HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Not much was made in the Kennedy Christian football family regarding fallen warrior Phil Doyle. But judging from the Golden Eagles’ 41-14 non-league victory over Mercyhurst Prep on Saturday afternoon, some unspoken inspiration may have served as the impetus.

Doyle, a two-way junior standout, sustained an injury last week at Hubbard that could sideline him for several weeks. However KC responded from that adversity by pounding Prep for 336 total yards at Butala Stadium, parlaying Ryan Squatrito’s 10-for-14, 161-yard passing performance. In addition, the Golden Eagles’ ground game garnered 175 yards as Justin George and Brian French rushed for 76 and 74 yards, respectively.

George tallied five touchdowns on runs of 1, 6, 2 and 3 yards, sandwiching Squatrito’s 45-yard second-stanza scoring strike to him.

"Passing did a lot to open up the running game, and the running game opened up the passing game and they just complemented each other today very well,’’ Squatrito, the senior signal-caller, summarized.

Regarding Doyle, outfitted in an air cast and walking with the aid of crutches, Squatrito related regarding the lockerroom sentiment, "It really didn’t come out and was said like that, but we all played for him, I guess you could say.’’

Kennedy commenced the contest with a 10-play, 65-yard drive that consumed 4:20 and culminated in George’s 1-yard dive, then the Golden Eagles garnered a gift when Prep’s Dywon Rowan muffed a punt later in the period and Eric Eshenbaugh recovered at the Lakers’ 33-yard line. Six plays later, George tallied his second TD, then ran for a 2-point conversion and 14-0 KC lead.

Four plays and only 1:26 into the second stanza the KC connection of Squatrito and George collaborated on a 45-yard TD toss and 20-0 bulge. On the 6-play march, Squatrito and Nick George connected for gains of 14 and 17 yards.

However Prep responded by tallying two TDs in the final 4:12 of the half.

Quarterback Jovon Johnson engineered a 10-play, 47-yard march that consumed 3:24, capping it with a 2-yard bootleg around right end. After misfiring on his first five pass attempts, he completed three passes for 29 yards on the drive.

Then after KC’s Aaron Friday muffed a punt, Prep capitalized when Johnson spotted Justin Gannoe in the end zone for a 9-yard TD toss on a fourth-and-goal play with 30.4 seconds remaining. Rowan’s conversion kick drew the Lakers within 20-14 at intermission.

But Kennedy (3-1) controlled the game’s final 24 minutes. Nick George pilfered a pair of passes, setting up a pair of Kennedy conversions. His interception of a third-and-16 Johnson pass set up Justin George’s 2-yard plunge to paydirt for a 26-14 KC lead with 7:03 left in the third period, then his fourth-period pickoff of Rowan’s flea-flicker set the stage for Danny Harris’ 1-yard run which concluded the scoring with 6:19 remaining. Sandwiched in-between was a 7--play, 73-yard march that Justin George concluded with a 3-yard run. That series was highlighted by a 41-yard Squatrito-to-Justin George screen pass on a third-and-8 situation from Prep’s 44-yard line.

"We get somebody down, and we just don’t slam the door on them,’’ KC head coach John Turco admitted, thinking of a 27-0 season-opening win over Reynolds. "We’ve just got to be able to slam the door when we have to, and maybe we learned a little lesson today.’’

And after being humbled by Hubbard last week for 300-plus yards, Kennedy’s run-defense pounded Prep (2-2), limiting the Lakers to minus-13 yards rushing on 24 totes. In all, Mercyhurst Prep gained only 57 yards on 49 snaps.

"Our whole defensive line -- Angelo Hall, B.J. Jarrett, (Joe) Canciello and Galen Hurl, and (linebackers Tony) Rossi and Nick Artis put a lot of pressure on (Johnson) when he went back to pass,’’ Turco acknowledged.

Jarrett, Hall and French collaborated on a second-stanza sack of Johnson, forcing Prep into a fourth-and-36 predicament; then four plays later Hurl and French again decked Johnson, an Erie-East transfer. And in addition to Nick George’s pair of picks, Harris added one and Matt Cascio broke up several passes.

"When you’re working together, good things happen,’’ Turco concluded.

Notes: Doyle sustained a fractured femur and broken growth plate on his knee and will be wearing an air cast for two more weeks, he said. ... Justin George has tallied eight TDs, and his 32-point performance against Prep almost doubled Kennedy’s 3-game offensive output (50 points). ... Dywon Rowan, a 6-foot, 220-pound junior, and his brother Levonne, a slender wide receiver/defensive back, transferred to Mercyhurst Prep from Erie-Central, after beginning their scholastic careers at Cathedral Prep, according to a source. Dywon Rowan was assessed back-to-back unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the final four minutes and ejected from the game.

