Just call it the year of the quarterback.
Several quarterbacks in the eastern half of the state have or recently have eclipsed career milestones for passing yardage. One quarterback, in fact, helped his program establish a new state standard in one statistical category.
It begins with Manheim Township’s Brennan Scott, who surpassed the 5,000-yard passing benchmark in Week 3. Scott passed for 197 yards and three touchdowns in the Blue Streaks’ 27-7 victory over Carlisle Friday. Township has won consecutive games following a setback to defending PIAA champion Central Dauphin to open the season.
Scott is Township’s second career 5,000-yard passer and Manheim Township became the third Lancaster-Lebanon League program to boast multiple 5,000-yard passers. Conestoga Valley and Lebanon are the others – Lebanon, like Township, has two, and the Buckskins have four such field generals, tied with Bangor Pius X for the most 5,000-yard passers from one program in state history. Scott has thrown for 5,118 yards and 52 touchdowns.
Spring-Ford’s Hank Coyne surpassed the 4,000-yard plateau this past weekend, giving him 4,105 yards and 41 touchdowns. Coyne is the second career 4,000-yard passer for the Rams and finds himself a mere 613 yards shy of Trevor Sasek’s program record of 4,718 career pass yards.
Bishop McDevitt’s Alec Werner, like Coyne, surpassed the 4,000-yard passing plateau in the Crusaders’ 48-28 thumping of Cumberland Valley. Over his last 19 games, Werner has thrown for 4,074 yards. He becomes McDevitt’s fifth career 4,000+-yard passer, which establishes a new state standard for any program. Werner joins Matt Johnson, Marcus Stone, Jeremy Ricker and Mike Eisman in the 4,000+-passing yard club. Selinsgrove, Pius X and Conestoga Valley each have four.
Harriton’s Pat Moriarty is over 4,400 career passing yards and Bryan Schor, a senior at Delaware Valley, became the Warriors’ first career 4,000-yard passer following Week 2.
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Continuing with the aerial assaults, how about the impressive starts by quarterbacks to this 2012 scholastic football season? Cedar Cliff junior (and southpaw) Andrew Ford already has 14 touchdown passes through three games. Downingtown East’s Kyle Lauletta has 11 and East Pennsboro’s Austin Wilson and Delaware Valley’s Schor have each thrown 10.
Riverside’s Nick Dranchak is well on his way toward a new career-high in passing yards in a season. The Viking senior’s season standard is 1,285 yards, set last season. Already, Dranchak, a career 3,400-yard passer, has 764 yards and nine touchdowns.
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Marian Catholic’s 48-7 victory over Mahanoy Area Friday night marked the 275th victory of head coach Stan Dakosty’s career. The Colts’ boss owns a career record of 275-125-3.
Mark Evans (Manheim Township), Roy Wall (Northern Lebanon) and Mike Matta (Downingtown East) all recorded their 75th victories within the first three weeks of the season. Emmaus’ Joe Bottiglieri’s next victory will be his 75th overall. The Green Hornets are undefeated.
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Central Bucks South sophomore running back Josh Adams leads the state with 13 rushing touchdowns through three weeks. He’s also the state’s leading sophomore rusher, leading Pittsburgh North Catholic’s P.J. Fulmore by 50 yards. Eastern Pennsylvania’s second-leading sophomore rusher is Easton’s Shane Simpson (534). Unofficially, Simpson ranks third among state sophomore rushing leaders through three games.
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Pope John Paul II junior quarterback James Bleming has attempted 115 passes through three games, an average of 38 attempts per game. Another junior – Bloomsburg’s Ricky Klingerman – has thrown 92 passes through the Panthers’ first three games for an average of 30.7. Both Bleming and Klingerman are on pace to finish the regular season with 300+ pass attempts.
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In Dave Mika’s “40 Teams in 40 Days” series this preseason, Downingtown East’s Mike Matta noted his senior fullback, Chris Beals, and his pass-catching ability. Believe it or not, Beals is the Cougars’ featured receiver, having hauled in 22 passes for 408 yards and five touchdowns through three games. It leads me to ask: How many teams had a fullback lead the team in receiving yardage for a season and didn’t run an option/Wing-T offense?
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Why wait until Week 10 to iron out conference supremacy? Williams Valley and Line Mountain, both undefeated, meet Saturday night in Herndon in a Tri-Valley League showdown. Expect lots and lots of running – Line Mountain boasts four backs with at least 15 carries and 104 yards rushing. Williams Valley’s Cole Barnhardt, a junior, averages 191.7 yards rushing per game himself and has scored eight touchdowns. Both the Eagles and the Vikings are also averaging gaudy scoring averages – Line Mountain 50 points per game and Williams Valley 40.7.
Follow Josh Funk on Twitter @Funk_pafb.
