With so many weapons in the backfield, South Williamsport loves to run the football.
The Mounties did a lot of Friday night against CMVT, racking up 284 yards on the ground. And even with the running attack, it was quarterback Tyler House who stole the show through the air, throwing for 116 yards and four touchdowns in South Williamsport's 55-0 rout of CMVT at home.
House, who did the damage while completing just eight passes, utilized the play-action bootleg play to perfection. Using tail back Matt Bartholomew and full back Brandon Stonge as distractions, House escaped into the flat after the play-action before launching throws down field.
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Brandon Stonge (35) of South Williamsport breaks free of CMVT?defenders Friday night.
"With our package, we try to do that when you have Stonge and Bartholomew and Bragalone and that line," said South Williamsport head coach Chris Eiswerth. "If we can get the running game going, those play-action passes will pop."
And those passes did pop, as House connected for his first touchdown on a 14-yard pass to Stonge before finding Riley Hengler for 45 yards for another touchdown. House threw three touchdowns in the first quarter alone, connecting with Stonge twice and Hengler once.
"The line was giving me great protection," House said. "They let me be really comfortable. I just threw it and they caught it and it all worked out."
Pretty much everything worked out for South Williamsport on Friday night. The Mounties scored 35 points in the opening quarter, despite fumbling the ball on each of their first three possessions.
Protecting the ball was an issue for both teams, however, as the Mounties and Rams combined to fumble the ball 13 times.
"We came out and the kids were really excited about coming home after Canton and getting to the field," said Eiswerth. "They were in the tunnel 15 minutes before the game started. We were in there at halftime and we told them to get where we want to get we can't put the ball on the carpet."
Part of the reason the Mounties weren't hurt by the turnovers was a stifling defense, which forced four turnovers of its own while sacking CMVT quarterback Dylan Larkin twice.
The Mounties 4-4 front spent a good part of Friday night in the Rams' backfield with Larkin and running back Bobby Christiansen. South Williamsport held Christiansen to just 47 yards rushing while Heath Newcomer and Zach Welter both sacked Larkin for big losses.
"Defensively the team has had three games where they came out and played really hard," Eiswerth said. "A great passing attack against Bloomsburg and a great team in Canton. We are going to have a tough game this week against Southern Columbia, who are a big, physical team."
The Mounties know that they will probably face their toughest opponent next week, in Southern Columbia. The big win, though, will do nothing but provide a bit of confidence before the showdown.
"It's a confidence booster because it feels good," said House of the win. "So we have confidence going into Southern knowing we can mesh and play well."
