Laurel pounds Beth-Center in quarterfinals
Laurel (55) vs. Beth-Center (7)
Written: Nov 14, 2009
  By RON PONIEWASZ JR.
rponiewasz@ncnewsonline.com
BEAVER — One victory ended two droughts last night for the Laurel High football team.
The Spartans breezed to a convincing 55-7 decision over Beth-Center in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class A playoffs at Beaver High School’s Pat Tarquinio Field. The win also marked the second consecutive playoff victory for the Spartans by that same tally.
With the win, Laurel reaches the 10-win plateau for the first time since 1980, while securing the program’s first semifinal berth since 1996.
“The coaches don’t play the games, the kids do,” an ecstatic Spartans coach Jerry Holzhauser said. “These are their wins, those are big accomplishments for Laurel.”
Laurel (10-1), seeded second, is ranked No. 2 in the WPIAL in Class A by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and No. 4 in the PIAA poll. The Spartans will meet third-seeded Clairton, a 24-0 winner over Avonworth, at a time, date and site to be determined by the WPIAL. The Bears (10-1) are ranked No. 3 in the WPIAL by the Post-Gazette and No. 5 in the state.
The teams met in the season opener on Laurel’s home field and the hosts came away with a 15-8 decision.
“We’re happy to have Clairton again,” Spartans quarterback Tyler Forbes said. “They’re going to want us pretty bad and we know that.”
Seventh-seeded Beth-Center conclude the season at 8-3.
Laurel forced four first-half turnovers and converted them all into touchdowns. Forbes rushed for three of the touchdowns after the miscues as the Spartans built a 41-7 halftime bulge.
“Those runs were all on options; he’s been running it for four years and he does it extremely well,” Holzhauser said. “He can run the ball and he can throw it. He’s a great athlete.”
Forbes scored on runs of 12, 43 and 8 yards in the opening half. He also connected with Jake Dando on scoring aerials of 78 and 11 yards.
The Spartans’ Torrey Price helped set up the Forbes to Dando bomb in the second quarter. The Bulldogs trailed 20-7 and faced fourth-and-2 from the Laurel 13. Beth-Center quarterback Sal Faieta rolled out to his right and Price chased him down on the edge for a loss of four yards.
“I saw (Jake) Dando had the tight end covered. I then saw the quarterback boot, so I just tried to take away the cutback run if he did cut back,” Price said of the play.
Said Holzhauser, “Torrey is a great football player. We expect that type of play from him. They were hurting us on the edge with the scrambling and we had to adjust to that to contain the quarterback. Torrey was in the right place and he made a great play.”
Two plays later, Forbes hit Dando in stride for a backbreaking 78-yard scoring strike. Dando got behind the coverage and hauled in the pass around the Bulldogs’ 43 and streaked toward the goal line.
“That was playaction and Tyler threw a great ball and I just ran underneath it; it was a great play,” Dando said.
Said Forbes, “I just put it between the two defenders and he came down with it. He made a nice run after the catch.”
Forbes rolled up a game-high 124 rushing yards on just eight carries. He also added 177 yards through the air on 6-of-9 passing and a pair of scores, all of which coming in the first half. The passing and rushing yardage are both season highs for Forbes.
Laurel put the game out of reach just before halftime. Forbes hit Dando on an 11-yard touchdown with 4 seconds to go in the half. The ball bounced off Kevin Zubasic’s hands and into the grasp of Dando.
“I really don’t know how I caught it,” Dando said. “Zubasic got his hand in there and popped it up from the safety. I tipped it up to myself; I don’t know how I did it.”
Said Forbes, “I was throwing it to Zubasic and he tipped it. One of the Beth-Center defenders tipped it and then Jake tipped it with his left hand right into his right hand. He was standing right in the end zone; it couldn’t have happened any better.”
Dan Poremski scored his second touchdown on a 6-yard run early in the third quarter to initiate the mercy rule for a 48-7 lead. Caleb Weisenstein’s 13-yard touchdown tote near the end of the stanza closed the scoring.
The Bulldogs threw 28 passes for 151 yards. Faieta threw 24 of those aerials in the first half, mostly on rollouts.
“For the first time this year it seemed like we were bigger than a team,” Price said. “They possibly saw that quarterbacks get outside on us and maybe they could attack that.”
BETH-CENTER LAUREL
9 First downs 17
91 Yards Rushing 258
18 Yards Lost 13
73 Net Rushing 245
28 Passes Attempted 9
10 Passes Completed 6
2 Passes Intercepted 0
151 Yards Passing 177
224 Total Yards 422
4-3 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
3-35 Punts-Average 2-40.5
3-35 Penalties-Yards 3-20
BETH-CENTER 7 0 0 0 — 7
LAUREL 20 21 14 0 — 55
Scoring plays
LAUREL - Tyler Forbes, 12-yard run (Jonathan Johnson kick)
LAUREL — Forbes, 43-yard run (Johnson kick)
BETH-CENTER — Deshan Brown, 70-yard pass from Sal Faieta (Kyle Colborn kick)
LAUREL — Forbes, 8-yard run (kick failed)
LAUREL — Jake Dando, 78-yard pass from Forbes (Johnson kick)
LAUREL — Dan Poremski, 1-yard run (Johnson kick)
LAUREL — Dando, 11-yard pass from Forbes (Johnson kick)
LAUREL — Poremski, 6-yard run (Johnson kick)
LAUREL — Caleb Weisenstein, 13-yard run (Johnson kick)
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