40 Teams in 40 Days – Day 13 – Tri-Valley (11)

Written by: David Mika on Saturday, August 2nd, 2014. Follow David Mika on Twitter.

Offensive Preview:

The Bulldogs return quarterback Hunter Harner, who has been a starter on varsity for three-years. He started at tight end his sophomore year. Hunter is more of an athlete playing quarterback. He’s a tough runner and has good speed. This year look for Hunter to throw the ball more to go with that good running attack.

“Hunter’s best strength is running the ball. He ran for almost 1,400 yards and passed for about 300. This year we got to improve on the passing game more.”

The Bulldogs have some experience coming back at running back from last year’s team. Chase Schaeffer returns for his junior year along with Tyler Lucas.

“Chase played some last year at running back. He will be splitting time with Tyler Lucas this year. Tyler is a little faster to the outside. Chase is a guy that will run between the tackles. These two guys are going to run the ball more.”

Anthony Snyder played some fullback last year and he’s back.

“Look for Anthony to get some more carries from the fullback position.”

One of the concerns going into the season will be the offensive line.

“We lost three good lineman from last year. Those three guys all had two or three year’s varsity experience. We’re going to be inexperienced and young at this position.”

The two returning guys with any experience are OT/OG Hunter Herb and OT Dan Opozda on the offensive line.

“Hunter has started as a freshman and is the leader on the line. Dan played last year as a sophomore. They both played tackle last year and Hunter may play some guard this year.”

Devin Schwalm will be a junior and is the front-runner to be the center this year.

“He has some JV experience and played a little on varsity last year.”

Senior Dominick Carado will be one of the guards.

“He played some JV last year on the line.”

The other guy is a transfer from Line Mountain and he is Beau Rothermel.

“He didn’t play last year, but played over their as a sophomore and freshman.”

They lost their tight end from last year and they are going to replace him with Jericho Zemencik, he’s a senior.

“He has good size at 6-foot-2 and is a very good athlete. He played last year on the JV level. We saw some nice things and we’re going to also use him at split end.

Returning at wide receiver position is Jayden Buchanan. He led the team with catches and touchdowns at split end.

“He will be our split end this year. He was a good one for us last year and will be our go to guy this year.”

Defensive Preview:

Hunter Herb returns on the defensive line and will play either end or tackle. Dan Opozda will play defensive end.

“We are looking to those two guys to anchor the line. They both have experience on the line from last year.”

Beau Rothermel can help them up front this year. They have a sophomore coming up that can do a nice job for them. He is Bryon Rusinko. Jake Kroh is another guy that will see some time on the line.

The strength of the defense is going to be the linebackers. They return three players from last year’s team.

They return Anthony Snyder at middle linebacker.

“He has over 200 tackles in his career. He has played his sophomore and junior year for us and is a physical tackler.”

Chase Schaeffer will be back there. Tyler Lucas played outside linebacker last year.

“We may have to move Tyler to strong safety this year.”

Also look for freshman Danny Scheib to get some playing time this year.

The Bulldogs return two of the four defensive backs from last year.

“We lost two really good defensive backs from last year. They were Cale Bruso and Tanner Coleman. They were all-league players.”

The two guys returning are Jayden Buchanan and Hunter Harner.

“Both guys have a lot of experience back there and can make plays.”

Other player’s that may play in the secondary are Tyler Lucas and Jericho Zemencik.

“We may look at some younger guys during camp and scrimmages.”

Special Teams Preview:

Tyler Lucas is the main kick and punt returner.

Both Jayden Buchanan and Chase Schaeffer can do the punting duties. Both have experience from last year.

“We lost a good kicker in Jon Snyder from last year. He was a soccer player.”

They have another soccer player coming up to do the kicking. He actually kicked for them his sophomore year. His name is Hunter Snyder.

At long snapper look for either Chase Schaeffer or Devin Schwalm to get some playing time.

Head Coach: Mike Ulicny

2013 Record: 8-3

2014 Schedule

Key Starters Lost: Devin Masser (OL-LB), Cale Bruso (TE-DB), Max Kroh (OL-DL), Gavin Kline (OL-DL), Tanner Coleman (RB-DB), Jon Snyder (K)

Offensive Starters Returning: (7)

Hunter Harner Sr QB

Anthony Snyder Sr FB

Jayden Buchanan Jr SE

Hunter Herb Jr OL

Dan Opozda Jr OL

Chase Schaeffer Jr (RB)

Tyler Lucas Jr (Fl)

Defensive Starters Returning: (7)

Hunter Harner Sr DB

Anthony Snyder Sr LB

Jayden Buchanan Jr DB

Hunter Herb Jr DL

Dan Opozda Jr DE

Chase Schaeffer Jr (LB)

Tyler Lucas Jr (LB)

Key Newcomers:

Jericho Zemencik Sr TE

Dominick Carado Sr OL

Devin Schwalm Jr OL

Willie Ward Jr OL

Bryon Rusinko So DL

Jake Kroh So DE

Tyler Dalton So DB

Danny Scheib Fr LB

Key Stats:

Hunter Harner QB: rushing – 218 carries for 1384 yards and 18 TD’s ; passing – 37 / 107 for 313 yards and 5 TD’s

Jayden Buchanan SE receiving – 13 receptions for 158 yards and 4 TD’s

Anthony Snyer LB – 131 tackles

Hunter Herb DL – 77 tackles

2014 Outlook: Tri-Valley returns a number of skill position players on both sides of the ball led by senior QB Hunter Harner on offense and senior Anthony Snyder on defense.

The biggest concern is replacing the majority of the offensive line and the heart of their defense, which was wiped out by graduation.

Numbers and depth was a problem for the Dawgs the last two year’s. We only fielded a team of about 25 players.

This year we’re going to be over 30 kids because we have 15 freshmen that signed up for the team. So the future looks nice with these numbers.

Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball

Share This Post:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks