McConahy leads Mohawk to rout
Mohawk (49) vs. Freedom (13)
Written: Sep 06, 2014
By Greg Huston
New Castle News
Mohawk’s Spencer McConahy seems to be a man of few words off the football field.
He let his play do the talking, though, during the Warriors’ 49-13 romp over Freedom last night.
The Midwestern Athletic Conference win got Mohawk (1-1 conference, 1-1 overall) back to .500 for the season after last week’s loss to Aliquippa. Mohawk is 0-2 both in the conference and overall.
McConahy, listed as a wide receiver on the Warriors depth chart, did a little bit of everything to set up three first-half Mohawk touchdowns.
By the time the Warriors finished their second drive of the evening, McConahy had already racked up 60 yards rushing on seven carries, to go along with two catches for 35 yards. The second catch went for 23 yards and set up the Warriors on the Freedom 1-yard line. Codey Barber punched it in for the touchdown with 2:17 left in the first quarter to give Mohawk the 7-0 lead.
In what was a glimpse of the Warrior’s good fortune on the night, they were able to score two possessions later after Mohawk punter John Zagotti fumbled the long snap on fourth and 13, but had the good sense to gather the ball and gain 14 yards to pick up a first down. That kept a stalled drive alive, and the Warriors capped the 12-play drive with a dazzling 26-yard touchdown run by McConahy to extend the lead to 13-0 in the second quarter. McConahy rushed for 66 yards on the drive and added two more catches as well.
McConahy was not quite done yet, though. On Freedom’s next possession, McConahy picked off Bulldogs quarterback Noah Wolf’s pass and returned it 44 yards to the Freedom 4. On the next play, McConahy punched it in with a 4-yard touchdown run to extend Mohawk’s lead to 21-0 at the half.
“He’s a heck of a football player; a versatile football player and we rely on Spencer for a lot of things,” said Warriors coach Joe Lamenza after the game.
When asked about his performance and whether it was the best game he had played, McConahy kept it simple, saying “Yes, sir.” McConahy finished the night with 19 carries for 148 yards, five catches for 54 yards, an interception and two touchdowns.
While McConahy starred in the first half for the Warriors, it was his teammates that followed suit in the final 24 minutes.
Following the opening kickoff of the second half, 5-foot-7 scatback Cayne Yakubik rushed around the right edge on the first play from scrimmage for a 60-yard touchdown. Yakubik finished his night with six carries for 107 yards, all coming in the third quarter.
Quiet for most of the first half, Warriors quarterback Ricky Malutic suddenly roared to life in the third quarter. In the span of five minutes, Malutic scored on runs of 21 and 4 yards respectively, book-ending Freedom’s one highlight of the night, an 80-yard kickoff return by Erich Borgman, after Malutic’s first score.
Malutic scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with three seconds remaining in the third quarter to push the lead to 49-6. Freedom added a final touchdown with 5:49 remaining to cap the scoring, as most of the JV team entered the game for both squads.
Mohawk finished the game with a whopping 370 yards on the ground and 457 total yards overall.
“It was a good team win, everybody contributed to it, and we’re real proud of the guys. We’ve had to overcome some injuries and adversity and we responded well tonight,” Lamenza said. Mohawk played without starting running back Vince Retort, who was out with an injury.
“Every win is important, and right now, we’re 1-1 in the conference, so it was a good team win tonight,” Lamenza said.
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
FREEDOM MOHAWK
6 First downs 16
102 Yards Rushing 398
8 Yards Lost 28
94 Net Rushing 370
16 Passes Attempted 11
4 Passes Completed 7
2 Passes Intercepted 0
24 Yards Passing 87
118 Total Yards 457
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-2
4-36 Punts-Average 0-0
6-42 Penalties-Yards 4-29
FREEDOM 0 0 6 7 — 13
MOHAWK 7 14 28 0 — 49
Scoring plays
MOHAWK —Codey Barber, 1-yard run (Mehmet Iclek kick).
MOHAWK —Spencer McConahy, 26-yard run (run failed).
MOHAWK —McConahy, 4-yard run (Ricky Malutic run).
MOHAWK —Cayne Yakubic, 60-yard run (kick failed).
MOHAWK —Malutic, 21-yard run (Malutic run).
FREEDOM —Erich Borgman, 80-yard kickoff return (kick failed).
MOHAWK —Malutic, 4-yard run (Iclek kick).
MOHAWK —Malutic, 1-yard run (Iclek kick).
FREEDOM —Kyle Borgman, 4-yard run (Zach Green kick).
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