Laurel stays unbeaten with big victory
Laurel (31) vs. South Side Beaver (7)
Written: Sep 21, 2009
 By DAN IRWIN
d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com
HOOKSTOWN — For the first half of Saturday’s game at South Side Beaver, the Laurel High defense had two offenses to overcome.
The Rams’, and its own.
Laurel committed four turnovers during the first two quarters of its WPIAL Class A Big Seven Conference opener. One was an interception returned for a touchdown. The other three all set the Rams up in Laurel territory, but each time, the Spartans’ “D” allowed no scoring.
Meanwhile, Laurel’s offense — paced by sophomore sub Dylan Jones, who had 108 yards on 17 carries — hit its stride after intermission, and the Spartans remained undefeated with a 31-7 win.
Laurel’s defense has given up just two touchdowns in three games, and is yielding a stingy 57.3 yards rushing per outing. South Side Beaver (0-1 conference, 2-1 overall) managed only 7.
“Our defense kept us in the game,” Laurel coach Jerry Holzhauser said. “Our defense is outstanding. They didn’t give up any points. That number 30 (the Rams’ Luke Shaffer) is a good runner.
“I credit our practices, our young kids give us the best look we can — you’re never going to duplicate a Luke Shaffer— but we worked hard on making sure that he didn’t get to the edge.”
Laurel (1-0, 3-0) scored first on a 21-yard pass from Tyler Forbes to Kevin Zubasic in the opening period. However, the Spartans had to settle for a 7-7 halftime tie after South Side Beaver’s Kevin Gergen stepped in front of a second-quarter Forbes pass and returned it 69 yards to paydirt.
The pick was the second that Forbes surrendered in the quarter. The first gave the Rams a first down at the Laurel 30, but Jake Dando ended the threat with an interception inside the 10.
Jones lost the first of his two fumbles at the Laurel 33 late in the second period, yet Dan Poremski stepped up with a third-down interception at the 24.
A first-quarter fumble by Forbes had presented South Side Beaver with the ball at the Laurel 47, but the Rams’ offense went three and out.
“It was partially my fault at the beginning, going into formations that I probably shouldn’t have been in,” Holzhauser said. “We’ve been doing nothing but pounding the ball off tackle and they had a lot of people in the box. There was like eight of them or nine of them in there, so I thought we could spread them out and do some things, but they had some good coverage.”
After halftime, pounding the ball was what Laurel did best. The Spartans ground out 205 of their 281 rushing yards over the last two periods, scoring on runs of 3 yards by Poremski, and of 6 and 7 yards by Forbes. For good measure, Jonathan Johnson added a 36-yard field goal.
Jones, inserted into the lineup after Caleb Weisenstein was injured on Laurel’s second play of the game, racked up 90 of his 108 yards over the same time span.
“I felt good about it,” Jones said of his performance. “I was kind of upset about those fumbles I had but, I figured what’s past was past, and I just had to go after it again, keep on running the ball hard and just leave it in the back of your mind.
“I have to credit my offensive line. They’re the only reason I did good running the ball. They did an amazing job.”
Holzhauser claimed he had no magic words at halftime to turn his team around.
“It was just a matter of doing the things we do in practice,” he said. “Offensively, we just had to relax and play our game. And that’s what we did.”
LAUREL SOUTH SIDE
20 First downs 4
290 Yards Rushing 54
9 Yards Lost 47
281 Net Rushing 7
13 Passes Attempted 14
6 Passes Completed 5
2 Passes Intercepted 2
88 Yards Passing 36
369 Total Yards 43
3-3 Fumbles-Lost 4-1
1-27 Punts-Average 6-40.5
7-50 Penalties-Yards 7-65
LAUREL 7 0 17 7 — 31
SOUTH SIDE 0 7 0 0 — 7
Scoring plays
LAUREL — Kevin Zubasic, 21-yard pass from Tyler Forbes (Jonathan Johnson kick)
SOUTH SIDE — Kevin Gergen, 69-yard interception return (Dan Slaney kick)
LAUREL — Dan Poremski, 3-yard run (Johnson kick).
LAUREL — Johnson, 36-yard field goal
LAUREL — Forbes, 6-yard run (Johnson kick)
LAUREL — Forbes, 7-yard run (Johnson kick).
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