District IV Playoff Previews: Class 2A/3A Semifinals

Tagged under: District 4, News, pfn, Playoffs

Billy Splain | November 10, 2023

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Mount Carmel (9-2) @ Southern Columbia (10-1) – 7:00 pm

Line Mountain (9-2) @ Troy (11-0) Friday – 7:00 pm

At 9-2, Line Mountain is holding up to preseason expectations. Their only losses came to Danville and Tri-Valley. This is one of the best Eagles teams in a while. Kaiden Maurer leads the offense behind center and has accumulated a respectable 1,200 yards, 1,000 coming in the air with 18 td passes. Nolan Baumert is the top rusher with 1,083 yards and 11 tds. The leader of this team is db/running back Ian Bates. His presence on the field commands attention, opening space for his teammates. Maurer is also a stud on defense with 129 tackles. Noah Ringes does a nice job from his middle linebacker spot as well. The Eagles are putting up 34 points per game while giving up 18. They’ll need to tighten that up against a Troy team that is just pounding opponents larger and smaller than them. Playing behind a brutal line, Quarterback Evan Woodward and back Brendan Gilliand have plenty of time to pick and choose holes. Woodward has compiled nearly 1,500 yards of offense and 25 scores. 1,111 of those came through the air. Gilliland has run for 561 yards and 9 scores and when he’s tired there are four more backs with over 200 yards rushing. The Trojans only allow 6 points per game while they score a whopping 47 per outing. No team has come within 31 points of the Trojans. Line Mountain will have to play it’s best game ever.

Warrior Run (6-5) @ Loyalsock (8-3) Friday – 7:00 pm

If you’re a Loyalsock fan, you look at the schedule and see three losses to some extremely good teams. Troy, Southern Columbia and Danville. Tyler Gee is playing like a man possessed as of late, throwing for over 500 yards in a recent game. He’s got some great targets to his. Jaylen Andrews is insane with the ball in his hands. He’s also a dangerous punt returner. Andrews and Gee have combined to break several school records for the Lancers. Gee is also the teams leading rusher with 468 yards and 8 rushing tds. He’s thrown for 2,375 yards with 28 finding the endzone. Loyalsock is averaging 32 points while giving up 19. Logan Bastian is one to watch on defense. He’s got 108 tackles and 5 sacks. Andrews has 5 interceptions. For Warrior run, they aren’t a bad team on offense. They just don’t get to the endzone enough. They’re only scoring 28 and giving up 19. Those numbers won’t do against an explosive Lancer team. Ryan Newton has had a decent year throwing for 1,944 yards and 20 tds. Colby Lebarron has run for nearly 700 and 10 scores. The Defenders are going to have to live up to their namesake and defend the goal if they want to have another game.

Lewisburg (6-5) @ Danville (10-1) Friday – 7:00 pm

The Dragons pulled of a nice win over Montoursville last week to advance to the semifinal game. Quarterback Derek Asche has been playing well as of late, as has the entire Lewisburg team. Asche doesn’t have eye popping numbers, but gets the job done. He’ll need to hit a couple deep balls to freshman Jaylen Walker to keep the Iromnen defense at bay. Walker has some talent and can get up for the grab ball.  Jeremiah Davis does the bulk of the running for the Dragons. This is a young and learning team that has a bright future. Winners of their last four straight, the Dragons will need to play lights out on defense to stop a torrid offense from Danville. Speaking of eye popping numbers, Danville’s Madden Patrick is lighting up the sky. He’s thrown for 2,579 yards with 41 tds. He did miss a game and part of another with a injury making those numbers even more impressive. He’s go a number of targets that have the ability to get open, but his number one target is Aaron Johnson. The senior wide receiver has 45 receptions for 1,125 yards with 23 td catches. Carter Raup, Cole Duffy and Cam Kiersch all have over 400 yards to their credit. Running the ball is Bo Sheptock. His 933 yards are well earned as are his 12 trips to the paint. As if this offense wasn’t enough, the Ironmen have a defense that can stop opposing offenses at will. Sheptock and Kiersch along with Landon Kehoe are a force that has helped this defense limit teams to just 13 points per game, most of those came late in the games.

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