By Harold Raker
The Daily Item
December 24, 2007 11:26 pm
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Danville drew loads of attention when it upset Selinsgrove in the opening week of the season.
Although the Ironmen were not able to duplicate that high, their quarterback, Andrew Shoop, never lost his touch.
The junior led the state in passing yards all season and also broke several school records.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Shoop is one of several standouts named to the first team by The Daily Item as part of its annual all-star team, selected by the newspaper's sports department.
Shoop was one of several fine quarterbacks, including Line Mountain senior Clark Morris. The latter was named as the team's Athlete.
Rounding out this glitter squad, on offense, are running backs Aaron Scheibelhut, Line Mountain; Quaid Richart, Warrior Run; and Wade Truitt, East Juniata; wide receivers Mike Ritter, Selinsgrove and Colby Snyder, Southern Columbia; tight end Michael Smith, Danville; linemen Jon Fausey and Blake Riehl, Line Mountain; Chase Fraley, Southern Columbia; and Kurt Zimmerman, Mifflinburg; kicker Tim Walls, Selinsgrove; and utility player Steve Roth, Southern Columbia.
That offense, as potent as it would be, could face a major challenge from The Daily Item's first-team defense, led by Line Mountain's Mason Hoover and Southern Columbia's Joe Picarelli, a pair of hard-hitting ends.
The other first-team linemen are Russell Frederick, Selinsgrove, and Ken Schetroma, Southern Columbia. The rest of the defensive first team consists of linebackers Fausey and Richart; Bryce Auker, Selinsgrove; and Tony Drain, Southern Columbia; backs Jachin Spotts, Line Mountain; Ritter; and Southern Columbia's Zeke Conrad and Snyder; punter Tyler Mitch, East Juniata; and return man Ritter.
Ritter was named the Player of the Year and Line Mountain's Todd Rothermel was chosen as Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.
OFFENSE
Shoop set school records for completions (179), touchdown passes (28) and passing yards (2,584). He completed 61 percent of his passes and also rushed for five TDs. Shoop was the Central Susquehanna Conference-Division I Offensive Back of the Year. For his career, he has passed for more than 3,300 yards and 36 TDs in just 16 games.
Richart, a 5-11, 190 senior, rushed for 945 yards on 163 carries and 12 TDs. He averaged 94.5 yards per game.
Scheibelhut, in his first and only season at Line Mountain after transferring from Williams Valley, led the Eagles with 975 yards on 131 carries, an 8.04 average, and also caught 16 passes for 195 yards and 3 TDs. The 5-10, 195 senior had 113 yards in the Eagles' victory over Southern Columbia in the District 4 Class A semifinals and another 118 against Bloomsburg in the final, even though he missed more than a quarter of the game with an injury.
Truitt, a 5-11, 195 sophomore, rushed 185 times for 1,125 yards and 11 TDs. He also caught 8 passes for 80 yards.
Ritter, a 5-11, 187 senior, caught 39 passes for 534 yards and seven TDs and rushed nine times for 86 yards and a TD.
Snyder, a 6-2, 195 senior, was the CSC-II Receiver of the Year. He caught 46 passes for 787 yards and 7 TDs.
Smith, a 6-3, 215 junior, had 60 catches for 801 yards and a school-record 16 TDs. He twice had four TD catches in a game and had more than 100 yards receiving in a game three times. He was the CSC-I Receiver of the Year.
Fausey, a 6-0, 180 junior guard, was the first junior captain in school history and was named the Twin Valley Conference Offensive Lineman of the Year.
Riehl, a 5-8, 195 senior guard, played the entire season with a shoulder brace to help his shoulder stay in joint and played in pain many times, Rothermel said. A strong run blocker, he single-blocked many opponents who were bigger than he was.
Womer, a 6-1, 288 senior tackle, helped the Seals rush for 2,434 yards and throw for 1,333.
Fraley, a 6-1, 240 junior center, was the Tigers' most consistent offensive lineman, according to coach Jim Roth. The first-year starter helped a young offensive line lead the team to 2,446 yards rushing and 1,456 passing.
Zimmerman, a 6-2, 230 senior tackle was a 2006 CSC-I first-team guard, but moved to tackle this season because of his pass protection capabilities. He helped the Wildcats rush for 1,533 yards and pass for 1,132.
Walls, a 5-9, 182 senior, made good on 44 of 51 extra point attempts and was 3 of 4 in field goals, with a long of 37 yards.
Morris, a 6-1, 185 senior, attained the rare double of rushing and passing for more than 1,000 yards. He completed 66 of 130 passes for 1,095 yards and 12 TDs and just 4 interceptions and rushed for 1,083 yards on 179 carries and 11 TDs. He also scored nine two-point conversions and led the Eagles in scoring with 84 points.
Morris was 19-5 in his two years as a starter. He rushed for 103 yards against Southern Columbia and for 112 against Millersburg. He called most of the option plays on his own from the line of scrimmage.
Roth, a 5-9, 190 junior fullback-linebacker, got off to a slow start in his first season as a starter, but came on strong and finished with 971 yards rushing (a six-yard average) and 12 TDs. He had three sacks, an interception and 29 tackles (17 solo).
DEFENSE
Hoover, a 6-0, 185 senior made 100 tackles this season, including 36 solo and 20 for loss. He had six sacks, an interception, four pass break-ups, a fumble recovery and two forced fumbles. He had about 15 total tackles against Southern Columbia.
Frederick, a 5-8, 198 sophomore tackle, had 46 tackles (six solos), 3.5 for loss and a pass break-up.
Schetroma, a 6-0, 215 junior tackle, had 53 tackles and two sacks.
Picarelli, a 6-2, 210 senior end, had 22 tackles and four sacks.
Fausey made 109 tackles (39 solo) with 14 tackles for loss, three sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles. He was named the TVC Defensive Player of the Year.
Richart, the defensive player most Warrior Run opponents feared the most, had 82 solo tackles and 35 assists with three sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception.
Auker, a 5-11, 202 senior, had 134 tackles (60 solo) with three sacks,. 11 tackles for loss, four forced fumbles and two pass break-ups. He was named this year's CSC-I Linebacker of the Year.
Drain, a 6-1, 185 junior, had 78 tackles, three sacks and an interception which he returned for a TD.
Spotts, a 5-5, 140 safety had 45 tackles (30 solo) with two interceptions. Rothermel said he was a sure tackler and was not afraid to hit anyone, despite his size.
Ritter, the CSC-I Defensive Back of the Year, had 54 tackles (29 solo) and four interceptions, two of which he returned for TDs.
Conrad, a 6-3, 175 senior cornerback, had 29 tackles and two interceptions..
Snyder, a safety, made 39 tackles and three interceptions.
Mitch, a 6-4, 250 senior, averaged 35 yards on 30 punts. Coach Tom Feltman said that average is skewed because he often placed punts inside opponents' territory. He had a long of 62 yards which went more than 50 yards in the air.
Rothermel led a team that had to replace six starters on defense and five on defense and led them to a 10-2, which included the Eagles' upset of five-time defending state champion Southern Columbia in the district semifinals.
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