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<p>When Mark Ross was given the task of putting together a football team from scratch nearly five years ago, he didn&#8217;t have to look too hard to find a leader.</p><p>When he found three-sport star Jeff Puckett in Dunellen, New Jersey, he found the perfect person to lead his team for four years as his starting quarterback.</p><p>Puckett did just that, and his brilliant career will come to a close on Saturday afternoon when the Cougars travel to Lycoming in the final game of the season.</p><p>&#8220;We couldn&#8217;t have asked for a better leader to start this program. We couldn&#8217;t have asked for anyone better,&#8221; Ross said. &#8220;The kid is unbelievable.&#8221;</p><p>How unbelievable has he been?</p><p>Just look at the stats. He owns 11 school records. Sure the program was just starting when he arrived and marks need to be set, but these are numbers that will stay for a while because he started 37 of a possible 39 games in his four years, and will play in No. 38 of 40 Saturday afternoon in Williamsport.</p><p>His school records are: career rushing yards (3,557), career passing yards (3,486), career completions (357), career rushing touchdowns (38), career passing touchdowns (24), rushing yards in a season (1,300 in 2013), passing yards in a season (1360 yards in 2015), touchdown passed in a season (11 in 2015), single-game rushing yards (301 vs. Gettysburg in 2013), single-game completions (29 vs. Wilkes last week), single-game passing yards (253 vs. Wilkes last week).</p><p>He&#8217;s also just 55 yards shy of his third straight 1,000-yard rushing season. Compare that to junior starting running back Ryan Kurtz, who is closing in a 1,000 rushing yards for his career and it shows just how much Puckett has meant to the program.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s the best competitor I&#8217;ve ever coached, bar none,&#8221; Ross said. &#8220;You don&#8217;t have to rely on everything being perfect with him. He can make a play with his feet and he&#8217;s really worked hard to develop the pass game.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s not just Puckett who has shown improvement on the Cougars (1-8 overall, 1-7 MAC). The entire team improved vastly over the four years and culminated when the Cougars recorded their first win over a Luzerne County opponent last week when they beat Wilkes at home on senior day. Twenty-two players will wrap up their careers on Saturday afternoon versus the Warriors (3-6, 3-5).</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s huge for us for what we started and how we&#8217;re finishing now,&#8221; Puckett said. &#8220;It&#8217;s been rough obviously but for us to finish on a strong note would be great.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s unbelievable how much we came together as a team (in four years). We&#8217;ve gotten bigger, stronger matured together. It&#8217;s all been as one unit. And for all of us to go out like this is huge for us.&#8221;</p><p>There are four quarterbacks on Misericordia&#8217;s roster, but the only other one to take a snap this season besides Puckett is sophomore Brandon Leap, and he&#8217;s got a long way to duplicate the same numbers.</p><p>Puckett has left a lasting impression on every coach in the MAC, especially Wilkes coach Trey Brown, who congratulated the QB after last week&#8217;s game and wanted to track his down parents, but didn&#8217;t want to spoil the special moment everyone was celebrating.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad he&#8217;s gone. What a competitor. What a competitor,&#8221; Brown said. &#8220;He&#8217;s a special competitor. That&#8217;s what this game is all about.&#8221;</p><p>And Puckett has been all what Misericordia football has been about over the last four years, and for the foreseeable future.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Misericordia&#8217;s quarterback Jeff Puckett, the school&#8217;s career leader in 11 offensive categories, will look to add to those numbers on Saturday when he closes out his career at Lycoming. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_misericordia_delval2_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Misericordia&#8217;s quarterback Jeff Puckett, the school&#8217;s career leader in 11 offensive categories, will look to add to those numbers on Saturday when he closes out his career at Lycoming. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>drosengrant@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Jeff Puckett’s charge paced Misericordia football for 4 years