Upcoming
Booster Club Meeting
Dates:
March
16, 2010 In Room
25 at MASH, 7 pm
Mechanicsburg
squeezes past Red Land
JOHN
TUSCANO, For The
Patriot-News, November
06, 2009 7:18 a.m.
James
Rusenko's 9-yard touchdown
run with 5:18 to play
completed Mechanicsburg's
12-7 comeback win over Red
Land in a Mid-Penn
Colonial tussle Thursday
night at West Shore
Stadium.
The
win gives the Wildcats
(6-4, 3-2) the inside
track on a District 3-AAA
playoff spot. It's almost
certain that Chris Hakel's
team is headed to the
postseason, although it's
still not official.
Red
Land (3-7, 1-4) led 7-0
early in the second
quarter after Nick Diller
finished off an 18-play,
80-yard drive with a
7-yard score.
Mechanicsburg sliced into
the deficit with a pair of
Nik Cremo field goals -
one in the second quarter
and another in the third -
to make it 7-6 after three
quarters.
Diller,
who finished with 72 yards
on 21 carries, was
stripped of the ball in
the fourth quarter after a
1-yard reception.
Linebacker Parker
Schankweiler made the
recovery at the RL 24.
Four
plays later, Rusenko faked
a give to Leftanant and
scored around the left
side. Rusenko's two-point
coversion run was stopped,
leaving the score at 12-7.
Leftenant
carried the ball 18 times
for 98 yards to lead the
Wildcats, while Bryton
Barr made two catches for
40 yards.
Wildcats
get past JB
Mechanicsburg
21 James Buchanan 19
The
Wildcats scored 21
second-quarter points and
held off the surging
Rockets to score their
fifth straight win.
Wildcats quarterback James
Rusenko completed 17 of 29
passes for 272 yards and
three touchdowns, two of
which went to Sal Purpura
for 44 and 58 yards.
Purpura hauled in five
passes for 103 yards. The
Rockets, who held Wildcats
running back Tarik
Leftenant to 49 yards,
scored with 2:49 left, but
were called for pass
interference on the
two-point conversion and
failed on their next
attempt to tie the game.
Wildcats
chalk up 4th win
Saturday,
October 24, 2009
Four
and counting.
After
falling behind 6-0,
Mechanicsburg scored 10
second-quarter points and
the defense pitched a
shutout the rest of the
way to give the Wildcats a
soggy 16-6 Colonial
Division victory over
Gettysburg to up their win
streak to four games.
The
Wildcats (4-4, 2-2) run
started when Seth Ledford
recovered a fumble and
returned it 70 yards for
the go-ahead touchdown.
Nik
Cremo followed with a
23-yard field goal with
four minutes left in the
first half.
Tailback
Tarik Leftenant took over
from there, slipping and
sliding for 109 yards and
a 15-yard touchdown run in
the third to put this one
out of reach and move the
Wildcats to .500 on the
season.
Andy
Mummert hit field goals of
34 and 28 yards for the
Warriors (2-6, 1-3) in the
first quarter.
Wildcats
cruise by Bulldogs
By
Jeffrey Kauffman, Oct. 17,
2009
Two
teams going in opposite
direction over the past
several weeks collided at
Big Spring Friday night
and Big Spring and
Mechanicsburg continued to
go in their same
directions as the Wildcats
edged the Bulldogs 31-14.
Read
More
Chris
Hakel's Mechanicsburg
squad on winning track
after an 0-4 start
Shocked
couldn't even begin to
describe the emotions of
the Mechanicsburg
football team after it
opened the season with a
31-15 loss to Carlisle.
The
Wildcats continued to
struggle when, a week
later, they fell 30-6 to
Hershey and followed
that up with a 40-0 loss
to Susquehanna Twp.
Read
More
Week
7 high school football
preview: Mechanicsburg
at Big Spring
ANDREW
P. SHAY, The
Patriot-News,
October
15, 2009
RECORDS:
Mechanicsburg 2-4; Big
Spring 2-3.
