Can E-town recapture the magic?

Well, here we go sports fans. High school football starts tomorrow night. Finally. So let's get cranking with the first game preview of the season. Ah...welcome back football. The Den missed you.

There are plenty of questions around the L-L League that will begin to be answered tomorrow night. But the only one people in Elizabethtown probably care about is simple – can the Bears repeat what they did last year? Hey, don't look at me, I don't have that answer. I can only tell you that the Bears will sure as heck give it all they have to win 10 games and get back to the district playoffs again.

E-town's schedule looks a tiny bit different this year, since the Bears jumped from Class AAA to Class AAAA in the offseason. So their first three games will be against J.P. McCaskey, Muhlenberg and Manheim Township. The Bears played the Streaks last year, and beat them 20-10 – Townships only regular season loss of the year. But E-town hasn't played McCaskey since '91, when they tied them 0-0. So there isn't a lot of familiarity between the two – especially not as much as when the Bears always opened with Middletown and Lower Dauphin. Then the Bears knew what to expect. This year, all they have is film to go on. Let's take a quick look at both teams.

McCaskey:
Went 3-7 overall and 3-4 in Section One last year...run the spread option on offense and the 4-3 on defense...
Offense:
If there is one thing the Tornado always has, it's speed, especially at wide receiver. Brandon Williams and Leequan LaRue are both big and fast. LaRue is listed at 6 feet, but is only 150 pounds. Williams is 6-3, 200 pounds and will be McCaskey's biggest threat downfield. He's tough to stop.

But who is going to throw to them? That's the question. Last season's starter, Adrian Westbrook, returns this year, but had a slight knee injury in the preseason and will split time with junior Nate Shaeffer. Not every system is built for two QBs, so it'll be interesting to see if McCaskey can keep moving without skipping a beat when Shaeffer is brought in.

McCaskey lost their best running back, Jerome LaRue, to graduation and will look to Tyler Schmalhofer and Dajuan Simms to pick up the slack there. Neither are listed as very big, but have plenty of speed. McCaskey only averaged 233 yards of offense per game last year (near the bottom of the league), so they'll have their hands full with a potent E-town defense.

Defense: McCaskey lost three linebackers to graduation and had the 12th best defense in the league last year. The Tornado are very young along both the offensive and defensive lines. Their line will be relied on the keep E-town's running game from chewing up the clock.

E-town:
By now, you know what they did last year. 10-2, section co-champs, won a district game, started 9-0, etc. etc. etc.
Offense: It all starts with the line for E-town. This year's group is bigger than last year, but time will tell if they are as fast or as tough. Losing starting tackle Evan Good for the season hurts, but as head coach Jeff Polites says, "That's why you coach all the kids, not just the starters." Someone will have to step in there to open up holes for the backs and keep quarterback Kyle McNeil off of his back.



The running game will dictate the game, especially with McCaskey's weakness on the defensive line and their inexperience at linebacker. The Tornado will get a steady diet of Conrad Heisey, bruiser Shane Rosenberry, and newcomer Mitch Weidman (who could have himself quite a season. Just a hunch). If the Bears get that running game going early and are controlling the ball for 5 or 6 minutes (that's clock minutes, not real-time minutes) at a time, they'll be tough to beat.

This is also a good test for McNeil. McCaskey has quickness in the secondary, so McNeil will have to get his chemistry right with his new receivers (watch out for Mount Calvary transfer Jeremi Jones) to keep the Tornado from loading up in the box to stop the run. The Bears will throw the ball quite a bit.

Defense: The biggest way that McCaskey can beat E-town is by airing the ball out to Williams. So what's the best way to stop that from happening? Get to the quarterback. That's where Alex Kirchner and the defensive line come in. Kirchner is ridiculously fast and if he's matched up against an inexperienced lineman, he'll have a field day. The Bears fly from sideline to sideline extremely well and should be able to limit McCaskey's speed, unless the Tornado find a hole and run straight down the field. If they try to zig zag, Shane Rosenberry will eat them for dinner.

My take: I think this will be a great game, and the first of three very difficult early season tests for the Bears. Muhlenberg and Township loom after this week (and you just know Township wants revenge), so it'll be important for the Bears to start with a win. I really think that E-town has enough to get back to the postseason this year. Sure, they might not put up the same gaudy offensive numbers that they did last year, but a win is a win – whether its 14-7 or, say, 56-14.

McCaskey coach Scott Feldman is working hard to change the attitude on his team. They unraveled last year and finished with only 20 players or so on the roster. If E-town gets out to an early lead, we'll see if last year's bickering and fighting on the Tornado sideline returns. If it does, they are cooked. But if they keep their heads and battle, this one will be a battle. I think Feldman has taken the right steps to get McCaskey's attitude back to where it was a few years ago.

FINAL PREDICTION: E-town 35 - McCaskey 14. It comes down to line play. McCaskey is depleted at d-line and LB, which is going to make it tough to stop E-town's Wing-T.