Schuylkill Haven senior linemen, from left, Wyatt Keefer, Ethan Kline and Chase Williams are a big reason for Schuylkill Haven's success this season (Photo by Mel Rose).

Williams, Keefer, Kline rarely come off field

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Mike Farr calls it a “love-hate relationship.”

The long-time Schuylkill Haven head coach put his squad through a grueling offseason workout program over the summer, with running up and down the hills encompassing the school campus part of the routine.

For senior linemen Chase Williams, Wyatt Keefer and Ethan Kline, those hills represent the “hate” of the relationship.

The “love” is what that conditioning has done for them on the field.

That senior trio anchors Schuylkill Haven’s mammoth offensive line, clearing holes and providing the foundation for a running attack that is averaging 394.2 yards per game and an offense that generates 482.9 yards and 55.3 points per game.

Williams, Keefer and Kline then flip over to defense, manning the front line in the Hurricanes’ 3-4 alignment.

Williams is second on the team in tackles from his nose guard spot with 74 while compiling 26 tackles for loss. Keefer has 60 tackles, 16 TFLs and three sacks, while Kline has 40 stops and seven TFLs.

Despite weighing a combined 952 pounds, they rarely come off the field.

“It’s amazing to me,” Farr said. “You look at them and you go, ‘They’re just big. They probably don’t have a lot of stamina.’ You watch them, you watch them on film. Are there times where they ‘take a break,’ sure. They really only come off on kickoffs and punts. And we’ve only punted five times this year.

“They just work so hard. I’m not their friend on conditioning days. But the amount of hills that they’ve run and the amount of sleds that they’ve hit over the last four years is crazy.

“Friday night comes and they come off to the sideline … you would think they’d be looking for water bottles and huffing and puffing. They’re ready to go. It’s really remarkable what they’ve been able to do.”

The 6-foot-3, 342-pound Williams was the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Small School Defensive Lineman of the Year last season while the 6-3, 320-pound Keefer was the 2024 SCFCA Small School Offensive Lineman of the Year. They line up at right tackle and right guard, respectively, while the 6-foot, 290-pound Kline plays center.

Juniors Triston Davis (6-1, 245) and Brody Brand (6-0, 255) man the other side of the offensive line while junior Bryce Reber (5-11, 235) and sophomore Ayden Flannery (5-8, 185) also see some action. Junior Chase Leibensperger (6-0, 220) completes the line at tight end.

Williams, Keefer and Kline are among seven Haven seniors who have started varsity since they were freshmen.

“We’ve been side by side forever, basically since we’ve both started playing,” Keefer said. “We know each other well. We know what blocks we both should be doing. We love to play side by side with each other.

“We’ve been doing that since our freshman year. It’s nothing new to us. We both want to win football games so bad. We both tell each other that we can’t take plays off, we have to be in the game every play.”

To stay in the game every play, conditioning plays a key role.

Williams, Keefer and Kline know it. Farr knows it.

That’s why, for the past two summers, running the hills on the Haven campus has become a regular sight, not just for the Hurricanes’ skilled players, but the linemen, too.

“The last 2-3 years, we knew we were going to go both ways,” Williams said. “During the summertime, it was crucial for us to push each other in conditioning. When you get into the latter part of the season, it makes it rough when it’s cold out to catch your breath.

“We made a big point this year and last year to push ourselves during conditioning in the summer so that when we get to this point in the season we’re OK, not gasping, not taking plays off.

“Coach Farr, this summer and last summer, almost all our conditioning was hills. We ran the hill out in front of the school, the big, steep one. We ran the hill out next to the locker room, over on the other field.

“That’s our source of conditioning. It gets you explosive in your legs because you have to run up the hill. That’s the thing I can attribute to the most for keeping us in the game. If we were just running straight sprints or even endurance, it would help us, but not as much as the hills are helping us.”

The side-by-side play of Williams and Keefer have drawn comparisons to the All-State tandem of Tyler Swoyer and Mike Murphy, the anchors of Haven’s 2008 offensive line that cleared the way for Zach Barket to rush for a then-Pennsylvania single-season record 4,187 yards and 65 touchdowns, marks that still rank among the top 10 individual efforts nationally.

They’ve had a similar impact, as junior tailback Colton Reber enters Friday night’s game having rushed for 2,663 yards, a figure that ranks fourth behind only Barket’s 4,187 yards, Kobe Brish’s 2,775 yards in 2017, and Niko Carestia’s 2,702 yards last year on Haven’s all-time single-season charts.

Farr recounted a story from Schuylkill Haven’s preseason trip to Florida in 2022, where the Hurricanes went up against Darlington School from Rome, Georgia, in a varsity scrimmage. That was the first varsity game for Williams and Keefer, and they left a lasting impression.

“When we went to Florida their freshman year, those two guys played against two Division I guys,” Farr said. “One went to Georgia Southern; the other guy went to Georgia. They were two big offensive and defensive linemen from this private school.

“After the game I remember we were shaking hands … those two guys went over to (Williams and Keefer) and said, ‘You guys are good. We knew you guys were young and big, but we didn’t think you were going to be that good.

“That day, for those two guys, it was like, ‘OK, we’re here now, it’s high school football. Their first varsity snaps were against two Division I kids.

“Those guys proved something that day, to not only themselves, but to somebody else. I think they just kind of built upon that.”

As they talked about Friday night’s game for this story, both Williams and Keefer stressed the importance of this game to Haven’s senior class, which has lost to Williams Valley in the District 11 Class AA title game the past two seasons.

They know their role up front is critical in Haven’s success and they’re excited for the opportunity to win Schuylkill Haven’s first on-field District 11 title since beating Palmerton in 2017.

It all circled back to their conditioning, how they hated running hills during those hot summer workouts but love what it’s done for their stamina as the weather turns cold in November.

They’re hoping that work pays off in district gold.

“They get mad at me when we do conditioning,” Farr said. “I’m definitely not on their Christmas card list. They’ve told me more than once that ‘I love you but I hate your guts. You’re just terrible. The stuff that you make us do is crazy terrible.’ But this is why we do it.

“It’s the No. 1 reason why they’re as good as they are. They’re talented guys. Without that … They know that if we didn’t do that kind of stuff with them, they wouldn’t be where they’re at today.”