Nazareth Area High School's Dan Harding plans to match Central Catholic's Brendan Nosovitch pass for pass

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Dan Harding has shoehorned his way into the conversation, and the discourse is an interesting one.

His Nazareth Area High School football team will be playing a key Lehigh Valley Conference football game against Central Catholic on Saturday night at J. Birney Crum Stadium, and Harding will be on the same field with Brendan Nosovitch in a matchup of top quarterbacks in The Express-Times region.

Harding has been spectacular in Nazareth's unbeaten start, throwing for 1,138 yards, completing more than 70 percent of his passes, 12 of which have gone for touchdowns. His efficiency rating is 211.9.

Nosovitch was named Pennsylvania's Gatorade Player of the Year last fall after leading the Vikings to a 16-0 season and the PIAA Class AAA championship. He's already committed to play for Steve Spurrier at the the University of South Carolina.

During Nosovitch's sophomore season in 2009, the Vikings came to Andrew Leh Stadium and walked off with a 38-21 victory, a win that helped propel Central Catholic to the LVC and District 11 Class AAA titles. Nosovitch, in addition to playing quarterback, played free safety in that game, a position he's played sporadically since that fall.

But Harding and Nazareth coach Rob Melosky both believe they'll be seeing Nosovitch somewhere in the secondary in addition to playing quarterback.

"That would really be interesting," said Harding, who hasn't made his college choice but is looking at schools on the Football Championship Subdivision level. "He's a great player. We both play (high school) basketball, so I've got to know him a little bit through that. He's a good guy; I look forward to competing against him."

Harding has been characterized as somewhat of a late bloomer but he doesn't put much stock in that perception.

"I don't really consider myself a late bloomer," he said. "I always had faith in my abilities. (Quarterback coach) Dan Kendra has really helped me, though, working on the little things. The things he's helped me with have been on my footwork, ball handling and recognizing coverages. And he makes it fun, too. It's been a pleasure to work with him."

Kendra was a standout quarterback at Central Catholic from 1971-73 and went on to a record-setting career at West Virginia University.

The 6-foot-4 Harding has been outstanding at picking out his secondary receivers when his primary targets are covered. That's reflected in the Blue Eagles' receiving stats: Four players have caught eight or more passes along with two or more touchdowns.

Twins Adam and Andrew Bridgeforth lead the way, Adam with 26 receptions for 387 yards and three TDs and Andrew with 11 receptions for 298 yards and five scores. Dan Shepherd has nine catches for 136 and two TDs, and Alex Tonnies has added eight for 196 and a pair of scores.

Freshman running back Jordan Gray paces the ground game with 331 yards on 42 carries (7.9 yards per carry) and four TDs.

"Dan knows that this game is not between him and Nosovitch but between Central Catholic and Nazareth," Melosky said. "The match-up of those two is something that the media and fans look at. But Danny still wants to prove something. He wants to show he can lead his team to victory over a very good football team."

Though some fans may figure Saturday's game to be a shootout, Melosky said people may be surprised.

"I'd prefer it not be a track meet, but people are probably expecting that because of our Easton game (a 35-28 win) and the Liberty game (a 42-41 win)," he said. "But we need to be a little more enthusiastic and a little more violent on defense."

Nosovitch has excellent receivers at his disposal. Kevin Gulyas, a tough and clever wideout is already the all-time leading receiver in District 11 history in receptions (151) and yardage (2,618). His career catches broke the mark of 144 held by former Central Catholic receiver Jeff McGeehin (1971-73) and he broke the yardage record of 2,602 last week, a mark held by Wilson's Kowan Scott (2008-10).

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