Livingston: Panthers ready to "unleash hell"

Central York head coach Brad Livingston had plenty of compliments Wednesday evening for his team's District 3 quarterfinal opponent Wilson.

The Bulldogs (10-1), of course, demand respect. They're the defending District champs and scored a No. 2 seed in this year's playoffs.

But Livingston also make it abundantly clear the Panthers (8-3) won't play timid when they walk into John Gurski Stadium Friday night.

"I think they're going to come out and play pretty good football, they're not going to make mistakes and hurt themselves," Livingston said of Wilson. "By the same token, it's going to be really interesting to see how they handle what we do defensively. Because basically we're going to unleash hell."

And if that doesn't get you amped up for Friday's game, I don't know what will.

Central's blitz-happy defense -- led by Penn State-bound linebacker Kyle Baublitz -- has earned the quite the reputation. Earlier this season, South Western coach Don Seidenstricker used the term "chaos" when describing the Panthers' D, which is allowing 10.7 points per game this year.

"That's the impression we want people to have," Livingston said. "It's pretty specific chaos. There's really not a lot that's random about it. The defensive staff does a great job of getting tendencies and stuff. "

Then again, slowing down a deep and well-rounded Wilson offense might be the Panthers' biggest challenge of the season.

The Bulldogs' attack is keyed by 6-foot-4 quarterback Zach Zweizig, a polished passer with 1,932 passing yards and 18 touchdowns.

"He throws the ball well," Livingston said. "I think there are certain things that he likes to throw and maybe some things he doesn't like to throw very much. It seems they do a great job of calling plays and putting him positions of the throws he likes to make."

Besides Zweizig, Wilson features a deep rotation of pass-catchers -- led by tight end Tyler Beck (566 passing yards) -- and a pair of capable running backs in Kriss Brown and Nick Greth.

The plan for Central, as it tends to be every week, will likely be to hit Zweizig before he can get set in the pocket. The Panthers defense -- directed by coordinator Russ Stoner -- will no doubt show a variety of defensive fronts and blitz packages to do that.

Although unleashing hell sounds a lot cooler.

"We're going to go up to Wilson, and we're going to show them a lot of different looks," Livingston said. "We're going to come from here, from there and sometimes from all over the place. I think it's going to be a lot of fun."