There aren’t too many teams that can come into Anthony J. Paulekas Stadium and pin a 21-0 setback on a Farrell High football team. So you can believe all of the advanced billing accorded Monaca and its monstrous offensive line.

Led by junior Joel McDonald’s 24-carry, 236-yard, 2-touchdown performance, the Indians ran roughshod over Farrell in an early-season Big 8 Conference showdown.

With tackles David McLaughlin and Tony Kaminsky, guards Josh Antinopoulos and Adam Olshanski and center Tommy Kaminsky paving the way, Monaca amassed 274 yards rushing, averaging 6.6 yards per carry.

"We just wanted to make sure we were trying to sustain our blocks,’’ began Monaca mentor Mark Lyons. "With Farrell’s speed, they don’t stay blocked long, and we wanted to make sure we held our blocks a lot longer than we normally do and we needed our backs to block, also, ‘cause they put a lot of guys in the box. ... They blocked for one another; that’s part of this offense.’’

Monaca mustered a 14-0 margin at intermission, then McDonald administered the punctuation point when he streaked 73 yards on a second-and-3 play with 1:56 remaining in the third period. But Farrell head coach Lou Falconi cited a much earlier pivotal point.

"I really believe, if there was a turning point for us, it came on that fourth-and-2 play (less than two minutes into the second stanza, with the Steelers trailing, 7-0),’’ Falconi reflected. "We called an option, and ‘Petey’ (Craig) decided to keep the ball instead of pitching it. I think, if he pitches it, we get a touchdown. ... If we could’ve got that score, or at least picked up the big yardage there and then scored, I think it might’ve been a little bit different.

"But when we didn’t get it in on that particular play, I said, ‘Oh, man, this is gonna be a long night,’ ‘‘ Falconi admitted.

Monaca immediately embarked on a 6-play, 79-yard scoring drive, capped by McDonald’s 5-yard burst on a third-and-2 play, and Keith tacked on the second of his three successful conversion kicks for a 14-0 Indians’ lead.

From his vantage point, Falconi expressed admiration for undefeated Monaca (2-0, 4-0), the WPIAL’s top-ranked Class A squad, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"Their offensive line is excellent. You see the films and you watch them execute and you wonder about their backs -- the backs aren’t flashy; they look like ordinary kids. But you saw tonight,’’ Falconi emphasized, "how they executed. They follow their blocking and they just maneuver left, right, left. And they run a lot of counters and they catch you sleeping or over-reacting. I think our kids were over-reacting all night and (the Indians) were killing us on the counter: Fake the fullback, then bring the tailback and bring the halfback. Our kids were caving in on the inside and they were picking up huge chunks.’’

The Steelers (1-1, 2-2) went 3-and-out on their game-opening series and Monaca marched on a 9-play, 56-yard drive that consumed 4:55 and was capped by Eric McPhilomy’s 1-yard dive with 4:40 remaining in the first frame. On the drive, McDonald gained 40 yards on a handful of carries.

Farrell advanced as far as Monaca’s 20 before the drive was aborted on the play to which Falconi alluded.

Following Monaca’s second secore, Marcellino Manilla returned the ensuing kickoff 43 yards to the Indians’ 27-yard line. However, Craig’s fourth-and-8 pass to Kennard Davis came up a yard shy of a first down with 5:41 remaining in the half, and the Steelers never regained possession. Monaca marched 78 yards in 16 plays, but Bloom’s 27-yard field goal attempt at the halftime buzzer fell short.

In the second half, the Steelers’ 22 snaps from scrimmage produced only 88 yards.

"It was a great team effort,’’ Lyons admitted. "Our defense, we said we need to pitch a shutout up here, going into their backyard, and they did. Our coaches prepared them well. We were well prepared as a staff and as players, and I thought our kids played a whale of a football game.’’

However, Lyons does not believe the hype.

"It’s too early to tell. I was concerned ‘cause we had so many young kids on the field. Getting on a bus, going up to Farrell, a hostile environment. Farrell’s a great program. But our kids responded, and I have to look at our senior leadership. It kept our kids focused all week at practice, and we showed up tonight, ready to play.

"Any win for us right now is a benchmark,’’ Lyons continued, "because we’re still growing as a football team and we’re maturing and learning on every play ‘cause of the young kids we have in there.’’

GREENVILLE -- It would be nearly impossible to find a facet in which the Greenville High football team did not completely dominate visiting Warren in Friday night’s Northwest Conference match-up.

