There is no such thing in football as a one or two-man team. Football may be the ultimate team sport, in that if one player doesn't do his job, the whole chain can fall apart.
But if there is one team that really, really relies on one or two players, it's Bloomsburg, which will take on Mount Carmel tonight at the Silver Bowl for the District 4-AA championship.
And when one of those two players is a 6-5, 220-pound Division I-bound quarterback with a powerful arm who can hurt you as much with his running as his throwing, you can understand the reliance.
Bloomsburg's Blake Rankin, who has already verbally committed to Rutgers, has
led the 9-2 Panthers to a scoring output of 39 points per game, and his personal offensive numbers are, according to Mount Carmel coach Carmen DeFrancesco "staggering."
Rankin has completed 130 of 236 passes for 2,129 yards and 20 touchdowns, with just seven interceptions. But it's his running numbers that are eye-popping. He has run for 1,476 yards and 28 touchdowns, numbers any all-state tailback candidate would be happy with.
Put together, that's 3,605 yards of total offense, producing 48 touchdowns.
"He's the best high school quarterback I've seen in a number of years," DeFrancesco said. "His numbers are just unbelievable."
DeFrancesco said the Panthers' whole offensive game plan is based on taking advantage of Rankin's abilities.
"They run a spread offense and they dare you to rush the passer when he's in the shotgun," DeFrancesco said. "Then he just looks for lanes. He is terrific. He has great feet, and he is mechanically almost perfect. His steps, his rollouts, his shoulder position, they're all good."
Like all good quarterbacks, Rankin has a pretty good receiver, too. John Klingerman has caught 46 passes for 1,113 yards (24.2 yards per catch) and 12 touchdowns, and almost demands double coverage. But if you take out the long game, the Panthers can also hurt you with the short game. Tanner Thrush has caught 40 passes for 480 yards, and Colby Klingerman, John's younger brother, has added 19 receptions for 250 yards and three TDs.
"Coach (Larry) Sones is very smart, too," DeFrancesco said. "He spreads you out, then they survey your (defensive) assignments and find your weakness."
DeFrancesco said he thinks the way to defend the Panthers is to spy on Rankin with one player, double cover John Klingerman, and hope nobody else beats you. But that has obvious drawbacks.
"You've got to contain (Rankin). You cannot let him break contain," DeFrancesco said, "Our defensive ends have been playing about as well as they can. But he's deceptively fast. He covers a lot of ground because his legs are so long. You have to control rush him. You just can't go flying in there because he'll make you miss."
If you do spy Rankin and double-cover Klingerman, that leaves the Panthers with a man advantage on the rest of the field, and that's provided you're successful with the first part of the scheme.
"You have to count on your other guys stepping up," DeFrancesco said. He compared defending the Panthers to defending a good option attack.
"It's almost the same. If you get out of position, you're in trouble," he said. "One of the things we're going work on this week is making sure our defenders rush to the outside shoulder. If they go inside, he (Rankin) is just going to run around them."
Ultimately, the best defense against a team like the Panthers is probably your own offense. If the Red Tornadoes can keep the ball for 10, 12, 15 plays at a time, that's less time available for Rankin to do damage. Bloomsburg doesn't have a lot of size or depth on the lines, so that's where Mount Carmel's strength should be.
"The best defense is to control the ball," DeFrancesco said. "Just keep pounding at them and keep the ball. We feel awful good about our front, and we're going to have to depend on them."
One lineman who stepped up last week was Seth Nicola, who took over at center for three-year starter Mike Scicchitano, who will likely miss the rest of the season with a staph infection.
"Seth did a great job Friday night," DeFrancesco said. "When you lose someone at that center position, you really worry, because so much happens from that position."