Shenango holds off Western Beaver
Shenango (22) vs. Western Beaver (21)
Written: Oct 05, 2009
 By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com
INDUSTRY — Call it Homecoming II.
There was no queen, and Shenango High was on the road, but Saturday marked head coach Ryan Mayo’s first time to lead the Wildcats into Western Beaver, where he once played and later coached.
Also finding their way back were Shenango’s defense and quarterback Joe Colavecchia, both of whom were missing in action for most of the previous week’s Homecoming loss against Monaca. On Saturday, though, the ’Cats’ D made two huge fourth-quarter stops, and Colavecchia threw for one touchdown and ran for another to lead Shenango to a 22-21 Big Seven Conference win.
Shenango (2-1, 4-1 overall) limited the Golden Beavers (1-2, 1-4) to just 144 total yards one week after surrendering 437 — and 45 points — to Monaca. In addition, the ’Cats gave up only one sustained scoring drive, a 62-yard march capped by Joe Dawida’s 1-yard run.
Western Beaver’s other two scores came courtesy of gift-wrapped field position.
A 17-yard punt set the Golden Beavers up at the Shenango 21, and they punched it in six plays later on a 15-yard Dawida-to-Scott Wilson pass. Western’s final score, with 1:03 remaining in the game, came two plays after Shenango had fumbled the ball away at its own 10.
That turnover nearly negated the first of the ’Cats’ two defensive gems.
Trailing 22-15 with 3 1/2 minutes left, Western Beaver’s Jerry Duty was stacked up inches short of a first down on fourth-and-one at the 6.
The Golden Beavers got the ball back three plays later on the fumble and scored on Jack Balser’s 4-yard run. However, when Western tried for a two-point conversion, Dustin Creel not only was dropped in the backfield, but he also fumbled. Shenango’s Eric Moscipan fell on the ball to end the threat.
“I couldn’t write a better script because our defense got gutted last week versus Monaca,” Mayo said. “Their confidence was down, and for them to come up and to play as well as they did and make the plays they did, that shows a lot about our kids.”
Colavecchia, meanwhile, returned to the starting lineup after an injured knee limited his playing time the previous week. He not only threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Mathews, he also scrambled 28 yards on fourth-and-8 late in the third quarter to set up the touchdown that put Shenango ahead to stay.
Colavecchia notched that himself two plays later on a 1-yard run, and Mathews’ subsequent two-point scamper ended up making the difference in the outcome.
“He still wasn’t 100 percent,” Mayo said of Colavecchia, “and so before the game I told him, ‘I don’t want to see you scrambling. I don’t want your knee to get hit.’
“He did it anyway, and it was a huge play for us.”
Colavecchia remembered his coach’s warning, but couldn’t bring himself to heed it.
“It’s kind of hard not to,” he said of his improvisation. “You see the opening, you have the hunger to go for it. I’ll deal with the pain after the game.”
Mathews’ first TD reception came off a flea-flicker, in which Anthony Kosciuszko took a handoff, then pitched the ball back to Colavecchia. His second, which put Shenango up 14-0, was thrown by wide receiver Scott McBride.
“We put him (Mathews) at receiver at lot because he’s got so much speed that he is difficult for people to cover,” Mayo said. “It’s just a matter of finding a way to get him open because teams like to double him.
“I emptied the playbook today. I’m not very creative, but I knew coming into this week that we needed this one in terms of making the playoffs so I thought we needed to have pretty much everything covered.”
*****
SHENANGO WESTERN BEAVER
11 First downs 8
187 Yards Rushing 128
14 Yards Lost 22
173 Net Rushing 106
6 Passes Attempted 11
3 Passes Completed 4
0 Passes Intercepted 0
69 Yards Passing 38
242 Total Yards 144
4-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-0
2-25 Punts-Average 2-37.7
6-45 Penalties-Yards 3-25
SHENANGO 0 14 8 0 — 22
W. BEAVER 0 8 7 6 — 21
Scoring plays
SHENANGO — Ricky Mathews 29-yard pass from Joe Colavecchia (Aaron Grymes run).
SHENANGO — Mathews 33-yard pass from Scott McBride (Run failed)
WESTERN BEAVER — Joe Dawida 1-yard run (Scott Wilson pass from Dawida).
WESTERN BEAVER — Wilson 15-yard pass from Dawida (Michael Graham kick).
SHENANGO — Colavecchia 1-yard run (Mathews run).
WESTERN BEAVER — Jack Balser 4-yard run (Run failed).
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