McDaniel Quarterback Brad Baer entered the season with aspirations of becoming just the second player in Centennial Conference history to pass for 4,000 yards and rush for 1,000. Now, Coach Tim Keating hopes to find a quarterback who can just put points on the scoreboard.
Baer, a fifth-year senior, suffered a broken right leg in a mid-September practice after McDaniel fell to Catholic, 28-21. His replacement, Tom Wenrich, has not fared much better. The senior, who filled in for Baer when he missed most of the 2005 season with a broken collarbone, is out at least a week after sustaining a concussion in the second quarter of a 43-0 loss to Muhlenberg (6-0 overall, 4-0 Centennial Conference) last weekend.
And it doesn?t get any easier for McDaniel (1-5, 1-3). The Green Terror hosts Ursinus (5-1, 3-1) at Scott S. Blair Stadium in Westminster on Saturday afternoon at 1. McDaniel will start its third quarterback in six games ? sophomore Zach Swope.
“We lost a quarterback again,” Keating, who has had at least eight starters miss a game this season, said. “We feel like a MASH unit here, we can?t seem to buy a healthy team.”
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Swope was a standout at Hammond High in Columbia from 2003-2006. Swope was a first-team All-County performer as a senior. He completed 89-of-160 passes for 1,348 yards and eight touchdowns, in addition to rushing for 242 yards and seven touchdowns on 54 carries. In the loss to Muhlenberg, which is ranked No. 21 in Division III, Swope entered thegame in the second quarter. After throwing two incompletions, his next pass was intercepted at the Mules? 27-yard line.
Swope finished 2-of-9 for 15 yards with an interception. Fellow sophomore Joe Lapkowicz, a 6-foot, 190-pounder from Harrisburg, Pa., completing just 1-of-2 passes for one yard.
“It probably will be Zach Swope, he?s inexperienced, but he?s working hard,” Keating said. “If he?s throwing hard, it will be great for us, as he gets to be consistent with his throws.”
Regardless of who Keating opts to start, he will need to revitalize an offense that ranks last in the Centennial Conference in total offense (258 yards per game) and averages only 14.7 points per game.
Last Saturday was the first time that the Green Terror failed to score since 1993, but if Swope or Lapkowicz can?t make a smooth transition to the collegiate game, it won?t be the last.
“If for nothing else, experience is being a positive situation for the young guys,” Keating said. “Guys are getting better, even if the results aren?t what you?d like to see.”
