Shenango ‘D’ preserves win over Rams
Shenango (29) vs. South Beaver (21)
Written: Sep 19, 2011
By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
HOOKSTOWN — Injuries put Tynen Greer someplace he normally wouldn’t be.
As it turned out, that was exactly the right place.
After a depleted Shenango High struggled most of Saturday afternoon to stop South Side Beaver’s passing attack — the Wildcats surrendered 194 yards through the air — Greer intercepted Rams quarterback Justin Magusiak at the 18 with just 1:58 remaining. It was Shenango’s second red-zone stop in as many defensive series and enabled the ’Cats to hold on for a 29-21 win in both teams’ Big Seven Conference opener.
Shenango (2-1 overall) built a 21-7 halftime lead, but then lost running back/cornerback Dom Caldararo to an abdominal strain. After intermission, nagging leg cramps put several more ’Cats on the sideline.
“I’m not sure what it was but guys were dropping like flies,” Shenango head coach Ryan Mayo said. “We were on our fourth and fifth running backs, we were on our fourth and fifth defensive backs.
“We had to put some guys in there who haven’t got a ton of reps or a ton of experience, but they came up big.”
Among the fill-ins was Greer, the team’s starting quarterback who generally plays at corner on the defensive side of the ball.
“That was his second or third play of the game defensively,” Mayo said. “Our starting free safety cramped up, he had to leave the ballgame. So Ty came in, and he’s not even a safety.
“He’s been playing corner all this time, and we just put him back there to play a little bit of center field. He makes plays, and he made a big football play for us there.”
As the Rams’ receiver streaked down the sideline, Greer slid to his left, leaped and came down with the overthrown ball.
“I’d been watching from the sidelines that they’d been running just straight down the field,” Greer said. “I was just guessing. I came up lucky that they actually threw it, and I just made a play.”
After the pick, Shenango was able to run out all but the last 6.5 seconds of the clock. Those were taken care of when Ronald Davis’ punt was muffed by the one Rams player not trying to block Davis’ kick and recovered by Brent McCormick.
One series before Greer’s interception, Shenango stopped South Side Beaver on a fourth-and-goal from the 6.
“We had two sophomore backup linebackers on the field for that goal-line stand,” Mayo said, “and I told them, ‘During the week, I tell you to prepare like starters.’ This is why.”
Offensively, Shenango spread the work around, with Joe Seaburn carrying 10 times for 98 yards, Caldararo racking up 89 yards on eight carries and Avery Pears netting 73 on five attempts.
Seaburn left the game after three quarters with leg cramps. With Caldararoalso gone, that left Greer working predominantly with a cast of understudies, but the sophomore QB wasn’t fazed.
“You can’t let down on confidence whenever you have a second stringer or third stringer in there,” he said. “If you don’t have confidence, they’ll lose it, too.
“But everybody did great. Everybody stepped up and played.”
(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)
*****
BOX SCORE
SHEN SSB
16 First downs 16
375 Yards Rushing 202
11 Yards Lost 31
364 Net Rushing 171
9 Passes Attempted 37
1 Passes Completed 20
0 Passes Intercepted 2
17 Yards Passing 194
381 Total Yards 365
2-2 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
5-31.6 Punts-Average 6-31.3
5-55 Penalties-Yards 5-45
SHENANGO 14 7 8 0 — 29
S.S. BEAVER 0 7 7 7 — 21
Scoring plays
SHENANGO — Joe Seaburn, 17-yard pass from Tynen Greer. (Ronald Davis kick).
SHENANGO — Anthony Prestopine, 7-yard run (Davis kick).
SHENANGO — Avery Pears, 50-yard run (Davis kick).
SOUTH SIDE — Colton Brooks, 68-yard run (Lucas Collet kick).
SHENANGO — Seaburn, 39-yard run (Seaburn run).
SOUTH SIDE — Justin Magusiak, 2-yard run (Collet kick).
SOUTH SIDE — Carlo Policastro, 3-yard pass from Magusiak (Collet kick).
|