Northern Lebanon

By Pat Huggins

phuggins@GameTimePA.com

@phuggsports on Twitter

Its 3-7 record says that Northern Lebanon wasn’t a very good football team last season.

The Vikings, though, beg to differ a little bit with the story the numbers told. And this time around, they’re looking to make sure those numbers provide a more accurate representation of the kind of team they believe they really are.

Yes, Northern Lebanon went 3-7 a season ago, but had the ball bounced its way – or if it had made it bounce in the right direction – a little more often, that record could well have been flipped around.

Consider this: The Vikings began 2013 with three straight losses by a total of just 11 points, and two of its other losses came by scores of 17-7 and 33-21. The latter score came in a respectable week nine loss to Donegal, the Section Three champ, and NL followed that up by closing out the season with a grinding 9-7 win at Columbia.

So, Northern Lebanon may not have been a good team in 2013, but it wasn’t bad, either.

“For the adversity that we went through last year, our kids handled it well,” said Northern Lebanon’s fifth-year head coach Roy Wall. “And the good thing is most of them are back. We lost about five seniors, and of the five only four of them were starters. We have a lot of people back, both offensively and defensively.”

Among those returning are senior quarterback Isaac Ray and classmate Dominic Trader, the Vikes’ top running back. Needless to say, both are anxious for history to not repeat itself.

“That was pretty tough,” said Ray, entering his third season as the starting QB, of last season’s narrow defeats. “Just the close ones, where it was freak things. But we fought back and finished out the season decent. It should have been better, but I think this year we gotta learn from that and make our own luck in those games and don’t let the circumstances take it from us.”

“I feel like we’re prepared,” Trader said. “I feel like, any close games, we’re gonna be on top this time. This year, I feel like we should win.”

The Vikings appear to have more than just belief on their side.

In addition to having an experienced trigger man in Ray and the explosive running of Trader, Northern Lebanon’s option attack will also feature playmaking senior slot backs Mason Yost and Travis Gates and an experienced offensive line that includes physical junior guard Matt Vines and senior tackles Andrew Fox and Jake Funck. Juniors George Thompson and Damian DiAngelis round out the interior line group returnees, along with senior tight end John Randolph.

Defensively, the Vikings will look a little different, as Wall looks to employ as many one-way players as possible with an eye toward keeping his players as fresh as possible.

Vines, whom Wall describes as “our most disruptive player,” will anchor the defensive line and be joined by Joe Kerstetter and DiAngelis up front.

Randolph will handle one of the linebacker spots, as will sophomore Luke Funck and senior Mike Hauck, a former soccer player who also serves as the Vikes’ place kicker.

Senior Andrew Deitzler returns at safety, and Kahjey Warren, David Gerth, Yost and Gates will also be in the middle of the secondary play. In addition, freshman Christian Trader, Dominic’s brother, is in the mix for playing time at cornerback.

“We want to have as many one-way players as we can,” Wall said. “We want to get as many kids on the field as possible. When you get into a close game in the fourth quarter, it makes a difference. I think we finally have enough depth this year that we’ll be playing 18 to 20 kids.”

And if those plans work out, and the Vikes avoid a sense of deja vu in close games, they could end up sticking their nose in the Section Three title scrap.

With Garden Spot moving up to Section Two and a struggling Ephrata joining the Section Three ranks, the race for first place may be as crowded as it’s been in some time.

“It’s competitive,” said Wall said of the section. “Donegal’s obviously the team to beat, but they’ve got a lot of holes to replace. It’s wide open. Everybody in here has a legitimate case that they have a shot at it, and that’s great.”