THE WILDCATS:
Inexperienced group took
its lumps early, and has
slowly started to climb
off the deck. Cracked
visiting Shippensburg a
week ago, and that
invisible running game
has started to become a
major factor. RB Tarik
Leftenant (40) has 335
yards and four
touchdowns the last two
outings — a pair of
victories. QB James
Rusenko (2) has thrown
for 349 yards and zero
interceptions during the
same two-week stretch.
THE BULLDOGS: Are
battling a case of power
outage. After scoring 92
points the first three
games, Big Spring has
managed just one field
goal the last two weeks.
Bulldogs defense is
still fairly solid, but
it needs a little more
help from the Wing-T
offense. Key is getting
RB’s Corey Cassell
(16) and Austin Coyle
(30) back in the groove.
SHAY’S PICK:
Mechanicsburg 24-10.
Momentum is clearly in
favor of the visting
Wildcats.
Athlete
of the Week
Mechanicsburg
senior Tarik Leftenant and
Trinity senior Katie
Palkovic are The
Sentinel’s Athletes of
the Week after turning in
solid performances to help
their team. Read
More
Mechanicsburg
RB Tarik Leftenant:
Cumberland-area athlete of
the week
BRETT
R. CROSSLEY, For The
Patriot-News, October
16, 2009 5:28 p.m.
Tarik
Leftenant of
Mechanicsburg -
(JOE
HERMITT/The
Patriot-News)
Tarik
Leftenant has been the
focal point of the
Mechanicsburg offense this
season. The senior is
showing why he is
considered a leader and
one of the premier runners
in the Mid-Penn Colonial
Division.
The
last two weeks have been
good for the Wildcats, who
have been able to turn the
season around with two big
wins.
Leftenant
has been one of the
biggest reasons for the
Wildcats new-found
success. Over the past two
wins, Leftenant has
carried the ball 44 times
and has averaged more than
7.6 per tote. Add four
touchdowns to go with his
335 yards, and it's easy
to see why the Wildcats
have won both games by
controlling the clock and
the ground game. Read
More
Mechanicsburg
football runs away from
Shippensburg
By
Jeff Kauffman, Oct. 9,
2009
Last
updated: Friday,
October 9, 2009 11:59 PM
ED
-
Michael
Bupp/The
Sentinel
Mechanicsburg's
Tarik
Leftenant
runs the
ball against
the
Shippensburg
defense.
The
Leftenant show took over
center stage at
Mechanicsburg on Friday
night.
Tarik
Leftenant,
Mechanicsburg’s senior
running back, rushed for
202 yards in leading the
Wildcats to a 31-14 win
on homecoming over the
Greyhounds of
Shippensburg at John H.
Frederick Field. Read
More
Mechanicsburg
28 Waynesboro 14
Cats
earn 1st W of the Year
James
Rusenko passed for 233
yards and two scores and
Tarik Leftenant rambled
for 123 yards and a
touchdown to power the
Wildcats. Bryton Barr
hauled in four passes for
125 yards and another
score for Mechanicsburg,
which led 21-7 at the
intermission. Waynesboro's
Jesse Mowen had 224 yards
passing and a score.Late
TD gives Bears tight win
over Wildcats
Late
TD gives Bears tight win
over Wildcats
Saturday,
September 26, 2009, From
staff reports
Matt
Richmond's 5-yard
touchdown midway through
the fourth quarter settled
an entertaining
nondivisional matchup
Friday, lifting Northern
past Mechanicsburg 26-22
at the Wildcats' Memorial
Field.
The
Polar Bears cruised to a
19-0 halftime lead, thanks
to a first-quarter TD run
by Kevin Lytle and a pair
of 1-yard runs by Joe
Tuschak.
But
the Wildcats wowed the
home crowd with a 22-point
third quarter. Tarik
Leftenant broke through
with a 4-yard run. Bryton
Bar added a 21-yard TD
catch, and Jordan Johnson
gave the Wildcats a 22-19
lead with a 40-yard
interception return.
Richmond
kept Northern unbeaten
with his scoring run at
5:57 of the fourth. The
Wildcats kept the heat on
the Bears, however, moving
to the Northern 7-yard
line with three minutes
remaining before an
interception doomed them.
