(EDITOR’S NOTE: Rod Heckman has been a member of the Times News Sports Department since September 1988. In the next few weeks, he will be sharing some of his most memorable moments for each of our 10 area schools. Today’s edition features Pleasant Valley).

By Rod Heckman

rheckman@tnonline.com

For better or worse, football is king when it comes to high school sports.

While it’s true athletes from all sports train and work just as hard, the interest in football is just greater. That’s not my opinion; it’s just a fact.

Personally, baseball is my favorite sport. And Pleasant Valley has had its share of successful baseball teams over the years.

But when it comes to memories of PV, two gridiron moments top the list.

September 30, 1994

John Blick dominates in the trenches

It was his junior year. And he was in the middle of an all-state season.

He stood 6-7 and weighed 330 pounds. He was hard to miss on the field, not just because of his size, but also because of his performance.

The Mountain Valley Conference matchup against Northampton didn’t have any significance. In fact, Blick’s name didn’t even appear in my game story the next day.

The Bears used touchdown runs by Jack Prouix and Frank Tatu, along with a scoring pass from Mark Versuk to Dan Muir, to gain a 24-7 victory at Al Erdosy Stadium, the home of the Konkrete Kids.

But for the first time, and maybe only time, my attention at a football game was fixated on the line of scrimmage. Writers rarely get to focus on the guys in the trenches because they have to follow the ball in their need to keep statistics.

Even if I wasn’t making a conscious effort to watch Blick that night, I’m sure I would have noticed. To this day, it was the most dominating performance on offense I’ve seen by a lineman. Blick completely destroyed his man on the other side of the line of scrimmage, pretty much treating him like a rag doll.

Whenever I see the movie “The Blind Side” and the scene where Michael Oher’s character is driving the defensive player backward down the field, I think of Blick against his outmatched Northampton opponent.

Blick would commit to Penn State before his senior year and was a Big 33 selection in 1996. As a Nittany Lion, he started at offensive tackle for four years and became the first true freshman to start on the offensive line for Joe Paterno.

November 8, 2013

Bears fall to Whitehall, Barkley in D-11s

Memorable moments usually involve wins, championships, and celebrations.

This one didn’t for Pleasant Valley, but as a writer it was hard to forget what happened at Whitehall that Friday evening.

The Bears were a decided underdog against the Zephyrs, who featured star running back Saquon Barkley, in a Class 4A subregional quarterfinal. PV, under head coach Jim Terwilliger, had enjoyed a 7-3 regular season behind the arm of quarterback Brandon Leap and the running of Austyn Borre. Whitehall, however, was 9-1 and not only boasted Barkley’s talents, but also had running back Ryan Bonshak and receiver Conor Sullivan.

My cousin, who I don’t see that often, had a grandson on the Whitehall roster and I was able to talk to her before the kickoff. Soon after that kickoff, the Zephyrs were on the scoreboard. On their first drive, they used some trickery to grab an early lead. Jeff Charles threw to Sullivan, who lateraled to Barkley. The junior standout raced 42 yards to the end zone for a touchdown on the hook-and-lateral call.

Barkley, who would finish with 213 yards from scrimmage, scored two more times to help Whitehall extend its lead to 28-7. PV stayed close, thanks to a Borre score and a Nyiem Nevarez interception return for a touchdown, but Whitehall pulled away late for a 56-28 victory.

Besides the obvious memory of Barkley, Nevarez and Leap stood out for PV, while Bonshak and Sullivan were also noticable.

Nevarez and Sullivan ended up being teammates at Kutztown University, and I got to see them often as I attended many of their games (my son Brock was in KU’s marching band). Leap, who was visibly upset after the contest and said, “What I’ll remember about this year is playing with these guys. Knowing I can’t play with these guys again just kills me,” went on to play at Misericordia, where he set a single-game passing record. Bonchak played baseball at Lehigh.

As for Barkley, well I think we all know what happened with him.