Beaver Falls spoils Lamenza’s debut
Mohawk (7) vs. Beaver Falls (57)
Written: Sep 03, 2011
  By RON PONIEWASZ JR.
rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com
The Joe Lamenza era got off to a rocky start last night for the Mohawk High football program.
Missed tackles. Special teams breakdowns. And a slew of injuries, too, contributed to the painful outcome.
Beaver Falls used its athleticism and powerful ground game to churn out a 57-7 season-opening Midwestern Athletic Conference victory on the Warriors’ home field.
The Tigers came in ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL in Class AA by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“They were explosive,” Lamenza, Mohawk’s first-year coach, said of Beaver Falls. “They might be the best team in the MAC. They might be the best team in double-A.
“I know one thing, there’s not going to be too many teams that are better than them. We have a young football team and it was a good barometer for our kids. It shows our kids where we are as a football team and what we need to do to get better and to compete at that level.”
Three Warriors players sustained injuries throughout the game. Phillip Fry came out on the game’s first drive with an ankle injury. Quarterback Tim Glass took a hard shot on a rushing attempt in the first half, but he continued to play through the pain. He finally came out for good before the half with a left arm injury.
Running back John Fleck also missed the second half with an unspecified injury.
“We’re a little banged up right now,” Lamenza said. “You couple that with the fact we’re a young team, and even our seniors are young in terms of experience. There’s going to be some growing pains.”
Big plays propelled the Tigers to a 14-0 lead after one quarter. Trey Hall scored on a 64-yard jaunt for the game’s first points. Brian Lake followed with a 30-yard interception return of an errant Glass pass.
Hall rolled up 147 yards rushing on just four rushes for Beaver Falls. The Tigers amassed 357 rushing yards and 414 total yards.
“Trey runs hard,” Tigers coach Ryan Matsook said. “He asserts himself and he does some nice things. When he touches the ball, he’s a weapon.
“I thought we would move the ball well. Did I think we would score 57? No.”
Matsook is a nephew of Shenango High graduate and current Rochester coach Gene Matsook.
Glass got the Warriors on the board with 1:41 to go in the half on a one-yard run to cut the deficit to 28-7. He came off the field favoring his left arm from a hit sustained earlier in the period.
“Glass is a tough, tough kid. Tough as nails,” Lamenza said.
But just as the buzz from the celebration was dying down, Beaver Falls’ Marcus Cleckley took off. Cleckley fielded the kickoff, weaved his way through traffic, and dashed to a 95-yard kickoff return and a 35-7 buffer with 1:27 left.
The Tigers still had all three timeouts left and they used them all to force a Warriors punt with nine seconds to go before the half. The strategy worked as the snap sailed over the punter’s head and through the end zone for a safety and a 37-7 halftime advantage.
“We have a young football team,” Lamenza said. “Special teams is a thing where if one person doesn’t do his job, the whole team breaks down.
“We need to look at the film, see where the problem is and go fix it.”
Mohawk returns to conference action at 7 p.m. Friday at Riverside.
B. FALLS MOHAWK
16 First downs 6
365 Yards Rushing 123
8 Yards Lost 14
357 Net Rushing 109
6 Passes Attempted 2
4 Passes Completed 1
0 Passes Intercepted 1
57 Yards Passing 9
414 Total Yards 118
4-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-0
0-0 Punts-Average 5-33
1-10 Penalties-Yards 3-25
BEAVER FALLS 14 23 14 6 — 57
MOHAWK 0 7 0 0 — 7
Scoring plays
BEAVER FALLS — Trey Hall, 64-yard run (kick failed).
BEAVER FALLS — Brian Lake, 30-yard interception return (Rob Bell run).
BEAVER FALLS — Bell, 42-yard run (kick failed).
BEAVER FALLS — Royce Watson, 29-yard pass form Weslley Nesmith (Marcus Cleckley run).
MOHAWK — Tim Glass, 1-yard run (Marcus Gurgiolo kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Cleckley, 95-yard kickoff return (Evan Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — safety, snap went over the punter’s head and through the end zone.
BEAVER FALLS — Bell, 2-yard run (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Cleckley, 16-yard run (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Zach Sweigart, 6-yard run (kick failed).
|