There has been a lot of finger pointing by Monaca High School opponents the past couple of weeks with most of it directed at senior Tony Reda.

No, Reda isn't a dirty football player and the finger pointing hasn't been of a negative nature. Opponents are just making sure they know where Reda is in the Indians' offensive set. That's not as easy as it might seem.

One play Reda will be at running back, the position he likes the best. The next play, he might be at quarterback and the play after that he might line up at wide receiver. Opponents play a game of "Where's Tony?" and point to where No. 8 is positioned in the formation.

"You hear the coaches yelling [about where I'm lineup up]," Reda said. "That 's OK with me because they're worrying about where I am opens things up for our other guys."

"We do the same thing when we see a kid out of position," Monaca coach Sam Cercone said. "We've seen it a lot, teams pointing to where [Tony] is."

The plan was for Reda to play running back when training camp started. Monaca had a solid, senior quarterback in Brandon Gaydosh. But Gaydosh went down with a broken bone in his leg against Western Beaver the third game of the season.

Freshman Matt Bradford has stepped in and has done a solid job, but Reda, who rushed for 518 yards on 53 carries last year, has also played quarterback.

"As a freshman Tony played quarterback even though he had always been a running back," Cercone said. "As a sophomore, he came to us and said he wanted to go back to running back and we said that was a good move. We had Brandon, who is in the same class as Tony, coming along.

"But I think he always knew [he might end up back at quarterback]. At the start of this season, he said, 'Coach, who's our backup [quarterback]?' and I said, 'You are.' "

Reda, who is 6 feet 1 and 185 pounds, has embraced the Mr. Versatility role and has helped Monaca to a 5-1 overall record -- the lone loss was 18-0 at Western Beaver -- and a 3-1 mark in the Class A Big Seven Conference.

Going into this weekend, he has rushed 67 times for 533 yards and five scores, and completed 7 of 14 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown. In Saturday's 21-14 victory at South Side Beaver, he ran for 154 yards on 21 carries and completed 2 of 4 passes for 38 yards.

"Whenever you get to be on the field, that's awesome," Reda said. "So to be on it for everything ... "

He's not kidding when he says everything. Reda rarely comes off the field while the action is going on.

He is on all of the special teams -- "They took me off punt return because I've been cramping up lately, but that's about it," he said. -- and is the long snapper for punts and kicks.

Defensively, he is usually at cornerback but has lined up at safety on occasion. He has two interceptions this season.

Reda said the toughest part of playing so many positions on offense is getting the timing down.

"It's hard because you get only a couple of reps at this spot and then a couple of reps at that spot," he said.

"He's no dummy. He understands that timing is everything and he's been able to handle everything pretty well," Cercone said. "The speed of the game is the thing."

Reda is hardly a one-man show. Senior Zach Garber has scored nine touchdowns and rushed for 111 yards and a score on 14 carries against South Side Beaver. Running back Skyler Schultz has scored six touchdowns.

Naturally, when Reda lines up at quarterback the opposition believes he's going to run the football. But Reda isn't afraid to show off his arm.

"We want them to think that," he said. "We initially had just one package in for me at quarterback but we've expanded that some ... I like to throw the ball a little bit."

A solid athlete who also plays basketball and baseball for the Indians, Reda wants to play football in college. He hasn't picked out a school yet. He just wants to go to a place where he'll get a chance to play.

"Most of the schools who are interested in him like him as a running back," Cercone said. "But he could play corner or safety at the D2, D3 level."

While playing a multitude of positions is fun, Reda said the most important thing is that Monaca keeps winning. The goal is to make the playoffs and win the Class A Big Seven Conference title.

A victory at home tomorrow night against Laurel would go a long way toward securing a berth in the playoffs. To win at least a piece of the conference title the Indians will probably have to beat rival Rochester the final game of the regular season.

And when that game is played it's a good bet the Rams will be looking hard to see where No. 8 is lined up on offense.