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'06 PA RB/LB Jeremiha Hunter (Iowa signee)

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http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2004/11/27/sports/sports01.txt

Break busts Wildcats

By Sam Butler, November 27, 2004

HERSHEY -- In football, halftime is a chance to rest ailing bodies after 24 minutes of action. It's a time for pep talks from coaches. Friday's halftime also meant something a little more for the Mechanicsburg Wildcats --a time for questions.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=JavaScript> <!-- OAS_url = 'http://oas.lee.net/RealMedia/ads/'; OAS_sitepage = 'cumberlink.com/random/'; OAS_listpos = 'Middle'; OAS_query = ''; OAS_target = '_new'; OAS_version = 10; OAS_rn = '001234567890'; OAS_rns = '1234567890'; OAS_rn = new String (Math.random()); OAS_rns = OAS_rn.substring (2, 11); function OAS_NORMAL(pos) { document.write(''); document.write('
1' + OAS_rns + '@' + OAS_listpos + '!' + pos + '
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Mechanicsburg starting quarterback Zach Frazer entered the District 3-AAA title game against Manheim Central with 3,500 passing yards, the new PIAA state single-season leader, and left the game with a dislocated index finger on this throwing hand, just before the half.

"It was tough out there," said Wildcat senior tight end Josh Koontz. "They were putting on some good hits. But, that's what football's all about. It was tough to see our guys coming out of the game like that ... though."

Senior wide receiver Seth Pehanich took the final snap of the half while Frazer grimaced in pain on the sideline.

"I heard (Frazer) yelling right away," said Barons linebacker Jeremiah Hunter. "I just thought he got the wind knocked out of him or something. - We knew we wanted to put some pressure on him. I saw he had the ball, and I thought he was going to hold on to it a little longer. But he got rid of it just as I hit him."

And with that one play Frazer was out. Frazer finished completing 23 of 36 passes for 184 yards and had an 8 yard touchdown run. He ends his record-breaking season with 3,684 passing yards.

<!--

--><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width=330 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>"It's a shame for (Mechanicsburg)," said Manheim Central head coach Mike Williams. "I feel bad for the coaches at Mechanicsburg. ... It would have been nice to win with him in there."

The Wildcats could not overcome the loss of Frazer and fell to the Barons 27-7 sending Manheim Central to the PIAA Class AAA semifinals next week.

There's something funny about Pehanich playing quarterback. He hasn't played that position since ninth grade, it's been all Frazer. The Wildcats did have a back-up quarterback in sophomore Greg Drake. But head coach Rich Lichtel decided against throwing a sophomore into the mix and went with the more experienced Pehanich.

"I never took a snap in a high school game," Pehanich said. "I thought something was wrong with Zach when coach told me to take the last snap (of the half). We all knew Zach was done when coach said, 'We're going to be a man down in the second half.' That's when I figured I'd better start warming up."

With Frazer out, Mechanicsburg decided to simplify it's offense.

All Pehanich had to do was get the ball into the very capable hands of his receivers. Easier said than done, especially when you're playing a team as strong as Manheim Central.

"We went to more of a west coast offense," wide receiver Jeremy Boone said . "It was a lot more dinks and dunks. (The receivers) realized (the Barons) were going to bring the pressure with Seth in the game, so we had to shorten our routes and come back to give him a chance."

The Barons have won 14 of the last 16 D3-AAA titles and are the defending state champs. Manheim Central also boasts a pretty good running back in Hunter (21 carries for 155 yards in the game) and a lights out defense that gave up an average of nine points and 184 yards of total offense this season.

"It was a lot different (in the second half) knowing they can't pass as well as they did in the first half," Hunter said. "(Frazer)'s a great high school football player. We knew they would keep battling without him. We knew we had to play our game."

Both of those keys for the Barons clicked in the second half as Hunter rushed for 100 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns, while the defense held the Wildcats to 37 yards of total offense in the second half and picked off two Pehanich passes.

"Our defense was on the field a lot in the second half," Pehanich said. "We had a few first downs, but mostly it was three-and-outs. That had a lot to do with me. But, credit (the Barons) they showed why they're one of the best teams in D3."

Manheim Central wasted little time in the second half marching 53 yards in seven plays on it's opening possession. Hunter put the Barons ahead 14-7 after shedding tackles on a 14-yard run with 9:13 remaining in the third quarter.

Manheim struck again when quarterback Tyler Reifsnyder (6-10-1 for 144 yards) hit Graham Zug (two catches for 38 yards) on a 5-yard strike to open a 20-7 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the third.

The final Barons score came with 3:16 left in the game after Hunter picked off Pehanich on the Manheim Central 19-yard line. Hunter finished what he started when he bashed his way in from 5 yards out for a 27-7 lead.

