’Cats flirt with upset of Rochester
Shenango (27) vs. Rochester (32)
Written: Sep 07, 2013
By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
There were a lot of things Mike Commesso liked about Shenango High’s effort last night against Rochester.
There were also five things he’d really like to forget — turnovers.
Shenango gave the ball away five times — including two red zone fumbles, one interception that was returned for a score and another that set up a Rams TD — en route to a 32-27 homefield loss in WPIAL Class A Big Seven Conference play.
All of the above occurred in the first half, while the fifth turnover — a fumble with five minutes remaining in the game — robbed the Wildcats (0-2) of a chance to pull off the upset.
Trailing 26-20, Commesso pulled his punt team off the field after a timeout and decided to go for a first down on fourth-and-three at the Shenango 47. Senior running back Anthony Prestopine coughed up the ball, though, and the Rams converted the miscue in a game-cinching touchdown five plays later on an O’Shea Anderson 6-yard run.
“Five minutes isn’t a whole heck of a lot of time, and I wanted to make sure we had a chance to win,” Commesso said of the call. “That’s one I might think about later tonight and second-guess myself, but at the time I just wanted us to have a chance to win.
“I felt if we punted, we might not have that chance to win. I didn’t want them to kill the clock and us not have that opportunity to do something special.”
Shenango nearly did that anyway, as Tyler Welsh’s 51-yard return on the ensuing kickoff helped set up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Brian Tanner to Ryley Ferrari on second down. Rochester, though, recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
The ’Cats had a chance to break quickly from the gate, as their first four possessions of the game all started in Rochester territory. But they scored on only one — a 48-yard Tanner-to-Welsh hook-up — while fumbling the ball away twice inside the 15 and serving up an interception on a deflected pass that Brent Johnson returned 76 yards for a touchdown.
“There’s no doubt turnovers absolutely killed us,” Commesso said. “I thought we could have scored a couple in the first quarter. They’re a young team, so you never know how that’s going to affect them.”
The loss spoiled a spectacular all-around effort by Welsh, who carried 14 times for 145 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown sprint; caught a 48-yard touchdown pass; ran back three kickoffs for 140 yards (46.7 average); and returned one punt for 35 yards.
Meanwhile, Tanner — despite his two picks — completed 5 of 9 passes for 129 yards and three touchdowns. Ferrari caught two of the six-point strikes.
It was also Shenango’s best effort against the Rams (1-0, 1-1) since joining the Big Seven Conference five seasons ago. During that time, Rochester had outscored Shenango 214-27, winning all five contests.
“I told them after the game I had mixed emotions,” Commesso said. “I was so mad at them, and so proud of them all at the same time. They did some really good things, absolutely.”
Meanwhile, Rams head coach Gene Matsook — a former Shenango quarterback — wasn’t surprised by the unusually tight contest.
“I’ve got the youngest team I’ve ever had in 28 years,” he said. “When you’re that young, you gotta grind away and work at it, and our kids did that.”
Anderson led the way with 97 yards and two TDs on 15 carries, as well as three receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown.
“I’m pleased with our kids,” Matsook said. “We needed a win. We gave up too many points, there’s no doubt about that, but we were in control of the game in the second half, only our special teams kept breaking down.
“But at the end of the game, we controlled the ball, got first downs and ran the clock out. That shows you’re growing a little bit.”
(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)
ROCHESTER SHENANGO
12 First downs 13
208 Yards Rushing 227
15 Yards Lost 9
193 Net Rushing 218
13 Passes Attempted 9
7 Passes Completed 5
0 Passes Intercepted 2
128 Yards Passing 129
321 Total Yards 347
1-1 Fumbles-Lost 3-3
5-31.8 Punts-Average 1-31
4-22Penalties-Yards 1-10
ROCHESTER 0 18 8 6 — 32
SHENANGO 6 0 14 7 — 27
Scoring plays
SHENANGO — Tyler Welsh, 48-yard pass form Brian Tanner (kick failed).
ROCHESTER — Brent Johnson, 19-yard pass from Chase Long (kick failed).
ROCHESTER — Johnson, 76-yard interception return (kick failed).
ROCHESTER — O’Shea Anderson, 9-yard pass from Long (pass failed).
SHENANGO — Welsh, 77-yard run (Curtis Schotsch kick).
ROCHESTER — Anderson, 50-yard run (Johnson pass from Long).
SHENANGO — Ryley Ferrari, 40-yard pass from Tanner (Schotsch kick).
ROCHESTER — Anderson, 6-yard run (pass failed).
SHENANGO — Ferrari, 28-yard pass from Tanner (Schotsch kick).
|