Mount Carmel vs. Pottsville

Check out the above video of the preseason scrimmage of MCA and Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain ran the same thing against Shamokin last year in week 9 and does Mount Carmel still have the defensive weekness that they had in August?

MCA VS. POTTSVILLE

With week number 9 approaching, Mount Carmel stands at 5-3 with a chance to clinch a playoff spot in District IV AA. I know due to past performance against Selinsgrove, most Mount Carmel fans feel that they have to beat Pottsville to secure the playoff birth. I got to witness Pottsville in week number 7 against Shamokin Area. Pottsville's big weakness comes in the passing department. They had tough time defending Shamokin's wide open "diamond formation" and offensively there is some drop off in their passing game from 2005 and 2006. The Tide has a tough time going deep. Breathe easy MCA fans (Chichester).

Pottsville strength comes in the form of it's running game. The young guys have filled in nicely on the line for the Tide. Hoke for Pottsville, runs with a similar style to former Southern Columbia star, Ricco Rosini. He has great leg strength and is hard to bring down from up high. Pottsville's strength will be running right at Mount Carmel's weakness at ends. The Red Tornadoes need to stop in this order: Hoke, King and Shaffer. Shaffer had some good runs against Shamokin and does a great job of hiding the ball. He also was the beneficiary of some sloppy tackling by the Indians.

This one will not be a blowout and the weather could neutralize Mount Carmel's passing game. Mount Carmel took Pottsville to the wire last year with a team that finished 4-6 and Pottsville going to the AAA state finals. Look for the Red Tornadoes to secure a playoff spot.

RECORDS

When is a record a record? According to published reports in Sunday's News-Item, Marc Persing was thought to have broken the single game passing record thought to be set by Jeff Hodrick in 1992 with 239 yards. Shamokin ran the run-and-shoot that year. Scott Griffiths , father of Nick Griffiths, indicated that he had a clipping from 1999 saying that Nick passed for 305 yards against State College. Read the story about the record here. Interestingly, Larry Johnson formerly of Penn State and currently of the Kansas City Chiefs played in the game. Nick Griffiths will probably be inducted into Susquehanna University's athletic Hall of Fame one day. When he graduated, he was number one in three-pointers for SU basketball.

DISTRICT IV AA PLAYOFFS

Based off performances of what I have seen, I would have to Loyalsock and Montoursville as the teams to beat in the playoffs. Athens hosts Towanda this weekend. While Towanda is undefeated, Athens lost to Jersey Shore and Waverly, NY. Those two teams combined for 13 wins against 3 losses thus far. With Shamokin losing to Athens in 2004 and Mount Carmel to Towanda in 2005, maybe the Red Tornadoes long bus rides to Biglerville and Chichester will be an advantage. In 2004, Shamokin's bus got physically stuck at Kemp Memorial Stadium and threw the itinerary out of whack. With the Lancers and Warriors as the favorites, Mount Carmel, Athens and Towanda are probably the next three teams that could contend. Mifflinburg, Warrior Run, Wellsboro, Danville, and Troy will struggle if the qualify.