"It would have been interesting if the second half continued the way the first half went," Williams said. "Could our offense go down and score, and could our defense stop them? We held him to seven points. We did score a couple of touchdowns. You give a lot of credit to (Frazer's injury) for their downfall, but we had something to do with it, too."

Before turning into a quarterback Pehanich pulled in 11 passes for 74 yards in the first half to lead the offense. Boone and Koontz each had 60 receiving yards, Boone caught eight passes while Koontz snagged five. Marcus Hancock and Greg Drake combined for five catches for 20 yards.

"If Zach doesn't go out it's a different ball game," Pehanich said. "I'm not saying that we win, but the score isn't 27-7. I'm sure we all feel a little slighted, we didn't have our best team out there for the whole game. It would have been great to see how we matched up with them over the full game."
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Nov. 3rd
Barons Blowout Buckskins, 58-8
By Don Yingst
What a difference a year makes. Each year it seemed like the Central-Conestoga Valley game would never get here. The hype in the daily papers was almost a display of "what ifs; who died; he saids; not that way" that were heating up the atmosphere. And the legacy of the game between the two rivals was filled with enthusiasm and tension.

This year the game came upon the scene with almost no pre-game attention or quotes from the coaches and sure enough the two teams did gather on Rettew Field last Friday. Coming from the top of the Section Two ladder, Central (5-0, 7-1) squared off with CV, sitting on the bottom rung at 1-4, 2-6.

By halftime the Barons had built a 51-8 monopoly en route to a 58-8 blow out to set the stage for a super showdown at home this Friday with Garden Spot. Both are 6-0 in section play and 8-1 overall. Central lost to Central Dauphin back in week one, while GS was clipped by Manheim Township early in the season.

To the winner of this Friday's battle for the section title goes a high seed in the district playoffs and of course bragging rights.

The Barons went up against a team in CV that was determined to stop the running game. In part the Bucks succeeded as the Barons only rushed for 191 yards in the game, mostly by the subs in the second half.

Junior quarterback Brandon Miller led the rushing with 70 yards on seven carries, followed by Xzavier Hunter (5-38) and sophomore quarterback Ben Fitzkee (1-24).

Nate West was 4-15, while Tyler Reifsnyder was 2-15 and Craig Gatchell 1-10. Jeremiah Hunter finished with just six yards on four carries.

"They were tough on our run so we took advantage of it by passing," said Manheim coach Mike Williams. "Our passing opened things up, but for some reason CV did not make an adjustment. We got good blocking up front from Marcus Zimmerman and Jay Campbell."

Did the passing game work to Central's benefit? You be the judge. Reifsnyder finished the night 15-of-22 for 291 yards and six touchdowns, all scored in the first half. Five of those scoring strikes settled in the hands of junior Graham Zug, the 6'-4" wideout. Overall Zug finished with eight catches for 173 yards.

Two plays into Central's second possession, Reifsnyder and Zug hooked up on a 53-yard bomb that Zug took in full stride at the 24 and carried into the end zone.

A fumble recovery by Jeremiah Hunter gave Central the ball at the CV seven-yard line and Reifsnyder took quick advantage, finding Zug alone over the middle for the touchdown.

Five minutes later, the duo clicked again on a nine-yarder as Zug made a leaping catch over a CV defender to put the Barons up 21-0 at the end of the initial period.

The Barons tacked on two more points to make it 23-0 early in the second period when Travis Nissley dropped the CV quarterback in the end zone for a safety.

CV finally got on the board on a two-yard run set up by a splendid 59-yard run by Steve Smalls. Smalls spun out of several attempted MC tackles to get the ball to the two. A two-point conversion set the score at 23-8 and would prove to be the final points of the night for the visitors.

After the CV score it was Reifsnyder-Zug time again as the pair connected again on a play-action 30-yarder into the end zone.

Defensively J. Hunter found a way to get in on the scoring frenzy when he legged an interception back 37 yards for a touchdown.

To finish out the half, Zug hauled in a pass while on the ground just inside the end zone to send the Barons into the intermission ahead, 44-8 and guarantee the continuous-clock "Mercy Rule" for the entire second half.

The Barons added one more touchdown in the game when the subs moved the ball and X. Hunter went in from the four in the final quarter.

Williams credited J. Hunter, Nate Mast and Zug with having solid defensive games. "Zug is a good player with good hands. He is living up to expectations," said Williams.

"We have progressed this year," added Williams. "We have come a long way since the Central Dauphin game. We have knowledge of the game, have been cutting down mistakes and have been showing some leadership."

