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Mark Schmidt says his team needs to prepare for everything when it faces Council Rock North in Neshaminy’s Homecoming Game at Heartbreak Ridge on Saturday afternoon.
“That’s the thing they make you do,” the Neshaminy coach said. “Obviously, it starts with the quarterback, a guy that is doing a great job. He (Tyler Hamilton) is a threat throwing and running, and they have a bunch of guys that can catch it.
“They have more than one guy that’s doing a nice job running the ball, and defensively, they seem be to getting better and better every week.”
On the other side of the field, Rock North coach Tom Coates has similar concerns as he devises a game plan for the talented Redskins, but he also knows his team’s biggest foe could well be Neshaminy’s vaunted tradition and mystique. “The kids have to understand we’re playing the 2009 Neshaminy team,” the Indians’ coach said. “We’re not playing the Neshaminy of 30-40 years past tradition.
“They know the tradition of Neshaminy. They know the tradition of the stadium, the tradition of the fans, the tradition of the band and the tradition of the announcer.
“From the days of Dick Bedesem being there and 130 kids running single file from the locker room – there’s an awful lot of tradition there, and I just have to get our kids to understand that they don’t get to bring that onto the field. They have to play 11 against 11.”
Last year, the Redskins won in a rout, downing the Indians 45-7, but things figure to be different this time around.
Both teams enter the game with identical 3-1 records in SOL play, one game behind undefeated Pennsbury, and both know that Saturday’s game is a must-win if they entertain any thoughts of staying in the National Conference title chase.
“Week in and week out, we really just try to keep our composure and work together as a team and basically just work as hard as we can at practice,” Redskin senior Stephen Stemme said. “Every game is just as important as the next game, and every week we push as ourselves as hard as we can and really just try to do the best that we can.”
While Neshaminy rolled to a convincing 42-17 win over Council Rock South last week, Rock North was turning more than a few heads with its 34-3 rout of Abington.
“They beat the heck out of an Abington team that beat us, so they certainly got our attention,” Schmidt said.
In Rock North’s win, Brandon Cottom rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns while quarterback Tyler Hamilton passed for 89 yards and a pair of TDs. The Indians received a boost from the return of offensive tackle Anthony Verrechia, who had dislocated his elbow in Rock North’s season opener against Father Judge and had seen his first game action a week earlier against Bensalem.
“We always play Abington tough, but we never had a chance to beat them like this,” Verrechia said. “It showed that if we play together, we can be a really good team.
“We were being really positive about the whole game, we gave 100 percent the whole time, and we got a really good scouting report from our coach, which helped a lot.”
It was on the defensive side of the football that the Indians were most impressive, limiting quarterback Sam Kind to only 115 yards passing while the Ghosts managed just 142 yards on the ground.
“I have to give a ton of credit to our defensive line as a group and particularly to Kevin Krimm for doing such a great job putting pressure on the quarterback,” Coates said. “What we also did – aside from focusing on stopping the run – is we took our best single cover guy in Adam Yborra, and we put him on (Anthony) Hensley.
“Fortunately, our kids came out and played with confidence. They understood the game plan. It was a mature team that went out there and played smart.”
The Indians will have to play every bit as smart when they take on a Redskin squad that is led by running back Bryan Dean. Last week against Rock South, the senior standout had 180 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He also caught a pair of passes for 79 yards and a TD.
“I think the key is to stop Dean,” Coates said. “I don’t know if you can stop him, but we’re going to do our best to slow him down.
“He’s a kid that – for his size (5-7, 165) – he runs like a much bigger back. He hits the holes tremendously fast, and he has no fear. If we try to arm tackle him, we’ll be in for a long day. We have to be able to square him up, we have to keep him contained.”
While Dean will undoubtedly get most of the touches, expect to see Corey Majors, Stephen Stemme and Ricky Williams also involved.
“We have to make sure we do a good job of spreading things around a little bit,” Schmidt said. “It eliminates predictability and also takes some of the wear and tear off of him (Dean) too.”
Schmidt has had success with his quarterback rotation of senior Brian Titus and junior Charlie Marterella. The two are a combined 62-for-100 for 822 yards and 12 touchdowns. They have plenty of targets, including wide receiver Rick Brebner and tight end Shane Quinn.
“They have #87 (Brebner), and he believes he can catch the ball on anybody, and they have Quinn, who’s a heck of a threat at 6-3 in the slot,” Coates said. “There are an awful lot of weapons there. We can’t take them all away, but if we can slow down their run game, it gives us a chance.
“They showed against South they can pass the ball, but I believe they’re going to want to run the ball on us. We’ll do everything we can to slow that portion of it down.”
In addition to Krimm and Yborra, Coates is counting on defensive lineman Ryan Campbell to come up big as well as his corps of linebackers – Lee Marvel, Keith Terry, Jon Smith and Joe Coates – as the Indians try to contain the Redskins’ running game.
“We have tried to get ready all week by making the keys very simple and just having them react and play football,” Coates said.
Schmidt will also look to his defense to contain the Indians’ arsenal of weapons that – in addition to Hamilton and Cottom – includes Lee Marvel, Ty Bostain and Jack Worthington.
The Redskins’ coach pointed to outside linebacker Andy Lynch, defensive tackle Ryan Katona, defensive end Kevin Magee as well as Quinn – who plays defensive end - to anchor the defense.
“They have all done really well for us,” Schmidt said. “Week in and week out, they have done it.”
The Indians only league loss came at the hands of Pennsbury while the Redskins fell in a tightly-contested affair to Abington.
“We’re using the Abington loss as incentive,” Stemme said. “Obviously, it was tough. You never want to lose a game, but any time you lose a game, it’s a wake-up call to come out and play hard.
“There have been a lot of changes since then, and one of the main things is just working together as a team. You can’t really win games with a couple of people playing up and others not. You really have to work together the whole season, and if you do that, good things will come out of it.”
Kickoff for Neshaminy’s annual Homecoming Game is 1:30 p.m. It promises to be an interesting day.
“Every home game is really special and important, but it’s that much better because it’s my senior year,” Stemme said. “Everyone is looking forward to it.”
“It’s a big game for us,” Verrechia said. “It can show how good of a team we are. We have a chance to prove a lot this game.”
Last year: Neshaminy 45, Council Rock North 7
Last week: Neshaminy 42, Council Rock South 17 (Bryan Dean carried the ball 30 times for 180 yards and three touchdowns. He also hauled in a pair of passes for 79 yards and a TD. Corey Majors added 41 yards on the ground on six carries. Quarterback Charlie Marterella was 3-for-4 for 68 yards and a touchdown while Brian Titus threw for 34 yards.)
Council Rock North 34, Abington 3 (Brandon Cottom rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Tyler Hamilton passed for 89 yards and two TDs. Rock North’s defense allowed 257 yards of total offense.)
*Statistics courtesy of The Intelligencer/Bucks County Courier Times.
On the air…
On Saturday, WBCB 1490 AM will broadcast the Council Rock North at Neshaminy game live, beginning with the pregame show at 1:15 p.m.
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