Aliquippa's talent rises to top against Mohawk
Mohawk (13) vs. Aliquippa (59)
Written: Sep 05, 2015
By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
ALIQUIPPA — It was going to take a near-perfect game from the Mohawk High football team to compete with Aliquippa.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, they didn’t come close to getting that last night in their season opener.
The Quips raced out to a 47-0 lead in the second quarter and never looked back in posting a 59-13 victory in a WPIAL Class AA Midwestern Conference game at Carl A. Aschman Stadium.
“I was happy to see us come back and fight there late in the first half,” first-year Mohawk coach Tim McCutcheon said. “Obviously, we didn’t show up for the score to be that at halftime. But, a lot of what we’re trying to do is change their mentality, which is to fight for four quarters.”
Aliquippa, the top-ranked Class AA in the state by the Pennsylvania Football News, was given a boost prior to the game as DiMantae Bronaugh was in attendance. Bronaugh, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year as a junior, has been undergoing treatment for leukemia.
“They were excited to see him,” Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said “He’s their teammate and they love him. They were happy to have him here. He’s one of us.”
Bronaugh’s teammates certainly did him proud, limiting Mohawk to just 80 total yards in the game while racking up 357 of their own.
The Quips took the opening kickoff and drove 60 yards in 40 seconds, with Sheldon Jeter scoring from a yard out to cap the drive. Kaezon Pugh ran in the conversion, giving the hosts an 8-0 lead.
Scoring runs from Alexander Riggins (2 yards), Jeter (6 yards) and Amer Slye (2 yards) helped Aliquippa build a 28-0 lead after one quarter.
“They’re big and fast,” McCutcheon said of the Quips. “There’s absolutely no room for error. When you try to break down their film and look for their weaknesses, they are very hard to find. The margin for error when you play them is minimal.”
Aliquippa again leaned on its ground attack, which averaged 7.2 per carry for the game, in building its lead to 47-0 in the second quarter. Pugh scored on a 3-yard run, Draper Gilliam added a 19-yard scoring jaunt and Jelani Solomon scored on a 20-yard scamper for the Quips.
“It’s our program,” Zmijanac said of his team’s success year after year. “We play the young kids even early in games. Everyone practices. We bring up our ninth graders and a lot of times when they’re sophomores, they’re ready to play. We’re a younger team this year, so it was nice to get the win tonight.”
The Warriors finally got their offense untracked late in the first half.
Following Solomon’s scoring run, Mohawk took the ensuing kickoff at its 48-yard line. Quarterback Jaydon Johnson hooked up with Jesse Wolfe four times in the drive for 34 yards. With time ticking down in the quarter, Johnson scampered out of trouble and scored from 16 yards out as the clock read :00. Mehmet Iclek added the PAT kick to cut the deficit to 47-7.
With a running clock the entire second half due to the mercy rule, Mohawk put together its best sustained drive of the night.
After holding the Quips and forcing them to punt, the Warriors engineered an 11-play, 46-yard drive. Cayne Yakubik capped the drive from scoring from a yard out with 1:42 remaining in the third quarter. The point-after kick was wide right.
“That drive to end the first half was big for us, and to start out the second half the way we did was real big for us also,” McCutcheon said.
Solomon answered for Aliquippa on the ensuing kickoff, returning it 78 yards for a touchdown. Xavier Harvey scored on a 55-yard run on the final play of the game to set the final.
Mohawk will visit Freedom on Friday.
“We’re in one piece and everyone held their head high,” McCutcheon said. “We talked before the game about fighting to the end and I thought they did that. The Freedom game is a big section game for us. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble getting up for that.”
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
MOHAWK ALIQUIPPA
5 First downs 8
100 Yards Rushing 247
54 Yards Lost 8
46 Net Rushing 239
11 Passes Attempted 4
5 Passes Completed 3
1 Passes Intercepted 0
34 Yards Passing 118
80 Total Yards 357
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-2
6-30.2 Punts-Average 1-1
2-17 Penalties-Yards 5-30
MOHAWK 0 7 0 6 — 13
ALIQUIPPA 28 19 0 12 — 59
Scoring plays
ALIQUIPPA — Sheldon Jeter, 1-yard run (Kaezon Pugh run).
ALIQUIPPA — Alexander Riggins, 2-yard run (kick failed).
ALIQUIPPA — Jeter, 6-yard run (kick failed).
ALIQUIPPA — Amer Slye, 2-yard run (Arante McKenzie run).
ALIQUIPPA — Pugh, 3-yard run (pass failed).
ALIQUIPPA — Draper Gilliam, 19-yard run (Kiyon Fooks kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Jelani Solomon, 20-yard run (kick failed).
MOHAWK — Jaydon Johnson, 16-yard run (Mehmet Iclek kick).
MOHAWK — Cayne Yakubik, 1-yard run (kick failed).
ALIQUIPPA — Solomon, 78-yard kickoff return (run failed).
ALIQUIPPA — Xavier Harvey, 55-yard run (no try).
|