Enrietto: Schnur earning his spot
The Schnur name means something in sports around here.
Curt Schnur was a great pitcher for Saxonburg in the Eagle County League. Meghan Schnur led Butler girls soccer to the state finals and wound up playing the game professionally. Cody Schnur was a dominant volleyball player at Butler and Penn State Behrend. Annessa Schnur was a track and field star at Butler and the University of Michigan.
Dess Schnur, of course, won numerous championships with East Butler in the Butler County American Legion Baseball league, not to mention spearheading the formation of the East Butler Baseball Complex.
There were other Schnur family members to impact Butler area sports.
The latest is Golden Tornado quarterback Mac Schnur.
Through four games this season, he has thrown for 633 yards and eight touchdowns. His 42 completions on the season are spread out among seven different players.
After falling just short of Butler’s single-season passing record last season — Justin Papania holds that mark at just over 1,600 yards — Schnur is taking another shot at it.
And he’s doing so without the team’s would-be top returning receiver, Lance Slater, who lost his senior season to an ankle injury in preseason. His secondf-leading receiver coming back, Braylon Littlejohn, only recently returned to the lineup after recovering from a thumb injury. He had one catch in this season’s first three games.
Butler’s leading receiver this season, Ayden Davis, left last week’s game at Altoona in the first half with a wrist injury.
Yet Schnur just keeps on going.
He threw for more than 100 yards again last week. His preseason goal was to pass for 3,000 this year. That may be a bit ambitious, but the point is clear.
This kid exudes confidence.
And he’s among the top four quarterbacks I’ve seen play for Butler since my arrival here in 1997.
Troy Nunes was behind center for the Golden Tornado that year. Papania, of course, has to be on that list. While Nunes went on to play at Syracuse, Papania became a standout pitcher at Marietta College.
The other Butler quarterback standing out in my memory is Nick Monteleone. He put together an incredible single season in which he barely missed throwing for 1,000 yards and rushing for 1,000 in the same year. He went on to play at Seton Hill University.
Schnur has extended his game this season to being an effective runner as well. He’s rushed for touchdowns and has kept drives alive by running for first downs.
What he’s done in the passing game this year with a continually-changing cast of characters has been impressive. Schnur seems to develop chemistry with any potential pass-catcher on the field with him.
One thing is certain. He’s lived up to his name.
John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.
