Published: August 30, 2008 12:35 am      

North Star easily handles Berlin

BERLIN — North Star had a few stumbles out of the gate Friday night, but given some time, the Cougars left little doubt they will once again be a team to contend with in the WestPAC this season.

Falling behind by a touchdown early against Berlin, the Cougars scored the next five times and went on to a comfortable 33-13 victory over the Mountaineers at Snyder Sports Complex.

Four different running backs scored for the Cougars, and Luke Zellem caught a touchdown pass from Cory Kaltenbaugh.

Senior quarterback Brett Hankinson’s electrifying 71-yard touchdown run on Berlin’s second offensive snap gave the Mountaineers the early 7-0 lead, and Alex Will caught a 15-yard pass from Josh Riley late in the game to complete the scoring.

The Cougars (1-0), winners of the District 5 Class A title last year, had few question marks entering this campaign at the Class AA level. But one of those position battles is for a job as the starting tailback.

Mike Knisley carried 11 times for 124 yards and had an 8-yard touchdown to lead the group of potential backs. He also had plenty of room to run with holes created by the offensive line.

“I wasn’t sure how the line was going to perform, but I’m proud of them, they did good,” Knisley said.

Josh Kuncher tallied 62 yards on eight carries with a 9-yard touchdown in significant second-half work.

Andrew Darr had a touchdown from a yard out, and carried five times for 30 yards. Darr also provided a steady hand as a blocking back on several occasions.

Richie Meehleib finished with a touchdown run of 2 yards, and he carried eight times for 28 yards, but spent most of the night lead blocking.

North Star, which relied heavily on its passing attack during last year’s run to the state quarterfinals, had a little trouble getting that aspect on track Friday.

School record-breaking quarterback Kaltenbaugh finished 4-for-12 for 89 yards and a touchdown, but could have had significantly better numbers if his receivers had held on to a host of passes.

Zellem finished with three catches for 90 yards and had an interception, and Dalton Shaffer had two catches for 24 yards and picked off a pass. John Putman had three extra points.

Max Straiser finished the game in relief of Kaltenbaugh and completed one pass for 25 yards.

“We were able to get some of the younger guys worked in with the first unit and they are coming along real well for us,” North Star coach Stacy Schmitt said.

Berlin’s one of the youngest teams in the WestPAC this year and some of that early inexperience showed in several costly penalties that halted promising drives.

But there is plenty to look forward to as sophomore Ian Sayler racked up 96 yards on 11 carries and Hankinson had 10 carries for 95 yards.

Hankinson left the game in the third quarter after apparently cramping up. Riley went 3-for-6 for 55 yards before giving way to freshman Ryan Lynch for a few late-game snaps.

Nathan Werner rushed for 31 yards on eight carries and Will caught two passes for 27 yards.

“When you’ve got seven or eight underclassemen on both sides of the ball, you’re going to have those mistakes,” Berlin coach Doug Paul said. “We have some things that we can work on for next week.”