Warriors end up on short end of shootout
Mohawk (28) vs. Riverside (32)
Written: Sep 19, 2009
  By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com
On a night when Mohawk had more offense than you could shake a stick at, Jason Long wanted more sticks.
As in hits — on both sides of the ball.
The Warriors’ head coach watched his team drop a 32-28 WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Conference decision at home to Riverside last night, despite 417 yards total offense and a career performance by Johnny Beatty. The junior quarterback not only rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries, but also connected on 14 of 27 passes for 188 yards and two more scores.
And yet, Mohawk (1-2) came away with no points on three occasions when it had first downs at the Panthers’ 11-, 8- and 13-yard lines. Moreover, the Warriors rallied from a 19-0 deficit to take the lead twice, only to allow the Panthers to go back up both times with long touchdown plays.
Keying the Panthers (1-2) was junior running back Jared Desensi, who frequently slipped would-be tacklers on the way to rolling up 235 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Desensi had scoring runs of 53 and 46 yards and set up two other TDs with 60- and 43-yard scampers.
“I think effectively, we were in the right spots and we didn’t tackle,” Long lamented. “I always say if you want to win football games, you’ve got to tackle and you’ve got to block. We didn’t tackle, and I’m not even sure how well we blocked tonight.
“The thing that disappoints me most about the tackling and their running back breaking our tackles is that his effort and his want was just a little bit more than ours. And that’s what tackling and blocking is. My hat’s off to that kid, he played with tremendous heart. He certainly wanted it just a little bit more than we did.”
Riverside posted the first three touchdowns of the game, but Mohawk battled back to go ahead twice — 20-19 and 28-25 — in the second half. Desensi, though, erased the former lead on a 46-yard run, and Mansfield blotted out the latter on a 30-yard jaunt down the sideline.
Mohawk failed to score after having a first down at the Riverside 11 in the first quarter; at the Panthers’ 8 in the third; and at the Riverside 13 in the fourth.
“The kids have got to make plays, and they’ve got to keep their composure,” Long said. “I thought we had some kids that did make some plays tonight, we just needed to make a couple more.”
The prime playmaker, of course, was Beatty, who powered his team both on the ground and through the air. He scored on runs of 5 and 35 yards, and threw touchdown passes of 6 and 45 yards, to Tom Audia and Colin Bredl, respectively.
“Right now, Johnny Beatty’s showing up every day,” Long said. “I’m just hoping a couple other guys would follow his lead right now. For only his third start, the kid’s playing outstanding football. He’s the reason right now we’re able to hang in a couple games.”
For Riverside, Desensi — who had 113 yards rushing after just his first two carries of the game — provided the same sort of spark.
“He did a nice job, he ran hard,” Riverside head coach Jesse Rosenberger said. “I’ve been on him the last couple of weeks to come through and he did tonight.”
Rosenberger said his team never faltered, even after blowing its early three-touchdown lead.
“We knew we would be able to come back, we just had to make some adjustments and we did.”
Defensively, the Panthers may have surrendered more than 400 yards total offense, but their three red-zone stops proved to be the difference.
“Bend but not break,” Rosenberger said. “Our kids showed excellent character, that’s one of the things I preach to them.”
RIVERSIDE MOHAWK
15 First downs 22
352 Yards Rushing 229
12 Yards Lost 31
340 Net Rushing 198
5Passes Attempted 27
4 Passes Completed 14
0 Passes Intercepted 0
47 Yards Passing 188
387 Total Yards 417
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
3-36 Punts-Average 2-35.5
4-30 Penalties-Yards 6-26
RIVERSIDE 13 6 6 7 — 32
MOHAWK 0 13 7 8 — 28
Scoring plays
RIVERSIDE — Jared Desensi, 53-yard run (kick failed).
RIVERSIDE — Zach Snyder, 9-yard run (Mike Bupp kick).
RIVERSIDE — Tom Mansfield, 1-yard run (kick failed).
MOHAWK — Johnny Beatty, 5-yard run (Cody Dean kick).
MOHAWK — Tim Audia, 6-yard pass from Beatty (kick failed).
MOHAWK — Beatty, 35-yard run (Cody kick).
RIVERSIDE — Desensi, 46-yard run (pass failed).
MOHAWK — Colin Bredl, 45-yard pass from Beatty (Beatty run).
RIVERSIDE — Mansfield, 30-yard run (Bupp kick).
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