Chris Ferrick-Manley
Staff Reporter
The Brad Baer and Tom Wenrich era is officially over at quarterback for the McDaniel Green Terror. They will be replaced by a quarterback who has thrown less than 20 collegiate passes.
Baer and Wenrich started 43 of the last 47 games, according to the McDaniel athletics website. Baer also ranks inside the top five all-time in school history in pass attempts, completions, completion percentage, and passing yards. Wenrich was also an all-conference punter in addition to his quarterback duties.
Among those competing to replace Baer and Wenrich are returning juniors Joe Lapkowicz and Zach Swope. Swope started in place of Wenrich against Ursinus when Wenrich was out with a concussion, while Lapkowicz also saw time as the team’s placekicking holder.
Head Coach Tim Keating plans on making a last minute decision on his starting QB before the September 6 opener at St. Vincent’s in Latrobe, PA. He would like to avoid using a two quarterback rotation in games if possible. Keating also cited the example of Ron Sermarini, who was started over upperclassmen quarterbacks in 1996 and went on to become perhaps the most successful QB in McDaniel history.
Keating believes that the real strengths of his team in the upcoming season should be the offensive line and the defensive secondary. The secondary in particular has all returning upperclassmen with experience, though not necessarily starters.
Aaron Slaughter, a junior free safety and one of the captains on this year’s team, believes the defense will be much improved over last years, which struggled heavily against the run. According to Slaughter, the defense has been emphasizing more running to the ball techniques and he thinks the run defense in particular will be greatly improved.
“We got to stay on the course to winning the championship,” said Slaughter.
The defensive line and the linebacker spots do not have the starters that the secondary has, but according to senior linebacker Cory Briggs, they have played well in practice and their scrimmage against Susquehanna and should be ready to step up. They do have a decent amount of game experience however. Briggs himself is out for an unknown number of games with an arm injury.
On offense, the team returns Eric Zwilsky at running back who rushed for 10 touchdowns. Keating believes that Zwilsky has the skill set to be playing at a larger school if not for his size.
“He’s everything you would want in a football player,” said Keating.
At wide receiver, juniors Matt Cahill and Saum Sami combined for 45 receptions last year, although the leading wide receiver Brian Amenta with 35 receptions has since graduated. Also returning is 2007 All-Conference honorable mention Matt Bergbaeur, who led the team in receptions with 36.
Jay Leonard will start for the fourth year at kicker and Travis Wenrich, who is also a starting cornerback, will inherit the punting duties from his older brother.
Keating believes that this team, despite coming off a 1-9 record could be good this year.
“We weren’t good last year,” said Keating, “I think we can win every game if we play it one game at a time.”
He explained that the talent level across the Centennial Conference and Division III is relatively balanced. For example, if one team has an outstanding quarterback, their opponent might have an outstanding cornerback or running back to help cancel out the other team’s advantage.
The team is currently picked to finish eight in the conference this year ahead of only Juniata, the Terror’s lone win from last year. However, Keating noted that even when the team was very successful in the late 1990s, they were never picked to finish 1st in the conference.
“I like to be the underdog, I hope to surprise a few people,” said Keating.
The home opener for the Green Terror is September 13 against Moravian at 1 p.m.