By Ed Farrell
Herald Assistant Sports Editor

There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded, angry animal.

Still seething from last week's season-opening, home-field setback to Youngstown-Ursuline, the Sharon High Tigers mauled Youngstown-Cardinal Mooney, 52-8, Friday night.

Senior speedster Carmone Parchman posted a performance that featured 142 yards rushing, including a 55-yard game-opening scoring sprint, and tallied touchdowns on 53- and 39-yard punt returns. In addition, junior signal-caller Mike Schneider turned in an 8-for-15, 196-yard passing performance, tossing TDs of 26 and 41 yards to Terrance Phillips and 27 yards to James Barnett.

In all, Sharon outgained the Cardinals, 378-129, and Mooney did not score until the final 48 seconds.

Even moments after what some considered an Ursuline upset last week, veteran mentor Jim Wildman (188-73-6) insisted his Sharon squad began focusing on its preseason goal of playing in December at Hershey Stadium.

"We addressed three issues Monday morning,'' Wildman related regarding his team's pre-game preparation. "No. 1, consistency; (No.) 2 was toughness -- both mental and physical toughness -- and No. 3 was leadership. None of those three we had a week ago (Friday night). And we put it on the line with a lot of seniors who've been around here, and the kids responded and our coaches did an outstanding job of preparing them against a pretty good football team.''

Parchman, who purged opponents last year for 1,927 yards, set the tone Friday night at Tiger Stadium on the opening play from scrimmage when he swept left end and sprinted 55 yards down the far sideline 20 seconds into the contest. Jim Morocco then tacked on the first of seven successful conversion kicks and the Tigers never were threatened.

"I think Sharon has tremendous team speed, they have some tremendous athletes, and they played a very, very good game, a mistake-free game,'' assessed first-year Cardinal Mooney mentor P.J. Fecko. "Sometimes in football, it's such a momentum game, you know, the ball bounces a certain way ... they jumped on us quick and I think we were a little shell-shocked there and it was very, very tough for us to recover.''

By his fourth carry of the contest, Parchman had reached the 100-yard rushing plateau and Sharon surged to a 35-0 lead by the first quarter's close on Parchman's 55- and 9-yard scoring runs, his 53-yard punt return and Schneider's scoring strikes to Phillips. Conversely, Mooney's first four possessions ended in punts and the Cardinals never crossed their own 41-yard line.

Then with the first-half clock expiring, Morocco launched a 43-yard field goal for a 38-0 Sharon margin at intermission.

Midway through the third period Parchman proceeded to return a punt 39 yards for his fourth touchdown of the evening and a 45-0 lead, then Schneider, on a third-and-5 play from the 27-yard line, rolled right after a play-action fake and found Barnett for Sharon's (1-1) final score.

Mooney (2-1) completed a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive that consumed 4:32 and concluded with Tony York's 8-yard run on a fourth-and-1 play, and Mike Kohowski tacked on the 2-point conversion.

"Tonight I wanted to play a field-position game,'' Wildman related. "Our kick-return team has done pretty well, and even if we didn't get the first down, we could punt and make them start at the 20 or so, and Carmone broke (the game-opening play) and obviously it got us off to a great start.

"But he doesn't do it alone,'' Wildman emphasized. "He's not a one-man show and he'd be the first one to tell you about it. We had some offensive lineman this week that stepped up and responded and started playing like they're capable of playing.''

And now that his team has taken the first step toward its ultimate ambition, Wildman admitted the Ursuline loss, in retrospect, may serve as the impetus.

"I hope we're talking about that,'' Wildman admitted. "You know, I think playing teams like this -- you know, there's critics out there, no matter what you do -- but I think playing teams like this in September certainly gives you a better measuring stick in terms of evaluating your kids, how far you have to go, what things you have to work on, than spending a thousand dollars to buy somebody to have to come in here.''

