FROM KEITH GROLLER
Judging by what I saw on Twitter, a lot of people were excited by Nick Shafnisky's breakout performance Saturday as the quarterback at Lehigh on Saturday.
And why not?
The freshman from Whitehall was, in the words of coach Andy Coen "super" in its first extended appearance at quarterback. Shafnisky (No. 9, below left) was 11-for-12 passing for 136 yards and two scores and also ran 13 times for 55 yards.
Christmas came early for those who were hoping Shafnisky would get a chance to play and show what he could do and that included Service Electric TV2 analyst Mike Yadush, who coached Shafnisky at Whitehall and was somewhat influential in Shafnisky's decision to exchange the maroon and gold for the brown and white.
But just as important, and in some regard, even more important, than Shafnisky's play was the upgraded effort by the Lehigh defense.
And in the midde of that improved effort was Matt Laub, the sophomore linebacker from Parkland, who had six tackles, including 2.5 for losses and 1.5 sacks. It was his best performance as a Mountain Hawk.
Co-coordinators Donnie Roberts and Gerard Wilcher shook up the defense and took the backup label off Laub, who missed a couple of games with a shoulder injury earlier in the season. He had been listed as the backup to senior captain Nigel Muhammad all season.
"Matt actually played a lot of defensive tackle today and Nigel [Muhammad] also played a lot at defensive tackle instead of just being in the 3-4 and it worked out really well," Coen said. "Matt is a really good player. We needed to get him on the field. We don't have the depth right now to just have him back up Nigel. We've got to get him more out on the field and that's why we changed it up.
"He's a tough, hard-nosed kid who loves football. He's got a bright future here as well."
Laub (No. 40 at right) loved getting to the quarterback, Holy Cross freshman Peter Pujals, in this case.
"You get a quarterback on his back this much as we did today, he's going to have that in the back of his mind every time he gets the ball," Laub said. "He knows guys are coming. With the package we were in, we were rushing a lot more. The schemes really worked."
Lehigh's defense had been torched for 48 points by Bucknell in its last game. And the bitter taste lingered.
"It definitely felt long," Laub said of the two weeks in between games. "We're treating this as a new season, these three games. We need to win out to accomplish what we set out to accomplish. We got the right amount of work and the coaches prepared us extremely well for Holy Cross."
Laub now has 15 total tackles n seven games.
Other local notables:
Noah Robb, the sophomore inside linebacker from Central Catholic, had two tackles. Robb now has 46 stops on the season, fourth best on the team.
Josh Parris, the junior from Palisades, had two catches for 18 yards, including one that went for 11. Parris has 48 catches for 435 yards and two TDs this season. He is second on the team behind Lee Kurfis, who had five receptions for 74 yards vs. Holy Cross and now has 84 for 1,169 on the season.
Matt Lippincott, the senior center from Wilson, played well up front and helped out Shafnisky with his experience. However, he was flagged for a holding call that negated a first down run.
And for Holy Cross, junior Tyler Artim, another Whitehall product, has 24 catches for 276 yards and three touchdowns season. He had one catch for 12 yards against Lehigh.
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