Four locals highlight Pa. Football Writers All-State Class 6A, 4A and 2A selections

Jake Adams The Sentinel

A generation of of local football talent was honored, almost in unison, on Monday.

Cumberland Valley’s Charlie Katshir and Christian Arrington, Camp Hill’s Zack Kuntz and East Pennsboro’s Onasis Neely were all named to the Pennsylvania Football Writers All-State teams — the CV teammates in Class 6A, Kuntz in 2A and Neely in 4A.

It’s a decorated bunch.

Neely and Katshir were All-Sentinel Players of the Year on offense and defense, respectively. Katshir and Kuntz, lifelong best friends, are bound for Penn State soon, and Neely is set to play at Temple next year. And Arrington just got offered from Division I Rhode Island last week.

Combined, the quartet has three District 3 championships, multiple playoff victories, a 2,000-yard rushing season and a track record of endless winning.

“Oh man, yes it’s huge!” Katshir said about being selected with current and former teammates via Twitter direct message Monday evening, extra emphasis on the exclamation point. “Growing up with these guys and seeing them succeed and seeing what they have done is just awesome! And I couldn’t be happier for Chris, he worked his butt off and he deserves this.”

Katshir has at some point played with all of the other three local all-state picks. He was a part of the Good Shepperd pony football team that won the league Super Bowl with Kuntz and Neely. And he has spent most of the past four years a few yards behind Arrington on CV’s robust defense.

“It feels awesome and it is really an honor,” Katshir said. “It shows that hard work pays off.”

Katshir, a safety/kicker/receiver at CV who is expected to play linebacker with the Nittany Lions next season, caught 37 passes for 715 yards and seven TDs, ran for another 366 yards and eight scores on 53 carries and picked off four passes this season. He finished his career with 24 INTs. He is an All-State pick for the second consecutive year.

Neely was one of the state’s best runners, period, with 2,464 yards, 33 total touchdowns, six 200-yard games and five games with at least four TDs. He led the team to a District 3 Class 4A semifinal appearance. This is his second straight All-State selection.

Arrington is a superb linebacker in coverage and flying off the edge on run defense. He had 74 tackles (12 for loss), two sacks, two picks and a 99-yard fumble recovery for a score this season as CV made three straight District 3 championship games in his career.

And Kuntz will go down as one of the county’s best tight ends ever. He is enrolling at PSU for the spring semester in a few weeks, but not after he caught 40 passes for 1,057 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior. He also had 53 tackles at defensive end, adding a sack and four INTs. He was also All-State two years ago.