Pen Argyl Area High School's Kirby Mutton makes football look like a snap

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Kirby Mutton is a center and defensive tackle for Pen Argyl Area High School's football team, which is another way of saying he lives his athletic life largely in obscurity.

Well, maybe he's not noticed by a lot of us but his work certainly doesn't go undetected by his coaches, especially by head coach Paul Reduzzi, who has a special place in his heart for players such as Mutton.

"In the offense we play in, Kirby is called upon to make a lot of different snaps and he also long-snaps for us on punts, extra points and field goals," Reduzzi says. "In the three years he's been in the program, I can't remember him making a bad snap."

Mutton is a 6-foot-3, 265-pound junior who has outstanding feet for a player his size. On one play in Pen Argyl's 35-28 win over Northwestern on Saturday, Mutton made his normal shotgun snap to Dylan Evans out of the Green Knights' wildcat formation, then ran laterally along the line of scrimmage to block onrushing linebacker Ty Cunningham.

The block was a crunching one and Evans scored on a 57-yard run, the fourth of his five touchdowns for the afternoon.

"I like to long-snap," says Mutton, one of the unsung heroes on the Green Knights 7-1 team. "Lots of players don't want any part of it but I enjoy it. You have to get rid of the ball and then make your block. You might have to block a nose guard, a tackle or even a linebacker. Your first and second steps are very important."

Mutton, like a lot of youngsters his size, wasn't able to play pee wee or midget football because he always exceeded the weight limit. But instead of staying indoors and becoming a couch potato, he went out for fall baseball.

Interestingly, he's a left-handed pitcher on the Pen Argyl baseball team, one of several things he does as a southpaw. But he snaps the football with his right hand and does many other endeavors, including eating, with his right as well.

"He's a good wrestler, too," Reduzzi says. "And I mean he really wrestles. He doesn't just roll around on the mat like a lot of kids his size do."

He doesn't roll around on the football field, either. The guys that are doing the rolling are usually the players Mutton just blocked.

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