Published: June 18, 2009 10:38 pm      

South’s ‘O’ to air it out

The South squad’s offense certainly won’t be grounded during Saturday’s Ken Lantzy Finest 40 all-star football game at Trojan Stadium.

While South head coach Ken Salem’s squad has the line and backs to establish the running game, this group also has the tools to take to the air.

“We’ve been really pleased with Cory Kaltenbaugh and Matt Duray’s progress learning our pro-style package,” Bishop McCort’s Salem said of his two quarterbacks after a Thursday morning practice session at Richland. “We expect to throw the ball more than we run it.”

Two WestPAC quarterbacks will front the offense. North Star’s Kaltenbaugh and Conemaugh Township’s Duray will have targets in Nate Adam and Tim Ripple of Richland, Jack Schrey of Bishop McCort, Mike Valcheff of Westmont and Luke Zellem of North Star.

“Everyone came together real well,” Zellem said. “We have a great group of quarterbacks and a great group of wide receivers and running backs. Everyone is real talented. Everyone picked up the offense real well and it came together real nice.

“We have some tall wide receivers. Everyone has good hands and speed. We have great quarterbacks who can throw real well. Everyone can catch, and they can throw real well.”

The ground game will feature Conemaugh Valley’s Steve Ling, a 2,000-yard rusher, Greater Johnstown’s Quadir Christian, Bishop McCort’s Eric Lowry and Blacklick Valley’s Curtis Link.

“Eric Lowry and Quadir Christian were very successful in the Laurel Highlands Conference,” North offensive coordinator Kevin Sheridan of McCort said. “Steve Ling ran for 2,000 yards. Curtis Link and Steve Ling are very versatile kids who we plan on using as slot wide receivers and running backs. They'll be asked to do some pass blocking in pass situations. These are very hard-working kids and versatile athletes.”

The offensive line will include Greater Johnstown’s Dave Istanich, a 6-foot-6, 280-pound tackle headed to Division I Florida International University. McCort’s George Bealonis, North Star’s Matt Coala and Johnstown’s James Haggerty each played center. Laurel Valley’s Tyler Foust and Windber’s Robert Lupton are tackles. Windber’s Jarod Spinelli , United’s Toby Hicks and Ferndale’s Tyler Svencer are guards.

“The offensive line has jelled over this week,” Sheridan said.

“Istanich is going to Florida International. He’s leaving Sunday to be down there for workouts on Monday. He’s anchoring the line.”

Sheridan expects to utilize multiple weapons on Saturday night.

“The offense has jelled pretty quickly,” the coordinator said. “I think we have a lot of talent at the receiver position and the quarterbacks have picked up the new terminology pretty quickly. Luke Zellem is a kid that’s going to play tight end at California University. Eric Lowry, Tim Ripple and Nate Adam have been very strong receivers as we saw during our Laurel Highlands schedule.

“We also have Jack Schrey playing that position. We’re also going to split out (running back) Quadir Christian at times. We have a lot of speed, a lot of talent. We’ve had very few drops throughout the week.”