Nazareth football captains haven't let injuries derail the Blue Eagles' season

A quick look at the opening coin toss in recent weeks revealed that things haven’t gone according to plan for the Nazareth Area High School football team’s captains.

Three of the senior leaders have had their season affected by injury.

Outside linebacker Keller Rupp was hurt during the Blue Eagles’ scrimmage with Dieruff. Middle linebacker Luke Schmidt was sidelined in a Week 1 victory against Hazleton. Austin Boyce, while not taken out of action completely, has been limited to one side of the ball after getting banged-up in Week 4 vs. Freedom.

When Nazareth (5-2 overall, 1-1 division), ranked No. 5 by lehighvalleylive.com, takes the field for a Saturday night clash with No. 10 Bethlehem Catholic (4-3, 0-2) at Bethlehem Area School District Stadium, all three will be active.

“It’s great for the team, but it’s even better for these kids who have given so much,” Nazareth coach Tom Falzone said about the captains returning to action. “... They’ve battled through so much. They lead you the entire offseason; they’re looking for their opportunity to play and make their mark as a senior. Unfortunately, for at least two of them, they haven’t been able to do that at all, really, and the other is just playing one side of the ball.”

Getting injured prior to the start of the regular season was a bitter pill for Rupp to swallow, but he tried to remain a positive force for the group.

“It’s difficult mentally, especially for me, knowing how hard I worked in the offseason with this team,” Rupp said. “It was rough, but I kind of used it as motivation to work and still be a leader even though I wasn’t on the field with them.”

Falzone didn’t see Rupp or Schmidt’s leadership wane when they were knocked out of the lineup.

“They’re coaching young kids up, and that’s why those guys were selected as captains,” Falzone said. “It’s hard for a kid if they’re the captain and they’re not doing it by their play on the field. But now, they’re getting healthier and they’re getting the opportunity to get some burn out there.”

Schmidt tried to keep things in perspective, considering Nazareth now has three key contributors with season-ending injuries, including a pair of ACL tears.

“I knew that even though I was hurt and was in a bad situation, there were people on the team that were worse off than me,” he said.

Boyce’s situation is a little different. The senior was a participant on offense, defense and special teams, but is now limited to playing safety in the defensive backfield.

“It was very hard to stay motivated when I wasn’t doing much all the time,” Boyce said. “But once I got used to that, it actually helped a lot because I was able to focus in on defense. I became very vocal and confident in myself on that side of the ball.”

All three captains were impressed by the younger players who were forced into varsity action.

“They responded very well, especially on such short notice,” Boyce said. “It all changed so fast ... Coach always preaches ‘next man up.’ He’s been doing it for years. So, I think the coaches got them ready for any scenario, and they stepped up big when they had to.”

“A lot of guys have stepped up. I think (QB) Peyton (Falzone) and (RB/DB) Marquez (Wimberly) have stepped up into pretty big leadership roles,” Schmidt said. “Other than that, outside of just leading, I think people have stepped into big roles in games. Jayden Wolf got hurt this season, and Lance Zuercher came in for him. (Zuercher), obviously, had a great game against Liberty.”

Zuercher, a sophomore who Rupp recalled encouraging after a shaky debut, is the reigning lehighvalleylive.com Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Defensive Star of the Week after leading the team in tackles (16), intercepting two passes and returning a fumble for a touchdown in Nazareth’s 34-14 win over previously unbeaten Liberty.

“It was a huge game for us, going against an undefeated Liberty team that I think is very, very skilled. They’re on a roll,” Falzone said. “I thought we matched up pretty well that night. I’m proud of our kids for stepping up. We’ll just try to get better each week. You want to play your best football by the end of the year when you start the postseason.”

The Blue Eagles have won two straight after dropping a pair to Freedom and Parkland, the favorites of the Northampton and Lehigh divisions, respectively.

“We kind of redirected ourselves after the Parkland loss ... We scrutinized everything we’d done until that point of the season,” Falzone said. “... We fixed a lot of things – fixed things that we were letting go, fixed things that I, as a head coach, wasn’t doing. We went back to zero and reset. It’s worked well for us so far.”

Nazareth, which will conclude the regular season with matchups against Northampton and Easton, currently sits fifth in the District 11 Class 6A power rankings (the top eight make the playoffs).

“We’re at a really good spot right now,” Rupp said. “Coming off those two losses, those were difficult, but myself and the rest of the team, we used it as fuel to try to come out strong in the back half of the season ... As a team, even though we’re missing key starters, a lot of younger players have stepped up. I’m really glad our chemistry is working with them.”

“We’re doing a good job of hitting that stride when we need to going into these big games,” Boyce added.

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Kyle Craig may be reached at kcraig@lehighvalleylive.com.