"Garden Spot is a good team with a lot of speed and a good quarterback in Shane Martin," said Williams. "Martin scrambles a lot and sets up play options. They score a lot on big plays of 60 yards or more. They run the I. It's not too complicated, but is pretty strong. They are big and play a 4-3 defense."

"I would never have expected to have a game like this," said Zug. "To have a passing game tonight was a surprise. I thought we would mostly run. They put a corner on me when they were in a cover two defense."

"We started out trying to run, but they clogged up the middle," said Reifsnyder. "Six touchdown passes. That must be a record. Graham was the primary receiver. Those two interceptions; I didn't put enough on them."
"CV was slanting in to stop the run," said Campbell. "I was surprised they stopped our running game. I look for a good week of practice."

"Overall we came mentally prepared," said Ty Leese. "CV is usually tough. We just kept playing and never gave up. I was kind of surprised they stopped the run. The field was soggy and the footing was bad."

The mercy rule moved the game along quickly in the second half as the first string saw little action after the intermission.

Defensively, Mast and Leese led Manheim, each with 11 tackle points. They were followed by Jeff Ochoa and Nissley with 10 each.

Leese, Nissley and Gatchell each had a quarterback sack. J. Hunter, Tyler Swarr, Ryan Huber and Garrett Anderson all had interceptions.
Central was plus three (5-2) in turnovers.

The win stretches Manheim's winning streak to 17 over CV. The Barons are 27-12 against the Bucks, dating back to 1951.

The Manheim Central cross country squads competed in the District Three championships at Milton Hershey last Saturday.

The Central boys finished 37th (of 53) in the team competition, while the girls were 38th of 55.

Ben Eyer was Central's front-runner, finishing 111th in the 341-runner field. Nate Gainer (162), James Homan (183) and Buddy Boudowsky (190) followed Eyer across. Jason Boll, Doug Metzler and Annert Tobias also ran for Manheim.
Meg Homan led the MC ladies with her 135th-place finish in the 307 runner field.. She was followed across by Steffie Sauder (198), Kacie Staub (241) and Aura Beck (249). Other Baron runners were Jen Heisey, Amy Dressel and Alli Rettew.

"In comparison to last year, we had full teams running," said coach Mark Gallagher. "I was really impressed with our kids. To their credit no one grumbled. They made a serious effort. We received a lot of compliments from other coaches on how much we improved. We made a nice step this year. We had a lot of interest from the parents as well."

"The adrenalin gets going and you push yourself to the limit," said Eyer.
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'06 PA RB/LB Jeremiha Hunter

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Jeremiha Hunter
Height: 6'2
Weight: 210
Forty: 4.5
School: Manheim Cental HS
2004 stats (defense): 143 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 INT's
2004 stats (offense): 1,100 yards, 22 TD's.
List: tOSU, Michigan, Pitt, W.Va, Florida, Georgia

Second-team Associated Press Class AAA All-State as a sophomore, first-team selection as a junior, first-team All-Conference selection.
This kid has a tremendous ceiling and has the athletic potential to be as good as any LB in the country. Hunter has a nice blend of speed, quickness, instincts and intelligence. Defensively, he makes plays all over the field.
 
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MichiganRules said:
I've heard he is a silent early committ to Michigan. Just passing along what I've heard. Please don't kill the messenger.
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Not to detract from what you've heard, but usually you can tell these types of things...take Brandon Warren for example. He oozes Fat-Phil early silent verbal to me. But if you read the entire Hunter article, which includes quote from Brian and his father about Chris Wells, Coach Fickell, and Coach Daniels, he seems to be pretty wide open at this point.
 
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Yeah, Hunter came right out and said Michigan was his clear cut #1 and that he was 100% confident about that. Various "insiders" to the Michigan program have said Michigan already has two early committs- both out of staters, one from PA. That leads me to believe its Hunter.
 
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Silent verbals this early in the game...why not just say, I really like the school, but have a year ahead of me to shop around and don't want to go public. But then again, that's all that is really. Heck some people try to rain on the C.Wells/R.Homan parade saying....just hope they don't decommit.

Though I am aware he says Michigan is definitely his #1. Good luck grabbing him MRules, he's apparently yours to lose early in the game.
 
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I have seen three features on Jeremiha. The OSU one made it sounds like he liked what he saw out of the campus and the people at OSU and how they treated Chris Well upon his commitment. Lots of detail about that. Another feature by the UVA site talks about how he grew up a Cavalier fan. The Michigan article quoted him as saying that his top school was Michigan "so far". He clearly sounds like someone just beginning the recruiting process, not someone ready to put an end to it. So I don't think this one is quite the done deal just yet...

EDIT: well said, CB6.
 
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