Hofmann slices up Salisbury

Northern Lehigh Quarterback Dylan Hofmann may not possess the prototypical frame of a dominant signal caller, however his knowledge and skills in the game of football more than make up for it.

The 'Dawgs leading man gave Salisbury a taste of his talents last Friday night. Hofmann went 11-15 for 185 yards passing and also ran for a touchdown to earn the week five TIMES NEWS Player of the Week award. It marks the second week in a row that a Northern Lehigh player (Trevor Yashur) has been given the award and it reflects as the Bulldogs are 5-0 (5-0 Colonial) this season. Hofmann knows he has a talented bunch of athletes around him and that it makes his job at quarterback a lot easier.

"I said coming into the season that there was no way we could replace the play-makers we had last year," said Hofmann. "We have some great play-makers of our own though with Yashur, (David) Getz, (Kirk) Bender, (Caleb) Johnson and a lot of different guys. Yashur got this award last week, and this week we just happened to have a lot of success through the air. It makes it hard for other team's defenses to key on just one guy."

In the off-season most players turn up the volume for their senior campaign knowing that ten games is all they have left, and Hofmann's effort certainly has shown on the football field.

"We all have a good work ethic here," said Hofmann. "I'm a wrestler too, so I don't get to be in the weightroom that much with the team in the winter. I decided to take a year off from baseball so I could lift in the spring and be stronger for this year and I think it helped me and the team out a lot."

Northern Lehigh Head Coach Joe Tout knows he has a great leader and player with Hofmann.

"Anybody who knows anything about our program knows that we are a run-first type of team," said Tout. "You have to give Dylan a lot of credit because he really excels at everything we ask him to do. He was on the money last week and the four incompletions he had were all on plays where he made good decisions and the right reads."

Hofmann has enjoyed the success the Bulldogs have had this season, but knows there are some tough teams ahead of them before the regular season comes to an end.

"As long as everybody does their job, I think we will be fine," said Hofmann. "We stress that a lot, that everybody has to do their part every week in practice and in games. Our group of seniors have been playing together since we have been six-years-old and it means a lot for us to start peaking as these tougher teams are coming up on our schedule. We are all looking forward to the challenge in the upcoming weeks."

Hofmann is right on target with the fact that the Bulldogs have some tough opponents coming up in the next five weeks. This Friday the Bulldogs have a huge match-up with undefeated Pen Argyl (5-0), then host Northwestern (4-1), travel to Bangor (5-0), welcome Catasauqua (5-0), and then finish up the season at Palmerton (3-2).

Even with the challenging schedule ahead the Bulldogs seem poised to take on all comers. With players like Hofmann, they look to be in position to do so.