Barons’ senior LB waxes philosophic about Central’s D, which will be tested vs. Mechanicsburg
Manheim Central’s defense has been pretty gnarly here the last couple of weeks.
The Barons held Elco to a pair of scores in the first round of the District 3 Triple-A playoffs.
And last Friday, Central was once again successful defending Cocalico scatback Kyle Fisher, who was ‘held’ to 81 yards. The Barons limited Fisher to 88 yards in their first meeting, back in Week 4. It was the only two games this season that Fisher was held to less than 100 rushing yards. He finished the season with more than 1,700 yards, by the way. But he and the Eagles couldn’t solve Central.
So Central’s D has been getting the job done. The Barons are allowing 237 yards a game (fifth-best in the L-L League), and, as always, they’ve had a penchant for shutting down big backs.
Next up on shutting-down-the-big-back list is Mechanicsburg’s Tarik Leftenant, who has piled up 1,217 yards and 18 touchdowns in the Wildcats’ grind-it-out, run-off-tackle, dominate-the-trenches scheme.
Sounds like Central will definitely be out-sized on the line of scrimmage on Friday, when the Barons take on Mechanicsburg, undefeated and the No. 1 seed, in the District 3 Triple-A semifinals in Mechanicsburg.
When Central is on D, LB Alex Shenk will be one of the guys asked to plug some holes and keep Leftenant – and scrambling QB Jake Zeigler – under wraps. The Barons’ D will be tested, and it’ll be up to Shenk and his cohorts to come up large once again – this time with a trip to Hershey hanging in the balance.
I caught up with Shenk before practice the other day, and we chatted about Central’s defense, which has been pretty air tight here in recent weeks. We also chatted about facing Mechanicsburg, and what it would mean for the Barons to get back to the district final for the first time since 2005.
You can listen to the interview with Shenk by clicking on the ‘play’ button above.
You can also download the Podcast and play it on your favorite mp3 device by clicking here.
