Spartans' playmakers get the job done during playoff run

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Toughness is great.

But when everyone overlooks other valuable assets of a team in order to fit it into a neat definition of tough (plodding, gargantuan, incapable of feeling pain), then tough becomes pejorative.

North Schuylkill has been labeled by everyone as tough, but that's not good enough for head coach Rick Geist and his corps of athletes. They're not just tough guys.

"We have athletes," Geist insisted in his office while sketching play diagrams on Wednesday. "You have to be both. You have to be tough, but you have athletes or else you won't win. Twelve and zero, you have to have some athletes."

Because of oft-reported bad field conditions at Spartan Stadium, fans of the team have adopted the name "Mudders" for the undefeated team.

And North Schuylkill is suited to play in deteriorating field conditions, but in each playoff win, big plays have been made by the Spartans' cast of overshadowed athletes. Zach Parnell has made a huge catch to move the chains and set up scores in each district win. Steve Ennis has scored the game-winning touchdowns in both of the Spartans wins against Panther Valley. And Zach Hogan leads the team in interceptions, and made a spectacular leaping catch in the Pen Argyl game to keep the Spartans' offense going.

Against Panther Valley, all anyone could talk about in the way of playmakers was the Panthers' kids, and they're good, but in the end, North Schuylkill's kids made more plays. The only evidence you need to support that conclusion is that they're playing this Saturday against Northern Lehigh at Mahanoy Area for the District 11 Class AA Championship.

The Spartans still feel underappreciated in the eyes of most outsiders, and quite frankly, disrespected. And is it on their minds as they prepare this week?

"Probably, because I always tell them," Geist said, feeding more grist into the mill.

But Geist likes his playmakers, and knows that without this group of kids the Spartans would more than likely be sitting at home on Saturday eating leftovers.

"We have kids that make plays when you have to make a play," Geist said.

Parnell was a soccer star who had only played one year of mini football and a year of midgets before this year.

Now he stretches defenses with a 24.6 yard-per-catch average, and has three interceptions on defense.

But after catching a 61-yard pass for a touchdown other teams do pay attention to Parnell.

"At first they weren't looking at me too much, but as the games went on they started hearing my name and they had to cover me," Parnell said. "They already knew about (Ennis), so it worked for opening things up for both me and him when we're both out there on the field."

Ennis has matched Parnell's 12 catches for the team lead. Each has three receiving touchdowns.

Both have helped quarterback Tom Ferrari complete 50 percent of his passes.

"When we're out there, we're really efficient because we know we're not going to throw the ball a lot," Ennis said. "When we do throw the ball, all three of us work together. It doesn't matter who is getting the ball thrown to them, but we know we have a really good chance at catching it."

Both also object to the idea that their Spartans' team is unathletic compared to opponents.

"We'd been hearing since the week of that first game that we played them," Parnell said, about how popular opinion had the Spartans and Panther Valley as polar opposites. "And they're right, they do have a lot of good athletes in (Josh) Dunn and (Casey) Lawrence, but I like to think of it as they have a three-headed monster, but we have the 11-headed monster."

Ennis calls the defenses that held what was a potent Panthers' offense to only 284 yards and four turnovers. And Ennis, who is one of seven seniors to stick out all four years in the program, has seen it all.

"I've been in the system for three years calling the signals so I've seen just about everything," Ennis said. "Coach depends on me to call the coverages and put the secondary where it needs to be. It's working out."

Where Geist wants his team to be labeled as toughness-without-apology is in the mental aspect of the game, which obviously Ennis has excelled. It's rubbing off on others in the program.

"If you have mental toughness and discipline and they come out in I-backs, split backs, T-backs or shotgun, we teach our kids what they can run out of so even if we don't see a team do that on film and they line up in that, then we have some idea," Geist said. And as long as you know that...

"Do simple stuff and if you have kids that can play, it works. You don't need to be real complicated."

Ennis, Parnell and Hogan, not to be forgotten with eight catches and six interceptions, are also members of the defending Schuylkill League championship basketball team, and although practice started last Friday, they're perfectly happy still watching football film.

"They're doing the hard part now in basketball, I'm fine playing for district title.

"A district title, and then whatever happens," Ennis said, although he knows if the Spartans win on Saturday there are two more games to be played until the Spartans could make their first appearance in Hershey.