Neshannock rolls past Western Beaver
Neshannock (56) vs. Western Beaver (7)
Written: Sep 01, 2013
By Joe Sager
New Castle News
Some personnel has changed, but the Neshannock High football team looks a lot like it did last season — explosive.
The Lancers scored twice on their first four plays Saturday and rolled to a 56-7 win over Western Beaver in a WPIAL Class A Big Seven Conference battle at Bob Bleggi Stadium.
Last year, Neshannock opened the season with a 55-8 road win over the Golden Beavers. The Lancers wound up with a share of the conference title and advanced to the WPIAL semifinals.
Neshannock (1-0 conference and overall) hopes for even more this year.
“We’re still hungry from last season. We lost that last game and we didn’t like that,” said Neshannock’s Gianni Oliva, who had a pair of touchdowns. “We’re hungry; we want it. We’re trying to make a statement early on. We’re trying to get out there and get after it.”
After forcing Western Beaver (0-1, 0-1) to punt on its first possession, the Lancers needed just three plays to reach the end zone. Ernie Burkes hit Rocco Fazio for a 22-yard scoring strike for a 6-0 lead.
Following another Golden Beavers punt, Eli Owens scampered 35 yards for a score and a 13-0 edge with 5:48 left in the opening stanza.
“I am sure it’s devastating for the other teams (when we break big plays). We just try to do our thing and try to get four yards at a time — that’s all our goal is. Sometimes, they break them and we’re happy when they do,” Neshannock coach Fred Mozzocio said. “We knew Western Beaver was a completely different team than we played last year. We watched them on film and they’ve obviously been in the weight room all year. We knew we had to come out and try to jump on them quick to try to take that fire out of them. Luckily, we executed and did just that.”
Once again, Neshannock’s defense forced a punt and the Lancers’ offense delivered. This time, Oliva plunged in for a three-yard TD run and a 20-0 edge.
Neshannock’s defense got into the scoring act on Western Beaver’s next possession. The Lancers forced a fumble deep in Golden Beavers territory and Dominic Martucci pounced on the ball in the end zone for a 27-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“We just came out, hit hard and did what we had to do,” Oliva said. “Our team was really moving well. We’ve been practicing all week and Coach has been talking about tempo and keeping it up all game. We just went out there and did what we were coached to do.”
In the second quarter, Burkes called his own name and raced 45 yards to the house on the quarterback keeper to make it a 34-0 lead at halftime.
Burkes found Jimmy Medure on a 27-yard scoring strike early in the third quarter to push the hosts’ advantage to 41-0, which enacted the 35-point mercy rule.
Oliva (18 yards) and Frank Antuono (7) added TD runs to cap the Lancers’ scoring. Hunter Roknich broke free for a 44-yard TD jaunt against Neshannock’s defensive substitutes in the fourth quarter to get the Golden Beavers on the scoreboard.
The victory sets up a key conference showdown Friday when Laurel visits Neshannock. The Spartans opened the season with a big 40-6 league win over South Side Beaver.
“It’s going to be down to the wire. They are a good team,” Oliva said. “They have pretty much their whole team back; it should be a good matchup.”
That game marks the second in a 13-day span for the Lancers, who visit Sto-Rox on Sept. 12 in a rare Thursday night fray.
“We’re just thinking about Laurel right now. They’re a good football team,” Mozzocio said. “This is a big win. We wanted to get this win in front of our home crowd on opening night. We know we have some really big games coming up, starting next week with Laurel. They are a fine football team and very well coached. We’re looking forward to coming back and having a great football game. In this conference, there’s no time to rest.”
W. BEAVER NESHANNOCK
9 First downs 19
134 Yards Rushing 283
35 Yards Lost 5
99 Net Rushing 278
12 Passes Attempted 9
5 Passes Completed 6
0 Passes Intercepted 1
29 Yards Passing 72
128 Total Yards 350
3-2 Fumbles-Lost 1-0
5-34.6 Punts-Average 0-0
9-58 Penalties-Yards 4-36
W. BEAVER 0 0 0 7 — 7
NESHANNOCK 27 7 15 7 — 56
Scoring plays
NESHANNOCK — Rocco Fazio, 22-yard pass from Ernie Burkes (Jason Owrey kick failed).
NESHANNOCK — Eli Owens, 35-yard run (Owrey kick).
NESHANNOCK — Gianni Oliva, 3-yard run (Owrey kick).
NESHANNOCK — Dominic Martucci, fumble recovery in end zone (Owrey kick).
NESHANNOCK — Burkes, 45-yard run (Owrey kick).
NESHANNOCK — Jimmy Medure, 27-yard pass from Burkes (Patrick Danglidis kick).
NESHANNOCK — Oliva, 18-yard run (Medure pass from Burkes).
WESTERN BEAVER — Hunter Roknich, 44-yard run (Gary Smith kick).
NESHANNOCK — Frank Antuono, 7-yard run (Irvin Porras kick).
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