Western tops Neshannock in ‘ugly’ game
Neshannock (6) vs. Western Beaver (22)
Written: Oct 03, 2011
By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
INDUSTRY — Neshannock and Western Beaver each held the ball for about eight minutes during the second half Saturday.
Neither team ended up scoring on their respective 13- and 16-play drives. But the Golden Beavers drained the clock when the Lancers could least afford it, and Western went on to claim a 22-6 Big Seven Conference win.
“We actually moved the ball consistently all day, we just made mistakes at points in time,” Golden Beavers head coach Matt Gray said. “We got a holding call or a false start call that brought us back and killed momentum.
“And it’s hard to throw the ball in this (cold, rainy) weather. People are dropping the ball and we’re not getting good throws. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot and we can’t do that.”
Western Beaver (3-0 conference, 3-2 overall) finished with 359-180 advantage in total yards, but was clinging to a slim eight-point advantage, 14-6, with just over three minutes to play. The Golden Beavers had just marched from their own 10 to the Neshannock 3, but after 7:58 of ball control, turned it over on downs at the Lancers’ 10.
Although the drive didn’t reach the end zone, it all but ended Neshannock’s hopes. Eight minutes earlier, Dustin Creel had intercepted Lancers QB Michael Sanfilippo in the end zone to halt a 54-yard Lancers march that had taken 7:54. The Golden Beavers then assembled their clock-consuming drive that left Neshannock — once it go the ball back — with 90 yards to go, facing no timeouts and 3:52 on the clock.
Ultimately, Sanfilippo threw three incompletions, and the Lancers (0-3, 2-3) punted.
“Taking eight minutes off was big,” Gray said of his team’s drive that came up short. “We didn’t score, but then we held them and made them punt, then we came back and scored and ended the game.”
Following Neshannock’s punt, Western Beaver responded with a six-play, 45-yard drive capped when Creel went in for his third touchdown of the day from 2 yards out with 57 seconds remaining. Creel, who also had TD runs of 86 and 8 yards, finished with 196 yards rushing on 20 carries.
Neshannock’s lone score, which briefly tied the game at 6-6, came on an 11-yard, Sanfilippo-to-Ernie Burkes pass with 5:38 left in the first half. Creel, though, scored his second TD on the Golden Beavers’ next possession.
Lancers head coach Pat Cuba liked his team’s physical play, if not some of its execution.
“We played them tough,” he said, “but you’ve got to tackle, you’ve got to finish. We hit them hard, but we don’t wrap up. We talk about that all the time. They got themselves in position to make plays, but you’ve got to finish the play.
“Offensively, I thought we moved the ball pretty decent, but it’s the same thing, you’ve got to finish. Tackling on the defensive side, finishing drives on the offensive side.”
Similarly, Gray wasn’t entirely happy with the Golden Beavers’ performance, especially with Rochester (2-1, 4-1) looming on the schedule this week.
“But I’ll take it,” he said. “An ugly win is better than an ugly loss.”
The Rams are coached by Shenango High graduate Gene Matsook.
Neshannock hosts conference rival Union (1-2, 2-3) at 7 p.m. Friday.
(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)
NESH. W.B.
13 First downs 20
141 Yards Rushing 312
3 Yards Lost 11
138 Net Rushing 301
10 Passes Attempted 11
3 Passes Completed 5
2 Passes Intercepted 0
42 Yards Passing 58
180 Total Yards 359
1-0 Fumbles-Lost 2-1
3-30.3 Punts-Average 0-0
6-50 Penalties-Yards 10-85
NESHANNOCK 0 6 0 0 — 6
W. BEAVER 6 8 0 8 — 22
Scoring plays
WESTERN BEAVER — Dustin Creel, 86-yard run (Run failed).
NESHANNOCK — Ernie Burkes, 11-yard pass from Michael Sanfilippo (Kick failed).
WESTERN BEAVER — Creel, 8-yard run (Creel run).
WESTERN BEAVER — Creel, 2-yard run (Dan D’Angelo run).
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