Notes: Marlin Jackson pilfered a pass and put a block on Ken Kraft on Phillips' second score that put the reigning Ohio Division IV defensive player of the year out of the game. ... Jason Fromm was credited with one of the Tigers' two fumble recoveries and Sam Faylo and Chris Monsman collaborated on a sack. ... Lengendary Mooney mentor Don Bucci, who led the Cardinals for more than three decades, resigned following last year's 12-2 mark and Steel Valley Conference crown, but was in attendance Friday night.

Slippery Rock pulls a fast one on Hickory

Sometimes it only takes a little spark to start a fire. Well, Friday night at Hickory High Stadium, Slippery Rock football team got that spark from senior running back Josh Kniess and what followed was a raging conflagration.

Kniess exploded for 318 yards on 37 carries and four touchdowns to lift a sputtering Rockets team to a 36-29 victory over the host Hornets in one of the most exciting games in recent years.

"Josh really stepped up," said Slippery Rock Coach Brendon Smith after securing his first Mercer County Athletic Conference Class AAA victory of the young season. "Our motors were not running."

Running? They weren't getting any juice at all as evidenced by Hickory jumping out to a 15-0 lead on a pair of first-quarter touchdowns by Hickory quarterback Tom Trimmer. Smith had to admit he was having visions of last week's 40-0 thrashing at the hands of Kittanning.

But then Kniess gave him hope. "He really had a nice run where he ran over two people," said Smith. "I told the guys on the sidelines, 'He's doing it all by himself. Too many other guys are standing around. We all need to make plays.' He set the tone and everybody else started to follow."

With Kniess pounding the inside and rambling around end, the offense started to click. It even opened up the passing game and the Rockets finally got on the scoreboard late in the first period on a six-yard pass from quarterback Mike McCaffrey to Mark Matson. A kick by Jason Reefer cut the lead to 15-7.

A short time later, the Rockets drove 53 yards on 7 plays to tie the game with Kniess scoring from six yards out, followed by a two-point run by McCaffrey.

But Hickory showed some big-play capabilities of their own as Trimmer hit Peagler with 13-yard aerial to the Slippery Rock 40 and Peagler then outsprinted the Rockets to the end zone. Guido Gurrera's second extra-point kick of the contest gave the Hornets a 22-15 lead which held up to halftime. But not without excitement as McCaffrey stopped a Hornets drive with an interception in the end zone and a short time later Trimmer returned the favor by picking off McCaffrey deep in Hickory territory.

Slippery Rock regained momentum in the third frame and tied the score at 22 after a 58-yard sprint by Kniess and Reefer PAT kick. But only two plays later, Peagler showed his speed again with a 69-yard TD burst and Gurrera made the count 29-22 with an extra-point boot.

This set up a wild fourth quarter. Early in the final frame, Kniess scored on a 12-yard run, but the PAT kick failed, leaving the Rockets behind 29-28.

Hickory took over at their own 19 after the ensuing kickoff, but started moving backwards as Trimmer was nailed for losses of 3 and 1 yards. Then on third-and-14, Trimmer ran a naked bootleg to his left and was chased backward to the end zone. As he was about to be sacked, he threw the ball, but was called for intentional grounding. Since the referee ruled it came in the end zone, that's a safety and a 30-29 lead for Slippery Rock.

A short time later Slippery Rock finished off the game with a march to paydirt, ended by a 29-yard Kneiss sprint with only 18 seconds left for a 36-29 lead.

But did Rockets' mentor Smith feel safe?

"The way that game was going I was worried that we scored too soon," said Smith. "Hickory has a good quarterback and some talented people and I was worried they might come back and score."

But that fear was ended on a sack by Dave Gould to end the game.

"High school football is a game of momentum," lamented Hickory coach Phil Annarella. "In the fourth quarter we were down inside our 20 almost the whole time. We had no field position.

"We made some mistakes defensively and they took advantage of it."

Hickory fell to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the MCAC AAA, but Annarella wasn't concerned about the record at the moment. "This one really hurt. We have Reynolds next and we have to regroup or we're going to lose that one too."

