Warriors miss out on opportunities
Mohawk (18) vs. Aliquippa (33)
Written: Oct 03, 2009
By TODD KRISE
t_krise@ncnewsonline.com
All it took was one missed tackle.
Then another.
And another.
Just like that, Aliquippa High had three plays of 62 yards or more in helping it to a 33-18 victory over Mohawk last night.
“It was like a mental rollercoaster,” Warriors’ receiver Colin Bredl said.
That’s because Aliquippa handed six of its seven fumbles to Mohawk, which in return, could not turn those mistakes into points.
“We’ve got to capitalize on their mistakes and try to avoid stupid mistakes ourselves,” said Mohawk coach Jason Long, referring to his team’s three turnovers.
The loss, which came on homecoming night, was vital to the Warriors’ playoff hopes. Mohawk (2-3 conference, 2-3 overall) now finds itself in the bottom half of the Midwestern Conference standings, while Aliquippa (3-1, 4-1) moved up.
The Quips, who beat the Warriors 61-18 last season, took a quick 7-0 lead on Richard Lowe’s 5-yard run. The score came one play after Aliquippa’s defense stripped Mohawk quarterback Johnny Beatty as he was attempting a pass.
The Quips quickly turned another Beatty turnover (an interception on the Aliquippa 16) into a touchdown when receiver Troy Jeter scampered 62 yards.
Finally, late in the second quarter, Mohawk mounted a comeback.
Beatty pinned the Quips on their own 3 with a perfectly placed 33-yard punt out of bounds.
Two plays later, Bredl tackled Jeter in the end zone for a safety.
On the ensuing drive, Beatty led his team on a 10-play, 46-yard march that ended when he punched in from 1 yard out.
Mohawk entered halftime within striking distance, 13-10.
“We had them going into halftime,” Bredl said. “Our momentum was way over top of theirs. We knew we could win. We wanted to win this game more than any other game so far.”
Both teams exchanged touchdowns to begin the third quarter.
Aliquippa quarterback Mikal Hall scored from 4 yards out, but Beatty answered with a 19-yard toss to Josh Morrow.
The Quips stuck a dagger in the Warriors’ hopes with their third big play of the evening on Hall’s 77-yard pass to Haetaun Mathis.
Aliquippa then turned another Beatty interception into a touchdown late in the third period to seal the win.
“I was happy with the effort,” Long said. “I’m still disappointed that when we needed third-and-short or fourth-and-short, we just couldn’t line up and run it up in there.
“That’s something we’ve been working on and at first we were able to do that for a little bit. But we couldn’t do it when we really needed to.”
Beatty tried to make up for the Warriors’ lack of success on the ground with his arm. The junior threw a career-high 50 passes, completing 19 for 230 yards.
“You can’t really blame it on anything,” Beatty said. “We had it. There were a lot of passes I should’ve made.
“This game definitely meant the most because Aliquippa is always good and it was our homecoming and we wanted to win.”
ALIQUIPPA MOHAWK
9 First downs 15
211 Yards Rushing 85
16 Yards Lost 15
195 Net Rushing 70
10 Passes Attempted 50
5 Passes Completed 19
0 Passes Intercepted 2
113 Yards Passing 230
308 Total Yards 300
7-6 Fumbles-Lost 5-1
3-30 Punts-Average 6-30
6-42 Penalties-Yards 7-61
ALIQUIPPA 13 0 20 0 — 33
MOHAWK 0 10 8 0— 18
Scoring plays
ALIQUIPPA — Richard Lowe, 5-yard run (John Lord kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Troy Jeter, 62-yard run (kick failed).
MOHAWK — Safety, Jeter tackled in end zone.
MOHAWK — Johnny Beatty, 1-yard run (Colin Bredl pass from Beatty).
ALIQUIPPA — Mikal Hall, 4-yard run (Lord kick).
MOHAWK — Josh Morrow, 19-yard pass from Beatty (Justin Upham run).
ALIQUIPPA — Haetaun Mathis, 77-yard pass from Hall (Lord kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Gerode Carry, 16-yard pass from Hall (pass failed).
|