``He's come along quite a bit,'' said Banks, whose team plays at Coatesville tonight. ``He's a drop-back passer. He has good vision. He makes the tough throws.''
The move allowed Banks to switch Mitchell, a 5-8, 175-pound burner, to wide receiver. Mitchell responded with two catches for 95 yards and one touchdown.
Banks plans to stick with the same combination against Coatesville, a game the Bulls (5-4) desperately want after last week's resounding victory.
``The last thing we want to happen,'' Banks said, ``is for people to say Saturday [against St. Ignatius] was a fluke.''
Defense rescued Cougars. The early-season returns weren't promising. Springfield gave up 35 points in an opening-game loss to Cardinal O'Hara, 31 in a win over Conestoga, and 62 in a loss to eventual Central League champion Strath Haven.
Fortunately for the Cougars, who finished 5-5, the defense improved. And junior linebacker Brian Cassidy was in the middle of it.
``It was a real learning process for him, especially since he played JV last year,'' Cougars coach Rick Taylor said. ``First, he had to learn to read offenses. That was tough. Then, he had to learn to react.''
The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder reacted well enough in a 9-0 loss to Ridley last week to register 12 tackles and five assists. While Springfield's offense faltered - the Cougars reached double-digits in only four of 10 games - Cassidy and the rest of the defense enabled Taylor's team to survive.
``We started to play the run better,'' Taylor said. ``Most of our experience was in the secondary. We had Mark [Nicolella] on the line and nobody else.''
With seven starters returning, the defense should be good from the outset next year.