Slippery Rock faces a tough foe in 2-0 Wilmington next week. "We'll enjoy this win tonight and then go back and get ready for the next game," said Smith, who added that he doesn't want to see too many of these kind of nailbiters.

"Any more like this and I'll be bald by the end of the season," he said with a smile.

SIDELINE NOTES: Kneiss's 318 yards is the fifth best single game total in Mercer County history. Smith gave credit to the line for opening holes for Kneiss, including: Brad Campbell, Josh Roth, Ed Milligan, Jason Lee, Joe Schaeffer and Chad Raudbaugh. ... Former Hickory High all-state running back Andre Coleman attended the game. Coleman was a former star at Kansas State University before a pro career with San Diego, Seattle and Pittsburgh of the NFL. Coleman, who lives in the Atlanta area, said he plans to try out for the newly forming XFL. ... Jim Bestwick was one of the referees on the game Friday, the first time in 20 years that Bestwick was on the field since he coached the Hornets team. During his teaching career at Hickory, he chose not to work games at the Hermitage field.

Trio of unbeatens are alive

Three Herald coverage-area teams -- two that were, perhaps, expected to shine and another that has proven to be a pleasant, early-season surprise -- remained undefeated following Friday night victories.

Greenville garnered its second straight win by commencing Northwest Conference play with a 42-6 rout at Meadville's Bender Field; Kennedy Christian ventured into the Buckeye State and posted a 23-3 triumph at Campbell Memorial, and West Middlesex won in impressive fashion for the second straight week in a 39-0 Mercer County Athletic Conference interclassification rout of Mercer.

Following are reports:

• West Middlesex 39, Mercer 0 -- At West Middlesex, the Big Reds showed why they're starting to peak and the Mustangs showed growing pains, as West Middlesex controlled the ball and stuffed Mercer's every offensive possession.

  Jeremy Baker scampered 35 yards from scrimmage for the game's first score, then struck again in the second period as he snagged a 3-yard pass from Jake Buzard for a 12-0 lead after a failed conversion attempt.

  The defense got in on the scoring as Bob Krusey picked up a blocked Mercer punt for a score, and Chad Fette ran the 2-point conversion for a 26-0 halftime lead.

  West Middlesex marched 53 yards to commence the second half, highlighted by a 37-yard Fette-to-Rob Long pass, then Fette scampered in from 15 yards away and the extra point made the score 33-0.

  Mercer was deep inside its own territory when the Mustangs fumbled and Joe Habarka recovered on the 15. Two plays later, Fette rumbled in from the 3 and started the mercy clock running.

  "Our offensive line just did a wonderful job tonight," praised West Middlesex coach Rick Resatar. "Jake Buzard did a great job running the ball and passing the ball. Our defense hasn't given up a touchdown yet this year. I can't say enough about the team."

  "We have a lot of youth on the field," said Mercer coach Tom Phillips. "We're going to take it quarter by quarter, game by game, and that's our attitude as coaches."

• Greenville 42, Meadville 6 -- At Meadville, the Trojans' winning streak continued as they ran roughshod over the Bulldogs, led by Erik Adams, who rushed 13 times for 180 yards and three scores.

  Adams scored the first two touchdowns on the ground, one on a 14-yard run and another on a 22-yarder. He scored again in the third on a 76-yard sprint.

  Gio Vendemia was another potent Trojans' weapon as he scored once in the second quarter on a 31-yard pass from Sammy Young, and another on a 78-yard punt return. Nick Taylor found the end zone for the other score on a 5-yard run.

  Greenville (2-0, 1-0) also caused four Bulldog turnovers, three on interceptions.

• Canevin 22, Farrell 14 -- At Canevin, every Crusader score resulted from a Farrell turnover.

  Farrell's Kennard Davis made a 30-yard trip into the end zone to initiate the Steelers' scoring.

  Then in the second quarter, back-up QB Justin Malloy, in for Torlando "Petey" Craig -- out with a separated shoulder -- tossed an interception that eventually resulted in a 1-yard TD by Crusader quarterback Shawn Quinn. Later, a fumble by the Steelers on the 24-yard line allowed Canevin's second score, a 13-yard Quinn pass. Crusader running back Chris Phender capped off the TD with a two-point run.

