Brennan added, "Zach does anything you need him to do. He works his tail off in the weight room in the offseason."

Lutz cites that work ethic as the reason for the Red Tornadoes' success this year. Mount Carmel is 12-0 going into Friday's District 4 Class AA championship game against visiting Montoursville.

"It is our dedication to hard work. We have spent four years lifting, running and training in order to play up to this level, to play at a championship level," Lutz said. "It is through that dedication and hard work that we are able to play as good as we are."

He added, "I am not surprised at all (by this year's 12-0 record). I've seen the hard work this entire team has put into the off-season, lifting four days a week, running on the soccer field, doing 120-yard sprints, it was a tremendous amount of work. We had the talent and the dedication and the will to succeed," he said.

Brennan said Lutz has willed himself to be a good player through his work in the weight room and added that he is a naturally strong kid who benches 345 pounds.

But the coach added, "The biggest improvement this season has been his footwork. He worked extremely hard at that. He was determined that it would be a priority for him and he spent a lot of time jumping rope and controlling his weight so he would be able to be more athletic this year as a senior, and he certainly has done that."

The Red Tornadoes are motivated to take on Montoursville because it was the Warriors who ended their season with a 3-0 win in the district quarterfinals last season.

For Lutz, there is even more incentive. "Unfortunately I didn't play in the Montoursville game (last year) because I had an injury on my hand. This is definitely extra motivation, and they ended our season last year, they took something from us and we want to go out and recapture it."

Knowing that Montoursville's line is the biggest the Red Tornadoes will face, bigger than Selinsgrove or Southern Columbia, Lutz said. "I am not worried about their size. We just have to play our game, that's all we have to do."

And Lutz would like to play the game beyond high school. He is awaiting word on whether he will get an Air Force ROTC scholarship and is looking at Penn State, Pittsburgh and Wilkes universities. "I know I won't play football at Penn State or Pitt, but if I can get into Wilkes, I would love to play there, and play at a higher level."

For now, Lutz and his teammates have only one goal in mind: to beat Montoursville and advance to the next round of the state playoffs.