Loss to Cornell leaves Lancers in need of victories
Neshannock (9) vs. Cornell (14)
Written: Sep 25, 2010
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
For Neshannock High, the regular season is now the playoffs.
“Every game is a playoff game for us,” Neshannock coach Pat Cuba said last night after the Lancers were defeated by Cornell, 14-9, in a Class A Big Seven Conference game at Bob Bleggi Stadium.
The loss dropped Neshannock to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference. The Lancers are more than capable of earning one of the conference’s four spots in the WPIAL playoffs, but they can’t have too many more setbacks.
“You win five or six games, (and) you’re in,” Cuba said. “That’s what I told (the players) and in this conference everybody is going to beat everybody else. But we have Western Beaver next week (at home), and we need to go out and play well.
“And even if we don’t win that one you have to get ready to play the next one after that. That’s where I’m trying to get this program … to the point where we play every game hard.”
If Neshannock should happen to miss out on the playoffs, the Cornell contest will be one the Lancers will look back on and remember the missed opportunities.
The biggest one came late in the third quarter with the Lancers trailing, 6-3. Neshannock held Cornell (4-0, 2-0), on a fourth-and-9 play at the Lancers’ 34. Neshannock then picked up its initial first down of the game on a 19-yard pass from Michael Sanfilippo to Bryan Scheidemantle. One play later, Kienan Owens went off the left side for 8 yards and another first down at the Cornell 34.
After struggling offensively in the first half, it looked as if the Lancers were in the groove, especially when Leo Pasquarello gained 7 yards on the next play. But on second down, Owens came up a yard short of the sticks and on third down Cornell’s Josh Linner dropped Sanfilippo for a 1-yard loss.
That brought up a fourth-and-2 at the Cornell 26. Owens tried the right side, but was stuffed after gaining just a yard, and Cornell took possession.
“That was huge. That was a momentum changer,” Cuba said. “We get that (first down) there and we go off and it gives these guys enough adrenaline to finish the game.”
“That’s been a common thread for us — guys stepping up big on defense and sticking somebody,” Cornell coach Dan Knause said of the play.
The Raiders took a 14-3 lead with 7:58 left to play when Shawn Owens hit B.J. Lipke for a touchdown pass from 18 yards out. Halfback Ronny Borne then flipped a pass to Cory Mackey for the two-point conversion. An interception that Borne returned to the Lancers’ 22 set up the touchdown.
Neshannock didn’t fold, however. It put together a 43-yard, six-play drive that ended with Nick Graziani making a nifty catch on a Sanfilippo pass in the end zone from 8 yards out with 1:55 left. The pass for the two-point conversion was incomplete.
The Lancers then stopped Cornell on four plays after an attempted onside kick. But Borne, the Raiders’ punter, got off a goodie from his own 46 with the ball going out of bounds on the Neshannock 13 with 44.8 seconds remaining.
Sanfilippo was sacked on the next two plays. A completion to Graziani on the final play of the game just helped make Neshannock’s passing yardage respectable.
“We sucked it up,” Cuba said.
The Lancers hurt themselves with turnovers. Beside the interception, they fumbled the ball away three times. One of the fumbles led to Cornell’s first score.
Cornell, meanwhile, came up with a strong defensive effort. The Raiders did not allow Neshannock a first down in the first half and limited the Lancers to 48 yards rushing.
“We’ve been playing stingy all year,” Knause said.
CORNELL NESHANNOCK
9 First downs 4
158 Yards Rushing 64
23 Yards Lost 16
135 Net Rushing 48
11 Passes Attempted 11
6 Passes Completed 5
0 Passes Intercepted 1
77 Yards Passing 105
212 Total Yards 153
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 3-3
4-31.8 Punts-Average 5-29.2
7-55 Penalties-Yards 5-33
CORNELL 0 0 6 8 — 14
NESHANNOCK 0 3 0 6 — 9
Scoring plays
NESHANNOCK — Johnny Fennick, 40-yard field goal.
CORNELL — Shawn Owens, 1-yard run (pass failed).
CORNELL — B.J. Lipke, 18-yard pass from Owens (Cory Mackey pass from Ronny Borne).
NESHANNOCK — Nick Graziani, 8-yard pass from Michael Sanfilippo (pass failed).
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