Abington. Council Rock South. George Washington.
It’s a non-league lineup that has had Central Bucks East coach Tim Michael shaking his head.
“The schedule was set up before I became coach,” he said. “I probably would have opted for a couple of different opponents.”
Michael didn’t have a say in the matter, and when the Patriots take the field on Friday night, they will be staring across the field at a Council Rock South squad that throttled Central Bucks South 31-7 and handed the Patriots a 35-14 beating in last year’s showdown.
“Watching the C.B. South – CR South film – it’s tough to watch,” Michael said. “You realize C.B. South is a pretty good team, and they just took it to them.”
Rock South boasts a vaunted option offense that is orchestrated by talented quarterback Billy Fleming, who rushed for 139 yards and threw for 66 more.
“The way I look at it – the best way to keep Council Rock South off the board is to keep them off the field,” Michael said.
To do that, the Patriots will need some serious production from first-year quarterback Pat Trymbiski.
“He had a great, great camp,” Michael said. “He came into camp neck-in-neck with two juniors, and he just simply outplayed them and has done a great job.
“I don’t want to say he’s been a great surprise. His athleticism was no surprise, but his ability to manage the team has been very, very surprising. He didn’t have a lot of experience with these kids. He’s going to have to come through on Friday. We throw the ball a lot. He has a great arm, and he has a pretty good head on his shoulders.”
Trymbiski was 10-of-17 in his debut against Abington for 94 yards.
“It’s all about practice right now,” the senior quarterback said. “We made some mistakes in the Abington game, and we have been working all week to eliminate the mistakes in this game against Council Rock South.
“I think it’s good to start off with the competitive teams. It shows us where we are, where we stand and how hard we have to work to improve ourselves.”
Trymbiski was eager to talk about his teammates – wide receiver Jared Grapes, running backs Jake Schwartz, Justin White and John Veix. (Schwartz led the team with 73 yards last week.)
“Chris McLaughlin is our strongest and best lineman,” the senior QB said of East’s two-way standout.
Veix is the strongside outside linebacker for East.
“If he plays well, our defense as a whole plays well – they kind of follow his lead,” Michael said.
Michael will also look to Lance Rosina, a three-year starter at defensive tackle, as well as veteran defensive back Ryan Pater to provide leadership to a relatively inexperienced defense.
“They’re talented kids, but they looked a little bit like deer in the headlights on Friday night,” the Patriots’ coach said. “Even though we have a pretty good group of seniors, they’re not seniors with a great deal of experience.”
The second-year coach knows his team can ill afford to make the kind of mental mistakes it made in its season-opening loss if it hopes to stay with the Golden Hawks.
“We didn’t have a costly turnover,” Michael said. “Our first drive we went right down the field and got into the red zone. Our quarterback goes one way and our back goes the other. We pitched the ball, and thank goodness we fell on it, but it’s fourth down and now we’re out of field goal range.
“To me, that’s a turnover. We had a lot of cases like that where one kid out of 11 wasn’t on the same page. The analogy I like to make is it’s like quicksand. Once you make mistakes, you struggle to get out. You leave your game plan.”
Coach Vince Bedesem doesn’t want to hear about East’s inexperience or its 21-point loss to Abington.
“Let’s make no bones about it – East is a good football team,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “They’re big up front, they have weapons as far as moving the football, and defensively, they’re very aggressive.
“It doesn’t take a whole lot of convincing as far as trying to get the kids motivated at practice.”
The Golden Hawks were mighty impressive in their big win over the Titans, but they have been battling injuries all season and were without six players who would have either started or seen significant playing time. The most recent addition to the list is Braxton Ambrose – an all-league defensive lineman who also was a mainstay at fullback.
“Ryan Whitely, who picked up the slack, has done a great job, but you’re talking about a 6-1, 230-pound fullback who is really missed,” Bedesem said. “He is week by week.
“The guys are really exhausted but no excuses. We just need to keep getting better and better every day at practice.”
One of the players who has provided leadership to the Golden Hawks is senior captain Mickey Laporta.
“We’ve been playing like a team,” the senior offensive tackle/linebacker said. “Despite the injuries, we came together, and we’re starting to jell. Things are working out for us.
“The senior leaders stepped up, and now we have sophomores in there, and they’re stepping up. It definitely feels a lot different as a senior. There’s a lot more responsibility, but I like having that role. There are a lot of seniors on the team, and we’re all working together.”
The Golden Hawks lost more than a few key players from last year’s successful squad to graduation, but they boast a strong feeder program. The ninth grade program – with 50-plus players – is doing extremely well according to Bedesem, who has 35 sophomores on his roster.
“Coming into the 2009 season, we feel we have a real good nucleus of kids to be able to again put ourselves in a position to make some noise,” the Rock South coach said. “There are a lot of naysayers out there, and that’s fine.
“That’s the way we want it.”
Kickoff time for Friday night’s battle of non-league foes will be at 7 p.m. at Council Rock North.
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