  Farrell nabbed the safety to make the score 14-8, after which Fred Brown took the ensuing kickoff 61 yards for the score knotting the score at 14.

  In the fourth quarter, Farrell (1-1) fumbled again giving Canevin possession on the Steelers' 30-yard line. Twenty of those yards were covered on a pass from Quinn to Veena for the touchdown that would seal Farrell's fate.

  For Farrell, Justin Odem had six rushes for 61 yards; Allen Claiborne had nine carries for 39 yards, and Malloy ended with two completions on eight attempts for 17 yards.

  For Canevin (2-0), Quinn passed nine times and connected only three, each to Veena, for 30 yards. Phender led the offense with 141 yards on 23 rushes.

• Struthers 26, Hubbard 13 -- At Struthers, despite coughing up the ball five times and losing it on four occasions the Wildcats (2-1) prevailed over the Eagles (2-1), dashing their undefeated status.

  Struthers salvation was QB Mike Colaneri's stellar 13-for-13, 145-yard passing performance which included a touchdown.

  His counterpart, Hubbard's Marty Kanetsky connected six times on 18 tries for 60 yards and two TDs.

  Hubbard struck first with a 20-yard shot from Kanetsky to David DeSantis. The Eagles would also strike last on a 5-yard pass from Kanetsky to Jerry Yoder, but it wasn't enough.

  Struthers' Fred Geer scored on a 3-yard pass from Colaneri, then on a 3-yard carry, and finally on a 55-yard fumble recovery. The Wildcats' Darnell West also scored from 60 yards.

  Leading the ground attack for Hubbard was Anthony Smith who rang up 90 yards on 20 carries.

• Maplewood 42, Lakeview 22 -- At Guys Mills, Josh Yunik ran all over Lakeview (0-2, 0-2), picking up 115 yards and four touchdowns in French Creek Valley Conference action.

  However, it was Sailor Deke Ison who really shone on the ground with 118 yards that included a 64-yard touchdown and a 56-yard fumble return. Lakeview's Jesse Wasser scored the Sailors' final TD with an 8-yard trot.

  For Maplewood (1-0, 2-0), QB Bill VanCise also was instrumental with 86 rushing yards, including a 49-yard TD trot, and a 15-yard scoring pass to Josh Hollabaugh.

• Kennedy Christian 23, Campbell Memorial 3 -- At Campbell, Ohio, the Golden Eagles rallied from a 3-2 third-period deficit by posting 21 fourth-quarter tallies on Justin George's second 85-yard punt return in as many weeks, Phil Doyle's 1-yard plunge, and quarterback Ryan Squatrito's 1-yard sneak. The latter was set up by Danny Harris' pass interception.

  Galen Hurl also made another big defensive play for the Golden Eagles (2-0) by registering a first-period safety.

  No individual or team stats were reported to The Herald as of press time.

Same old story for 'Hounds, Eagles

NEW WILMINGTON -- The names wearing Wilmington's navy blue and gold jerseys may not be familiar, but the results are.

Friday night, the Greyhounds averaged nearly 9 yards per play and held visiting Grove City to only 107 total yards of offense in a 40-0 victory in both teams' Mercer County Athletic Conference Class AAA opener.

Runningback Jonathan Hall gained 174 yards on only 10 carries, while backfield mate Brandon Whiting added 102 yards on just 9 carries. Hall scored 3 touchdowns on the evening, as well.

"I think we had several backs contributing," Wilmington (2-0, 1-0) coach Terry Verrelli said. "I think that makes for a good football team when you don't have just one guy that you have to look out for. Jonathan Hall had a great game this week; Whiting had a great game last week. That's what it takes."

Meanwhile, Grove City (0-2, 0-1) was looking for healthy bodies to make contributions.

