Laurel wastes chances in loss to Aliquippa
Laurel (21) vs. Aliquippa (46)
Written: Sep 12, 2015
By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News
The Laurel High football team had chances last night against powerhouse Aliquippa.
The Spartans, though, didn’t cash in on enough of them and it proved costly.
Laurel turned the ball over four times, was flagged for eight penalties and had a potential pick-six interception slip away in dropping a 46-21 Midwestern Athletic Conference matchup to the Quips at Spartan Stadium.
“For the most part, I thought we played a great first, third and fourth quarter,” said second-year Laurel coach Brian Cooper. “I thought the second quarter we let a couple of penalties get to us. They lost their head a little bit. It’s just inexperience and unfortunately it cost us big.
“We lose a couple of turnovers and they get a couple of big plays and next thing you know you’re down four touchdowns against a great football team. What if we intercept that one ball. What if we punch the one in. What if we do this and that. You could do a lot of what ifs, but we also made a lot of plays, too.”
Aliquippa , the No. 1 ranked team in the WPIAL in Class AA by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, ran its regular season winning streak to 53 straight games. The last time the Quips lost a regular season game was a 21-14 decision at Beaver Falls in 2009.
“Laurel played great. They have a young team. But Brian always has his teams prepared,” Aliquippa coach Mike Zmijanac said. “We won because we have more talent than they do. We certainly didn’t outplay them or outcoach them.”
The Spartans (0-2 conference, 0-2 overall) won the toss and elected to receive. They promptly marched 74 yards in 12 plays, culminating in an 11-yard scoring strike from Jake McDougal to Jake Wilson. Zach Morrison’s conversion kick made it 7-0 Laurel.
“We wanted the ball and we wanted to drive it down their throat and we did,” Cooper said. “We felt it would give us some momentum and it did. If we could have capitalized on a couple of more plays, who knows.”
The teams traded punts before the Quips took the lead for good on a 19-yard pass from Sheldon Jeter to Jassir Jordan. Kaezon Pugh notched the successful two-point conversion to put Aliquippa up 8-7.
The Spartans weren’t the same in the second quarter and it proved costly. The Quips scored 30 more points in the second stanza to forge a 38-7 halftime bulge.
Laurel turned the ball over twice in the second quarter, one of which coming on a first-and-10 from Aliquippa’s 18. The Spartans also were flagged twice in the period for 25 yards including a pivotal personal foul call for a late hit on the quarterback on a third-and-22 play. The Quips’ pass on the play was incomplete and would have brought up fourth down if the flag hadn’t extended the drive.
“We squandered a couple of opportunities that could have put them behind the eight ball and done a lot of things. But at the same time, we didn’t,” Cooper said. “It has to be four quarters. But we’re getting there. The guys are showing me a lot of great signs.
“The guys are battling. We battled here tonight against a great football team.”
The Spartans forced the Quips into a three-and-out on their first drive of the second half and after a shanked punt, took over at the visitors’ 40. Three plays later, Laurel was back in the end zone, this time on a one-yard sneak by McDougal to cut the defict to 38-14.
“I challenged them at halftime. They played a great first quarter, but I thought they mentally lost it in the second quarter,” Cooper said. “It had nothing to do with the physical part. It was all about the mental aspect. I challenged them and they came out in the second half and responded.”
But Aliquippa’s ground game was just too powerful.The Quips rolled up 301 yards on the ground and 351 total. They amassed 122 of their rushing yards in the second half to put the Spartans away.
“Our running backs did pretty good,” Zmijanac said. “Our linemen blocked some people for that to happen.”
Laurel returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Friday for a road matchup against conference foe Freedom.
(Email: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com)
ALIQUIPPA LAUREL
16 First downs 13
308 Yards Rushing 91
7 Yards Lost 22
301 Net Rushing 69
11 Passes Attempted 32
4 Passes Completed 14
0 Passes Intercepted 1
50 Yards Passing 189
351 Total Yards 258
4-1 Fumbles-Lost 4-3
4-26.2 Punts-Average 3-38.6
11-101 Penalties-Yards 8-71
ALIQUIPPA 8 30 8 0 — 46
LAUREL 7 0 7 7 — 21
Scoring plays
LAUREL — Jake Wilson, 11-yard pass from Jake McDougal (Zach Morrison kick).
ALIQUIPPA — Jassir Jordan, 19-yard pass from Sheldon Jeter (Kaezon Pugh run).
ALIQUIPPA — Pugh, 3-yard run (pass failed).
ALIQUIPPA — Jelani Solomon, 7-yard run (Jordan pass from Jeter).
ALIQUIPPA — Bobby Cashaw, 21-yard pass from Jeter (Avante McKenzie run).
ALIQUIPPA — McKenzie, 7-yard run (Jordan pass from Jeter).
LAUREL — McDougal, 1-yard run (Morrison kick).
ALIQUIPPA — McKenzie, 3-yard run (McKenzie run).
LAUREL — Isici Layne, 18-yard pass from Lance Hill (Morrison kick).
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