By JOE SIMON

New Castle News

No one ever saw Shenango’s Aaron Grymes coming.

Not his coach, not his teammates, certainly not Union. Not even Grymes imagined a performance like he had on Saturday.

With both of Shenango’s regular starters nursing injuries, the senior quarterback was moved to running back for the Wildcats’ game against Union. After running for 266 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries in a trouncing of the Scotties, it’s safe to say he’ll be lining up farther in the backfield from now on.

“Oh yeah, it’s going to be permanent,” Shenango coach Ryan Mayo said. “I would be remiss to change it after the way we ran the football.”

Yeah, 566 yards and eight touchdowns — all on the ground — in one game is a pretty strong sign that the offense is clicking. Grymes, who was named Athlete of the Week, an award sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff, had touchdown runs of 67, 79 and 41 yards and averaged 26.6 yards per carry against Union.

The Wildcats knew early in the week that starters Joe Seaburn and Scott McBride were injured and might not be able to play, so they turned to Grymes and Anthony Kosciuszko, neither of whom had taken a handoff all season. Grymes was the QB and Kosciuszko played strictly defense after tearing ligaments in his hand prior to a preseason scrimmage.

Needless to say, Mayo was a bit worried.

“I knew, physically, they could do it, but they had zero experience at that point,” Mayo said. “All the little things, taking the right steps and hitting the hole, they were literally practicing them for the first time last week.”

The extent of Grymes’ experience at running back came at the junior high level. Mayo said he had faith because Grymes is an athletic quarterback with great speed, but carrying the ball at quarterback compared to running back is quite different. The change, however, worked wonders for Grymes’ running ability.

“When I was at quarterback, I thought too much,” Grymes said. “I’d stutter step all the time. It was just easier at running back — it was straight instinct, seeing the hole and just hitting it. I felt like I could see things better.”

Grymes said making less juke moves and running more aggressively allowed him to hit the second level of the defense quicker. Once he was in the open field, no one was catching him or Kosciuszko, a senior who also played well during his first stint at running back since 2009. He was one of the most highly touted running backs in the area, coming off a 755-yard junior season, before the hand injury.

The two looked right at home in the backfield versus the Scotties.

“Our goal coming into the year was, number one, we wanted to get Anthony the ball,” Mayo said. “And number two, we wanted to get Grymes running the ball, even though he was the quarterback. We wanted to use a lot of quarterback runs with him.

“One element that we might not have had in previous weeks was that Anthony and Aaron are our two fastest guys. They just have an extra gear that maybe turns a 15-yarder into a 40- or 60-yarder.”

Grymes and Mayo said the main reason for the success wasn’t speed or schemes. It was the powerful play of the offensive line, led by seniors Sam Herb and Eric Moscipan.

“Our line was way better and stronger than their line,” Grymes said. “Our line’s been great. Every play there’s a wide-open hole. I could pretty much go wherever I wanted to go, and I just had a straight lane.”

They could use a few more of those this Friday in a showdown with at Sto-Rox.

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The Aaron Grymes File

POSITION: Running back/defensive back

TEAM: Shenango

GRADE: 12

KNOWN FOR: Until Saturday, Grymes was known for being the quarterback. Injuries caused for him to move to running back, and he delivered in a 53-12 victory over Union with 266 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries. The Wildcats racked up 566 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.

PARENTS: Renee Grymes

FAVORITE PRO PLAYER AND WHY: Brian Dawkins of the Denver Broncos. “He plays with emotion every game. And he’s tough — he sticks people.”

FAVORITE PRO TEAM AND WHY: New Orleans Saints. “My uncle, he liked the Saints, and I was always around him and my uncles when I was younger. He got me to like them when I was younger, and I still like them.”

FUTURE PLANS: Grymes said he wants to play college football and study criminal justice. He’s still deciding on what college to attend.