Neshannock holds off Laurel

By RON PONIEWASZ JR.

rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com

Neshannock High football coach Pat Cuba’s expression said it all.

Cuba breathed a long sigh of relief after the final seconds ticked off the clock in a physical Big Seven Conference encounter with Laurel on the Lancers’ refurbished field.

“Laurel is a good football team,” Cuba said. “Laurel is fundamentally sound and they come prepared; they were ready for us.”

Neshannock quarterback Josh Brown amassed 194 yards rushing on 28 carries in a 17-14 victory over the Spartans. Brown also threw two touchdowns for an offense that is predominantly run oriented.

“Josh has a huge heart; his heart is as big as his head,” Cuba said. “That’s the way he plays, anything less than 110 percent is unacceptable.”

The game was not sewn up for the hosts until Aaron Paolini intercepted a Tyler Forbes pass on Laurel’s 38 with just under a minute to play.

“Neshannock is very well coached,” Spartans coach Jerry Holzhauser said. “They are tough kids and they did what they had to do to win the game.”

Forbes was 10 for 18 with 188 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also had a 20-yard scramble for a score with 5:01 remaining.

Despite having a solid ground game, Neshannock (2-0 Big Seven, 3-1 overall) couldn’t run out the clock. Laurel’s defense came through on a third-and-12 play on the Lancers’ 47 when Brown hit Chris Kirkwood on a screen pass for two yards.

“It would have been very hard to come back if we were down,” Brown said. “We’re mostly a running team but we can pass.

“I’m glad we got up and stayed up.”

Not only did the Spartans (1-1, 1-3) hold, but they forced Kirkwood out of bounds to preserve the clock with 1:46 left. However, Laurel burned a timeout to get the proper personnel on the field to rush the punter.

Chase Falba delivered a 38-yard punt that rolled dead at Laurel’s 13 and two plays later, Paolini’s interception finally wrapped up the win for the Lancers.

Brown set up Neshannock’s only score of the second half when he rumbled 72 yards down to Laurel’s 3. Kirkwood had a three-yard touchdown called back when the Lancers were whistled for helping the runner into the end zone. It didn’t matter, though, as Brown found Tony Kirkwood alone in the end zone for a six-yard scoring pass and a 17-7 buffer.

“Brown is a good runner and he threw the ball when he needed to,” Holzhauser said. “He’s a good football player.”

The margin could have been wider had it not been for a bad usage of the clock late in the first half.

With the clock running inside of 10 seconds and the Lancers out of timeouts, Brown tried a quarterback sneak. The officials met briefly and ruled that Brown did not break the plane of the goal line and Neshannock held a 10-7 halftime advantage.

“I thought I was in, but the referees said something about the forward progress being stopped. But I fell into the end zone,” Brown said. “By the time we got to the line we didn’t have enough time to get a snap and run another play, so I just decided to try a sneak.”

Said Cuba, “I thought Josh was in. I was told that the clock operator didn’t start the clock soon enough. We were trying to spike it but we didn’t have enough time and Josh just wanted to try and get the snap and push it in. That’s my fault and that’s clock management. I need to get better at that.”

The Spartans got on the board when Forbes hit Jake Dando on a slant pattern for a 97-yard touchdown. Dando was able to catch the ball in stride and outrun the defense.

“It was thrown on time and Dando made a nice run after the catch,” Holzhauser said. “You run the routes that the defense gives you. They were in cover 3 and a slant will come open in a cover 3.”

Said Cuba, “Our guy took a bad angle on the play. Dando is a great receiver. You can get on him and he’ll still catch the football. When you let a kid like that get loose, he’s gone.”

Dando, the county’s leading receiver, hauled in nine passes for 174 yards and a touchdown.

Neshannock will host South Side Beaver and Laurel will entertain Rochester in conference action Friday.

LAUREL NESHANNOCK

7 First downs 9

59 Yards Rushing 247

43 Yards Lost 22

16 Net Rushing 225

18 Passes Attempted 8

10 Passes Completed 3

2 Passes Intercepted 0

188 Yards Passing 22

204 Total Yards 247

4-2 Fumbles-Lost 4-0

3-29.6 Punts-Average 4-35.2

6-37 Penalties-Yards 9-65

LAUREL 0 7 0 7 — 14

NESHANNOCK 3 7 7 0 — 17

Scoring plays

NESHANNOCK — Evan Richards, 32-yard field goal.

NESHANNOCK — Asa Davies, 14-yard pass from Josh Brown (Richards kick).

LAUREL — Jake Dando, 97-yard pass from Tyler Forbes (Jonathan Johnson kick).

NESHANNOCK — Tony Kirkwood, 6-yard pass from Brown (Richards kick).

LAUREL — Forbes, 20-yard run (Johnson kick).