Colonial League, District 11 2A champ Pen Argyl worked hard for its smooth ride

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Paul Reduzzi spent the first 12 weeks of the 2011 season trying to figure out ways to make Pen Argyl's football team better.

Perhaps a new wrinkle in the offense, a variation on the Green Knights' defensive scheme or a motivational speech from an outside source.

For 12 weeks, whatever Reduzzi and his staff presented the team with, the players executed and met all challengers.

The domination in those three months left Reduzzi wondering if the team was due for a clunker, a dog of a performance.



The fifth-year coach said as much to a teaching colleague in the Belvidere (N.J.) School District, where he spends each weekday until 1:45 p.m.

"My concern before the [Wilkes-Barre] GAR game was that the kids hadn't played poorly, hadn't had that down game and it was late in the season," Reduzzi recalled. "There was no time entering a game on a Friday night or leaving a practice on a Friday afternoon when I was concerned.

"I was concerned we had that [bad] game in us."

Much to Reduzzi's delight, Pen Argyl didn't play poorly in the program's first state playoff game in a decade, beating District 2 champion GAR by mercy rule. The club didn't stink up the South Philly Athletic Super Site the following weekend against defending state champion West Catholic, even though the Green Knights' season ended that day with a 32-7 loss.

Pen Argyl's season ended proudly at 13-1, with Colonial League and District 11 Class 2A championship banners made to hang in the school.

For that, Pen Argyl is The Morning Call All-Area Team of the Year.

As of last week, Reduzzi hadn't watched the film from the West Catholic game, when disputed calls on three trips to the Burrs' 1-yard line all went against the Green Knights. His players hadn't asked for their copy of the game film, either.

It wasn't because they weren't proud of their performance. They just expected near-perfect execution every week.

"This senior class had both the leadership and maturity," Reduzzi said. "They all knew what had to be done at practice. Very rarely did we have to repeat anything to them. They knew what it took. They understood what they had to put into it.

"They worked hard when they were 3-7 [in 2008]. This is a competitive group. They got the younger kids to know what was expected of them every day."

Pen Argyl's seniors, led by record-breaking running back Dylan Evans, two-way linemen Kirby Mutton and J.T. Krincek, and stellar defensive standout Zach Miller, finished their careers on a 22-3 run.

They have established a level of performance the underclassmen will have to work just as hard to achieve.

"We dropped a punt against Northern Lehigh and dropped a couple of balls against North Schuylkill," Reduzzi recalled of the club's two losses in 2010. "It's hard to say we got [ripped off] when 15 penalties were called in our favor [this year against West Catholic].

"There was no prejudice by the officials against us. Three calls, all within a yard of the goal line, went against us. They were compounded on that stage."

Until the West Catholic game, the only real stress the Pen Argyl coaches and players faced this year was in a Week 6 showdown with defending league champion Northern Lehigh.

Leading up to the second quarter of that game and not again until the second quarter of the West Catholic game, Pen Argyl didn't trail.

In 10 league games, the Knights outscored opponents 374 to 49. The first-team defense gave up three touchdowns in those 10 contests.

"Whatever the situation, they expected to win," Reduzzi said. "That has carried them through from the time they were younger than high school.

"When they were young and played a good Wilson team, they came out of that game upset with the loss, for letting it happen."

Several of the Pen Argyl seniors will play football in college. Evans may try to play football and baseball at some point. Mutton, lineman Zach Savercool, Miller and lineman Jeremy Hempeler have good chances to play four more years.

Quarterback Conor Gum and J.T. Krincek may focus only on academics, but football isn't out of the question.

There are several other future college players with high school eligibility, including tight end/defensive end Scott Beltz and running back Mikey Racciato, both of whom are juniors.

Sophomores Mike DePaolo, Brady Mutton, Ryan Hunt and Nick Oyer are others who have tasted success and will inherit more responsibility in 2012.

Others still who did not see as much time on the field will be better prepared, according to Reduzzi.

"[A lot] of the competition in games next year will be less than what they saw in practice as the scout team," he said. "They'll see they're not going up against Kirby or Zach Miller."

As other Colonial League players can attest, that wasn't the most fun thing to do in 2011.

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