Mohawk finishes season with loss to New Brighton
Mohawk (13) vs. New Brighton (36)
Written: Oct 31, 2015
By Ron Poniewasz Jr.
New Castle News
A disappointing season finally came to an end Friday night for the Mohawk High football team.
New Brighton scored the game’s first 29 points and cruised to a 36-13 Midwestern Athletic Conference road victory over the Warriors in the regular season finale for both squads.
It’s the first winless season for Mohawk (0-8 conference, 0-9 overall) since concluding the 2011 campaign 0-9 under Joe Lamenza, who was in his first season at the helm that season.
The Lions (5-3, 5-4) are bound for the WPIAL Class AA playoffs and will receive their playoff assignment Monday night when the district announces the playoff pairings.
The Warriors trailed 9-0 late in the first quarter and were in danger of falling further behind. But Mohawk’s defensive unit displayed some pride and turned New Brighton away on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1.
“Despite how the season has gone, the one thing I can say for these guys is they’ve never quit fighting the whole way,” said first-year Warriors coach Tim McCutcheon, who took over for Lamenza. “It doesn’t get you wins, but I like the mentality.”
That defensive stand was coming on the heels of Cayne Yakubik getting tackled in the end zone for a safety prior to New Brighton’s possession. The Lions took the free kick and marched down to the Warriors’ 1 before the hosts rose up on defense.
New Brighton tacked on two more touchdowns in the second stanza to forge a 22-0 halftime buffer. The Lions then opened the third period with another score to push the edge to 29-0 with 8:29 to go in the frame.
Mohawk had just 80 yards of total offense at the half. The Warriors, though, tallied seven of their 10 first downs in the second half and got on the board twice.
Yakubik raced around the right side and dashed in for a 17-yard touchdown tote with 4:17 to go in the third quarter. Mehmet Iclek booted the extra point to cut the deficit to 29-7.
Yakubik closed the scoring on a 3-yard run with 5:52 to go in the game.
McCutcheon was encouraged by the two second-half scores, but wasn’t thrilled at his team being whistled for 10 penalties. The 13 points equaled a season high for Mohawk, which tacked on 13 tallies in the opener at Aliquippa.
“It was a good summary of our whole season,” he said. “We make big plays and then take big penalties. Right now, we’re a young team not built to come back from second-and-25 or third-and-20 plays. That’s what we’ve done all year.
“For everything that we’ve done good, unfortunately we shoot ourselves in the foot and we end up moving backwards. We were able to punch in two, which I was glad to see our guys fighting through. But, it’s just been all season we make some progress and then we commit outrageous penalties.”
McCutcheon, who was hired by Mohawk in mid-June, looks forward to having a full offseason to work with the program.
“We have a long way to go,” he said. “We’re still a very young football team. To turn this program around, it’s not going to happen in one season.
“It will help having a true offseason to prepare these guys moving forward. We had a lot of young players on the field this season and that’s going to be the case the upcoming season.”
(Email: rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com)
NEW BRIGHTON MOHAWK
19 First downs 10
96 Yards Rushing 165
25 Yards Lost 61
71 Net Rushing 104
19 Passes Attempted 11
12 Passes Completed 7
1 Passes Intercepted 1
240 Yards Passing 96
311 Total Yards 200
2-1 Fumbles-Lost 2-0
1-27 Punts-Average 3-21.3
9-65 Penalties-Yards 10-92
N. BRIGHTON 9 13 14 0 — 36
MOHAWK 0 0 7 6 — 13
Scoring plays
NEW BRIGHTON — Deshawn Clark, 40-yard pass from Justyn Francona (Gavin Pritchard kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Safety, Cayne Yakubik tackled in end zone.
NEW BRIGHTON — Francona, 1-yard run (pass failed).
NEW BRIGHTON — Francona, 5-yard run (Pritchard kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Damon Gilmore, 5-yard pass from Francona (Pritchard kick).
MOHAWK — Yakubik, 17-yard run (Mehmet Iclek kick).
NEW BRIGHTON — Gilmore, 39-yard pass from Francona (Pritchard kick).
MOHAWK — Yakubik, 3-yard run (run failed).
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