Lancers have no answer for Sto-Rox ‘D’
Neshannock (0) vs. Sto-Rox (14)
Written: Sep 18, 2010
 By JOE SAGER
ncsports@ncnewsonline.com
McKEES ROCKS — Sto-Rox’s offense might not be as potent as usual, but its defense remains pretty solid.
The Vikings stifled Neshannock last night for a 14-0 win to open Big Seven Conference action.
Sto-Rox (1-0 conference, 3-0 overall) outscored its first two opponents, 57-14, and is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s third-ranked WPIAL Class A team. However, the Vikings were dealt a blow when starting quarterback Jordan Latimer suffered a serious leg injury last week.
Against the Lancers (0-1, 2-1), freshman Lenny Williams made his first start under center and helped guide his team to the hard-fought win. He completed 13 of 21 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted twice, though.
“Jordan has been our starting quarterback since the first day, so Lenny would only get a few reps each week,” Sto-Rox coach Ron Butschle said. “We tried to keep things as simple for him as we could. But, he’s a good athlete and a very coachable kid. I thought he did a great job for being a freshman.”
The Vikings’ offense sputtered, thanks to penalties and a stingy Neshannock defense. Sto-Rox had 11 infractions for 85 yards, while the Lancers held the Vikings to 270 total yards on offense.
“Our defense really played well,” Butschle said. “Our offense moved the ball, but we moved ourselves backward with penalties and mistakes.
“We’ve done that in three games and, if that doesn’t get fixed, we’re going to be hard pressed to keep winning. A win is a win, but we have a lot of stuff to fix before we play Rochester on Friday.”
Neshannock bottled up Josh Beverly, who entered the game among the WPIAL’s top rushers with 300 yards on 38 carries. He finished the night with 57 yards on 21 totes.
“We didn’t back down. We weren’t going to give ground,” Lancers coach Pat Cuba said.
“The kids did what we had to do on defense, too. We made some mistakes, but we dug in when we had to.”
The Lancers fell victim to a trick play in the first quarter that set up Sto-Rox’s first touchdown. On fourth-and-9 at the Neshannock 39, Vikings upback Dontez Ford took the direct snap on a fake punt and raced around the left end for 34 yards to the 5.
“That was real huge,” Cuba said. “We had stopped them a couple times, and we had an opportunity to really change momentum. I preached about it and told them it was coming, but kids are kids — sometimes they make mistakes just like I do.
“We’re not perfect. I am sure I made some calls that they’re not satisfied with, too.”
Two plays later, Beverly rambled in from the 4. He added the conversion run for an 8-0 lead.
“Every once in a while, you have to pull a rabbit out of your hat. That fake punt was good for us,” Butschle said. “It got us going and kept us moving in the first half. In that second half, we moved the ball, but we didn’t take advantage of our time in the red zone.”
Sto-Rox had a chance to add to the lead as the Vikings recovered a fumble on the Neshannock 23 two plays after the ensuing kickoff. However, the Lancers’ defense held strong.
The hosts produced another score as they marched 75 yards on 13 plays later in the second quarter. Williams found Marshawn Ptomey over the middle for a 10-yard scoring strike to cap the drive. The conversion pass failed, which left the score 14-0 at halftime.
The Vikings seemed poised to increase their lead late in the third as they marched to the Lancers’ 5 at the buzzer. However, a sack and a lost fumbled wiped out that scoring threat to start the fourth.
Neshannock threatened to break the shutout late in the contest. The Lancers drove to the Sto-Rox 19 in the final 30 seconds, but could not haul in any of quarterback Michael Sanfilippo’s pass attempts as time expired.
Leo Pasquarello led all rushers with 77 yards on 14 carries for Neshannock, which welcomes Cornell on Friday.
“We have to come out every week ready to play. We can’t measure by what we did here,” Cuba said. “We have to go out and be ready to play next week or we’re right back to where we started.”
NESHANNOCK STO-ROX
5 First downs 13
122 Yards Rushing 130
21 Yards Lost 24
101 Net Rushing 106
11 Passes Attempted 21
3 Passes Completed 13
1 Passes Intercepted 2
54 Yards Passing 164
155 Total Yards 270
4-1 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
5-33.2 Punts-Average 2-27.0
3-30 Penalties-Yards 11-85
NESHANNOCK 0 0 0 0 — 0
STO-ROX 8 6 0 0 — 14
Scoring plays
STO-ROX — Josh Beverly, 4-yard run (Beverly run).
STO-ROX — Marshawn Ptomey, 10-yard pass from Lenny Williams (pass failed).
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