Big games for Bell, Ness, Pyles, Negron highlight Week 2: Reinhart's L-L game balls

Each Monday during the football season, members of the PennLive prep football coverage team will pass out three game balls to deserving gridiron athletes. So without further ado ...

GAME BALL NO. 1 GOES TO:

Charles Bell, senior RB-LB, Penn Manor — So much for the Comets having some early season issues after the loss of playmakers Brett Caggiano (collarbone) and Tyler Spangler (arm). Penn Manor allowed 26 total yards in its 42-0 Week 1 whitewash over Solanco, and followed that up with a gut-check 28-14 win over Lampeter-Strasburg in Week 2. Bell has had his fingerprints all over both victories. One week after scoring three touchdowns against Solanco, Bell was a one-man wrecking crew vs. L-S: He carried the ball 17 times for 133 yards and had a pair of TD runs, both from 3 yards out. He caught seven passes for 113 yards and another score — a 37-yard grab from Tanner Erisman. And the 6-1, 220-pound battering ram was all over the place from his LB spot. In two games, Bell has rushed for 205 yards, caught 10 passes for 155 yards and scored a league-best six touchdowns. And he’s one of the best LBs in the L-L; Bell has scholarship offers from Delaware, Villanova, Towson, New Hampshire, Fordham and Robert Morris. The Comets cap nonleague play with a home date vs. Dallastown (2-0) on Friday.

GAME BALL NO. 2 GOES TO:

Connor Ness, junior QB, Donegal — The Indians’ offense, well, struggled in Week 1 against Elizabethtown. In Donegal’s 20-6 loss to the Bears, bruiser FB Kris Trimby went down with an ankle injury in the first half. Trailing on the scoreboard, the Indians were forced to ditch the Wing-T and go up top, and rookie QB Justin Amspacher, making his first varsity start, was blitzed at will by Elizabethtown. End result: Amspacher went just 3-for-15 for 18 yards and he was picked off three times. So Donegal coach Jeff Polites made a change. In Week 2 vs. Fleetwood, with Trimby out, he lined up Amspacher all over the place and inserted Ness, a 6-0, 195-pounder, behind center. All Ness did in his debut was go 12-for-15 for 238 yards and throw three TD passes, including the game-winner with time running out, in the Indians’ 27-24 victory over Fleetwood, as they improved to 1-1. Ness heaved TD tosses to Jarrod Smith, Tommy Walker and Connor Maxwell — the latter with 3 seconds to go in regulation to win it — as Donegal piled up 336 yards and got in the W column. Up next for the Indians: Palmyra (0-2) visits Donegal on Friday. Trimby will likely be a game-time decision, but expect him back for the Week 4 throw-down vs. Garden Spot. After that debut, I’d also expect to see Ness under center vs. Palmyra.

AND GAME BALL NO. 3 GOES TO:

Mark Pyles, senior QB and Nicholas Negron, junior WR, Lebanon — Going teammates for our final selection. And why not? Pyles and Negron were simply sensational in the Cedars’ wild 40-39 overtime win over Northern Lebanon in Week 2. Pyles completed 17-of-27 passes for 207 yards and he had six TD passes — five of them to Negron, who had six catches for 88 and the five scores. Pyles, a 6-0, 215-pounder, hooked up with Negron, a 5-8, 145-pounder, for TD strikes from 27, 4, 13, 31 and 19 yards, respectively, and the final TD came in OT. Pyles then hit Negron for the 2-point conversion, giving Lebanon the thrilling 1-point victory. The win snapped the Cedars’ 11-game losing skid, and Lebanon handed Northern Lebanon its 10^th loss in a row. In two games, Pyles is 35-for-61 for 434 yards with no picks and an L-L-best nine TD passes. The Cedars will try and make it two wins in a row on Friday in the “Bologna Bowl” at Elco (1-1).

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