Welcome Back Pennsylvania High School Football: COVID-19 Doesn’t Stop Wyoming Area and Hazelton @HAHS_COUGARS_FB @WaScoreboard

Tagged under: District 2, Gameday Hub, News

TC Jones | September 5, 2020

If you would have asked me a month ago if we would be reporting high school football scrimmages tonight, I probably would have had my doubts. With the Philadelphia Public League, the Philly Catholic League, and the rest of District 12 postponing their seasons at the beginning of August, I was wondering if the majority of other school districts across the state follow suit.

Fortunately, most school districts waited for the recommendations from the PIAA and were patient as the COVID numbers in Pennsylvania continued to decrease. And because the residents of the state, the school districts, and the high school athletic teams have taken precautions seriously, tonight we are finally playing high school football in Pennsylvania.

Normally, I’d be covering games in the Philly Metro area, but since most of the school districts in southeastern Pennsylvania bailed on fall sports prematurely, I found myself covering tonight’s scrimmage between two Pocono area schools: the Wyoming Area Warriors and the Hazelton Cougars.

Scrimmages are a time for teams to get their feet wet during the first live-action of the year; an opportunity to try some new sets and personnel, so it isn’t always easy to get an accurate gauge on how scrimmage action will translate into game action in the following weeks. That said, I was able to find some takeaways and highlight some strengths for both teams.

Hazleton
Keep in mind that much of the Cougar’s team were wearing practice jerseys, so I wasn’t able to match up players to their numbers in every case. That said, here are some of my observations.

—I like Hazelton’s QB play: Mixing in shotgun sets and quick throws to the sideline and across the middle along with some power sets highlighting play action, the Hazelton quarterback consistently made good decisions. Instead of forcing the ball downfield, he consistently connected with open receivers running short routes. When he did challenge the Wyoming defense with downfield passes they tended to be a bit overthrown, but as the season progresses the Cougars should see some success with the deep passing game.

–Receivers run solid routes: Especially on the short to mid routes, the Hazelton receivers were getting plenty of separation and most seem to have pretty good hands. 

Wyoming

—Balanced offense: The Warriors will keep opponents on their toes with a balanced attack. Senior quarterback Jack Williams does a nice job making throws on the run with precision accuracy and junior receiver Usamah Alansari’s trusted hands make his job easier. A trio of tough, power-style running backs excel at gaining yardage after contact — the type of run game that will wear defenses down. 

–Controlling the clock: With three solid running backs and a quarterback making solid decisions, Wyoming will excel at controlling the time of possession. If they score early, opponents will be playing catch-up for the rest of the game. 

–Right side of the offensive line creates holes: The bruisers on the right side of the offensive line make the running backs’ jobs easier. These guys were making big holes all evening. 

–Big Leg: Senior kicker Sydney Kruszka was perfect with a 33-yard field goal which easily would have been good from 43 yards.

–Linebackers and secondary defending the run and pass: The Warrior’s linebackers and secondary were steady against the run and showed solid coverage in the passing game as well. Quarterback/safety Jack Williams had a huge pass breakup on an important 4th and 16 as Hazelton was driving with momentum. 

COVID makes for strange times

Covid-19 precautions are going to make for some strange times throughout this season, highlighted by this evening’s final “handshake” between the teams. Instead of lining up and slapping hands with the opposing team, the Cougars and Warriors lined up on the hash marks and waved to each other from afar. 

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