Offense, defense, and -- by all means -- special teams, all played a substantial role the Trojans’ 55-0 humbling of the visiting Dragons at Stewart Field.

Even coach Bob Stone was impressed with his unbeaten Trojans (3-0, 4-0), who have now blanked consecutive conference foes Franklin and Warren to the collective tune of 103-0.

"I’m often critical of the kids, but tonight, there’s not a whole lot to be critical about," said Stone. "We came out smokin’. A lot of times it takes a quarter or a quarter-and-a-half to get things going, but, not tonight. I’m very happy with the way we came out. We got the job done and got things rolling right off the bat."

Senior tailback Erik Adams broke Greenville’s first play from scrimmage for 70 yards, taking the ball inside the Warren 5-yard line. Even though the play was brought back on a clipping call, it did little to slow the Trojans who scored three plays later as Adams reeled off a 60-yard sprint just before his 2-yard scoring dive.

It was clear from the game’s opening play, that Greenville would dominate the line of scrimmage.

"We owned it," Stone said bluntly of his team’s domination on the line. "When you dominate up front, it makes things a whole lot easier. I think we were a little bigger than they were."

Warren, it seemed, never had a chance.

Adams finished with 123 yards and one touchdown on just eight carries. He is one pace for a second straight 1,000-yard season with 578 yards and nine scores through four games. Junior Mike Stephens also enjoyed a big night behind the Trojans’ massive offensive line as he rambled for 93 yards and three first-half touchdowns.

Stephens scored on runs of 5, 27 and 12 yards.

After Adams’ opening score made it 7-0, senior Gio Vendemia doubled the advantage before the offense could get back on the field as he returned a punt 47 yards to the end zone. He almost did it again three Warren plays later, returning a punt 50 yards before being tripped up at the 12-yard line. The second return set up the first of Stephens’ three tallies.

With Greenville leading 42-0 at intermission, senior Brandon Murphy also got into the special teams act, returning the second-half kickoff 62 yards to set up yet another Trojans’ score.

Senior Wes Baird scored the Trojans’ only TD via the passing game as he hauled in a 16-yard scoring strike from quarterback Sammy Young, who finished 4 of 8 for 85 yards and the one score. Vendemia had three catches for 69 yards.

Andy Oswald and Brian Swartzbeck tallied second-half touchdowns for Greenville as the 35-point mercy rule kept the clock turning. Both scored on 2-yard runs. Sophomore placekicker Dennis Reynolds had a busy night for the Trojans, he made his first seven attempts before kick No. 8 was blocked.

"I thought we excelled in the kicking game tonight," Stone said, referring not only to Reynolds’ efforts but also to the return teams.

Defensively, the Trojans held Warren sophomore sensation Michael Cradduck to just 47 yards on 20 rushes.

He entered the game with 484 yards while averaging more than 6 yards a pop. At one point, Cradduck had 15 yards on 15 carries.

Notes: Reynolds had made his first nine PAT kicks before having one blocked. ... Murphy also recovered the ball for Greenville on a short kickoff. "He takes a lot of pride in his special teams play," Stone said. ... . At halftime, Greenville had 318 yards of offense compared with 38 for Warren.

SHARON -- The Sharon Tigers’ 34-16 victory over Columbus Bishop Watterson Friday night at Tiger Stadium was simple to analyze.

The 1999 Ohio Division III state runners-up Eagles (4-1) ran into a little too much skill, as in skill position.

Sharon’s terrific trio of Carmone Parchman, Marlin Jackson and Terrance Phillips proved too strong and agile for Watterson to contain on either side of the ball. The result was a win that wasn’t as close as the final score.

"It’s a team thing, but people on this team recognize the fact that we’re blessed to have some skill people," said Sharon coach Jim Wildman, whose career record improved to 190-73-6. "We just have to be smart enough to be able to utilize them down the road."

Wildman and his staff certainly did Friday.

Parchman, who is on target to surpass the 3,000-yard career rushing mark this season, ran up 118 yards and a 2-yard touchdown on 28 carries, including a remarkable 90 yards on his first eight totes in the first quarter alone.

Jackson, meanwhile, put the Tigers (3-1) on the scoreboard at the 8:46 mark of the first quarter, ending a promising Eagles’ drive when he snared a tipped pass and tiptoed it 70 yards down the right sideline for a score. The first of four Jim Morocco PATs made it 7-0. Jackson, who has verbally committed to Michigan, also had a fumble recovery at midfield at a time when Sharon led only 14-9 in the second quarter, keying the Tigers’ third scoring drive.