Halfback Bob Covert left the game in the first quarter with an injured knee, while starting fullback Josh Pratt was forced to the sidelines for awhile. Quarterback Chad Pratt was out for a lengthy period of time, as well. Also, halfback Rob Gargasz did not play due to a knee injury.

"The problem is, right now, with the injuries we had, we're not very deep," Grove City coach Jeff Bell said. "When a few guys get hurt, we're in trouble. It kind of limits what we can do on offense and defense."

After the teams traded punts to open the game, Grove City forced a Mike Oestreich fumble that Eagle defensive end Matt Alger recovered with 4:32 left in the first quarter.

However, the Greyhounds quickly atoned for their gaffe, as defensive back Matt Krawchyk cut in front of split end Adam Cook, intercepted Chad Pratt's pass at the Wilmington 40, and ran it back untouched for the score. Phil McCann's first of four PATs boosted the lead to 7-0.

Wilmington then sacked Pratt at the Grove City 35 on the Eagles' next drive, forcing a fumble that Greyhound Jason Lane fell on. Whiting quickly converted the golden opportunity, racing 35 yards on a counter-trey for a touchdown.

Hall then got into the scoring fray on Wilmington's next possession at the outset of the second quarter. Following a Matt Coad incompletion on first down, Hall sprinted 40 yards on a toss sweep to stretch the lead to 19-0.

"That's been our offensive philosophy for years in running the Wing-T -- the fact that you have more than one back," Verrelli pointed out.

After a 3-and-out series from Grove City, the 'Hounds methodically drove down the field on their next possession, using over five minutes of the clock to consume 58 yards. Despite a 2nd-and-26 situation at midfield, the Greyhounds were still able to pick up the first down, thanks to a 13-yard jaunt from Whiting and Krawchyk's 13-yard catch from Coad. Whiting capped the drive by bulling into the end zone from the 6 with 4:19 left. McCann's extra point gave Wilmington a 26-0 lead at halftime.

"I don't like to be harping when you win a game that way, but we certainly have things we have to improve on," Verrelli said. "We also saw some great things out there, great improvement from the first week."

Hall then capped the scoring with a pair of third-quarter touchdown runs. His 62-yarderon a toss play boosted the lead to 33-0. The mercy rule then kicked in with 9:09 remaining in the third quarter. After recovering a Chad Part fumble on the Eagle 19, Hall scored on the initial play of the possession, giving the Greyhounds a 40-0 bulge.

One area that caused some concern for Verrelli is the Greyhounds' passing attack. Wilmington completed only 1 of 9 attempts.

Bell, who dropped to 0-4 against Wilmington as Eagle head coach, found a few bright spots despite the large margin.

"From a loss, sometimes you learn things," Bell said. "I found out tonight that I've got some kids that really want to play. We really worked hard in preparing a game plan," he continued. "I think we had a good game plan both offensively and defensively. We have the potential to be a good team. I know we haven't shown it in the first two weeks, but I'll tell you what, it's there. We're gonna play the kids that want to play."

Notes: The Greyhounds only punted once, a 51-yard bomb off the toe of Craig Mackaness, the soccer's team goalkeeper. ... The running clock during the "mercy" time gave Grove City a misleading 30:36-17:24 advantage in time of possession. ... The Greyhounds have outscored Grove City 152-16 in the last three games played at New Wilmington.

Saturday games

A Devil of a time

Sharpsville pummels Brookfield; Blue Devils back in business with blowout victory

BROOKFIELD -- Following the Sharpsville High football team's 41-14 non-league victory over Brookfield, it would appear the Blue Devils and Warriors are headed in divergent directions.

Sharpsville was coming off a season-opening setback at Western Beaver, but the Blue Devils rebounded by belting Brookfield for 422 total yards, 306 of which was accumulated by the ground game.

Conversely, Brookfield, after a season-opening victory over Conneaut in new head coach Anthony Naples' debut, has dropped back-to-back blowouts to Mercer County Athletic Conference powers Wilmington and Sharpsville.

