Schetroma and Inch now playing together

SELINSGROVE - Kenny Schetroma and Aaron Inch butted heads for two years on opposite sides of a growing Southern Columbia-Line Mountain rivalry.

Now the two are on the same defense at Susquehanna University, a defense that is loaded with young talent.

Joining them is Cody Jones, a Southern Columbia graduate, who is finally getting on the field after a string of bad luck.

Schetroma, a Southern Columbia grad, made the decision out of high school to go to Susquehanna, where he has flourished.

In his freshman year, Schetroma was sixth in total tackles for the Crusaders with 53, while racking up 5½ sacks.

Susquehanna head coach Steve Briggs wasn't surprised at all at Schetroma's ability to step right in and play well in his first year.

"Kenny started from the first game on. We knew when we recruited him and saw him on film, that quite frankly we got a steal there," Briggs said. "I think he ended up being one of the best in the Liberty League a year ago. And I don't know if there's a conspiracy against rewarding freshmen, but we really felt that the way he played as a freshman that he deserved some accolades."

To ensure he doesn't get bypassed this season, and to help replace some of the production lost along the defensive front, Schetroma added 35 pounds to his 6-foot frame to weigh in at 280. But with the extra weight, Schetroma kept the quickness which made him so lethal last year.

"He's our leader on the front," Briggs said. "He was big and strong, but he got bigger and stronger."

Also, Schetroma worked on the mental side of the game.

"Over spring ball I improved my technique, my block recognition and play recognition," Schetroma said. "I think I should have a stronger season than I had last year."

Inch, who initially enrolled and played his freshman year at Delaware Valley College, transferred to Susquehanna in January.

At Delaware Valley, Inch recorded 11 tackles while playing on special teams, but would have been behind two-time All-American Kyle Gesswein at linebacker.

"I just wanted to be closer to home," Inch said. "Del Val was pretty far away, and I missed being around my friends and family. It's nice to be able to come out here and have some home fans.

"I came up here and I get the opportunity to play, and I'm looking forward to it."

Although Inch had his heart set on Delaware Valley all throughout high school, it turned out that it wasn't the place for him, and so he came home.

"I was so set on Del Val that I didn't look anywhere else," Inch said. "Coach Briggs actually invited me over to watch a game one time, but I kind of blew it off. I was so set to go to Del Val that I didn't look anywhere else, or give anyone else a chance."

To be fair, Inch wasn't very heavily recruited by Susquehanna, despite being an all-state player.

"We knew about him, and quite frankly I didn't recruit him hard out of high school, which is a mistake by me," Briggs said. "He transferred in January and now he's our starting Mike (middle linebacker)."

What made Inch's transition to Susquehanna easier was a friendship between him and Schetroma.

"We played in the District 4 all-star game together, and we got to be really good friends and everything. We were enemies in high school," Inch said jokingly, "but once you get to college you forget all about high school. We're teammates, we're like best friends now."

"We shoot the breeze about it all the time," Schetroma said. "We bust on each other because he got me junior year, and we got him our senior year."

Jones will be Susquehanna's starting left guard, finally realizing why he was recruited after dealing with a number of injuries in his first three years.

"Cody has had extremely bad luck here, up until now," Briggs said. "He's been battling everything from shoulders to sickness and then he was jumping around recreationally and broke his leg two summers ago. We lost him for a whole year. When he came back we challenged him in the weight room to lose weight and become stronger, and he was our offensive MVP of the spring."

Briggs was quick to compliment Jones on his technique and hard work.

"About a week or two before my sophomore year, I broke my leg and that whole season was squandered for me," Jones said. "I missed every bit of it and most of the next spring, and the next season I was still having problems. This year finally it seems I am where I should be.

"There was a chance that I might not even be back. But I was watching Monday Night Football and Ron Jaworski said that he broke his leg and it took nearly two years to really feel like he was ready to go again. It was just a month ago that it was two years, so I feel like my leg is finally 100 percent."

Susquehanna joins yet another new conference this season, leaving the Liberty Conference, where the Crusaders won the 2009 league title but had to travel a considerable distance for games in New York, for the Centennial League, which is home to teams like Juniata and Gettysburg.

"Counting the MAC this is our third conference in four years," Briggs said. "It's new challenges now. We're playing against teams that we recruited against forever here. We know them well and travel is much easier than what it had been."

Briggs isn't sure what the first year in the Centennial League brings, but expects his team to be competitive with most of the roster having seen considerable time last year.

"We had 14 seniors a year ago. This group isn't a big senior group but has experience."