By Duke Helms
RUNNINGBACKS:
Jayden Williams of Central Catholic rushed for 207 yards and scored 2 td’s in their win over Whitehall. That was the only EPC game played so far, this year. Matt Frauen of Notre Dame has scored 7 td’s in the first 2 games and now has 21 for his ND career. Mason Smeland of Palisades has averaged 25 carries a game in the first 2 weeks. He has 287 yards rushing and had a 90-yarder called back last week vs Wilson. Pottsville’s Bobby Walchak rushed for 63 yards last week to put him over 1,000 yards for his career. He now has 1,010 yards.
QUARTERBACKS:
I received the stats from North Schuylkill for weeks 1 and 2 and Jake Hall is now in the Spartans record book. Hall threw for 370 yards and 5 td’s in week 1 vs Mahanoy Area. Hall broke the single-game record that Bobby Moyer set in 1999 vs Tunkhannock when he threw for 330 yards. Hall also tied Moyer’s record of 5 td passes in a game. Moyer threw 5 td’s vs Shamokin in 1999. Moyer’s 1999 season saw him throw for a school-record 2,531 yards and 24 td passes. Bobby Grigas was able to break Moyer’s td pass record when he threw for 26 td’s in 2014. Getting back to Hall, he threw for 267 yards and 4 td’s last week in their win over Pine Grove. Hall a junior, has thrown for 637 yards and 9 td passes this year. Rich Fronheiser of Lehighton went over 200 yards passing for the second week in a row as he threw for 222 yards in a 20-14 loss to Tamaqua. Bryce Herb of Williams Valley threw for 322 yards and 3 td’s in their loss to Mount Carmel on Tuesday night. Four days earlier they defeated Shenandoah Valley as Herb threw for 167 yards and a td. Herb already holds the school single-game record when he threw for 336 yards last year vs Juniata. Josh Leininger of Pine Grove threw for 213 yards and 3 td’s in their loss to North Schuylkill. Cayden Stem of Wilson threw for 93 yards vs Palisades to go over 2,000 yards in his career. Stem a junior, upped his career total to 2,021 yards.
RECEIVERS:
Shea Morgan of Pine Grove caught a school-record 10 passes vs North Schuylkill last week. Shea broke the old record that Larry Zimmerman set when he caught 8 passes vs Halifax in 2009 as a sophomore. Shea’s 10 receptions were good for 172 yards and 2 td’s. The school record for receiving yardage in a game is held by Jacob Murray. Murray had 6 catches for 188 yards vs Upper Dauphin in 2008. Zimmerman would go on to become Pine Grove’s all-time receiver as he caught 104 passes for 1,900 yards and 27 reception td’s from 2009-2011. He’s also the school’s all-time interception leader with 16. Jesse Engle of Williams Valley caught 7 passes for 213 yards and 3 td’s vs Mount Carmel. His 213 yards fall 23 yards short of the school record. Jason Grow holds the record when he had 236 yards receiving vs Jim Thorpe in 1990. Engle has caught 66 passes for 1,485 yards and 26 td passes in his career. His 26 td grabs are 5 behind school record holder Jake Wolfgang. Wolfgang had 31 td grabs from 2015-2017. Grow still holds the records for career receptions and yardage and is second with his 29 td catches. He caught 150 passes for 2,747 yards from 1987-1990. Zack Hunsicker of Lehighton caught 8 passes for 165 yards and a td vs Tamaqua. He also caught 8 passes in week 1 giving him a total of 16 for the season. Justin Rodda of Northwestern caught 2 td passes vs Berks Catholic and is now within 2 td grabs of the school record. Cam Richardson holds the record with 23 that he caught from 2012-2014. Gabe Davis of Minersville caught 5 passes for 117 yards and a td in their loss to Pottsville. Davis is now tied for the school record for career td catches. Bryce Ellinger set the record when he caught 11 from 2016-18. Tanner Walacavage of North Schuylkill has 13 catches for 258 yards and 5 td grabs in the first 2 weeks of the season.
History:
On November 15th, 1969, at Maloney Field in Phillipsburg NJ, Dieruff coach Jeep Bednarik pulled his players off the field and escorted them to the locker room. The scoreboard read Phillipsburg 7, Dieruff 0 with eight minutes to go in the game. After Phillipsburg completed a pass just inside the Dieruff 30-yard line a fight erupted. Bednarik ordered his team to the locker room as the officials gathered to discuss the fight. The officials decided to throw out 2 Dieruff players and 1 Phillipsburg player. Phillipsburg head coach Mickey Frinzi ordered his players to the bench on the sidelines. Bednarik returned to the Phillipsburg bench shortly after with every intention of finishing the game, but the referee said the game is over and Phillipsburg wins by forfeit. Bednarik said afterward he just wanted to calm his players down after the fight and mentioned that the entire game was a hard-hitting contest.
Let’s head back to the 70’s and see if you can guess who the top 13 teams with the best winning percentage from 1970 thru 1979 in the vast Morning Call area.
