District 11 Top Returning Players – Week 1

Written by: Duke Helm on Thursday, September 1st, 2022. Follow Duke Helm on Twitter.

DISTRICT 11 NOTES (week 1):  

 

RUNNINGBACKS: 

Alex Achenbach of Williams Valley rushed for 305 yards and scored 5 td’s in their win over Upper Dauphin.  The junior went over 2,500 yards rushing for his career (2,522 yards) and has 27 career td’s.  Achenbach already holds the school record for rushing yards in a single game when he rushed for 328 yards vs Panther Valley in 2021.  Junior Matt Machalik of Palmerton rushed for 111 yards and 2 td’s and threw for 237 yards and 4 td’s in their win over Lehighton.  In the game, Machalik eclipsed 2,000 career yards rushing and passing.  He enters week 2 with 2,101 yards rushing and 2,209 yards passing.  Machalik also hit the 50-td mark for his career, scoring 38 touchdowns and throwing 22 td passes.  Cade Christopher of Northwestern who switched from wide receiver to quarterback this year rushed for 217 yards, scored 4 td’s, threw for 54 yards and one td pass in their win over Tamaqua.  Christopher now has 33 career td’s.  Three other backs rushed for over 200 yards in week 1.  Lane Lehman of Pine Grove rushed for 216 yards and td vs Northern Lebanon.  Salvatore Capria of Jim Thorpe rushed for 213 yards and 2 td’s vs Blue Mountain and Michael Pascoe of Panther Valley rushed for 203 yards and 3 td’s vs Salisbury.  Caiden Schaffer of Central Catholic scored 4 td’s in their win over Liberty.

 

QUARTERBACKS:

Will Jacobson of Blue Mountain threw for a school record 338 yards and 3 td’s in their overtime win over Jim Thorpe.  Shane Graspy held the old record when he threw for 312 yards in a 38-30 loss to Schuylkill Haven in 2013.  It was Graspy’s last game of his career as he completed 13 of 26 passes with 3 td’s and no interceptions.  Sonny Sasso of Nazareth passed for 294 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Dieruff.  Sasso went over 2,000 yards passing for his career and currently is at 2,171 yards.  Colby Mitchell of ES South threw for 256 yards and 4 td’s in their win over PM East.  Brady O’Donnell of Lehighton threw for 247 yards and a touchdown in their loss to Palmerton.  Ben Kreitzer of Nativity threw for 215 yards and 3 td’s in their win over Wyalusing.  Travis Riefenstahl of Saucon Valley threw for 200 yards and 4 td’s in their loss to Notre Dame.

RECEIVERS:

Damian Tyminski of Pen Argyl caught a school record 13 catches for 129 yards and a td in their win over Wilson.  Austin Williams held the old record when he caught 10 passes in a game in 2008.  Tyminski already owns the single season school records for catches (43) and reception yardage (780) that he set last year as a sophomore.  Nick Ryan of Shenandoah Valley caught 11 passes for 202 yards and 2 td’s in their loss to CMVT.  Joey Vevasis holds both the reception and reception yardage school records when he caught 15 passes for 215 yards last year vs Panther Valley.  Nekhi Spencer of ES South caught 6 passes for 166 yards and 3 td’s in their win over PM East.  Mason Kuehner of Nazareth caught 4 passes for 158 yards (39.5 avg) and 2 td’s in week 1 vs Dieruff.

 

2022 single-game highs: ( ) is the week the player accomplished the stat

Single Game Touchdowns (4)

5 (1) Alex Achenbach (Williams Valley)

4 (1) Cade Christopher (Northwestern)

4 (1) Caiden Schaffer (Central Catholic)

 

Single Game Rushing Yardage (200)

305 (1) Alex Achenbach (Williams Valley)

217 (1) Cade Christopher (Northwestern)

216 (1) Lane Lehman (Pine Grove)

203 (1) Michael Pascoe (Panther Valley)

 

Single Game Passing Yardage (200)

338 (1) Will Jacobson (Blue Mountain)  *School Record*

294 (1) Sonny Sasso (Nazareth)

256 (1) Colby Mitchell (ES South)

247 (1) Brady O’Donnell (Lehighton)

237 (1) Matt Machalik (Palmerton)

215 (1) Ben Kreitzer (Nativity)

200 (1) Travis Riefenstahl (Saucon Valley)

 

Single Game TD Passes (4)

4 (1) Matt Machalik (Palmerton)  *Ties School Record*

4 (1) Travis Riefenstahl (Saucon Valley)

4 (1) Colby Mitchell (ES South)

 

Single Game Receptions (10)

13 (1) Damian Tyminski (Pen Argyl)  *School Record*

11 (1) Nick Ryan (Shenandoah Valley)

 

Single Game Reception Yardage (140)

202 (1) Nick Ryan (Shenandoah Valley)

166 (1) Nekhi Spencer (ES South)

158 (1) Mason Kuehner (Nazareth)

 

Single Game Reception TD’s (3)

3 (1) Nekhi Spencer (ES South)

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