By russellBUSH
Ballroom dancing and old barn dances used to be a big thing and there was a phrase that went along with those events, “Dance with the one you brought”. That might be a poor way of describing how the Huntingdon Mustangs play football. There has been a lot of discussion over the years of the style of play you see out of Huntingdon football. The style would be described as a punishing or physical style of football and that really applies to the offense more so than the defensive side of the ball.
Fans like to see the ball thrown around the lot and QB’s spinning long passes down the field because it is the glamour way of playing football. There have been very few athletes come through Huntingdon that the college scouts are seeking that can play the style of game that was mentioned in that first sentence. There have been some very good QB’s at Huntingdon and Gray Eubanks who plays that position currently is one of those players. There are no Manning bloodlines coming through Huntingdon.
Most of the time the Mustangs are the smaller team and it is very seldom that Huntingdon plays a team that they have a size advantage over. Where is all this going you might ask? Huntingdon has been playing a physical style of football since the beginning of time and I can attest it was that way 48 years ago when I was in high school. All the coaches that have steered the ship at Huntingdon have all come to the same conclusion and that is to dance with the one you brought.
I think in the last two years Eric Swenson’s offense has been perfect for the kids that are walking the halls of Huntingdon High School. The backs are not big and the speed factor while it is decent is not the speed that used to reside in the backfield at Huntingdon. It’s a group of kids that take to coaching well and an offensive line that are pushing people off the football.
The last two seasons the Mustangs have been in what some football experts would call a rebuilding year. Yet, the Mustangs went 9-3 last season and are currently 6-1 this season and have gotten there with a physical style of football. Outside of the first game of the season in which the Mustangs only scored 12 points, since that game they have averaged 57 points a game.
The Mustangs are piling up points and who knows where the rest of the season will go but I can tell you that Eric Swenson and his staff have the Mustangs on the right path and they are doing in the style that Huntingdon plays football. This team has bought in and are as tough and physical as any Mustang squad that has been on the gridiron over the years.
For more of my ramblings, check out The Beating Around the Bush podcast available on Apple, Spotify and other places you find your podcast.
