The Battle for Coal Bucket

In a high school series that dates back to 1893 when Grover Cleveland was president, Shamokin and Mount Carmel will strap on the helmets one more time on Friday night. In recent years, this game has not  produced surprising results only some surprising scores.  This rivalry tilted in Mount Carmel's favor over the years and the Red Tornadoes look to win 18 in a row in 2013.


This year Shamokin Area looks to avoid their first winless season since 1983's squad went 0-11.  Back in 1983, Shamokin hired Jack Murdock to take over the Indian's fortunes who were 1-10 the previous year under the direction of Bob Chesney who's only win was over a 1-10 Lourdes Regional squad.  30 years later the Indians have come full circle.  They have a new coach on the verge of going 0-10 after the squad finished 1-9 the previous year under a different head coach. For the record, Shamokin's three-year mark was 5 wins against 28 losses.  After yet another coaching change a few years later, the Indians were in the state semifinals in 1991. 


As far as head football coaches at Shamokin, Sam Schiccatano was the only one to win in his first year.  The Indians defeated Mount Carmel at Kemp Memorial 42-8 in Dave "Whitey" Williams debut for Mount Carmel.  Late in that game, a young freshman returned a kick off for Mount Carmel for a touchdown.  That player named Brett Veach went on to a great college career at Delaware and now works for Andy Reid's undefeated Kansas City Chiefs.


Is Shamokin on the verge of winning again?  Their is some hope at the junior high level who posted an 8-1 record this season.  Although it is a better gauge than freshman football was years ago (Shamokin went 10 years without losing a freshman game), I will wait until the class of 2018 walks down the aisle.


Last week Mount Carmel honored their 1973 Eastern Conference Championship team.  They were the last one to play Shamokin Area on Thanksgiving Day 40 years ago this November.  The Red Tornadoes needed a late score to win that game 20-15.

Worthy of the Coal Bucket

The annual game for the Coal Bucket had become a "ceremonial" event for Mount Carmel to retain the bucket the last 5 times with an average score of 33 to 7.  This past Friday's game with an 8-1 Mount Carmel game and 3-6 Shamokin team seemed like another ho-hum event at Kemp Memorial Stadium. 

The Indians gave Mount Carmel all they could handle for a 20-7 win for the 16th straight time for the Red Tornadoes.  It also gave Mount Carmel the number one seed in the district tournament.

With no score at the half, Mount Carmel scored 3 times to Shamokin's one.  In the end, it was the seniors and the leader who rose to the top.  Myerick Lamb had 32 carries and earned everyone of his 170+ yards.  But the MVP for the Red Tornadoes had to be Eric Joraskie.  The Indians were held to 7 yards rushing and only 5 first downs.  The big part of it was Joraskie no one wearing purple could block or run away from him.

Shamokin entering district play has to be please with the defensive performance.  Players that stood out on Friday once again were Mike Yucha (how many tackles did he have), Andrew Hasuga and Jarrod Shurock on both side of the ball.

The stat of the weekend was by Dan Burda of the News-Item. The last time Shamokin won the Coal Bucket in 1995.  There were only 1 million users of the Internet in 1995.

Photos above were provided to me courtesy JJN Productions.

Shamokin vs. Mount Carmel for the Coal Bucket

I was a little surprised this week when Mount Carmel hopped on a bus and headed down to Lourdes Regional to practice on Tuesday.  It was two days and high temperatures past the 7 inches of snow in October.  Looking at one or two home playoff games after this week, I am guessing the practice part of the Silver Bowl wasn't that great and Lourdes was just a little bit better.

When I interview Coach Foor about a half hour later for his weekly radio bite, he was a little surprised.  In maybe on of the best quotes in a while Coach Foor said, "I wish I would have known they were up there (Lourdes), I would have asked them to come down to scrimmage."

Once again, Shamokin will be big underdogs when trying to reclaim the Coal Bucket for the first time since 1995.  They do not have the size or speed that the Red Tornadoes posses on either side of the ball. One of the things the Indians have improved on since Southern is turnover ratio which right now sits at +5.  They were near hitting double digits on the negative side.

Mount Carmel comes into the game on the heels of big come from behind win against Southern Columbia with a two-point conversion with 36 seconds left to win 22-21.  However, in week going into week 10, the Red Tornadoes really haven't settled on personnel and have been inconsistent on offense all year.

The match up of the evening will be if Shamokin will be able to play man coverage on Mount Carmel.  The Indians employ Southern's defense to a tee and blitz aggressively.  If the Indians have a coverage problem it can be a long night.

Shamokin vs. MCA Some Sights and Sounds

Student Tailgaters

Pregame conference

Nobody is taking my Coal Bucket!!!

Stretching

Sign of the times

Shamokin vs. MCA Preview

They say most football teams make their biggest improvement from Week#1 to Week#2. For both teams some questions remain to be answered.

QUESTIONS

From Shamokin's standpoint, their running game and offense needs to get into gear. The Indians could not move the ball consistently against a good Southern defense last Saturday night. This wore out their defense when the fourth quarter came. After seeing Southern and MCA in Week#1, I would say their defense is better than Southern based on performance of the secondary.

From Mount Carmel's view, they offense struggled in the redzone getting turned away inside the 20 and the 10. Over the years, the Red Tornadoes have struggled with the heat. Mount Carmel loast 2001 to Pius on a opening Saturday after thunderstorms postponed the game on Friday. Last season the Red Tornadoes wilted in Boothwyne at Chichester. To Mount Carmel's defense, they did beat Wyomissing at Wyomissing in the 2000 opener in 90+ degrees and oppressive humidity.

This 2008 version of Mount Carmel is hungry and waiting to put 5 sub par years (by MCA standards) behind them.

OUTLOOK

Shamokin needs to score first and they need a score from their defense. In the fourth quarter, they need MCA to wilt under the heat. Test that MCA secondary.

Mount Carmel needs to just settle in and play football and not be distracted by early game electricity. Stay away from dumb mistakes.

Mount Carmel is a veteran team on the rise. Shamokin's gun does not have enough bullets for the Red Tornadoes in 2008.

Mount Carmel 42, Shamokin 13.