Cody Waltimyer's stat line was nice: seven carries, 78 yards, three touchdowns and an interception on defense. What makes that line more impressive, however, is that those were the York Suburban junior's numbers from just the opening quarter.

The Trojans dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, won the field position battle handily and ran the ball at will Friday night. The end result was a convincing 46-13 victory against Eastern York in YAIAA Division II action.

Waltimyer finished the game with 173 yards on 13 carries (13.3 average), Nathaniel Cross added 92 yards on eight carries for two touchdowns and the Trojans (4-2 overall, 2-1 league) finished with 313 yards rushing as a team.

Just as impressive was Suburban's inspired defense. It stifled the Golden Knights' rushing attack, allowing only 96 yards on the ground -- 71 of those in the final quarter when the game was already decided.

"We worked hard this week on trying to control the line of scrimmage, because we knew Eastern is a pretty good offensive football team," said Suburban coach Bill Kerr. "We were trying to get them in a position where they would have to throw the ball."

That's exactly what the Trojans did. On the Knights' four possessions in the first quarter, the visitors went three-and-out three times and had their fourth series stopped on Waltimyer's pick.

With the ground game stalling and trailing 21-0 after one quarter, Eastern (2-4, 0-3) had

Advertisement
to go to the air. Sophomore quarterback Mark Holloway was under pressure all game long. Holloway was hit, harassed and punished, finishing 6-for-22 for 75 yards and three interceptions.

"That was definitely not our game plan," said Eastern coach Jeff Shutter. "Mark usually throws 10 times a game. It took him out of his comfort zone and forced us to run plays that we didn't plan to run. They did an excellent job controlling both sides of the line of scrimmage, and we know we need to do that to be successful."

Suburban began its first drive at its own 32 and quickly set the tone. It was apparent that the Trojans planned to run the ball down the visitors' throat. It took eight plays before Waltimyer burst through the middle for a 14-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead.

After trading miscues and possessions, Cross gave the Trojans excellent field position -- as he did all game -- with a nifty 27-yard punt return. Taking over at Eastern's 27-yard line, quarterback A.J. Sottasante came up big on a fourth-and-8 play, hitting Cole Wagner for a 14-yard gain to the 11. Waltimyer bulled up the middle on the next play for the score, and after a two-point conversion it was 14-0.

With time ticking down in the opening quarter, Waltimyer delivered on defense, picking off Holloway at the Eastern 32. Three plays later, he found the end zone for the third time from 17 yards out as time expired.

"Cody is a great player, a humble player, who runs really hard," said Kerr. "He had a great game on both sides of the ball and is only going to get better."

 

Eastern York    0    6    0    7 -- 13
York Suburban  21    6  19    0 -- 46

First Quarter
   YS -- Cody Waltimyer 14 run (kick failed), 8:25.
   YS -- Waltimyer 11 run (Corey Bright pass from A.J. Sottasante), 1:12.
   YS -- Waltimyer 17 run (Doug Gurr kick), :00.
Second Quarter
   YS -- Nathaniel Cross 5 run (kick failed), 4:54.
   EY -- Ryan Yohe 16 run (kick blocked), :11.
Third Quarter
   YS -- Cross 30 run (Gurr kick), 9:20.
   YS -- Roland Boyer 25 fumble return (kick failed), 9:08.
   YS -- Ricardo Plummer 7 run (kick blocked), 3:59.
Fourth Quarter
   EY -- Jared Smeltzer 3 run (Erik Moore kick), 3:59.
 
-- EY -- YS
First downs -- 10 -- 13
Rushes-yards -- 30-96 -- 37-313
Passing -- 6-23-3 -- 2-12-1
Passing yards -- 75 -- 20
Total yards -- 171 -- 333
Punts -- 6-25.0 -- 4-29.8
Fumbles-lost -- 4-2 -- 3-3
Penalties-yards -- 4-20 -- 3-25

  
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
   Rushing -- EY, Andy Siple 12-40, Jared Smeltzer 9-35, Andrew Blessing 3-31, Ryan Yohe 1-16, Mark Holloway 5-(-26); YS, Cody Waltimyer 13-173, Nathaniel Cross 8-92, A.J. Sottasante 4-35, Ricardo Plummer 3-26, Michael Holley 3-1, Latron Hasty 1-(-3), Elijah Porcher 5-(-11).
   Passing -- EY, Holloway 6-22-3-75, Siple 0-1-0-0; YS, Sottasante 2-9-1-20, Chris Eckenrode 0-2-0-0, Porcher 0-1-0-0.
   Receiving -- EY, Yohe 2-38, Alex Seitz 2-24, Smeltzer 1-11, Blessing 1-2; YS, Cole Wagner 2-20.