And Phillips, well he might have been the best of all. His night included a spectacular 93-yard punt return with 1:14 remaining in the first half that moved Sharon ahead 27-9, effectively taking the wind out of Bishop Watterson’s sail.

The Penn State-bound Phillips also pulled in five catches for 77 yards, including a 32 scoring pass from Mike Schneider on the first play of the second quarter that broke open a 7-7 tie. And just for good measure, he added 33 yards rushing on two carries, including a 17-yard reverse that sparked the Tigers’ final scoring drive, which culminated in a Schneider 1-yard dive.

"We try to work on all three phases of the game," said Wildman, referring to offense, defense and special teams. "When (Phillips) made the big punt return before the half, we work on getting a wall there, but we tell him the key to a punt return is making the first guy miss. And he made the first guy miss and got a couple early and a couple late. Of course, he’s got some God-given speed. And Marlin picks off the pass in the first series."

While the final stats might not indicate it, Sharon’s defense also dominated, limiting Watterson to only one first down from the 4:40 mark of the first quarter until the 8:31 mark of the fourth frame when Sharon (3-1) stretched a 7-7 tie into a commanding 34-9 lead.

"Our defense shut down for the most part a pretty good football team tonight," Wildman said. "People in Ohio must think something about them to rank them where they did."

Watterson padded its numbers and stats in its final two possessions, but it proved costly when on fourth down -- following an Eagles timeout with 11 seconds left in the game -- starting quarterback Wally Theodo was plastered by the Sharon defense and apparently suffered a sprain to the lumbar region of the spine. He lay motionless for nearly 20 minutes after the game until an ambulance could be summoned to transport him to an area hospital. Theodo reportedly had no numbness, which was a good sign, although his condition was unknown as of press time.

Schneider, quickly elevating himself as one of the area’s top signalcallers, finished 7-of-10 for 87 yards and no interceptions as Sharon compiled 230 yards of offense and 13 first downs.

Bishop Watterson’s fine junior tailback, Lerron Moore, carried 19 times for 140 yards, but 58 of those came with the game well out of reach against mostly Sharon reserves late in the fourth quarter. Following a 20-yard scoring dash that tied the game at 7 late in the fourth quarter, Moore had 69 yards on six carries. From that point on until his 58-yard effort in the game’s waning moments, he was limited to 13 yards on seven carries. The Eagles finished with 206 total yards and 10 first downs.

"These kind of games are only going to make us better as the season goes on," Wildman said.

A 15-yard Theodo-to-Brad Allen toss closed the scoring for the Eagles, who also had a safety in the second quarter when Sharon’s center hiked the ball over Morocco’s head in a punting situation and he was downed in the end zone.

Theodo finished 8-of-17 for 72 yards, but was only 1-of-6 for no yards during the game’s vital stages.

Bishop Watterson coach Mike Golden was understandably concerned with the condition of his quarterback following the game and was unavailable for comment.

Notes: Watterson lost 18 of its 22 starters from last year’s team.

GROVE CITY -- Hickory tailback Quinten Peagler and quarterback Ross Trimmer combined for 242 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns as the Hornets throttled Grove City, 38-8, Friday night at Forker Field.

Peagler amassed 132 yards on 21 carries and scored on runs of 15, 7 and 30 yards. Meanwhile, Trimmer raced 52 yards for a score on the game’s third play.

He also scored on a 1-yard sneak in the second quarter, en route to a 110-yard evening.

"We’re happy with the win," Hickory (3-1, 2-1) head coach Phil Annarella said. "What I’m really proud about is the gutcheck we got after they scored and made it 18-8. We came right back and scored. I think that was really important."

After trailing 18-0 at halftime, Grove City trimmed the lead to 10 late in the third quarter.

The Eagles assembled a 9-play, 55-yard drive that culminated in Chad Pratt’s 12-yard touchdown throw to split end Jason Patterson. Pratt then threw to Adam Cook for the 2-point conversion.

The Eagle defense then forced Hickory 3-and-out. However, Trimmer was roughed by Grove City after punting the football.

The penalty gave Hickory a first down, keeping the drive alive.

"That’s just like turning the ball over, roughing the kicker," Grove City head coach Jeff Bell said. "I’m not blaming any of the kids. We sent them, we wanted to put pressure on them."

"It was a big play, no question about it," Annarella said. "That’s football. Sometimes you get the breaks, sometimes you don’t. The good thing is we took advantage of it."

After Peagler raced for 15 yards on first down, Trimmer kept the ball on an option and rambled 20 yards to the Grove City 8.

Following the pulling guard and tackle on a counter trey, Peagler iced the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Guido 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.