By The Daily Item
MOUNT CARMEL -- Mount Carmel junior Luke Klingerman's 52-yard punt return for a touchdown in Friday's season-opening 22-7 win over Selinsgrove was notable for a couple of reasons, one of them being that Klingerman actually didn't follow his wall.
"He went away from the wall," Red Tornadoes coach Carm DeFrancesco said. "We set the wall off to our left, and he started off to the right. He cut back all the way across the grain and got behind he wall then. Then it was a home run."
What's also impressive about Klingerman's TD is the fact that Friday's battle was his first real game action since he was in eighth grade.
"That (run) was a real big confidence booster for him," DeFrancesco said.
BACK-TO-BACK BIG PLAYS: After having middling success throwing the ball in the first half, Mount Carmel came out in the third quarter determined to move the ball on the ground. The Red Tornadoes frequently employed three-back, no-receiver sets in the second half. That alignment worked to perfection in the third quarter, as tailback Meyrick Lamb and fullback Cody Shustack had consecutive big runs on Mount Carmel's first scoring drive. On 3rd-and-1 from the Mount Carmel 29, Lamb went around right end for a 23-yard pickup. On the very next play, Shustack gained 40 yards down to the Selinsgrove 8. Lamb punched it in on the next play to break a 0-0 tie.
"Our line did a heck of a job and popped them open," DeFrancesco said. "That six points in the third quarter was huge."
HAMMER-TIME: Don't let the size of Danville's new workhorse fullback fool you. Sam Dressler may be only 5-foot-8, but with 180 pounds packed onto his frame and a halfback's quickness, he's an ideal candidate to lead the Ironmen in carries.
Dressler ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries during his freshman season, almost exclusively in mop-up duty. He appeared to be groomed to replace dynamic halfback Anthony Sori, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2010, while someone with a bit more, um, girth filled fullback Russell Heath's shoes.
"I was expecting to play halfback, but (Ironmen offensive coordinator Chris) Coombe moved me to fullback. I respected his decision, and I like fullback now," Dressler said after rushing for 153 yards on 19 totes Friday. "I thought it worked out very nice."
Maybe the most impressive thing about his first varsity start wasn't that Dressler matched his number of 2010 rushes. He averaged 9.6 yards from his 13th carry on, proving he wasn't as weary as Shikellamy's defense.
"Last year when we put him in that situation he was always tough running the football," said Ironmen coach Jim Keiser.
Dressler may prove to be equal parts Heath and Sori. He's built to absorb the punishment of 20 carries, yet he also has a mindset to take each run the distance. He has the vision and wiggle to turn a small crease into a highlight run.
"Fullback is more vertical (running) as halfbacks go more to the outside. I had to get used to that, but I'm feeling pretty confident," Dressler said. "I just had to believe in myself. I knew I'd have to take on more responsibility than I did last year because we had all those great players."
ON-THE-JOB TRAINING: Count Danville coach Jim Keiser among those surprised with the Ironmen's 342 rushing yards Friday.
It wasn't so much the production of sophomore runners Sam Dressler, and Isaiah Croll, but rather the gaping holes they ran through on the way to 228 combined yards.
Danville hadn't identified its starting guards until Monday of game week, and Keiser was holding his breath that first-year starters Jake Howard and Austin Brown were ready for prime time. Both 5-foot-10 and around 200 pounds, the seniors played well.
"We were struggling to find a set of guards all camp and through the scrimmages. On Monday we put this group together ... and we finally got a lineup we could sit with. We figured we wouldn't be too bad running the football but we didn't know how good."
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN: It is starting to become habit-forming for these two programs. Last year, Line Mountain lost its opener to Southern Columbia, then won 10 in a row before losing its season finale to the Tigers in the District 4 Class A championship game.
Southern coach Jim Roth believes chances are real good the two will meet again this season.
"We told their coaches (after the game) we'll see you again when the weather is cold," Roth said.
Roth was especially impressed with the Eagles' offense with senior quarterback Marty Beninsky and senior tailback Kyle Troutman.
"Beninsky runs that scheme real well. Theyll give your four wides and now you're limited up front and I know he's calling some of those plays at the line where he's making audibles and he's doing a great job of running that offense," Roth said.
He said with Troutman, Beninsky and their other backs, "they've got kids that can really scoot."
Roth noted that when he saw his own speedy Matt Moore unable to catch Troutman one a long TD run, "that opened my eyes."
"It didn't look like he was closing on him that well and Matt can run. They have some quickness," he said.
"The bottom line is, it was a an opener and I think us and the Eagles are going to lock up again before it's over."
COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE: The Tigers and Eagles gave the fans their money's worth in a game chock full of big plays, combining to score 67 points. But each team had a touchdown called back by a penalty.
In the first half, Southern fullback Tyler Levan scored what would have been his only touchdown (despite rushing for 131 yards) on a sweep for nine yards, but it was nullified by a push-in-the-back penalty that occurred behind the play.
Late in the game, Beninsky hooked up with junior wide receiver Dillan Michael on a 54-yard TD pass on a post pattern, but that one was called back by a holding penalty.
WORK IN PROGRESS: Line Mountain coach Mike Carson agreed that he saw a lot of potential in his team's passing game as there were several occasions where the receivers, all new to the position this season, had broken free but the connection wasn't made, and once a receiver apparently lost the ball.
"There are things we need to fix, but we will work to fix them and I think this is a group of kids that want to do well and they're going to work hard to do it."
IT'S WHAT THEY DO: Although he is looking for some answers and not happy that Southern ran for more than 400 yards against his Eagles, Carson said, "Much of the credit goes to them, their coaches and the players. They do a great job in the weight room Their kids run extremely well, they always have. They run with forward body lean, they run through tackles."
