South Side Beaver blanks Neshannock
Neshannock (0) vs. South Side Beaver (21)
Written: Sep 27, 2008
By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com
For South Side Beaver, last night’s game at Neshannock was supposed to be about a guy named Shaffer.
And in the end, it was — just not the one everybody expected.
After missing all but one series of the Rams’ first four games following a preseason leg injury, senior quarterback Mike Shaffer reportedly was to return to action against the Lancers. Instead, sophomore Ryan Scialabba continued to run the South Side offense.
However, sophomore Luke Shaffer — Mike’s younger brother — ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries to lead the Rams to a 21-0 WPIAL Class Big Seven Conference win.
Shaffer had touchdown runs of 38 and 8 yards, the latter of which was set up by his own 45-yard punt return one play earlier. In addition, his 52-yard breakaway set the stage for South Side’s other score, a 1-yard run by Scialabba.
“The younger Shaffer, he did a great job,” South Side head coach Rich Schneider said. “We’re real happy to have him.
“The line did a great job opening up holes tonight, and Luke Shaffer, Colin Checkan and Jordan Potts — all three of them ran the ball up in there and did a great job.”
As for Mike Shaffer, “He’s coming off a broken leg. He’s pretty much healed up. Right now he just had a little soreness in it, so we kept him out. We expect him back next week.”
Defensively, South Side (2-1, 4-1) limited the Lancers (2-1, 3-2) to 138 total yards, and quarterback Josh Brown — who had been averaging 152 yards rushing per game — to just 12. Neshannock came into the game tied for first place
“We didn’t come off the ball like we’ve been coming off the ball,” Lancers head coach Pat Cuba said. “It wasn’t just containing Josh, we just didn’t come ready to play.
“There’s no excuse. We got out butt handed to us tonight. We weren’t ready to play. I told them, you play the Beaver Valley, you better be ready to play. And we weren’t. That’s my fault. I didn’t have them prepared.”
Neshannock never crossed midfield until its last two drives, and the first of those reached only the South Side 48.
The latter, thanks to a 55-yard Tony Kirkwood run, saw the Lancers come up with a first-and-goal at the Rams’ 7. Four plays later, though, Neshannock turned the ball over on downs at the 1, and South Side ran out the final 7:45 of the game.
“I don’t know at that point if it would have made a difference, but it would have been a small victory,” Cuba said of the missed scoring opportunity. “You look for small victories when you’re getting beat 21-0.
“I told these kids the only way you can accomplish what we need to accomplish is to go out and physically take it to them. We have up until this point. Even the game we lost at Avonworth (35-6), we didn’t quit. This game tonight, we didn’t quit, but physically we just didn’t come ready to play. We didn’t hit.”
Despite the loss, Cuba didn’t leave the field empty-handed. His daughter, Lauren, was crowned homecoming queen at halftime.
“That’s beautiful,” he said. “I love that. That made me as happy as anything. It made me come back to reality and realize what’s important. It’s family first.
“Somebody told me she won. I didn’t even get to see her. I was looking around for her, but I couldn’t find her. I still haven’t seen her. I love her to death. I’ve got four of them, and I love all of them.”
SOUTH SIDE NESHANNOCK
10 First downs 5
231 Yards Rushing 134
11 Yards Lost 13
220 Net Rushing 121
3 Passes Attempted 7
2 Passes Completed 3
0 Passes Intercepted 0
11 Yards Passing 17
231 Total Yards 138
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
2-40 Punts-Average 5-26.2
3-20 Penalties-Yards 3-15
SOUTH SIDE 0 14 7 0 — 21
NESHANNOCK 0 0 0 0 — 0
Scoring plays
SOUTH SIDE — Luke Shaffer, 38-yard run (Daniel Slaney kick).
SOUTH SIDE — Ryan Scialabba, 1-yard run (Slaney kick).
SOUTH SIDE — Shaffer, 8-yard run (Slaney kick).
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