Western Beaver outlast ’Cats for OT win
Shenango (28) vs. Western Beaver (34)
Written: Oct 22, 2012
By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
Big-play offense. Footballs going where they shouldn’t. Time-devouring touchdown drives.
For most of Saturday’s WPIAL Class A Big Seven Conference game at Shenango, Western Beaver and the Wildcats took turns being blessed or plagued by all of the above. The two teams even swapped huge defensive stops late in the contest.
The Golden Beavers, though, made their goal-line stand last, then got one more clutch run from Zach Perry to take away a 34-28 overtime win.
“I think it says a lot about both football teams, where we’re at,” Shenango head coach Ryan Mayo said. “There was nothing really on the line other than just playing for pride, but both teams showed a lot of heart and a lot of good football tonight.”
The Wildcats’ hearts, though, were broken when Perry scored on a 7-yard run in OT to seal the win for the Golden Beavers (1-6 conference, 2-6 overall). Shenango (2-5, 3-5) had scored with 45 seconds left in regulation on an 8-yard pass from Anthony Prestopine to Brenton Booher, but was stopped on its overtime-opening possession. The Wildcats were forced to try a 25-yard field goal, which missed the mark.
Perry’s score capped a night on which he carried 29 times for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have to rely on him,” said Western Beaver head coach Matt Gray, whose team lost quarterback Hunter Roknich for the season a few weeks ago. “He’s our stud, and we’re going to go with him wherever he goes.
“If he takes us there, we’ll win. If he doesn’t, we’re going to lose.”
The loss is Shenango’s eighth straight at home dating back to last year’s season-opening win over Avella.
The Golden Beavers opened the game with a 60-yard scoring drive, capped by Steve Robison’s 6-yard run and fueled by 25- and 29-yard receptions by Nick Miller. Shenango countered with its own big play when Tyler Welsh — who had 124 yards on 18 carries — raced 60 yards for a score.
Next came the exchange of bouncing balls. Western Beaver gift-wrapped field position for Shenango on a botched punt snap and a Michael Thompson interception, but the Wildcats fumbled the ball away both times. After taking a 14-7 lead on a 9-yard Perry run, the Golden Beavers were stung by one more out-of-control pigskin when a Prestopine pass went off Steve Robison’s hands and into those of Welsh, who turned it into a 48-yard scoring play.
Grind-it-out offense was the order of the second half. Shenango took the kickoff and marched 70 yards in 16 plays, using all but 96 seconds of the third-quarter clock. The Golden Beavers countered with a 15-play, 90-yard drive that ate up about seven minutes and gave them on a 22-21 lead on Billy Dreary’s 3-yard run and Robison’s two-point conversion scamper.
Western scored again with 2:26 to go on a Robison 1-yard run, but this time, Shenango stopped the two-point try, keeping it a one-score game.
“Two-minute offense is not our thing; we like to run the ball,” Mayo said. “But we do work on it weekly. So when they got so close on that last (fourth-quarter) touchdown, I told the kids, ‘let them get in on this play, then on the two-point conversion, we’ve got to come up with a stop, so we can get the ball back and have a chance.’
“We made a huge stop, and that enabled the offense to get on the field.”
The seldom-used, hurry-up offense clicked, with Shenango moving 58 yards in five plays, capped by Prestopine’s pass to Booher and Ronald Davis’ game-tying PAT.
That momentum failed to carry through to OT, but Mayo’s thoughts went back to the first half when his team fumbled away a pair of scoring chances.
“We had opportunities in the first half we didn’t capitalize on,” he said. “Things like that add up over four quarters, and usually, they add up to losses.”
*****
W. BEAVER SHENANGO
13 First downs 16
284 Yards Rushing 223
13 Yards Lost 14
271 Net Rushing 209
8 Passes Attempted 6
4 Passes Completed 3
1 Passes Intercepted 0
58 Yards Passing 82
329 Total Yards 291
3-0 Fumbles-Lost 3-2
0-0 Punts-Average 0-0
10-60 Penalties-Yards 4-55
W. BEAVER 6 8 0 14 6 — 34
SHENANGO 7 7 7 7 0 — 28
Scoring plays
WESTERN BEAVER — Steve Robison, 6-yard run (Run failed).
SHENANGO — Tyler Welsh, 60-yard run (Ronald Davis kick).
WESTERN BEAVER — Zach Perry, 9-yard run (Robison run).
SHENANGO — Welsh, 48-yard pass from Anthony Prestopine (Davis kick).
SHENANGO — Prestopine, 4-yard run (Davis kick).
WESTERN BEAVER — Billy Drear, 3-yard run (Robison run).
WESTERN BEAVER — Robison, 1-yard run (Run failed).
SHENANGO — Brenton Booher, 8-yard pass from Prestopone (Davis kick).
WESTERN BEAVER — Perry, 7-yard run (No PAT attempt).
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