This blog is an attempt to cover some of my interests which are colon cancer, high school sports, and progressive politics. These subjects will vary in interest on any given day, week or month.
I have been working as a free lance journalist since 1988. This translation means stringer. I worked in the print media from 1988 to 1996, and have been working in radio from 1996 to present.
On Friday night, Shamokin Area Football will begin the Yaacov Yisreal era of the program. The Indians are hoping for a new beginning and better start to the 2013 than in 2012. After winning a District title and state playoff game in 2011, injuries and youth added up to a 2-8 campaign in 2012.
The 2012 numbers are a little deceiving. Shamokin Area lost 4 games by 10 points or less and played touch in a few others. Like last year's injury in the preseason to Andrew Hasuga, the 2013 season has also been hampered by injuries to key people and positions.
What will change in 2013? First, from attending a meeting back in May, Shamokin made strides in the weight room. Hopefully, that trend continued through August. The second thing was my Tuesday visit to practice. The players seemed more focused and engaged about football and nothing else. That was good to see.
The number that will make or break Shamokin's season will be turnovers and takeaway ratio. Not only did the Indians turn the ball over around 3 times a game, those turnovers resulted in short fields for their opponents. Eventually, something had to give. If your turning it over, you are also putting it on the ground and recovering. This was a also a huge problem and killing drives.
So far instead of getting down due to injuries, it looks like some younger guys have stepped up. Let's see if this carried into the 2013 season.
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, RiccoRosini. 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.
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing ESPN the Magazine's columnist and author Dave Fleming about his book titled Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship. The interview can be heard by clinking the link and putting the cursor to about 1 hour and 50 minutes into the broadcast. We would like to thank Fleming and Pottsville AD John Carestia for helping to organize the interview on game night.
Dave Fleming plans on returning to the area before the end of the year to have more book signings due to the overwhelming response of Breaker Boys Maroons Week.
Here is the petition to sign for the Maroons so they can take their case to the NFL again.
RUNNING IT UP?
It was interesting to watch the end of the Pottsville-Shamokin game on Friday. When Pottsville was whistled for delay of game with one second left, the Tide chose to stay in punt formation and scored on a 60-yard run by junior Josh Poda. Pottsville had the physical game in hand 39-28 at that point.
Pottsville's Kevin Keating indicated to one reporter that Poda's instructions were to take the snap, run out the clock and take a knee. The report never made it into print. There was some speculation going back to the 1992 game involving the same coaching staff from Shamokin. Due to not being there at the time and only knowing some specifics, I will not describe. However, the series came to halt for a few years and Shamokin opened up the head coaching job after the season.
Unfortunately, the long coal region rivalry ends this year with Shamokin entering the Heartland Conference next year.
DESPERATION BREEDS INNOVATION
With Shamokin down 20-0 and not going anywhere, the Indians came out with a five receiver set and no one in the backfield. Shamokin ran "diamond" quads to one side and were successful in the passing game. Pottsville took most of the second half trying to adjust to the formation.
Shamokinsopponents are 29-13 on the season while the Indians are 6-20 since defeating Southern on opening night in 2005.
THE LOURDES STORY
There is speculation on whether Lourdes will enter District playoffs with a 6-1 record after week number 7. Lourdes is in a Catch-22 situation with 24 boys on the team and with soccer and golf as competing fall sports. The good news is that Red Raiders have started with 24 and still have 24 and that is in grades 9 through 12. The last I heard there are only seven boys in the junior class.
When Lourdes goes anything below 9-1 or 10-0 no one says a thing. The Red Raiders are on a 9-1 pace and could possibly take out a team that finishes 8-2 in District IV "A". As of last Friday, Lourdes were a few points behind Line Mountain, Southern, Bloomsburg and Canton. Line Mountain is still undefeated and the rest have one loss. If Lourdes declares Districts, everyone is on the bandstand that the Red Raider's schedule is bad. If the Red Raiders opt for Eastern Conference.......well they are ducking the competition.
The real story is that 24 students started the season playing for Lourdes and 24 students are still playing and hoping to win their conference and a playoff game whether it is in Districts or Eastern Conference. Since the print media did not cover the Lourdes declaration to the District committee on Monday, I will try to interview head coach Mike Klembara this week.
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA
Southern Columbia overcame a big hurdle this past weekend with a big win at home over undefeatedLoyalsock. For all intent and purpose, this was a playoff game for the Tigers. The Tigers are in a dogfight with Line Mountain, Bloomsburg, and Canton for seeding. Line Mountain has a week 10 game left with Millersburg. Bloomsburg has three tough ones with Lewisburg, Loyalsock and Williams Valley. Canton plays Muncy and Troy which may be tough games for the Warriors. Southern should be favored against Clarion, Central and Danville. The Ironmen were a surprise early, but seem to be fading.
The Tigers look to be a strong candidate for the second seed and depending on what happens with Line Mountain a contender for the number one seed which should be the best field in District IV "A" ever. With tough games against Shamokin, Mount Carmel, Bloomsburg (though a loss) and Loyalsock, the 2007 version of the Tigers are battle tested going into the favorite time of the year, week 11.
Dave Zielinskieclarified the incident that took place in the 10/11 issue of the News-Item. I had the opportunity to show Tuesday's article to a teacher in another district and is not involved in athletics. The teacher informed me that if the incident wasn't witnessed by staff or not caught on a camera all you have is a hearsay. This left Zielinskie to ask the players to step up and tell what happened. No one did.
Here is the verdict. If no one seen the incident and it wasn't recorded on film, for the most part it didn't exist. Unfortunately, you have the same situation going on in State College. A fight in the spring, one this past weekend, and Austin Scott suspended is leaving Joe Paterno's hand's tied until sorted out by law enforcement. Joe's press conference was quickly deflected to "let's talk about what's going on the field." If someone like Joe can't enforce discipline, who can?
MOTION TO OPEN THE JOB
Garnering headlines on Tuesday was the motion to open Zielinskie's job. You have to question the motivation here due the director being a lame duck and one of the principles in hiring Zielinskie in the first place. I guess an 0-6 start and another loss to Mount Carmel lowers your stock somehow. What will the fallout be for the motion? Was the board equipped to handle the coaching situation if the job was opened? What kind of message does that send to the players returning in 2008? Stay tuned.
MAROONS DAY BIG SUCCESS
Big lines and crowds awaited Dave Fleming author of the book Breaker Boys about the 1925 NFL champion Pottsville Maroons. The week will conclude after Friday's Shamokin-Pottsville football game.
Dave Zielinskie's interview for the upcoming with the Pottsville Crimson Tide. The meeting occurred after everyone had to run for cover due to a rainstorm Tuesday evening in Shamokin.
Shamokin will be at Pottsville this Friday to conclude Maroon Week at Pottsville. Author Dave Fleming will be honored before the game for his book, Breaker Boys. Here is the list of the activities for the rest of the week.
SURPRISE MOVE
Last night at the Shamokin Area School Board meeting, a motion was made to open the head coaching job. If the motion carried through, would Shamokin have been in a coaching quandary for the rest of the season. Stay tuned.
