by Jake DeLuca
The West Shamokin varsity football team is set to play a District 6 playoff game for the second year in a row after finishing the season 5-5.
On Friday, the Wolves will travel to Ligonier Valley to take on the Rams.
This season, the Wolves have scored 24 points per game while allowing 21 points per game. Offensively the Wolves are averaging 221 yards on the ground and 68 yards in the pass game.
West Shamokin is lead by a pack of running-backs headlined by Jacob Szul (613 yards rushing, 296 receiving yards, 6 total TD’s) and Dan Goldstrohm (683 yards, 8 rushing TD’s).
On the other side, Ligonier Valley remains the top team in District 6. The Rams finished the regular season with an unblemished 10-0 record, and the last time these two teams played they were as advertised - shutting out the Wolves 42-0.
This season, the Rams are averaging 49 points offensively while allowing under 3 points per game. Ligonier Valley runs a very balanced and effective offense, averaging 173 yards through the air and 237 yards on the ground.
The players who have made the wheels turn for the Rams this season are QB John Caldwell (933 yards, 11 TD’s 0 INT’s), running-backs Jackson Daugherty (794 yards rushing, 610 receiving, 20 total TD’s) and Aaron Sheeder (705 yards rushing, 10 TD’s). Along with the QB and running-backs, the Rams have excellent receivers including Aaron Tutino who has 738 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns.
West Shamokin Head Coach Jon McCullough knows this will be a tough test, but anything can happen on any given Friday night under the lights.
“We have to make them earn everything on defense and not allow big plays. We have to move the chains on offense and take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves,” McCullough said.
The game will be at Ligonier Valley on Friday night with kick-off set for 7:00 PM.