Bombers, Hurricanes meet for 2A football title

Speed versus strength.

District championship games often showcase matchups that area football fans don’t get to see during the regular season. Such is the case with this year’s District 11 2A Championship game, featuring Palmerton from the Colonial League against Schuylkill Haven from the Schuylkill League.

For the second consecutive season, the Bombers will take on the Hurricanes to see who can take home the gold.

The matchup could boil down to the No. 1-seeded Bombers (8-3) speed and athleticism at the skill positions, against the No. 2-seeded Hurricanes (7-4) strength up front along with their power running game.

A key for Palmerton right out of the gate will be on the defensive side of the ball, as the Schuylkill Haven offensive line is big and strong, and it also has a talented sophomore tailback in Kobe Brish.

Brish was impressive a year ago in his freshman season, nearly rushing for 1,000 yards. But in his sophomore campaign he’s been downright dynamic, rushing for 2,325 yards, at 9.2-yards-per-carry, with a video game-like 35 touchdowns. Brish is averaging 211 rushing yards and three touchdowns per contest. As a team, the Hurricanes are averaging over 300 yards per game on the ground.

“It’s no secret that Schuylkill Haven is a physical, heavy run team and we’re going to need to match that physicality up front. Brish is tough, and the key for us is not to let him get going,” said Bombers head coach Chris Walkowiak. “We need to get penetration up front, and we also need to have all of our guys in constant pursuit of the football. There needs to be a lot of our blue jerseys surrounding him when he runs it.”

The Hurricanes defense will see a much different offense than they’ve seen over the past few weeks. Since getting into their Schuylkill League Division 2 slate in Week 5 of the season, the Hurricanes average margin of victory has been just under 49 points. That’s including a Week 10 30-0 victory over rival Blue Mountain.

Still, Schuylkill Haven has not seen a group of athletic skill players the caliber of Palmerton’s since Week 4 when it faced off against North Schuylkill.

Senior quarterback Tekoah Guedes will lead the charge in the Bombers’ spread offensive attack. Guedes has been one of the more versatile players in District 11 this season. He’s thrown for 1,623 yards and 14 scores, while rushing for 1,057 yards and 20 touchdowns.

But Guedes is not the only weapon in the Bombers formation, as they boast a host of talented skill players.

At wide receiver, any of several players could have a big night. Sophomore Jordan Nelson leads the bunch with 521 yards. He’s been the big-play target for Guedes, averaging over 16 yards per catch with six touchdowns. Mike Eckhart and Cody Waterhouse are coming off big games last week in the District 11 2A semi against Catasauqua. Eckhart has 422 yards on the season, while Waterhouse is fourth on the team in receptions with 20.

Running back Andrew Sabo has also been effective at both rushing, and catching the ball out of the backfield. He has 463 yards rushing and ranks second on the team with 34 catches.

The Schuylkill Haven defense is one that has been improving week-in and week-out. It took the ‘Canes a little bit to get going, but they are now playing their best football of the season.

“Defensively, early in the season, you could tell we weren’t playing with confidence, I don’t think the trust was there in the middle after losing our starting linebackers, but now the confidence; and trust is there,” said Hurricanes head coach Mike Farr. “We’ve been getting better every week defensively. I like the way our defense matches up with their offense; we’re really geared to stopped the spread, we just need to keep getting better and limit them to short yardage plays and get pressure on their quarterback.”

With the abundance of skill players at the Bombers disposal, spreading out their opponent and getting the ball to their athletes in space is always their main objective.

In order for Palmerton to do that, its offensive line will need to protect Guedes, especially this week against an aggressive Schuylkill Haven 3-4 defense that likes to bring pressure from anywhere and everywhere.

“It’s no secret or surprise what kind of defense we are. We’re an attack-first defense that’s not going to sit back and read and react,” said Farr. “We’re going to attack and try to get pressure on the quarterback, and try to make the pocket a very uncomfortable place.”

The Hurricanes have been known to bring five, six, and even seven players on a blitz, which obviously puts a lot of pressure on their opponents’ offensive line. The ‘Canes are averaging almost three sacks per game, and an even more impressive eight tackles for loss per game.

Schuylkill Haven is led by Nathan Reedy, who has seven sacks on the season. Austin Yoder and Jake Luckenbill have also had success getting to the quarterback, as both have recorded six sacks.

“They like to bring blitzes from all over the place, so when we see they’re in a blitz package, our guys up front need to communicate and that’s something our offensive line group has improved on. But communicating is going to be one of the biggest things we need to do,” said Walkowiak. “Then, of course, we need to pick up that blitz and get the ball out quickly.

“We’re going to continue to do what we do, which is spread teams out and let our athletes make plays in space. We just need to make sure on every down we’re communicating and then executing, and the rest will take care of itself.”