Lafayette, Lehigh go local for key recruits
Several Lehigh Valley-area players sign with Leopards, Mountain Hawks
Nothing Santa could bring over the next week could please Lafayette College football coach John Troxell more than what the early-signing period brought to his Leopards program.
“Christmas came early for us,” said Troxell on Wednesday, less than a month after his team capped a breakout 9-3 season that included a Patriot League championship and an appearance in the NCAA FCS playoffs.
Highlighting the initial list of 12 Lafayette signees were Sean Kinney and Mason Kuehner, two standouts from Nazareth’s District 11 6A championship team.
“Those are great kids from great families; exactly what you’re looking for,” Troxell said. “To get them to stay home and continue to play in front of the home crowd is very exciting. We couldn’t be happier.”
Kinney, a two-time state wrestling champ who wanted to play football in college, is coming off a big senior season in which he was a dominant force on the offensive line for a team that averaged 34.4 points and 372 yards per game. On defense, despite being double-teamed, he registered 90 tackles, including eight sacks for a 12-2 team.
At least initially, he’s targeted to play on the offensive side.
Kuehner broke several Blue Eagles all-time receiving records that were set by former Penn State player and current NFL standout Jahan Dotson. He had 80 receptions for 1,242 yards with nine touchdowns and added 209 rushing yards and a touchdown. Due to an injury to Peyton Falzone, he was pressed into duty at QB for a game and threw for 150 yards and a touchdown. He also had a punt return and interception return for touchdowns.
Like Kinney, Kuehner was a first-team EPC South all-star selection. Troxell said they might be able to get on the field and make an immediate impact for the Leopards.
“As I told them, they could come in and start for four years or they could never play a down,” Troxell said. “It’s up to them. I think they have the ability to contribute to our team quickly. How quickly? It’s a matter of how fast they learn it. They’re both explosive players and they’re kids who could have played at a higher level if things worked out differently for them. But my hope is that we can develop quickly and they can contribute without having to wait a few years down the road. You never want to say you’re coming in as a starter, but we’re going to give them an opportunity to compete for a spot, that’s for sure.”
Lafayette had several young first and second-year players emerge in the 2023 season.
“We’ve recruited every bit as good of a group as we did last year and we’re going to need some of these young guys to help in certain spots,” Troxell said. “I think our staff is doing a great job of finding kids that fit Lafayette and how we do it. We always say don’t worry about the ones we didn’t get and just worry about the ones we got. We’re really excited about this group.”
Troxell said the staff wasn’t done and there will be more signings to come Wednesday and in time for the second signing day on Feb. 7.
“We’ve still got work to do,” he said. “We needed to add some depth at certain positions because in recruiting you’re not just looking at the next year but where you’re going to be the year after that. You try to look ahead and see where you’re going to have to fill holes.
After this season we’re going to be looking to fill holes on the back end of the defense and we’re getting a really good safety in Dhonta Jackson from DeMatha Catholic in Washington, D.C., who we think is an immediate impact kid. He’s FBS power-5 type of kid who had a lot of offers and then Ryan Gadson from Bishop Verot in Florida is a talented corner and we just love him and we’re adding three offensive linemen including Sean. It’s important to build on both sides of the line of scrimmage.”
Lehigh adds Golden Hawk, Blue Bomber
Lehigh coach Kevin Cahill may still be relatively new to the area after just celebrating his one-year anniversary as Mountain Hawks coach, but he already is well aware of how strong local and Pennsylvania football has been over the years.
That’s why he was happy to finally be able to officially welcome Palmerton star quarterback Matt Machalik and Bethlehem Catholic offensive lineman Sammy Ayache to the nest.
Northampton lineman Colby Reph has announced his commitment to Lehigh on social media, and while Cahill couldn’t comment on him, he’s on target to become a February signee.
“When I got hired I said I wanted to recruit local, and bring in people who knew Lehigh and value Lehigh,” Cahill said. “I think we’ve done a really nice job of that. We brought in people from around the state and talented kids from other places, too. Our staff has done a really good job of identifying the kind of players that fits us.”
This recruiting class is one of the most important in Lehigh’s football history considering the Mountain Hawks have gone 2-9 in consecutive seasons.
As he enters his second full season on the job, Cahill will have
a chance to fill Lehigh’s roster with more of the players he and his staff have recruited. Several of the players he inherited have entered the transfer portal.
“This was a big recruiting class for us,” Cahill agreed. “Last year when we first got here we worked hard on putting together a class that could get on the field and compete a little bit. But I feel this class we had a full cycle to get a handle on and we’re not done yet. We’ve still got kids who need to finish some things and they’ll be part of this class as well.”
Cahill said the program needed to add bodies overall, but he said he targeted certain positions, including quarterback.
Including Machalik, there are five or six signees who played quarterback in high school and even if they don’t play QB at Lehigh, Cahill likes guys who are used to having the ball in their hands.
“It’s a philosophy I learned from Jack Cosgrove at the University of Maine,” Cahill said. “Jack wanted kids who were in high pressure situations in high school and they are generally leaders who understand what pressure is all about and they can take that with them to any position they play. I kept that in the back of my mind over the years and this year we have two guys who are designated as quarterbacks, but a lot of guys who played the position and understand the pressure of certain situations.”
As for the local players, Cahill is thrilled to have the record-breaking Machalik coming from Carbon County. He finished his career with 6,055 passing yards and 5,457 rushing yards. He’s the first player in state history with 6,000 passing yards and 5,000 rushing yards. He also scored 95 career touchdowns, which is fourth all time in District 11. In 2023, he led Palmerton to a 12-0 record and finished with 176 carries for 2,251 yards at 12.8 yards per attempt and 35 rushing touchdowns. A 1,000-point scorer in
basketball, Machalik was 103-210 passing for 1,529 yards with 17 TDs.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete, but he also has a special mindset,” Cahill said. “It’s the person and not just the athlete that we want here. He doesn’t care if he passes the ball, runs it, catches it, he just wants to win. He’s got that personality that we want our program to be all about.”
Ayache was coached by former Lehigh player Tyler Ward at Bethlehem Catholic and will be another positive addition.
“Sammy is coming to us from right around the corner and he has just gotten better and better,” Cahill said. “He came to our camp this summer and did a nice job and just has great athleticism. If you look at his junior film and then his senior film you can see a big difference and how much he has progressed and he’s another kid that we want to develop once he gets here.”
In addition to the local players committing to Lafayette and Lehigh, several others from the EPC made their future destinations official. Parkland’s Trey Tremba is going to West Point, Emmaus’ Mario Landino is going to Indiana and his Green Hornets teammate Ben Mercado is going to Sacred Heart while Northampton’s Caden Henritzy is set for Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts.
Sean Kinney; OL; 6-2; 290; Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth
Mason Kuehner; WR; 5-11; 180; Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth
Jason Penza; QB; 6-2; 190; Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central
Kristo Reinhardt; OL; 6-3; 285; Great Falls, Va./Langley
Dominic Selvitelli; DL; 6-1; 270; Worcester, Mass./Lawrence Academy
Joël van Gelder; TE; 6-5; 230; Groningen, Netherlands/Jüri Gümnaasium
Paul Widerman; LB; 6-0; 220; Eden, N.C./Reidsville