Gross takes control at South Western

There were plenty of encouraging signs to take away from South Western's season-opening bashing of Gettysburg. This may end up being the most important one: The Mustangs quarterback position, a problem area at points last season, suddenly looks a bit more stable.

Zach Gross, who won the job in camp over fellow senior Jesse Good, was superb against the Warriors.  He completed 7 of 9 passes for 148 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown pass to Carnie Fryfogle.

For a team that stocks plenty of firepower offensively -- most notably do-it-all Temple commit Mike Felton -- stability at the quarterback spot could be a huge plus moving forward.

This was actually the second straight year Good and Gross waged a full-blown quarterback competition in camp. Good won the job last year, but ended up ceding snaps to Gross later in the season.

At least for now, Gross is getting his chance to be the point man in the Mustangs' Wing-T attack.

"After the Cumberland Valley scrimmage, we kind of felt he was going to earn a spot," South Western coach Don Seidenstricker said of Gross. "The Red Land scrimmage, Jesse played fairly well and it was kind of an even-up thing. We just felt that Zach at this point in time was able to see the field better.

"Jesse pretty quick-footed kid. Zach is more of a classic dropback type kid. They both throw the ball I think very well."

Interestingly, the Mustangs actually list eight players at quarterback on their roster, something Seidenstricker said he's never seen in his 26 seasons at the school.

Seidenstricker credited some of that numbers surge to the work of quarterbacks coach Damian Poalucci, a former standout passer at East Stroudsburg. "He’s developed some good relationships with these kids," Seidenstricker said.