 6-1 285 C Jr.74 Nick Reed 6-1 275 RG Jr.70 John Garland 6-4 300 RT So.84 Trent Daniels 6-2 170 X Jr.8 Connor Gades 6-1 195 Z Jr.5 Shane Quinn 6-2 250 TE Jr.13 Tim Kelly 6-1 188 QB Jr.1 Dai’Shon Munger 5-8 180 RB Jr.36 Brody Myers 6-1 233 FB Sr.90 Braden Drexler 5-10 180 K Jr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr98 Matt Heilig 6-4 230 DE Sr.71 Jeremiah Lowery 6-3 270 DT Jr.58 Shawn Mitchell 6-2 255 DT Sr.94 David McFadden 6-5 245 DE Sr.11 Garrett Pope 6-2 218 WLB Jr.10 Justin Shirk 6-0 247 MLB Sr.52 Dylan Spangler 6-1 240 BLB Sr.3 D.J. Robinson 5-8 180 LCB Sr.29 Tomas Cabrera 6-2 205 S Sr.21 Donovan Morris 6-0 179 S Jr.9 Gary Postell 5-7 170 RCB Jr.48 Will Wagner 6-4 200 P So.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/Resultat Stonehill W, 24-7California (Pa.) W, 24-21at Mercyhurst W, 38-22Shippensburg W, 38-30at Cheyney W, 41-7Millersville W, 41-0at Kutztown W, 31-13West Chester W, 41-10East Stroudsburg W, 34-13at Lock Haven Saturdayat Seton Hill Nov. 15

LOCK HAVEN BALD EAGLES (2-7)OFFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr 5 Caleb Walton 6-3 190 QB So.16 Beau Swales 6-0 205 RB Jr.25 Luke Blattenberger 6-1 232 FB So.13 Jeremy Cornelius 6-2 205 WR Jr. 2 David Cook 6-1 190 WR Jr.46 Matt Luebbers 6-3 230 TE Sr.77 Nicholas Mayer 6-1 185 LT So.64 Austin Heinbaugh 6-1 265 LG Fr.71 Luke Erdman 6-1 270 C Jr.79 Shane Rafter 6-3 310 RG Fr.76 Ryan Fink 6-2 280 RT So.83 Alex Boumerhi 6-0 195 K Jr.DEFENSENo Player Ht Wt Pos Yr55 Janosch Beauchamp 6-1 240 DE Jr.74 Scott Benkovic 6-1 270 T Sr.94 Uchenna Ahaghton 6-3 250 T Sr.59 Nick Suriano 6-2 250 DE Sr. 4 Tony Ballon 6-1 220 LB Jr.21 Matt Kirchner 5-9 220 MLB Sr.53 Jeff Pickel 5-11 200 SLB So. 6 Daniel Strawbridge 5-9 150 CB So. 8 Tyrai Anderson 6-0 175 CB Jr.10 Rahjeir Miles-Eubanks 5-10 185 SS So.20 George Christas Jr. 5-11 205 FS Sr.39 Bryce Stambaugh 6-4 210 P Jr.2014 SCHEDULEOpponent Date/Resultat West Virginia St. L, 19-14Seton Hill L, 27-16Indiana (Pa.) L, 21-16at East Stroudsburg L, 48-21at West Chester L, 41-16Shippensburg L, 42-24at Cheyney W, 28-0Millersville W, 17-10at Kutztown L, 19-0Bloomsburg Saturdayat California (Pa.) Nov. 8

Game Night

By Anthony MitchellThe Daily Item

BLOOMSBURG — It was a fitting potential last home game for Bloomsburg’s se-nior class last week.

With their ninth straight win, the Huskies clinched the PSAC East Division title, earning a spot in the PSAC championship game on Nov .15.

Bloomsburg will travel to Lock Haven this week, looking to close out a 10-0 regular season and stay on a roll before the chance to add a conference title to their season.

Speaking to the strength of the Huskies’ program year in and year out, the fifth-ranked Huskies are the highest they have been in the polls since this time last season.

The success that the Hus-kies have had this season has led Bloomsburg to the top spot in the Super Region One Rankings, which de-cide the field for the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The top six teams in each of the four regional polls at the end of the season qual-ify for postseason play.

Bloomsburg holds a slight edge in the overall series between the two PSAC foes at 41-39-3, but the Huskies have been able to come away with a win against Lock Ha-ven each time the two have played since a 2003 loss.

While Bloomsburg’s of-fense has been in full force, its defense has made keep-ing the ball difficult for op-ponents, with Justin Shirk and company forcing 31 turnovers.

Coupled with the Huskies’ protection of the ball and rarely making a mistake on offense, Bloomsburg has the top turnover margin at plus-23 of any team in the nation, regardless of division.

The Huskies have rou-tinely turned those miscues

into points, with senior running back Eddie Mateo leading the way.

Mateo leads the PSAC in rushing touchdowns, but his performance in Blooms-burg’s win earlier this season caught the attention of more than just Bloomsburg’s con-ference opponents.

Mateo was named the Tim Brando Show “Ham-bone Award” recipient, given each week to the top player from a non-Football Bowl Subdivision school.

The Bethlehem native

backed up the recognition by surpassing 1,000 yards rushing on the season and scoring three times on the ground to move into second in Division II in rushing touchdowns with 23.

Lock Haven has mainly used Beau Swales out of the backfield in its running game, but quarterback Ca-leb Walton has also run the ball 75 times on the season for the Bald Eagles.

Walton has thrown for 12 touchdowns, with four com-ing to Lock Haven leading

receiver David Cook, who has 486 receiving yards on the year.

While the Huskies have picked off 16 passes this season, Bloomsburg has swarmed to the ball rou-tinely, with Shirk leading the team with 16.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks.

Lock Haven has also had a Shirk-type defender with George Christas leading the team defensively with 75 tackles and three intercep-tions.

n BlooMsBurg AT lock hAveN

Huskies try to improve record to 10-0

Amanda August/The Daily Item

Bloomsburg’s Connor Gades tackles Slippery Rock’s Ken Amos during a 2013 game.

CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK

*The combinaTion of The advanced SUbaRU boXeR® engine and a highly efficienT lineaRTRonic® cvT allowS The legacy To geT Up To 36 mpg** highway. STandaRd on: 2.5i, 2.5i pRemiUm, 2.5i limiTed. 2015 SUbaRU oUTback iS The moST fUel-efficienT midSize cRoSSoveR in ameRica baSed on epa-eSTimaTed hwy fUel economy foR 2015 model vehicleS wiThin The ihS aUTomoTive, polk non-lUXURy midSize cUv SegmenT.

Introducing The All-New 2015 SubaruLegacy & OutbackNow With Improved Fuel Economy.

TOUCHDOWN!

Safe, smart performance. Intelligence you can feel.

26/36*

(ciTy/hwy)

25/33*

(ciTy/hwy)

Control on the trail. Confidence in the drive.

W&L Subaruw w w. w a n d l s u b a r u . c o m

FamilyOwned &

Operated For More Than 47 Years.

Water St., Northumberland • 570.473.3432 • 1.877.995.7822hours: mon.-fri. 8-8, weds. 8-5, Sat. 8-4

The

Dai

ly It

em/T

he D

anvi

lle N

ews

Th

urs

day

, No

vem

ber

6, 2

014

16