Unforgettable week for Line Mountain

Anybody who attended last Saturday's Jim Thorpe football game watched as the Olympians struggled against a potent Line Mountain offense.

The Eagles, a Class A school out of District 4, racked up an amazing 604 yards en route to a 62-32 victory at Panther Valley Stadium.

But the struggles Thorpe had in trying to shut down the running of Kyle Troutman (220 yards, three touchdowns) and the balance of quarterback Marty Beninsky (two TD runs, two TD passes) was minimal compared to what Line Mountain had to deal with in the week leading up to the non-league contest.

After the Labor Day vacation, the team (like many throughtout Eastern Pennsylvania) was forced to practice indoors on Tuesday (Sept. 6) due to rain. The squad finished their warm-ups and were ready to start another drill when something happened to senior Connor Laudenslager.

The 6-2, 270-pound two-way lineman took ill and had to leave practice by ambulance. As it turned out, the player was forced to have surgery that evening for an apparent blood clot to the brain.

Having to deal with the emotions of watching their teammate taken to the hospital because of a stroke, Line Mountain players went to school the following day probably a bit shaken. But soon after arriving, they were forced to leave.

Due to the rain and rising river levels throughout the area, the district sent students home early. The junior and senior high schools, located in Herndon in Northumberland County, left out at 10 a.m.

Because of the dismissal, football practice was cancelled.

As it turned out, school was called off again Thursday and Friday.

"It's the weirdest and nothing else has ever come close," said Line Mountain coach Mike Carson about his team's week before playing the Olympians.

"We had a player have a stroke at practice Tuesday. We're in the gym because it's pouring cats and dogs. So it was very difficult to have our minds where they needed to be. The kid had emergency brain surgery Tuesday night. He's showing remarkable progress. We're really happy about that.

"But that was just the beginning of our week. The kids came in to school Wednesday and got sent home within an hour. We weren't allowed to practice. We didn't have school Thursday, we weren't allowed to practice. We didn't have school Friday. We weren't allowed to come in to use school facilities.

"Our last real practice was Wednesday before the Southern (Columbia) game (in Week One). It showed a lot in the first half."

Jim Thorpe was able to hang close with the highly touted Eagles, who are one of the teams to watch in Class A of the most recent rankings released by The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, trailing by just a 34-26 score at halfime.

But thanks to some adjustments made at the break, Carson's club - a member of the Twin Valley Conference - pulled away down the stretch.

"We were behind the eight ball in about every way you could possibly be behind the eight ball," said Carson, who is in his 18th year as a head coach. "I'm just happy to leave healthy and with a win."

And for the players involved, they also left with the memories of one unforgettable week.

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Speaking of high school football and unforgettable, kudos again go out to Lehighton and Panther Valley.

After having the good idea to renew their rivalry by holding a Thursday night game (which started in 2008), the two schools bettered the tradition this year by turning it into the "Bo Tkach Foundation Under the Helmet Football Classic."

The evening featured several announcements about the Foundation, whose mission is to create awareness for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and other mental health issues while providing essential funding for youth athletic programs, scholarships and otherwise inaccessible individual mental health screening and treatment.

While last night's contest turned out to be one-sided, athletes from both teams will surely remember the game as special. In fact, years from now they may be telling their own children that they played in that first game.

And hopefully, when that time comes, the battle against depression and other mental diseases that affect so many will be an easier one to fight.

For more information on the Bo Tkach Foundation, visit www.botkach.com