Shamokin in for Tough Game at Danville.

The Shamokin Indians find themselves at 2-5 going into week 8 at Danville this Friday.  Although only down 6-0 going into the 4th quarter against Montoursville, the Indians fell short on a 26-7 score.  Shamokin failed to capitalize on 3, 1st quarter Warrior turnovers.

Danville played a good first half on Saturday at Southern, but the offense was shut down in the 2nd half.  What did impress me about Danville was that the defense was able to stop Southern's straight offense rather easily and were a littler undersized.

Interesting stat last weekend for Shamokin was rushing defense.  Take away the 30-yard TD run late by Montoursville and the stat was 32 rushes for only 29 yards.  Could they keep Dressler in check like Southern?  We will find out on Friday night.

The Rematch, Shamokin and Danville

Do the Indians want revenge???

Shamokin Area beats someone not named Shikellamy

For the first time since week #3 of the 2006 season, Shamokin Area defeated a football team not named Shikellamy. In the first half, Shamokin was almost flawless. The Indians went out to a 21-0 lead and the defense held All-State quarterback Andrew Shoop to one completion for four yard and two first downs.


The first half half ended when Shamokin was stopped on a fourth-and-goal from the three or the damage could have been worse. Give the Ironmen credit, they regrouped at the half. The defense who gave nearly 180 yards on the ground only gave up a net 9 yards in the second half on the ground.


Danville pounced on a blocked punt in the endzone to start their scoring and 61-yard pass put the Ironmen on the three with 9 minutes left in the fourth. On the next play, Michael Owen-Wright punched it in from three yards out.

Ghosts of losses past exercised

The Indians who have found more ways to loose in these situations suddenly came up with two defensive stands to preserve the victory.

Patrick Shinskie fell on a fumble at the Indian 18 with under three minutes to play. After three straight runs, Danville forced a Shamokin punt and a good return put them in business at the Indian 40. A first down by the Ironmen had the ball at the Shamokin 30, but four straight incompletions ended the threat.

Key Moments

Shamokin coach Dave Zielinskie burning two timeouts on defense early in the game set the tone for the defense in the first half. After an early lead, he could see the Central Blue Jays dancing in his head.

With over 5 minutes left in the third Danville's Andrew Schoop scrambled for a 10-yard gain and first down near the Danville bench. There were some extracariculars and the Ironmen were whistled for two deadball personal fouls going back to the 18 and making it a second and 30 situation. What happened? We don't know. 9.9 times out of 10 over the years the yellow laundry has gone against Shamokin.

Shamokin's secondary held Danville to six completions for the game. Not bad when you consider Mike Zielinskie a starter last year hasn't played all season. Jared Montgomery was not dressed. Nick Domanskie played but was nursing an injury from Shik. A senior starter was dismissed in the preseason. Tyler Dirienzo has not suited up all season. With the injuries and if he was healthy, he may have seen some time on defense.

Give the game ball to the offensive and defense lines who set the tone in the first half and never quit in the second half.

Did you notice?

After heavy showers in the pregame, it didn't rain for four quarters.

I don't know if this change was made against Shik, but coach Todd Nye was down on the field and coach Ed Zack was in the box.

The longest pass completion for Shamokin was 53 yards on a half back option.

Going foward although the Indian's played great in the first half, they have Selinsgrove coming to town who were 28-3 winners over Berwick. Shamokin's offense didn't have an answer for the defensive adjustments made by the Ironmen at the half.

The last win over a team not named Shikellamy was Jersey Shore in 2006.

Dave Zielinskie declines coaches interview

"Nothing to Say"

Normally at this time every week, I post the interview with the home coach of the game BILL95 will be broadcasting. This week's game is between the Danville Ironmen and Shamokin Area Indians. Dave Zielinskie declined to comment about this week's game so we will repect his wishes.

UPDATE: Coach Z. simply turned down the interview at practice. It wasn't a matter of not showing or not calling. I check out practice regardless. He didn't have a comment for week 5 and that was it.

Buzzer beater by Danville sends Shamokin home

One video clip is worth a thousand words. Just as when it looked like the Indians were going to survive and advance to the District IV AAA finals, the ghosts of Scott Ativo and Bill Celuk came home to haunt the Indians. Danville senior C.J. Cressman came out of nowhere to bury a trey near halfcourt and will now be forever remembered in Ironmen basketball lore.

It was Scott Ativo's lay up of an air ball in 1998 for Steel-High that sent Shamokin home in the Eastern semifinals and Celuk's tap in at the buzzer for Valley View in the Eastern quarters in 1997. Assistant coach for Shamokin, saw both as a player back then for the Indians. Now add Cressman to that list.

One player that you do have to feel for is Shamokin's Marc Persing. He is the lone senior that will not be returning for the Indians next season in the Heartland Conference. Persing needed 17 points for 1000 points for the career finished with 990.

Are Two Justin Knoebels Better Than One?

Going into Friday's game with Danville, Justin Knoebel's playing status was a question mark. As the game with Danville progressed and Steve Roth was picking up some big yards on the ground there was the familiar #60 getting off the bottom the pile. Roth started to pick up huge chunks of yardage from the second quarter until the final whistle. Broadcasting the game, we noticed Roth picked up the yardage from the left side and we viewed #60 opening up huge holes on the left side. One thing we didn't do is look for two number 60's.

In my weekly interview with Southern head coach Jim Roth, I told him I thought Justin Knoebel had a great game on the left side opening up some big holes for the running game. Broadcasting my first Southern game since week one, I knew Knoebel was teamed with Tyler Wilson on the right side, but injuries change the line composition over a course of the season. I assumed Knoebel was moved to the left for a reason.

Roth let me know that wasn't Justin Knoebel at left guard. The player in question happened to be Joe Picarelli who normally wears #86 and play defensive end and the second tight end when the Tigers go to a "double tight" formation. "Joe is one of our better blockers and we wanted to work him into the interior," said Jim Roth. "Knoebel adds so much as a leader to our line, it was good to have him back in there." In asking how many games Picarelli was at guard, Roth said, "it was his first." The PIAA does have some jersey rules. "The PIAA requires that the interior linemen wear 50-79, but it doesn't matter what name is on the back."

In this case, two Justin Knoebels were better than one.

Jim Roth Discusses the Upcoming Game with the Danville Ironmen

This week Southern plays at Danville for final time in a series that will take a break with the introduction of the Heartland Conference next season. The Tigers lead the series 21-20-1 dominating the last 20 or so years. Danville's last win came in 1999 with 31-27 thriller over Southern at the old F.Q. Hartman Stadium. For the Hartman namesake, thank goodness the Ironmen no long play there.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Danville comes in with passing attack led by Andrew Shoop and with a victory over Southern should qualify for the District IV AA playoffs. Southern with a win still need some help to host a playoff game. A Line Mountain loss could drop them to third. Bloomsburg could snare the top seed with a win and an Eagle loss. If Line Mountain, Bloomsburg and Southern all win. Southern will be at Bloom next week with a week 2 rematch and Line Mountain will host Canton. On any given weekend District IV probably has three out the top five teams in the East. Unfortunately, only one will continue into the state playoffs.