"When you're not used to losing, and you take one on the chin like we did (in the loss to Western Beaver), regardless of the situation, it's nice to answer back, being so young,'' admitted Sharpsville mentor Paul Piccirilli.

"Nothing against them, but they didn't make any adjustments,'' Naples said regarding Sharpsville. "They just took advantage of our mistakes, and we had a lot of them. We seem to shoot ourselves in the foot every time we get something going, and that's what a young ballclub does.

"We have a lot of positives,'' Naples continued. "We get started, we do the things we're supposed to do, but like I said, because we're young, we fizzle out. The bright spot is that we're doing things right at first; we just cannot complete the whole drive, so that's what we'll work on.''

Illustrating Naples' contention, Brookfield burst to an early 7-0 edge via an 11-play, 73-yard drivethat consumed the contest's first 5:13.

Kyle Brubaker capped the march with a 4-yard touchdown burst and Dave Eliser added the 2-point conversion.

But Brookfield's prosperity was short-lived, as Sharpsville, on its ensuing first play from scrimmage, knotted the count at 7 as Jeff Watson took a Billy Stiger handoff and fired an 87-yard scoring strike to Brandon Pavone and Ray Rotell tacked on the first of his five successful placements.

"We've been running that series for the last two years, it's called 'Jet sweep,' and we saw Wilmington run it against (Brookfield) because they also run the wing-T, so we just put that in this week.

"We had it last year, but never did it,'' Piccirilli said in explaining offensive coordinator Lenny Grandy's play call.

Naples' point regarding mistakes was bourne out from that juncture, as Ronnie Haywood intercepted a Gary Malgieri third-and-17 pass on the ensuring Warriors' series and returned it 14 yards for the go-ahead score.

Then on Brookfield's next possession, Stiger pilfered another Malgieri pass, setting up his own 56-yard scoring sprint off an option keeper as Sharpsville surged to a 21-7 lead with 2:38 remaining in the first period.

The Blue Devils then completely controlled the second half, limiting Brookfield to just 13 plays from scrimmage.

Sharpsville set the tone immediately after intermission by embarking on a 14-play, 65-yard, 7-minute drive that culminated in Eric Major's 14-yard TD run.

Leading 28-7 entering the final frame, Sharpsville added scores on Stiger's 6-yard run and Brandon Nichols' 16-yard jaunt.

Malgieri and Eliser, who collaborated on three first-period aerials for 65 yards but were shut out until the game's closing minutes, when their 18-yard connection set up Malgieri's 12-yard scoring run with 3:09 remaining, concluding the scoring.

Stiger, Major and Ronnie Haywood rushed for 95, 93 and 75 yards, respectively, as Sharpsville outgained Brookfield, 306-123 on the ground.

"That's what the wing-T does, so that's why we run this offense,'' Piccirilli said. "And coach Grandy mixes it up very well ... ''

But even Piccirilli expressed surprise regarding how his team controlled the line of scrimmage.

"Unbelievable. Like I said, we're so young. We start all underclassmen on defense and our offense has two or three seniors, so to control the ball like we did. ...

"They're underclassmen, too,'' he said of Brookfield, "but it was just a super effort on all of our parts,'' Piccirilli concluded.

Notes: Naples said standout tailback Julian Hayes injured his knee in the Wilmington loss and had not practiced during the week; hence, his limited duty against Sharpsville ... Watson also recorded an interception, while Veccia, Michael Kulka and Mark Zreliak collaborated on a second-quarter sack of Malgieri.

Cochranton 21, Reynolds 7

The Cardinals' trio of Mike Slatcoff, Jared Irwin and Dustin Staples rushed for 71, 55 and 30 yards against the Raiders (0-2), who assumed a 7-0 first-period lead before being blanked for the duration.

Cochranton quarterback Ryan Brown also connected on four of seven pass attempts for 82 yards, including a 6-yard TD toss to Don Marstellar as the Redbirds squared their season slate at 1-1.

No individual or team statistics on Reynolds were reported to The Herald as of press time.