Big plays doom Mohawk against Beaver Falls
Mohawk (7) vs. Beaver Falls (49)
Written: Oct 17, 2009
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
This one was never in doubt.
Yes, according to the scoreboard, Mohawk was still in the Class AA Midwestern Athletic Conference contest at the half against No. 1-ranked Beaver Falls.
The Warriors trailed 21-7 when the bands were performing. But just about everyone bundled up in the chilly and damp stands at Mohawk’s stadium had an idea what was coming.
While they rooted for an upset, the fact was that undefeated Beaver Falls had scored twice in the first half on big plays— a 59-yard punt return by Admire Carter and a 31-yard run by Cody Cook — and had not played all that well.
“The second half I thought the kids came out with a sense of urgency and I was happy about that,” Beaver Falls coach Ryan Matsook said.
The Tigers, who upped their conference record to 6-0, 7-0 overall with a 49-7 victory against Mohawk, scored on an 80-yard burst around the right side by Carter with 6:44 left in the third quarter to go up 28-7. They then got the ball back when Mario Cleckley intercepted a Johnny Beatty pass at midfield with 3:25 remaining in the period.
On the next play, Cook darted off the right side, broke a tackle and outran the Mohawk defenders to the end zone. Just like that, Beaver Falls had a commanding 35-7 lead.
Cook, one of the top backs in the WPIAL, finished the night with 148 yards on 17 carries. Carter had 86 yards on two rushing attempts and also pulled in a 26-yard pass from quarterback Tony Omogrosso for a score in the fourth quarter.
Carter and Cook are big-time backs with big-time speed,” Mohawk coach Jason Long said. But I thought our kids played hard.”
No question there. Despite being shorthanded — running backs Justin Upham and James French didn’t play because of injuries and receiver Tim Audia went out on the first play with an injury — the Warriors were able to run on the
Tigers.
Mohawk rushed for 109 yards against a talented Beaver Falls defense and put together an 11-play, 62-yard drive on the ground for a score that cut the lead to 14-7 at 5:05 of the second quarter. Beatty bulled into the end zone from a yard out and Cody Dean added the extra point.
“That’s what teams are going to do, they’re going to run the ball and try and shorten the game against us,” Matsook said. “My hat’s off to Jason. He does a nice job with his kids. We knew we’d be in a dog fight.”
Long liked some of things his Warriors did against the talented Tigers.
“For the most part, and this is going to sound funny, but I think we got better in some areas tonight,” he said. “I thought the offensive line was a little bit better.”
Mohawk’s problem was that because of the injuries it had individuals playing out of position. That limited the plays the Warriors could run.
Fans grew tired of Colin Bredl, normally a receiver, carrying the football. He rushed 28 times for 81 yards. Beatty attempted just 11 passes and two were intercepted.
“We could only call about four plays,” Long said.
The loss dropped Mohawk to 3-4 in the conference and overall, but the Warriors still have a shot at a playoff berth. Mohawk plays at Beaver, which is 4-2 in the MAC, and has to win there Friday. Then the Warriors have to hope Center beats Beaver the final week of the regular season, while Mohawk plays a non-conference game against New Castle.
If that happens, Mohawk and Beaver will both finish 4-4 in the conference and tied for fourth place. Mohawk would earn the playoff spot because it beat Beaver.
Riverside, which defeated Freedom 34-6 last night, also figures in the picture. It has to play at Aliquippa, then closes out the regular season against winless Ellwood City. If Riverside splits those games it also would end up 4-4 in the conference.
Since Mohawk, Beaver and Riverside would have all beaten each other, Gardner Points would be used to break the tie and determine which team advances.
Of course, all of this happens only if Mohawk wins at Beaver.
“The first thing we have to do is get healthy,” Long said. “The second thing we need to do is get better at blocking and tackling. We’ll get after that this week.”
BEAVER FALLS MOHAWK
13 First downs 10
309 Yards Rushing 115
13 Yards Lost 6
296 Net Rushing 109
5 Passes Attempted 11
3 Passes Completed 5
0 Passes Intercepted 2
99 Yards Passing 14
395 Total Yards 123
1-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-2
2-34 Punts-Average 4-28.5
10-85 Penalties-Yards 5-35
BEAVER FALLS 7 14 14 14 — 49
MOHAWK 0 7 0 0 — 7
Scoring plays
BEAVER FALLS — Admire Carter, 59-yard punt return (Evan Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — DaShawn Boyd, 11-yard run (Richards kick).
MOHAWK — Johnny Beatty, 1-yard run (Cody Dean kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Cody Cook, 31-yard run (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Carter, 80-yard run (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Cook, 50-yard run (Richards kick).
BEAVER FALLS — Carter, 26-yard pass from Tony Omogrosso (kick failed).
BEAVER FALLS — Brian Frasier, 23-yard run (Wesley Nesmith run).
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