Mohawk’s playoff hopes officially end
Mohawk (7) vs. Beaver (49)
Written: Oct 24, 2009
By TODD KRISE
t_krise@ncnewsonline.com
BEAVER — The sun may have come out today.
But bet your bottom dollar that Mohawk High’s playoff hopes are finished.
Beaver upended the Warriors, 49-7, last night to squash Mohawk’s chance at fourth place in the Midwestern Athletic Conference standings.
“It’s real disappointing,” Warriors coach Jason Long said. “We had another shot. In actuality, it was a pretty good shot.”
Several things needed to happen for Mohawk (3-5 conference, 3-5 overall) to make the playoffs. Riverside, who defeated the Warriors 32-28 in September, had to lose its remaining two games, while Center had to defeat Beaver (5-2, 5-3) in the season finale.
Those situations were extinguished after the Warriors lost their ninth straight game to Beaver. Mohawk’s last win over the Bobcats was a 27-0 decision in 2000.
“That’s all we look forward to for the entire season, especially this week,” Mohawk quarterback Johnny Beatty said of the playoffs. “Everyday it’s like, ‘You got to win. You got to win.’ That’s the whole reason you work so hard in the offseason and camp. Just to see it slip out from under you sucks real bad.”
Beatty was the Warriors’ lone bright spot last night. The junior completed 11 of his 30 passes for 188 yards and in the process broke Mohawk’s single-season passing record.
Beatty, who came into the game with 931 passing yards, now has 1,119 this season to surpass Josh Crum, who threw for 1,107 yards in 2005.
“JB’s been a player all year,” Long said. “He’s made plays with his arm. He’s made plays with his feet. He’s been beat up quite a bit. He takes a lot of shots, but he hangs in there. He keeps trying to make plays for his team.”
Beatty did just that in the second quarter as he dashed in from 18 yards out to score the Warriors’ lone touchdown of the game. The score brought Mohawk within two scores at 21-7, but the Bobcats took complete charge from there.
Steve Neeley, who scored a 78-yard touchdown earlier in the second quarter, returned the ensuing kickoff 82 yards to paydirt. Neeley’s second touchdown started a string of four unanswered scores by Beaver.
“I don’t know what happened,” Long said. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Their guys just came out and played with a little bit more emotion than we did. Things just snowballed. We just didn’t click tonight.”
The Bobcats rushed for 368 yards, scoring on offensive plays of 88, 19, 78, 41, 18 and 27 yards. Beaver only threw one pass — a second-quarter incompletion.
“Anytime you can get big plays like that, it excites your team,” Beaver head coach Jeff Beltz said. “We haven’t hit a home run a lot this year, but we were able to do it early tonight and it energized us.”
Mohawk’s coaching staff said the Warriors are “highly unlikely” to play a crossover game upon the conclusion of the season, which ends when Mohawk hosts New Castle on Friday.
“We’ve just never been able to put it together,” Long said. “We’ve never put anything together for 48 minutes. I wonder about our mental approach sometimes, coming into a football game.”
MOHAWK BEAVER
11 First downs 10
86 Yards Rushing 384
31 Yards Lost 16
55 Net Rushing 368
30 Passes Attempted 1
11 Passes Completed 0
3 Passes Intercepted 0
170 Yards Passing 0
225 Total Yards 368
4-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-1
7-29 Punts-Average 4-27
7-55 Penalties-Yards 5-25
MOHAWK 0 7 0 0— 7
BEAVER 14 21 7 7— 49
Scoring plays
BEAVER — Sam O’Neill, 88-yard run (Nathan Mick kick).
BEAVER — Justin Sosnowski, 19-yard run (Mick kick).
BEAVER — Steve Neeley, 78-yard run (Mick kick).
MOHAWK — Johnny Beatty, 18-yard run (Cody Dean kick).
BEAVER — Neeley, 82-yard kick return (Mick kick).
BEAVER — Cody Michalke, 41-yard run (Mick kick).
BEAVER — O’Neill, 18-yard run (Mick kick).
BEAVER — Curt Lanctot, 27-yard run (Christian Herstine kick).
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