Tommy Hunsicker relishing chance to finally play quarterback for Bulldogs

Tommy Hunsicker said he had been looking forward to his first start at quarterback since the day his sophomore season ended some nine months ago. Really, it’s been much, much longer than that.

Ever since he was 7 or 8 and first set foot in Gurski Stadium he has been tranfixed on whoever was playing quarterback for Wilson: Matt Timochenko, Jake Templin, Collin Powers, Connor Uhrig, Anthony Futrick, Kaleb Brown . . . he watched their every move.

“I always wanted to be a quarterback,” said the Wilson junior. ” I wanted to be just like them. That pushed me every day.”

His first start, in the season-opener Aug. 26 against budding powerhouse Roman Catholic, didn’t go the way he envisioned it: He threw three interceptions and the Bulldogs were beaten, 46-15.

The way he bounced back from that tells you a lot about how he earned the position in the first place. He didn’t run away from the mistakes or allow himself to be shackled by the disappointment. He remained confident in his training and in his teammates and showed marked improvement in a Week 2 win over Central Dauphin.

“Obviously, I didn’t play good,” he said of his first start. ” I didn’t help the team that much. But I felt like I fought the whole game, got my first varsity game under my belt. It was a tough first game but I knew I could only go up from there.”

And he did. Quickly.

On Wilson’s first possession at Central Dauphin he completed his first pass, broke off a 20-yard run for a first down, then finished the 78-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Edison Case.

He finished the game 9-of-15 for 127 yards and no interceptions. An adept runner in the read-option game, he also gained 80 yards on 16 carries.

“He did a nice job,” said Wilson coach Doug Dahms. “He picked up his receivers well, he read the coverages well, he ran pretty well. (It was a) good step in the right direction.”

Hunsicker spent the spring and summer competing with junior Adam Woods for the starting spot. In fact, they’ve been competing against each other for years. They faced each other in Van Reed youth football, split time at quarterback on the freshman team and again last year on Wilson’s JV squad.

Dahms didn’t name Hunsicker the starter until after the preseason scrimmage against Coatesville, and even then he said it was still an open competition and that the two would split time. It started off that way in the opener but Hunsicker ended getting the vast majority of the snaps against Roman and all of them against Central Dauphin.

Game situation dictated that, Dahms said. When Wilson fell behind Roman he wanted Hunsicker, whom he considers the better passer, on the field. Last week’s game was tight all the way and Hunsicker gave Dahms no reason to lift him.

“When you’re in a tight game, you’re not gonna change horses when one horse is running (well),” Dahms said.

Dahms won’t yet declare that the job is fully Hunsicker’s. He still plans to play Woods in order to have two game-ready options at such a pivotal spot. Quarterbacks rarely stay upright for an entire season; at some point Dahms knows Hunsicker could be knocked out or become unavailable.

“We still want to get Adam in there and make sure he gets plenty of reps,” Dahms said. “It gives us a little more flexibility.”

That opportunity could come Friday when the Bulldogs host Martin Luther King. The Golden Cougars are coming off a 48-16 loss to Chestnut Hill Academy and aren’t expected to push Wilson the way Central Dauphin did. The Bulldogs won last year’s meeting against King, 50-8.

Hunsicker shows the poise and leadership abilities coaches seek in their quarterback. He’s understated yet self-assured.

His confidence got a booster shot during baseball season when he played every game and started at third base for the Bulldogs. They faced some pressure-cooker games at the end of the season and in the postseason. That helped prepare him for his role as quarterback.

“It helped a lot, to get experience against the top level in high school, especially at the end of the year when we started to play the big teams,” Hunsicker said. “(I got to experience) the atmosphere of big-time varsity sports.”

Hunsicker has strong connections to the game. His father, Scott, was a quarterback at Plymouth-Whitemarsh and Albright College. His uncle, Dean Kraras, caught the winning score in the infamous “Fog Bowl” district championship game in 1990.

Years later Tommy got to meet Kraras’ high school teammate, former Penn State and NFL quarterback Kerry Collins. In recent summers Hunsicker, along with Wilson’s other quarterbacks, has had the chance to work with Chad Henne, a Wilson alum who plays quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.

“He’s been a great help,” Hunsicker said of Henne. “He helped me (improve) my release point, and helped me with my throwing on the run. He told me to just get the ball in my play-makers’ hands and let them do the work, and everything will work out.”

Hunsicker doesn’t possess Henne’s size or arm strength but he shares the former Wilson star’s humility. Ask him about his own play and he often ends up talking about his team, and teammates. He understands what the most important role of a quarterback is.

“(Last week) was big for us,” he said when asked about his first win. “Central Dauphin’s always a good opponent. We didn’t start (the season) how we wanted but everybody did their job (last week). It didn’t matter (who did what) as long as we get the ‘W,’ and that’s what we did.”