Lightning strikes quickly in Rochester’s rout of ’Cats
Shenango (0) vs. Rochester (35)
Written: Sep 08, 2012
By Steve Treu
New Castle News
ROCHESTER — The start to last night’s game was anything but special for Shenango.
Rochester’s Dante Marsick scored two touchdowns in the first two minutes of the contest thanks to poor coverage by the Wildcats on a pair of kickoffs, sparking the Rams to a 35-0 defeat of the visiting Wildcats in WPIAL Big Seven Conference action.
Marsick took the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and, four plays after the Rams recovered the ensuing kickoff when it fell into no-man’s land, he tacked on an 18-yard scoring run for a quick 14-0 lead.
“That was ironic because last week special teams were the best thing we did, with a kickoff return for a touchdown, a successful onsides kick and a blocked punt,” Shenango coach Ryan Mayo said. “But in this game, for whatever reason, we gave up two special teams plays early and that set the tone. It was hard for us to recover after that.”
“That was our goal, to come out right away and start fast,” said Rochester coach Gene Matsook, himself a former Shenango High football star. “The kids did a great job of executing on special teams.”
On an evening when weather delayed the start of many games in the area, the only lightning visible at Rochester was Marsick bolting through Shenango defenders, not only the first time he touched the ball, but on many of his subsequent carries from scrimmage. The speedy senior averaged a first down every time he carried, rushing 15 times for 151 yards and two TDs in addition to the opening kickoff score.
Marsick’s 27-yard catch and run midway through the first quarter set up another Rochester touchdown on a 9-yard scramble by quarterback Ben Richko for a 21-0 lead with 2:40 left in the opening frame.
As if the mistakes on special teams weren’t enough, the Wildcats hurt themselves with 10 penalties for 86 yards, several coming via holds.
“That’s nonsense, holding is the coward’s way of blocking,” Mayo said. “If you can’t block somebody, don’t block him. I’d rather not block him then set us back 10 yards. That’s terrible.
“That’s arguably the best team in the league, no doubt about it, but you can’t make some of the mistakes we did and win football games. We’ve got to do things the right way.”
Shenango moved the ball on a few decent drives in the second quarter, including nice runs by Anthony Prestopine (team-high 59 yards on 14 carries) and Tyler Welsh (10 for 32), but Rochester never yielded any big gainers.
“Our defense has played well two games in a row,” Matsook said. “They got a couple quarterback sneaks on us that I didn’t like, but overall our defense did a great job. They didn’t get any big plays on us. We kind of controlled them on defense.”
After a scoreless second quarter, the Rams put the finishing touches on their shutout with a pair of touchdowns in the second half — a 3-yard run by Marsick and a 22-yard pass from Richko to Montrail Strozier.
Rochester claimed a 285-128 advantage in total offense, as Shenango never got anything going at all through the air.
Their disastrous beginning to the game notwithstanding, the Wildcats played hard enough to give their coach hope for next week.
“When we got our feet back under us, we fought back and that’s an encouraging sign,” Mayo said. “There will be no easy games in our conference. Not all will be as tough as Rochester, but they will all be tough, so we have to get better.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
SHENANGO ROCHESTER
8 First downs 10
136 Yards Rushing 237
8 Yards Lost 7
128 Net Rushing 230
2 Passes Attempted 7
0 Passes Completed 3
0 Passes Intercepted 0
0 Yards Passing 55
128 Total Yards 285
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 2-1
6-32 Punts-Average 1-37
10-86 Penalties-Yards 4-37
SHENANGO 0 0 0 0 — 0
ROCHESTER 21 0 7 7 — 35
Scoring plays
ROCHESTER — Dante Marsick, 85-yard kickoff return (Ben Richko kick).
ROCHESTER — Marsick, 18-yard run (Richko kick).
ROCHESTER — Richko, 9-yard run (Richko kick).
ROCHESTER — Marsick, 3-yard run (Richko kick).
ROCHESTER — Montrail Strozier, 22-yard pass from Richko (Richko kick).
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