Mars offense hopes to take off against Montour Friday
After years of the Wing-T, the Mars football team has moved to a fast-paced spread attack installed by first-year head coach Eric Kasperowicz.
It will receive its first official test when the Planets visit Montour for a mutual season-opener Friday night.
Leading the attack will be Kasperowicz’s son, also named Eric, who received valuable experience as a freshman last year as the starting quarterback for Pine-Richland’s junior varsity team.
Receivers getting set to keep the chains moving for Mars include Hayden Mayer, Noah Nesselroad, Jacob Maple and Nate Ewing.
Nesselroad and Mayer were part of last year’s offense that struggled for much of the season. But the new scheme is expected to benefit everyone involved, including Maple and Ewing, who should bring a lot of athleticism to the receiving corps.
“Those guys are coming along,” Coach Kasperowicz said. “They’ve been working all summer and we got involved in a number of 7-on-7 tournaments with teams like Gateway, North Hills, Woodland Hills ... It’s like anything else; the more you work at it, the better you get.”
Evan Wright will be Mars’ main threat in the ground game. He rushed for over 600 yards last year and according to Coach Kasperowicz, “looks tremendous. He’s ready to go.”
Defensively, the Planets’ front will include Connor Hartle, Isaak Winters, Luka Moran and Zach Ruffner. They will be counted on to slow down Montour senior running back Brock Janeda, who looks to shoulder the brunt of carries for the Spartans after the graduation of 1,000-yard back Caleb Williams.
Janeda played well in a supporting role, gaining 599 yards.
“He has some speed, but he’s not afraid to put his head down and get the tough yards,” said Montour coach Lou Cerro, who is in his 18th season of leading the Spartans.
Montour’s hopes for 2022 rest largley on the play of junior quarterback Jake Wolfe. He saw approximately 40 snaps at the position his freshman year.
“He’s such a good athlete, I told him then that he was our quarterback of the future,” added Cerro. “He’s taken the bull by the horns.”
Wolfe passed for 733 yards and four touchdowns last year and will be throwing to a talented, yet inexperienced group of receivers.
“Hopefully, they’ll be able to perform on Friday nights,” said Cerro.
Coach Kasperowicz said of his defense: “We looked good in camp, but were below average in our scrimmage against Elizabeth Forward and Baldwin.”
John Midili, an outside linebacker, is back after leading Montour with 97 tackles in 2021.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
