Mohawk goes down swinging at Beaver Falls
Mohawk (24) vs. Beaver Falls (45)
Written: Oct 11, 2008
 By STEVE TREU
ncsports@ncnewsonline.com
BEAVER FALLS — Mohawk won the battle of enthusiasm last night.
But Beaver Falls won the game.
Although the fiesty Warriors clawed back from a huge early deficit to get within one touchdown early in the fourth quarter, the favored Tigers pulled away down the stretch for a 45-24 victory in WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Conference action at Geneva College.
Mohawk (4-3, 4-3) came close to overcoming a 21-0 hole by outplaying the hosts over the middle two quarters and cutting the lead to 31-24 a minute into the final frame, but two late TDs by Beaver Falls (6-0, 7-0) made the final score appear to be more lopsided than the game was.
”They had a little too much firepower in the end,” Mohawk coach Jason Long said.
They had even more firepower in the beginning.
More precisely, they had a little too much Todd Thomas in the beginning.
The talented senior flashed his Division I-worthy skills with an all-star first quarter, hauling in touchdown bombs of 59 and 82 yards from Tony Omogrosso. The former score was a basic fly pattern in which he blew past the Mohawk cornerback, and the latter was a Willie Mays-like over-the-shoulder catch near midfield that required some dancing through the Mohawk secondary.
Thomas, who has the University of Pittsburgh on his short list of potential colleges, added a third touchdown in the first quarter with a 5-yard run.
After just eight plays from scrimmage from their offense, the Tigers led 21-0.
”He's a great player, but I think we killed ourselves a little bit in the first half,” Long said. “We made some dumb mistakes that we usually don’t do. It’s tough to win when you are making mental mistakes.”
The Warriors rallied impressively over the next two frames, firing up their lively fans who were louder throughout the evening than the home side.
Quarterback Seth Powell started clicking with his receivers in the second, zipping a 6-yard fastball to Jonathan Braatz for a touchdown that was set up by the first of two Colin Bredl interceptions in that quarter.
Mohawk then controlled the third with a dominating ground game, including a 37-yard burst by Evan Degaton and a 28-yard run by Travis Schubert that he bounced to the outside for touchdown to make the score 31-16 (following a 2-point run by Bredl).
”I thought our guys up front played well,” Long said.
The inspired Warriors then forced a three-and-out and proceeded to march down the firld for another touchdown, this one on a 3-yard run by Schubert. When Powell hit Matt Vogel for 2, it was a seven-point ballgame that had Beaver Falls worried.
”We did not play a complete football game,” Tigers coach Ryan Matsook said. “You can’t just turn it on and off like that. If it were that easy, we could just mail it in.”
Playing without Thomas, who was removed as a precaution with what Matsook termed a “mild sprain” in the second quarter, the Tigers did not let the Warriors get any closer than 31-24 as Cody Cook and Alex Wiltse tacked on insurance TD runs in the fourth.
Schubert led the Warriors with 65 yards on 12 carries, while Degaton had 53 on 7 totes.
Matsook said that Thomas will be ready for the team's trip to Center next week, when Mohawk hosts Beaver.
MOHAWK BEAVER FALLS
11 First downs 11
193 Yards Rushing 170
9 Yards Lost 6
184 Net Rushing 164
13 Passes Attempted 16
6 Passes Completed 8
2 Passes Intercepted 2
106 Yards Passing 255
290 Total Yards 419
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
1-31 Punts-Average 3-30
3-18 Penalties-Yards 7-50
MOHAWK 0 8 8 8 — 24
BEAVER FALLS 21 10 0 14 — 45
Scoring plays
BEAVER FALLS — Todd Thomas, 59-yard pass from Tony Omogrosso (Evan Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Thomas, 82-yard pass from Omogrosso (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Thomas, 5-yard run (Richards kick).
MOHAWK — Jonathan Braatz, 6-yard pass from Seth Powell (Travis Schubert run).
BEAVER FALLS — Alex Wiltse, 1-yard run (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Richards, 20-yard field goal.
MOHAWK — Schubert, 28-yard run (Colin Bredl run).
MOHAWK — Schubert, 3-yard run (Matt Vogel pass from Powell).
BEAVER FALLS — Cody Cook, 18-yard run (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Wiltse, 1-yard run (Richards kick)
|