Spartans take aim at 1st perfect season

North Schuylkill has never had a football team complete a regular season undefeated.The Spartans will try for it tonight, but it won't be an easy assigment.

The state's winningest program, Mount Carmel, stands in the way, and although the Red Tornadoes are only 5-4, the game is a must-win situation for them to qualify for the District Four AA playoffs, so they'll be locked and loaded for the 9-0 Spartans.

North Schuylkill coach Rick Geist doesn't care what Mount Carmel's record is. He knows the Tornadoes be tough.

"It's still Mount Carmel," Geist said. "Their quarterback (Eddie Stewart) can run, their tailback (Justin Pellowski) can run, and I think they match up pretty well with us. We're not a great big team. We have kids who are tough kids, and they've done what we needed to do to win all season. But, honest to God, we can still play a lot better."

Pellowski has run for 919 yards and 14 touchdowns, and Stewart, who has been a running threat from the outset, broke out with his arm in last week's 31-20 loss to Southern Columbia by passing for 127 yards and two touchdowns.

What has been the Spartans' best friend all season has been the big play, but as much on defense as on offense.

"The kids have made plays, and that's what football's all about," Geist said. "Somebody comes up with a sack, or a fumble recovery. I believe we have 15 interceptions."

"They are a very opportunistic team, to say the least" said Mount Carmel coach Bob Chesney. "When you try to go deep on them, their secondary has such speed that they make it very difficult. The addition of Zach Parnell back there this year has really helped them. He played soccer before this but is a great all-around athlete. He's about 6-3, so you have trouble throwing over him, too. And their other guys back there, (Zach) Hogan and (Steve) Ennis really go to the ball as well."

Geist said the opportunism of his team has not surprised him.

"I thought right from the beginning we could be good, especially with all of the kids we had back," Geist said. "We had a new quarterback and new running backs, but I knew they'd be okay. But you never know with high school kids, anyway."

Quarterback Tom Ferrari has thrown for 629 yards and nine touchdowns in a limited passing attack, and backs Scott Houser (688 yards, six TDs) and Ed Pavalko (441 yards, nine TDs) have combined for more than 1,100 yards and 15 touchdowns.

"Their bread and butter, when they get stressed offensively, is to go into that power-I, run the ball and eat up the clock," Chesney said.

Chesney said the Spartans' defensive line is big component of their success also.

"Their linebackers are good, but they really rely on the front five to put pressure on the other team," Chesney said. "We have to be able to mix it up enough that they can't just put nine people in the box against us."

Geist said he has been downplaying both the undefeated season and the upcoming playoffs with his team.

"It's still a football game, and we need to go in there and play our game," Geist said. "Everybody's been asking me about the playoffs, and it would be nice to be the number one or number two seed, but even to try and scout some of the other teams right now is hard. I wish someone would write it all down for me.

"I haven't even looked at it until today (Monday) when I had to give out scouting assignments. We like to scout two weeks ahead, and it's really tough to do that now."