Passing the test: Freshman QB Colton Stamy takes Cumberland Valley to new heights in District 3 football run
Every turn of Colton Stamy's freshman football season has acted as a pop quiz.
The Cumberland Valley quarterback was tested early, getting thrown into the fire of Week 1 action against Manheim Township. In Week 4, he faced a State College riddle he couldn't solve, failing to complete a pass. With study throughout, Stamy passed the late-season assessment with a regular-season finale win at Cedar Cliff and a District 3 Class 6A first-round victory against Governor Mifflin.
Friday's District 3 quarterfinal collision at Manheim Township — the sixth meeting between the Eagles and Blue Streaks across the last three seasons — will serve as Stamy's final examination. All the evaluation, schooling and survey will be placed underneath the microscope.
"I know that it might be big pressure, but at the end of the day, it's just football," Stamy said. "You got to have fun and just go in there with the winning mentality. And I got guys around me. I got my offensive line — they really stepped up the last couple of weeks — and I just got to trust my guys. We have that fight."
The fight has thrust CV to the brink of the District 3 semifinals for the second straight year and Stamy into the ever-evolving spotlight. Stamy's freshman reps are uncharacteristic in the Eagle program, but the first-year signal caller hasn't crumbled under the weighty expectations.
Each game has been a building block. He absorbs one lesson, takes the teachings into the next and then performs the finished product between the white lines.
"Quarterback isn't just about throwing a pretty football," CV head coach Josh Oswalt said. "There's a lot of stuff, there's a lot of pieces that go into it. We do a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage. We have a lot of different pass protections, route concepts, and we have a lot of smoke and mirrors moving pieces, and they're the conductor of that. So Colton has had the ability to kind of just observe, take the lead, really command practices, command workouts, command games. And I think that's really allowed him to just kind of calm his nerves and just go out and do his thing."
"Doing his thing" has echoed the tune of eight touchdown passes and 537 passing yards the last two weeks. His prior three appearances included 128 yards and two interceptions.
"I just go in knowing what I have to do, and I just take what's there and just take what the defense gives me," Stamy said. "But I'm not afraid to take the shots. It's just calm down and then just play the game."
Stamy's approach has several branches.
His preparation, whether dissecting film, observing senior Grant Shepley or digesting coaches' instruction, is the key cog. His mindset helps him play of his own accord. His experiences, enduring CV's quarterback carousel this fall while expanding on his opportunities, rounds out the three-pronged procedure.
"Really, everything's come together," Stamy said. "I think it's communication, and it's trusting each position. Our offensive line, they trust each other more now, and I trust them to do what they do. We all communicate really well."
The communication and trust have materialized in abundance. Stamy linked with six receivers in the Cedar Cliff and Governor Mifflin matchups, and the offense has averaged 41 points across the two contests.
Between the varsity snaps, Stamy piloted the Eagles' JV program. While a small sample size, each completion, misfire and chunk play were another check mark on the proverbial study guide.
"I think the thing that he's been able to grow with is just really learning the entire concept of what we're doing," Oswalt said, "whether in pass protection, with our route trees and different things that we got going on. He's just been a student the entire time. He's been engulfed in everything. And again, it's easy to fall into that type of player when everyone else around you is doing it."
Not reflected in any box score was Shepley's mentorship. The senior made seven regular-season starts for the Eagles — totaling 972 passing yards and 11 touchdowns — before passing the baton to his protégé.
"It was just one of those things where it's not so much, 'This guy's not getting it done' as it is, 'We deserve to give this guy a shot,'" Oswalt said. "And that's really what we've seen. We've said that in different areas, all over the field. Yes, we're doing things well, but this guy deserves a shot and maybe we can do it better. And that's really where it's at. Now we're just riding the hot hand, but we all are staying locked in."
"All props to Grant," Stamy said. "He's the senior quarterback, and he took me under his wing, and he taught me everything I know. Without him, I probably wouldn't be getting all these reps right now. He taught me all the speed stuff about high school."
The locked-in intellect is even more important against a familiar Blue Streak squad. Township has won four of the previous five meetings, and the Eagles are prepared to loosen the chokehold that's pinned them down since August 2022.
Stamy, who completed one of four pass attempts in the second half of Cumberland Valley's Week 1 loss to Manheim Township, embodies the hunger of wanting to dethrone the Blue Streaks. Friday night's test won't be so much a pop quiz for the freshman phenom, but the chance to strut all his schooling in a final examination.
"His confidence is within his guys with him," Oswalt said. "His confidence is the guy to the right and left of him. He believes that his guys are going to make the plays. He's allowing our guys to go make the plays. ... We plan on ending (Township's) season. That's where we're at. So it's about time the pendulum starts swinging our way, and I think we have the guys to do it."
Christian Eby is a sports reporter for The Sentinel and cumberlink.com . Love
