Last Friday night at War Vets Field, the Tyrone football team exposed the vulnerabilities of its Huntingdon counterpart for all to see in a 35-13 non-conference outing. It was a tough thing for veteran Bearcat coach Jim Zauzig to swallow over the weekend, but his biggest concern was what it might have done to Huntingdon football fans.
The Bearcats will begin what could be a tedious road back when they travel to Bellefonte this Friday for a Mountain Athletic Conference Seven Mountains Division contest. Kickoff at Red Raider Stadium is set for 7 p.m.
“I had a bad taste in my mouth all weekend over that loss,” said Zauzig. “But I have to wonder what our fans might be thinking. We had a great crowd Friday night and we let them down. Now, our biggest priority is dedicating ourselves to winning back all those that we disappointed.”
The Bearcats were limited to just 146 yards in last week’s loss to the Golden Eagles — 89 on the ground and just 57 through the air. At the same time, the Huntingdon defense gave up 423 total yards — 188 rushing and 235 passing.
“We weren’t consistent enough on offense to get some early scores and our defense was victimized by big plays early in the game,” Zauzig explained. “Until we figure out how to protect our quarterback, we can’t afford to fall behind and try to play catch-up football.”
At the same time the Bearcats were losing to Tyrone, Bellefonte was racking up 293 net yards, but losing a 36-19 decision to visiting Philipsburg in a non-conference outing. The Bellefonte defense was torched for 498 total yards in the contest, 417 of than coming overland.
“Bellefonte is much like it was last year on both sides of the ball,” Zauzig scouts. “Offensively, they run out of the I or out of a spread. The difference this year is that they prefer to pass out of the spread and like to throw the ball deep, an area where we failed last week.
“They’re young and have been using a lot of personnel, especially at the skill positions, but seem to be settling into a group of receivers. Their biggest rushing threat — Josh Genzel — is injured and may be out for a long while.
“Defensively, they show a variety of looks, but their base is a 5-2. The down linemen are the strength of the defense. I think we can throw the ball against their secondary, but we have to show that we can get the ball to our receivers.”
The Bearcats came through the Tyrone game with no injury problems and coach Zauzig isn’t planning to make any major lineup changes for this week. But, the failures of last week were expected to create some interesting battles for playing time at a number of positions.
“We have two sets of offensive linemen and the group that performs best in practice this week will get the start Friday night,” says Zauzig. “We also had three different guys get beat at corner. We have four guys battling for the spots on the field and, again, the guys that perform best in practice will get the jobs. It should pick up the intensity throughout the week.”
The starting offense will have Zack Reed at tight end and Eric Buza and Mark Blumling alternating at Z-back. The offensive line will have Ryan Everhart and Jesse Cox at the tackles, Jason Kylor and Jeff Goss at the guards and Andrew VanBuskirk at center.
In the backfield, Shawn Shoemaker is the quarterback, with Joey Riley at tailback and either Tim Rohrer or Andy Young at fullback. Kevin Cressman is the split end.
Riley leads the rushing attack with 158 yards and two TDs on 15 carries, but he was limited to just 20 yards last week. Rohrer has 12 carries for 91 yards and a TD, while Young has toted the ball nine times for 82 yards and a score.
Shoemaker has completed an acceptable eight of 15 passes with no interceptions, but for only 74 yards and one TD. Backup Josh Walters has tossed the ball nine times, completing one for seven yards. Reed has four catches for 33 yards and TD, while Rohrer caught three balls for 25 yards in the Tyrone game.
The Bearcat defense has Goss, Chad Culbertson, VanBuskirk and Tyler Shope rotating at the two end positions. Cox and D.J. Eaken are the tackles. Rohrer and Reed are the inside linebackers, flanked by Cressman and Young. Shoemaker, Nick Long, Blumling and Derek Heath are battling for the two corner spots, while Riley, Walters and Boyd Brode are the contenders at safety.
“Our keys this week are very simple,” Zauzig concludes. “We have to put the Tyrone game behind us and get physical. We need to control the line of scrimmage after losing the battle in the trenches last week, then we have to redevelop our defensive pride. It got stomped on last week and we have to get it back.”
The Bearcats split a pair of games with Bellefonte a year ago. The Red Raiders won a 21-13 regular season verdict at War Vets Field, then Huntingdon rolled to a 42-0 win over a short-handed Bellefonte team in the District 6-AAA title game at Altoona’s Mansion Park. Huntingdon has a decided 34-15-1 advantage in the long series since the two teams met for the first time in 1919.
