Hunter sets Indian record

It was a record that stood for 40 years.

But it stands no more.

Last Friday night, Lehighton's Kyle Hunter picked apart Marian's secondary in leading his team to a 35-13 victory.

The senior quarterback completed 10-of-13 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown.

While no one knew it at the time, a little research discovered that his performance set a school record for most passing yards in a game.

The 296 bettered the mark of 285 set by Terry Wogenrich on Oct. 12, 1968 against East Stroudsburg.

It also earned Hunter the TIMES NEWS Player of the Week award.

"It's a great record to get especially when you compare it with the previous quarterbacks at Lehighton," said Hunter, whose high game a year ago was 132 yards. "It's a great achievement but I couldn't have been able to do that without my line, my receivers and my backs.

"We want to be balanced as a team, but (Marian) gave us some things and we took advantage of that. That pretty much allowed the passing yards to add up."

The Indians didn't move the ball that much at the start of the game, but once their signal-caller observed what the defense was giving them the balanced attack instead became an aerial assault.

"With the offense we have this year we have to mix it up a little bit," said Lehighton head coach George Ebbert. "Kyle's a weapon back there. Whenever he drops back he's always a threat to run. He did a nice job throwing the ball, though. He saw some openings in the secondary.

"He's a smart kid. He'll come off and say 'I think this is open here and we could try this play.' I pretty much listen to him. He knows what he's doing and he's in charge out there. He's an intelligent football player."

Hunter is not only a football player, but he's a three-sport athlete having played basketball and baseball.

On the diamond, it's not surprising that he's a pitcher.

"I think he throws an 80 mile-an-hour fastball, and when he was tested at camp he had a sore shoulder," said Ebbert. "He can really hum it, but he also has a nice touch on the ball. That's a bonus for us.

"He gained some experience last year and learned from that. The kids look up to him and he is definitely one of our leaders. He won't take any grief in the huddle."

During the 2008 campaign, Hunter completed 53-of-116 attempts for 769 yardsand eight touchdowns.

Last season also started poorly for the Indians, who opened with three losses.

"You always want to get off to a good start," said Hunter, who hit tight end Jacen Nalesnik three times for 135 yards and wideout Matt Rebovich twice for 98 yards. "We knew we wanted to come out strong and didn't want to start out like last year.

"Coming into the game I felt calm. I'm confident in my receivers. They catch the ball well and showed it Friday."