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Lackawanna Trail junior Erich Laytos, left, will make his debut as the team’s quarterback on Friday, September 4, at 7 p.m. against Lakeland High School.

Abington Journal photos/ Alice Stuffle

Erich Aten, shown above, completes a pass to Eric Laytos during Trail’s scrimmage against North Pocono on Saturday, August 22.

In a way, the debut of Lackawanna Trail High School junior, Erich Aten as the Lions’ quarterback on Friday, September 4, against Lakeland, is an event that has been two years in the making.
Aten, who showed promise two years ago as a freshman, was sidelined midway through the season after dislocating both shoulders. The Lions were looking to him as a sophomore to take over as quarterback, but a necessary surgery for injuries he suffered the season prior kept him sidelined all of last season, too.
His brother, freshman Matt Aten, ended up taking over as quarterback while he recovered.
“He (Matt) did a really good job coming in as a freshman, considering he didn’t know he was going to be playing quarterback until last minute,” said Erich .
The now healthy Erich Aten will take over as quarterback. His return allows the Lions to move Matt to running back, giving the brothers a chance to share the field, a concept that Erich said he is excited about, almost as excited as he is about the opportunity to play again.
“I really can’t wait to play the first game. Since I was a freshman when I got hurt, I missed a chance to really get a lot of playing time on the field, so this will be my first year really playing every down,” said Erich.
“Everything feels perfect, practice has been going really good.”
Erich’s sentiments were echoed by Trail’s head coach Steve Jervis. Jervis, who took over the head coaching position earlier this year said he had never seen Erich play before and was pleasantly surprised by his performance.
“As soon as I got here in February, I saw him throwing in the gym. He had a real live arm, a real strong arm. I never would have known he had surgery, he’s been 100 percent over the summer, his arm looks good,” said Jervis.
Still, one player doesn’t make a team, and one quarterback with a great arm still requires someone to catch his throws. For this reason, Jervis also commented on how thankful he is to have come to a team with the tools to properly utilize Erich’s talents.
“We have some very quality receivers in Chris Dixon, Caleb Darling, Marvess Rosiak, Jeremy Greenly and Riley Nichols. All those guys have been catching the ball well and running good patterns,” said Jervis.
“We have a lot of good kids here who work hard, we’re expecting a very successful season.”