Scotties play well in loss to West Middlesex
Union (7) vs. West Middlesex (15)
Written: Sep 05, 2009
 SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Union coach Stacy Robinson really wasn’t interested in a moral victory, but that’s what he got at West Middlesex.
The Scotties came up with an impressive defensive performance in the season opener for both teams last night. Union recovered three fumbles, forced a couple others and kept the Big Reds out of the end zone in the second quarter when they twice drove inside the Union 20. But the Scotties had problems all night trying to the run the football and then came up empty late in the fourth quarter when they had an opportunity to tie the score.
The result was a 15-7 non-league loss that was disappointing to Robinson.
“We didn’t come down here to try and just stay with West Middlesex,” he said. “We gave ourselves a chance at the end, but …”
Union drove from its 18 to the West Middlesex 4 with six minutes left to play. The big play of the march was a 33-yard halfback pass from Devonta Thomas to Damian Trott on a third-and-9 play that put the Scotties on the West Middlesex 15. Two plays later, they were first-and-goal at the 4. But that’s when things turned sour.
Quarterback Anthony Forletta, who completed 8 of 23 passes for 114 yards, threw incomplete on first and second down and then was intercepted by West Middlesex freshman Jeremy Jancso in the end zone on third down.
Most teams would try to pound the ball into the end zone from the 4, but Union was having trouble picking up 1 yard on the ground let alone 4. The Scotties rushed for just 40 yards and 36 of those came on one carry by Nate James in the third quarter.
“We tried to play-action but that didn’t work,” Robinson said of the series near the goal line. “We think we can pass the ball on anybody.”
Union did get the football back at the West Middlesex 39 with 3:37 left to play, but Forletta was dropped for a 2-yard loss on first down and three passes fell incomplete, although one that would have produced a first down was dropped.
West Middlesex, meanwhile, was having problems of its own. The Big Reds scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, the first on a 69-yard run by Jon Jancso on a counter play and the second on a 4-yard run by Logan Mihalcak, but never found the end zone again.
Yes, West Middlesex moved the ball on the ground — it rushed for 223 yards with Nate Ash gaining 108 on 20 carries — with its wing-T offense. But it also made a lot of mistakes.
“It was sloppy early-season football,” West Middlesex coach Jason McElhaney said. “We’d get a nice gain on first down then have a penalty that pushed us back. But you have to give Union a lot of credit. They’ve got a pretty good defense. We didn’t think we’d put 40 points on the board against them.”
McElhaney was especially worried after not scoring in the second quarter after Union cut the lead to 12-7 on a 8-yard touchdown pass from Forletta to Matt Moore and Trott’s extra point.
On its next possession, West Middlesex drove to the Union 19 and was second-and-2 but a holding penalty pushed the Big Reds back and they ended up turning the ball over on downs. The next time they got the ball they were third-and-5 at the Union 9, but fumbled.
Perhaps the biggest play of the game for West Middlesex was a 36-yard field goal by Ryan Chupak at 7:46 of the third quarter. That put the Big Reds on top by a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
“We’ll have to check it but that might be close to a school record,” McElhaney said.
Robinson realizes he needs to get his running game going to offset the passing attack. Trott caught seven passes for 129 yards.
“We’ve got to get back to basics up front,” he said. “We can throw the ball but we’re not a spread offense. We need to be able to run the ball to be successful.”
UNION WEST MIDDLESEX
8 First downs 12
64 Yards Rushing 258
24 Yards Lost 35
40 Net Rushing 223
24 Passes Attempted 7
9 Passes Completed 4
3 Passes Intercepted 0
147 Yards Passing 29
187 Total Yards 252
2-0 Fumbles-Lost 6-3
3-22 Punts-Average 3-32.3
6-28 Penalties-Yards 8-55
UNION 0 7 0 0 — 7
WEST MIDDLESEX 12 0 3 0 —15
Scoring plays
WEST MIDDLESEX — Jon Jancso, 69-yard run (kick failed).
WEST MIDDLESEX — Logan Mihalcak, 4-yard run (run failed).
UNION — Matthews Moore, 8-yard pass from Anthony Forletta (Damian Trott kick).
WEST MIDDLESEX — Ryan Chupak, 36-yard field goal
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