Royals' speedsters too much for Colts
NAZARETH - A couple of times this year, the Marian Colts have faced a team or two with speed.
Lehighton's Wyatt Clements, Tyler Crum, Tyler Cann and Tom Ruzicka. North Schuylkill's John Rupinski and Bobby Grigas. Schuylkill Haven's Will Casella to name a few.In the District 11 Class A championship at Andrew Leh Stadium, the Colts faced a talented Pius X squad that has not one, but possibly two players who could make a name for themselves at the next level.You may have to wait a while to see if that materializes, however since they are both juniors."That's their operation," said Marian head coach Stan Dakosty. "They've got some great athletes, they're explosive. You've got to be very disciplined when you play them. We got to the point where we were matching them, then we weren't."Stewart is very good and the quarterback (Jordan) is very good. You'll definitely see them play at the next level."Tre Jordan, a 6-1, 190 pound quarterback and Nate Stewart, a 6-2, 190 pound wide receiver put up some big numbers in Saturday night's 45-14 win.Jordan rushed for 203 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and passed for another 238 yards and another touchdown. He had 441 yards of total offense.Most noticable was two runs of 85 and 86 yards with one good for a score to give the Royals a 21-0 second quarter lead."Tre goes out and does whatever we tell him to do," Pius X head coach Phil Stambaugh said. "That's where his maturity has come. He's not out there just haphazardly doing things on his own. He's dedicated to our program and our offense."Even though it looks like it's all pass all the time, we're best when we're balanced. And we can do both. These guys (Marian) had a game plan to take our passing game away and Tre popped off some long runs."Stewart, on the other hand returned the opening kickoff 44 yards to set up Dalton Tucker's 33-yard field goal to give Pius a quick 3-0 lead.He caught five passes for 108 yards and returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown. When the night ended, he also had 90 yards in kickoff returns."When you're spreading teams out like that, it's hard to stop everything," Stambaugh added about his explosive offense. "When our kids are able to execute in those situations, it makes it tough to defend."Stewart was also a stud on defense coming up with 11 tackles, returned an intercption 80 yards for a touchdown and broke up numerous Marian pass attempts.Despite that, the Colts did rack up 434 yards of total offense themselves. They just couldn't find the end zone."I was just trying to do everything I could for my team," Stewart said. "It's not about just one guy. We were all hungry for this win.""This isn't the end of road," said Stambaugh. "This is just the end of the first goal."Add in the three field goals by Dalton Tucker, and the night was complete."It's nice to have a weapon like Dalton," Stambaugh said. "He a great kid. He's a former soccer player and we asked him last year to come out and help when our kicker went down and he's developed into this."