Red Raider duo could prove to be winning combination

Guy Cipriano

BELLEFONTE — Central Bellefonte doesn't seem like the ideal place to forge a precise passing combination.

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Allegheny Street is hilly. Bishop Street is hilly. Curtin Street is hilly. Lamb Street is hilly.

The severe topography never stopped Lamb Street resident Ty Warner and Curtin Street’s Matt Watson from concocting ways to throw the football.

Up and down hills, around power lines, in alleys, behind houses, Warner and Watson often played catch. The childhood creativity offers a hint of how the best friends quickly produced a lifetime of varsity football memories.

Through two games, Warner has thrown three touchdown passes to Watson.

Their most recent connection — Warner’s 8-yard touchdown toss to Watson in double overtime last week at Brookville — completed a 40-34 victory.

But the other two touchdowns have many buzzing.

In their first game as varsity quarterback and wide receiver, an otherwise forgettable 51-12 loss at St. Marys, Warner completed a slant to Watson, a play they practiced together for years. Watson worked himself into a 4-yard separation from the nearest defender before snagging the ball and sprinting.

“I was thinking please don’t let anybody catch me,” he said.

The play turned into an 84-yard score, surpassing the previous school record for a touchdown reception, established on a fake punt pass in 1987, by a yard. Neither Warner nor Watson knew they set a school record until a week later.

Warner’s next touchdown strike to Watson held greater meaning because it happened in a victory.

With last week’s game tied in the fourth quarter, Warner lofted a pass from the Red Raider 30. A defender squeezed Watson, who turned around at the Brookville 35. Watson jumped, grabbed the ball and the defender stumbled. The 70-yard touchdown reception gave Bellefonte the lead with 7:18 left in regulation.

“I threw it up there and Matt went for it,” Warner said. “It was pretty good coverage, but he wasn’t in the right spot and Matt went up and got it. It worked out for us. I’m glad we got the ‘W’ in the end.”

Two bombs in two weeks isn’t exactly what coach Zac Wynkoop anticipated when transforming the Red Raiders’ offense from the spread to the double-wing. Bellefonte was supposed to methodically move the ball on the ground. But unlike their professional or college colleagues, high school coaches often toss game scripts into dumpsters midway through the first quarter.

“Here’s the deal,” Wynkoop said, “When we ran our spread with an I-formation, (our passing) didn’t work and now we are running our spread with a double-wing and it does work.”

Competitors such as Warner and Watson have the fortitude to make any system work.

They are part of a tight junior class, which on gamedays rises at 6 a.m. to eat and discuss football at the Waffle Shop. The football talk rarely subsides, with Warner and Watson playing football video games when bodies must heal. Their minds, though, never rest, even when pressing buttons represents the only physical task needed to succeed.

“We are very competitive people,” Warner said. “Losing is not the way we want to go.”

The varsity routine is still new to both players. Warner received playing time at running back when Bellefonte made a late-season change to the double-wing last fall.

But, Warner and Watson took most of their 2008 snaps in junior varsity games. Warner’s 60-yard halfback pass to Watson to end the first half of the season finale against Bald Eagle Area foreshadowed this season.

With the graduation of Kode Plank, the Red Raiders needed a quarterback, and Warner approached Wynkoop last December about the opening.

Wynkoop’s response? Fine. Start throwing. “He had to work hard and he did,” Wynkoop said. “The other thing I like about him is his competitiveness. I tell the kids if you’re playing your grandma in ping pong, you still have to go hard and play to win. He’s that type of kid. He hates to lose.”

Watson has a similar personality. He broke onto the varsity scene as a middle infielder for a Bellefonte baseball team that reached the PIAA Class AAA semifinals. His football position also requires soft hands and sound instincts.

“He’s a great athlete,” Wynkoop said. “We say he has ‘Friday Night Speed.’ He’s not the fastest kid but when he catches the ball and the ball is the air, he has the natural ability to make things happen.”

The young Red Raiders might need more big plays to handle a challenging stretch that begins Friday against state-ranked Central at Rogers Stadium. Bellefonte, which has just 10 seniors, then faces defending District 6 Class AAA champion Hollidaysburg before meeting rival Philipsburg- Osceola and Class AAAA DuBois and Central Mountain.

Warner and Watson say they enjoy the challenges.

The duo, after all, endured steep hills and alleys to reach this point.

Guy Cipriano can be reached at 231-4643.