Dando, Spartans roll over South Side Beaver
Laurel (40) vs. South Side Beaver (6)
Written: Sep 05, 2013
By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
Josh Dando ran two things extremely well last night — Laurel High’s offense, and the football itself.
The senior quarterback rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries to lead the Spartans to a 40-6 season-opening WPIAL Class A Big Seven Conference romp of South Side Beaver.
Dando also threw for a touchdown — a 20-yarder to Clayton Sharek in the fourth quarter — but he seemed to know equally as well just when to call his own number and when to go elsewhere.
That was particulary evident in the second half, when senior Dalton Rosta rolled up all of his 111 yards on eight carries. Also helping the Spartans amass 402 yards total offense — including 374 on the ground — were Matty Conway and Clayton Sharek, each with 40 yards and a touchdown on five and seven carries, respectively.
“He does a great job,” Laurel coach Pat Cuba said of Dando. “He really has a feel for the offense. If he looks to me for a play, I just let him call the play, because he knows where to take it.”
Dando said that as he was running the option, he merely took what the Rams’ defense was giving.
“The first half, they were pinching everybody, and I was pulling it when they were pinching,” he said. “The second half, they started shooting them out there, so there were wide open lanes (for Rosta, Sharek and Conway).”
While Dando noted that Cuba — who is in his first year as Laurel coach — “made it real easy for us” when putting in the Spartans’ offense, Cuba did add at least one wrinkle that Dando is liking alot.
“The pistol offense,” Dando said of his lining up about two yards behind the line of scrimmage to take each snap, rather that directly under center. “ It’s quicker to read, but it’s easier for me — somehow. I really don’t know how, but it’s just easier for me.”
Defensively, Laurel held South Side to 189 total yards, 83 of which came a fourth -quarter TD pass from Jake Berger to Ricky Fayad after the Spartans already had built a 27-0 lead. Other than that, the only hiccup came in the opening stanza, when South Side used its ground game to churn out drives that netted four of its nine total first downs.
“The tackling wasn’t there,” Cuba said. “That’s something we’ve got to focus on. We didn’t see that the first half.
“We had a talk about it at halftime, and we did a much better job the second half.”
The final Spartan to score was sophomore Jake Wilson, whose 35-yard scamper with 3:21 remaining came one play after Sharek had intercepted South Side’s Robby Heberle. The touchdown wrapped up what Cuba called not only a good, but also an important, start.
“It’s very important,” he said of getting his new regime a victory right off the bat. “They’ve got to believe that what we’re trying to teach them is going to work when they get on on the field, so this is very big to start off with a win.”
(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)
S.S. BEAVER LAUREL
9 First downs 17
125 Yards Rushing 395
31 Yards Lost 21
94 Net Rushing 374
6 Passes Attempted 4
2 Passes Completed 2
1 Passes Intercepted 0
95 Yards Passing 28
189 Total Yards 402
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
6-27.8 Punts-Average 2-34.5
4-38 Penalties-Yards 3-30
S.S. BEAVER 0 0 0 6 — 6
LAUREL 0 13 14 13 — 40
Scoring plays
LAUREL — Clayton Sharek, 8-yard run (kick failed).
LAUREL — Josh Dando, 3-yard run (Noah Wertz kick).
LAUREL — Dando, 9-yard run (Wertz Kick).
LAUREL — Matty Conway, 9-yard run (Wertz kick).
SOUTH SIDE BEAVER — Ricky Fayad, 83-yard pass form Jake Berger (run failed).
LAUREL — Sharek, 20-yard pass from Dando (kick failed).
LAUREL — Jake Wilson, 35-yard run (Wertz kick).
|