Published: December 28, 2008 12:04 am      

T-D All-Area Offensive Player of the Year: Multi-talented Panther was a force at many spots

Penn Cambria junior Zak Newton kept defenses guessing during the Panthers 2008 campaign.

Depending on what formation the Cresson squad ran, Newton might be in as the tailback, fullback, quarterback or a receiver.

“He’s such an athletic player that we like to take advantage of his prowess in a variety of different positions,” Penn Cambria coach Ernie Fetzer said. “There wasn’t too much that we didn’t ask him to do. He brought a lot to the table.”

Newton ran for 2,059 yards on 271 carries, an average of 7.6 yards per carry and finished as the area’s second-leading rusher. He also was 13 of 36 passing for another 235 yards.

For his accomplishments, Newton has been selected as The Tribune-Democrat’s Offensive Player of the Year.

“I was pretty surprised,” Newton said. “I thought I had a pretty good year and I’m happy to be in the situation. I got a few more opportunities this year than I did when I was a sophomore because the coaches knew me a little better. Our line was one of the bigger ones in the conference. They were very talented and I give them a lot of the credit.”

Newton was also selected to The Associated Press All-State team as a second teamer.

Fetzer says Newton’s strongest attribute is that he is a team player.

“He recognizes how important the rest of the team is and is very complimentary to the players around him,” Fetzer said. “He’s a humble kid, not a showman. He is a hard worker and wants to try to continue to get better. He never flaunted anything.”

Penn Cambria finished 5-5 in the regular season in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, and lost 21-14 to District 6 Class AA champion Central in the first round of the playoffs.

“We definitely could have done a lot better,” the Panthers standout said. “We made some mistakes, but we pulled through in some other games.”

Newton said that the team’s biggest win was a 14-13 Week 3 victory over Central Cambria.

“It was fun to play in the mud in that game and I’m glad we got the (Goal Post) trophy back,” Newton said.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Newton had at least 100 yards per game in 10 of the Panthers 11 contests, garnering just 92 once, in a 23-12 loss against Bishop Guilfoyle in Week 5. Newton doubled his offensive production from 2007.

“If you look at his stats, he usually had between 22 to 25 carries per game,” Fetzer said. “Teams knew he was getting the football. They ran different defenses against him. Without him in the lineup, we would have had a much harder time winning games. We have to figure out new ways to make him productive next year.”

On defense, Newton showed the same adaptability, moving from safety to outside linebacker to wherever he was asked to play. He finished with 94 tackles, including 55 solo stops and two sacks. He also punted part of the time and served as the team’s quick kicker.

Newton’s selection as offensive player of the year came two seasons after Penn Cambria’s Matt Holsberger rushed to the honor.

“Newton and Holsberger are similar players in that both of them are fairly quick, have nice size and run hard,” Fetzer said. “We have been blessed with some talented kids at Penn Cambria.”