“When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready… The teacher will Disappear.” — Lao-Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher
There are so many storylines playing out when Wayne travels to Penn Yan 1 pm Saturday:
It’s the biggest game of the year in the Finger Lakes.
It pits two state-ranked teams against one another.
It features two teams that can score points in a hurry.
But maybe the most intriguing angle is that it’s a game where student tries to unseat the teacher.
“I learned a lot from Coach (Dave) Marean and my time at Wayne,” Tim McBride, who still makes his home in Wayne. “Our spread offense and some of our sets I got from him. I definitely look forward to coaching against him and see how we do.”
McBride, who found his football roots at Wayne High, was a 2-year starter at QB for the Eagles in 1999 and 2000 when Dave Marean was the Eagle offensive coordinator. McBride joined the Wayne staff as an understudy in 2006 and then reported to Marean when Marean became the head coach in 2010, a position he’s held ever since.
There is mutual respect between both coaches, who have seen their shares of ups and downs over their coaching careers.
“Tim’s always had the passion and the drive and the smarts to know how to be creative. The biggest thing that I saw in him from the get-go is what coaches need nowadays more than ever: is how to relate to kids,” said Marean, who has been on the Eagle coaching staff since the program’s inception in 1998. “Kids are different now than when I started in 2004 and Tim brings a good balance of firm, toughness but at the same time letting them know that it’s still high school football and we’re here to have fun.”
So what trick does the protégé have up his sleeve? None, really, just do what they do best: which is to spread the ball and let his playmaker make the right read. It all starts with QB Will Rogers, who has his sights on the Section V passing record book. Rogers averages nearly 400 yards per game this season.
Wayne, on the other hand, counters with a balanced attack that features a QB just as accurate and a running game that can tear off chunks of yardage at a time.
The Eagles, ranked 10th in Class B by the NYS Sportswriters Association, are led by senior signal caller Grayson Zenelovic who has completed 76% of his passes (64-of-85) for 1093 yards, 17 TDs and only 2 interceptions. When Zenelovic is not beating his opponents through the air, featured RB Billy Thompson is ripping off runs averaging 7.2 yards a carry (92 carries, 664 yards) and has crossed the goal line 7 times. Thompson is also the Eagles’ all-purpose player, who has returned kicks (129 yards) and caught 7 balls for 88 yards. Thompson isn’t the only back who can beat a defense as Jonah Reagan will also get his licks.
“We run strictly a shotgun based offense for several seasons now, and with Grayson from the shoulders he gets it” Marean said of his QB who has already committed to joining the US Navy with aspirations of becoming a Navy Seal. “He’s like another coach on the field. He’s well-prepared, is a very smart kid and makes my job easier and makes us look good.”
Zenolovic has two targets which presents problems to opposing secondaries. Most teams only have one primary target, but the Eagles have two and both have the speed and skill to get open: Logan Blankenship (19 receptions, 443 yards, 8 TDs) and Anthony Muratore (19-342 and 4 TDs) will give opposing defensive coordinators fits.
The Mustangs, ranked 19th by the NYSSWA in Class C, counter with a do-everything QB in Will Rogers. Rogers is prolific through the air and is 132-for-181 passing (73%) for a whopping 1,628 yards and 19 TDs, but has also thrown 8 picks. Rogers is on pace to break the Section V passing mark held by for Aquinas Li’l Irish signal caller Jake Zembiec who threw for 3033 yards and 37 TDs in 13 games in 2015.
Rogers is also Penn Yan’s leading rusher with 308 yards on 15 carries. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s 1,936 total yards of offense in 5 games, or 387 yards per game.
On the surface, it would seem like Penn Yan is one-dimensional: stop Rogers and the rest is history. Not so fast says McBride.
“Our philosophy is to combine a spread-offense with our double-wing set and make the defense defend us sideline to sideline. We look for weak areas in the defense to attack and we do,” he said. “And Will makes great decisions when he has the ball. He understands coverages and knows when to throw it or pull it in and run it.”
One thing McBride didn’t learn from Marean is how to throw the ball, at least as a player.
“When I played QB for Dave we probably threw the ball about 5 times a game back then,” chuckled McBride who was on the staff from 2006-2013. “But I did learn the spread from him when he was the head coach.”
Defensively, the Eagles will swarm to the ball and are led by LB Jonah Pullen’s 13-tackle average per game. He has also logged 9 tackles for loss on the season.
“Our defense is getting better as the year progresses,” Marean said. “As a coaching staff we really didn’t know what we had coming back other than we were returning a lot of players. But they have bought into each other and trust each other which are such key elements on the defensive side of the ball.”
And that trust has translated into 5 consecutive wins, shutting down their last 4 opponents by a combined score of 192-60, including a 48-0 shutout of Pal-Mac.
The Mustangs, on the other hand, employ a bend-but-don’t-break defense and win on the strength of their offense. In the 5 games, Penn Yan has scored 186 points (37.2 per game), but has also allowed 153 points (30.6 per game).
“Wayne is very good, balanced team,” said McBride. “They are loaded with great athletes; Grayson makes great decisions when he has the ball, Thompson runs harder than anyone in our league and Blankenship makes some phenomenal catches. Their O-Line plays hard to the whistle and they are well coached.
“It’s going to be fun.”
And when it’s all over around 3:30 pm Saturday, who knows,maybe the student will have schooled the teacher.
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