Midd-West Mustangs

MIDD-WEST

A NEW MINDSET

New division brings hope of improvement to Mustangs of improvement to Mustangs

Story by Todd Hummel

Midd-West won just one game last season, but the Mustangs and their fans were left to wonder “what if” at times. What if in the opener against Central Columbia, the Mustangs didn’t give up two quick touchdowns in a game they played pretty well in after that three-minute stretch to open the season? Does Midd-West develop the confidence in itself to overcome the mistakes it would make later in the season? It is questions like these that Lance Adams pondered most of the off season after his first year as head coach of Midd-West. “I don’t know if I could say we would have had momentum — we played a very good Danville team the next week — but I do think we would have had more confidence the rest of the season,” Adams said. So in addition to some on the field changes offensively and defensively, which we’ll get into in a bit, Adams thinks Midd-West has to learn some things on the mental side of the game as well to become successful. “We have to develop the mindset in the fourth quarter that it is our game to win. It’s something we have to instill in our younger kids so that by the time they are juniors and seniors, they believe it,” Adams said. “But it’s the chicken or the egg thing. Do you need to have success to develop that mentality in the fourth quarter? or do you develop that mentality, and it delivers that success.”

ETHAN SCHLIEF

MIDD-WEST | MUSTANGS

PIAA DISTRICT 4 CLASS 3A HEARTLAND DIVISION 3

One thing that will help the Mustangs find that answer is a switch in divisions in the Heartland Athletic Conference. Dropping from Division II where they played the likes of Danville (Class 3A champion in 2020 and 2021) and Montoursville (Class 3A runner up the last two seasons), down to a Division III that has Warrior Run, Hughesville and Bloomsburg. “I know this is coach speak, but I believe if we worry about ourselves things will take care of itself,” Adams said. “If we do that, we’ll more competitive in the division, and more competitive in our games.” Now to the schematic shifts, nothing too dramatic, but Adams wanted to find a way to get more big plays offensively, especially in the passing game, while stopping the big plays themselves on the defensive end. The Mustangs will be looking for a new quarterback with the graduation of C.J. Regester. The battle is between junior Colby Brower and sophomore Jasher Wolf. Both have varsity experience, but not at quarterback. Brower attempted four passes, but played almost execlusively defense, while Wolf was a tight end before his season ended with an injury midway through. “Whoever wins the job, it’s going to be a baptism by fire, neither has much experience,” Adams said. “They both were on the jayvee team last year, but we didn’t get a chance to play many junior varsity games last season. “We’re going to have to move the pocket, and work off our play-action.” Adams feels like if the Mustangs are going to be successful this season, it’s going to come down to their ability to run the football. Midd-West’s strength is its lines on both sides of the ball led by Landon Lauver and Miles Aurand along with Dom Andretta, who missed most of last season with an injury. “We have to be able to run the football, and not get behind the sticks. Our biggest

issue last season was penalties and negative plays,” Adams said. “We’re going to need our running game to be successful to stretch teams with our running game. “We are going to have to be able to run the football when teams know we are going to run the football.” Senior Austin Dorman will be the Mustangs’ workhorse as Midd-West looks to develop its younger depth at the position early in the season. “He’s going to be carrying the ball the majority of the time,” Adams said. “He’ll be “WE HAVE TO BE ABLE the feature back, and he’ll be doing a lot of TO RUN THE FOOTBALL, the heavy lifting.” AND NOT GET BEHIND On the other side of the ball, the Mustangs’ THE STICKS. OUR BIG- coaching staff GEST ISSUE LAST SEA- simplified things a bit. “We went back to the

SON WAS PENALTIES basics, really worked AND NEGATIVE PLAYS.” on our fundamentals,” Adams said. “We also — LANCE ADAMS, simplified things a MIDD-WEST HEAD COACH bit, so they can be aggressive, and react, rather than think.” Adams and the staff thought the fundamental work was necessary because of the amount of big plays Midd-West defense gave up last season. “We can’t work on tackling until we get into the season, but we worked a lot on pursuit angles and keeping things in front of us,” Adams said. “So many of our problems at times last season were giving up one long pass or one long run. “We want to keep things in front of us, and rally people to the ball to make plays.” All of these changes on the field and the divisional change, could help the Mustangs improve from last year’s one-win season. Midd-West opens with a tough Mifflinburg program, but a win in the second week against Halifax — the only team it beat last season — could go a long way in helping the Mustangs develop that confidence. “I think it would help because we have a greater margin of error. If we can take care of business (in the second game),” Adams said. “I think it will go a long way in our confidence.”

2022 SCHEDULE

Aug. 26 at Mifflinburg Sept. 2 Halifax Sept. 9 at Milton Sept. 16 Bloomsburg* Sept.23 Hughesville* Sept. 30 at Mount Carmel* Oct. 7 Warrior Run* Oct. 14 at Lewisburg Oct. 21 Penns Valley Oct. 28 at Selinsgrove

*-PHAC-3 GAME

2021 RESULTS (1-9)

L at Central Columbia 21-7 L at Danville 62-6 L vs Mifflinburg 48-7 L vs Bloomsburg 40-21 L vs Lewisburg 62-6 L at N. Penn-Man. 35-14 L at Juniata 44-0 L vs Montoursville 42-6 L at Central Mountain 45-6 W vs Halifax 49-12

5-YEAR WIN TREND

5*

4*

1

1

2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

*-PLAYOFFS &-DISTRICT CHAMPION #-PIAA CHAMPION

2021 STAT LEADERS

PASSING C-A Int TD Yds C. Regester 49-141 14 6 689 RUSHING Att Yards TDs Ethan Schlief 101 423 4 Austin Dorman 54 262 3 CJ Regester 72 172 2 RECEIVING Rec Yards TDs Corey Reinard 28 492 5 James Troup 11 96 1

RETURNEES IN BOLD