Lancers topple Laurel in renewal of old rivalry
Neshannock (30) vs. Laurel (13)
Written: Oct 01, 2016
 By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
Neshannock and Laurel high schools haven’t met on the football field since 2013.
It’s safe to say the rivalry is alive and well.
The Lancers racked up 241 yards rushing and scored four touchdowns on the ground Friday night to defeat the Spartans, 30-13, in a WPIAL Class 2A Midwestern Conference game at a soggy Spartan Stadium.
“We knew coming in here that it was going to be a hard-fought game,” Neshannock coach Fred Mozzocio said. “It’s a rivalry game with a lot of emotion. We knew it was going to be a dog fight, and that’s exactly what it was.”
With the victory, Neshannock improved to 3-0 in the conference and 5-1 overall. Laurel dipped to 3-2 and 4-2.
“I thought the kids played with a lot of guts and heart the whole game,” Laurel coach Brian Cooper said. “We had a couple of letdowns on special teams and defensively, and they’re a great football team and they capitalized on it. But, I thought we battled until the end, which is all I can ask.”
Danny Welker got the Lancers into good field position from the start, as he returned the opening kickoff 71 yards to the Laurel 16-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, University of Pittsburgh tight end recruit Ty Sear took the handoff and raced around the left side and into the end zone. The point-after kick failed, but Neshannock held a 6-0 lead just 27 seconds into the contest.
“It’s something we have in the playbook,” Mozzocio said of the Sear run. “We just happened to hit it early. Like we talk about all of the time, we have a lot of different weapons and it can go to anybody.”
The Spartans took the lead midway through the second quarter, as quarterback Will Shaffer connected with Jordan Dantico on a 16-yard scoring strike. Andrew Perry booted the point after, giving the hosts a 7-6 advantage.
Shaffer, a freshman, completed 17 of 36 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns. He was picked off three times. Dantico was his top target, grabbing seven passes for 129 yards and a pair of scores.
“The sky’s the limit with him,” Cooper said of Shaffer. “He’s got a lot of potential and a bright future. He continues to grow. He’s starting to understand what defenses are doing and he’s making adjustments. He’s really starting to get comfortable back there. I’m excited about his future.”
Neshannock answered on its next possession.
Once again set up with good field position thanks to a 43-yard kickoff return by Welker, the Lancers drove for the go-ahead score, as quarterback Frank Antuono scored from 2 yards out. Welker ran in the conversion to give the Lancers a 14-7 edge with 4:25 remaining in the quarter.
“Danny was definitely key for us as far as setting us up in great field position,” Mozzocio said. “Our whole return team got bodies on people and gave Danny some seams. If you give him a seam, he’s going to get us field position. That’s exactly what happened. I thought that was huge.”
Following an interception by Chris Scott at the Laurel 31, the Lancers added to their lead heading into the half. Antuono scored from 5 yards out and ran in the conversion with 38.5 seconds to go before the break to give Neshannock a 22-7 lead. Antuono finished with a game-high 109 yards on the ground.
The score remained the same until early in the fourth quarter, as Shaffer and Dantico again hooked up, this time on a 35-yard scoring play. The conversion run failed, but the Spartans trimmed the deficit to 22-13 with 8:38 remaining in the game.
“We knew we were going to have to throw the ball in order to move consistently against them,” Cooper said. “We were able to run on other teams, but we knew we’d have to throw against them. We’ve been kind of holding back on (the passing game), but tonight we let it fly.”
Neshannock clinched the victory with an eight-play, 47-yard drive that took nearly four minutes off the clock. Joey Nerti finished off the drive by scoring on a 5-yard run. Nerti also ran in the conversion to set the final.
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
NESHANNOCK LAUREL
17 First downs 17
250 Yards Rushing 25
9 Yards Lost 20
241 Net Rushing 5
22 Passes Attempted 36
10 Passes Completed 17
0 Passes Intercepted 3
117 Yards Passing 281
358 Total Yards 286
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
3-29 Punts-Average 4-22.5
8-80 Penalties-Yards 3-31
NESHANNOCK 6 16 0 8 — 30
LAUREL 0 7 0 6 — 13
Scoring plays
NESHANNOCK – Ty Sear, 16-yard run (kick failed).
LAUREL – Jordan Dantico, 16-yard pass from Will Shaffer (Andrew Perry kick).
NESHANNOCK – Frank Antuono, 2-yard run (Danny Welker run).
NESHANNOCK – Antuono, 5-yard run (Antuono run).
LAUREL – Dantico, 35-yard pass from Shaffer (run failed).
NESHANNOCK – Joey Nerti, 5-yard run (Nerti run).
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