Hynoski's experience helps Pennsylvania

By Harold Raker
The Daily Item

June 17, 2007 12:30 am

— HERSHEY -- Of all the talented players on Pennsylvania's Big 33 team, Southern Columbia's Henry Hynoski was the one who knew what it was like to win at HersheyPark Stadium.
"The other players knew that I had won here and they were telling me that all week, they kept saying give me some of that magic," Hynoski after Saturday night's game.
Although it took until the first play of the fourth quarter, the Tigers' star fullback did get to peform some of his magic.
Hynoski's one-yard dive gave Pennsylvania its final touchdown Saturday night in a 28-10 romp over Ohio in the 50th Big 33 game.
The third quarter ended with Pennsylvania on the one-yard line with second-and-goal to go.
Then Hynoski had to wait about 10 minutes for play to resume, knowing he would likely get the chance to score his first Big 33 touchdown.
"It's just something you're not used to, and I just wanted to go ahead and plug it in, but I had to block out all the distractions and focus on what was coming up next," he said.
The holes weren't there Saturday night like they were in his games with the five-time state champion Tigers and the 6-foot-2, 245-pound senior had to fight for every one of his 27 yards on 11 carries. That included a 12-yard run on his first carry of the game.
"I knew things would pick up in the end and it did, and we got a little running room here and there, so it worked out for the best," he said.
And, when the room wasn't there, Hynoski did make the best of it, sometimes carrying two and three defenders with him even on three-yard gains.
But the ground game improved in the second half. "We were picking up three, four yards and that was just like we did at Southern," he said, somewhat understating the success of the Tigers' juggernauts.
"The coaches said just put our head down and run and pick up what you can and keep moving the sticks, and that's what I did," he added.
Hynoski lost a fumble on one of his early carries, although the handoff was not a good one and hit him high. Nevertheless, he said it did eat at him and it made it feel good to score a touchdown. "I went out and told myself to run hard and forget about it," he said.
The University of Pittsburgh recruit wanted to represent his high school well, having become the first Southern Tiger to play in the annual classic.
Hynoski's father, Henry Sr., also played for the game, but for the Mount Carmel Red Tornadoes.
"He talked to me about it a lot. He said, just go out here and get ready because you're going to catapault things for college and just run hard and don't get intimidated by other guys, because you are just as good as them.'"
Hynoski's primary role was pass blocking, although he also played on most kickoff, kick return and punt return teams and twice on defense at linebacker.
"I thought that was one of the best parts of my game tonight, pass blocking, because that's something I'm not really used to," Hynoski said.
"Knowing that we had to pass 40 percent of the time (because of the rules specific to the game), I worked really hard all week on pass blocking," he added. "I feel that was my main asset tonight."
He added, "Overall I thought I did a pretty good job. And I thought I made a lot of people at Southern happy."

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