Under the weather
Laurel (28) vs. New Brighton (42)
Written: Sep 05, 2015
  By Joe Sager
New Castle News
Depth can be a huge strength for a football team.
A lack of it could be devastating.
Laurel High found that out last night as the Spartans watched New Brighton rally with four unanswered touchdowns to post a 42-28 win in the WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Athletic Conference opener for both squads.
“I thought the kids responded well the whole game,” Laurel coach Brian Cooper said. “Even at the end, they weren’t giving up. It was a good battle. New Brighton is a good football team.”
A two-hour, 12-minute lightning delay kept both teams off the field. When the game kicked off, the Lions marched to the Spartans’ 1 but fumbled the ball away.
Disaster struck for Laurel 44 seconds into the second quarter as quarterback Jake McDougal fumbled a snap. New Brighton’s Andrew Mittner scooped it up and raced 57 yards for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Troy Moon’s 1-yard run with 7:22 left in the first half gave the Lions a 14-0 lead.
However, the Spartans struck back in a big way. McDougal got it started when he found Jacob Wilson for a 61-yard TD pass. Zach Morrison’s PAT kick cut the deficit to 14-7 with 7:04 left in the half.
Laurel’s Jordan Dantico intercepted a pass at his own 35 and returned it to the 10. After two negative rushes and an incomplete pass, McDougal hit Jesse Pacifico for a 19-yard TD pass with 1:45 on the clock. The Spartans attempted to go for two on the conversion, but the play failed to materialize and the squad trailed, 14-13.
On New Brighton’s next drive, the Lions fumbled and the hosts recovered at the 14 with 58.2 seconds on the clock. Two plays later, Matt Hudson rambled 18 yards for a TD. McDougal connected with Pacifico for the 2-point conversion and a 21-14 advantage with 42.3 seconds left.
Laurel struck quickly to open the second half. McDougal found Dantico for a short pass, but he broke two tackles and accelerated into the open for an 80-yard TD run 12 seconds into the frame for a 28-14 lead.
“You never know what’s going to happen on opening night,” New Brighton coach Joe Greco said. “It was just a great effort. We had a lot of ups and downs. We had enough mistakes for three football games, but the kids rallied and did it. I have to give Laurel a lot of credit. They wanted it and they really did some great things. They jumped on us, but we were able to fight back and make the plays to win it.”
The Lions responded with a long drive. The capped it when Justyn Francona connected with Deshawn Clark for a 27-yard TD pass. That trimmed Laurel’s lead to 28-21 with 6:14 left in the third.
A muffed snap on a punt allowed New Brighton to block the kick and recover the ball at the Spartans’ 6 with 4:07 left in the third. Two plays later, Mittner crashed in from the 3 to tie the game at 28-all with 3:33 remaining.
A long punt return set the Lions up deep in Laurel territory. One play later, Francona ran in from 10 yards out to give the guests a 35-28 lead with 1:28 on the clock.
New Brighton intercepted a pass to disrupt the Spartans’ first drive of the fourth quarter, but could not capitalize.
Laurel drove deep into Lions territory, but another interception stopped the march with 5:06 to play.
The guests put the game away with 3:17 left when Francona broke loose for a 59-yard run to push the lead to 42-28 with 3:17 to play.
An assortment of minor injuries kept the Spartans shuffling their lineup at various times on both sides of the ball through the second half. All the players who were banged up are expected to return for next week.
“We had some guys start to go out and we started putting some backups in. They’re playing hard, but they’re not getting the reps the other ones get. Miss an assignment here or miss an assignment there and they’re getting big plays offensively and defensively. That took the momentum away from us,” Cooper said. “You have different guys in there. I don’t know. We put a lot into it. We worked our butts off to get to this point and it’s disappointing right now. I know one thing, we’ll be back next week ready to roll.”
Laurel faces a tough test when power Aliquippa visits Spartan Stadium for a Week 2 battle.
“We have Aliquippa next and we’ll ready. We’ll play everybody hard and we’ll play with the people on the field,” Cooper said. “It sure would have been nice to win this game, but that’s not where we are. We have to get better and get those guys back and get ready for next week.”
McDougal paced the Spartans with 284 yards passing
“I thought Jake McDougal had a heck of a game,” Cooper said. “He threw the ball well and composed himself well in the pocket. He was back there running around and making plays happen.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW BRIGHTON LAUREL
17 First downs 11
212 Yards Rushing 73
20 Yards Lost 69
192 Net Rushing 4
13 Passes Attempted 28
6 Passes Completed 16
1 Passes Intercepted 2
65 Yards Passing 284
257 Total Yards 288
5-4 Fumbles-Lost 4-1
4-36 Punts-Average 7-32.7
4-25 Penalties-Yards 4-50
NEW BRIGHTON 0 14 21 7 — 42
LAUREL 0 21 7 0 — 28
Scoring plays
NEW BRIGHTON — Andrew Mittner, 57-yard fumble return (Gavin Pritchard kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Troy Moon, 1-yard run (Pritchard kick).
LAUREL — Jacob Wilson, 61-yard pass from Jake McDougal (Zach Morrison kick).
LAUREL — Jesse Pacifico, 19-yard pass from McDougal (pass failed).
LAUREL — Matt Hudson, 8-yard run (Pacifico pass from McDougal).
LAUREL — Jordan Dantico, 80-yard pass from McDougal (Morrison kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Deshawn Clark, 27-yard pass from Jordyn Francona (Pritchard kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Mittner, 3-yard run (Pritchard kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Francona, 10-yard run (Pritchard kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Francona, 59-yard run (Pritchard kick).
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