MYAL FOOTBALL
The MYAL Ponies chalked up the 2008 season as a learning year. Manville finished its season Oct. 11 at Clark.
Although the record won’t show it, these kids played their hearts out for every down. With a weight limit of 105 pounds at the top level, the kids were playing against mostly older and bigger kids. Many of the younger players were also in their first year of tackle football.
Running back Paul Basta ran for many of the yards for the team. Bobby Demeter also ran and quarterbacked the offense and did a great job. Troy Armstrong quarterbacked and ran as well and was a big asset on defense.
Bobby Demeter also played linebacker on defense. Shane Demeter worked from sideline to sideline as he made some big plays for the Ponies. TJ Caswell ran the ball and made a bunch of tackles on defense as he had a very good year.
Connor Faleski, playing on defense, came up with some big tackles in his first year of tackle football. Troy Oset made some dynamite plays on the defensive line as well. Nick Lofton’s name was also called many times for his tackling abilities.
Joe Mascola made some nice holes and did a great job on the defensive line. Dan Bickar, playing defense, made his name known with some very good plays on the line. Jimmy Clancy did a good job of containment from the defensive side of the ball for the Ponies.
Jameer Campbell showed a lot of quickness chasing down the opponents running backs. Connor Riggs played a tough linebacker for the team all year. First-year player Ryan Lofton did a good job on both sides of the ball.
RJ Thompson did a good job as well with being just a first-year player. Hunter Norz clogged up opponent’s offensive lines to make some nice plays during the year. Marco Ortiz was a busy man on defense playing defensive end.
First-year player Kevin Faulkner made some big-time tackles during his first year. Jake Bentz created some holes and did a good job in his first year. Alex Gonzalez created some holes for his running backs on offense.
Joe Kronmaier played a tough defense on the line for the Ponies. Dylan Whitenight played both offense and defense at linebacker and made some good tackles. Michael Tyle was a tough 8-year-old going both on offense and defense.
The record doesn’t show it but these kids had no quit in them at all. They came to play every game and did so at their best level. This was a great learning season for all of them.
The kids wish to thank all the coaches and other people who supported the team during the year.

