Spartans hold off OLSH
Laurel (28) vs. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (7)
Written: Sep 14, 2013
By Shawn Fox
New Castle News
MOON TOWNSHIP — With a little less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Laurel High football team found itself back on its heels.
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart had just scored, cutting the Spartans’ lead in half and seemed to have the momentum going its way.
But coach Pat Cuba’s squad answered the challenge with a pair of touchdowns and held the Chargers scoreless the rest of the way to post a 28-7 victory in a WPIAL Class A Big Seven Conference game at Robert Morris University’s Joe Walton Stadium.
‘They didn’t quit,” Cuba said of his Spartans. “I’m very proud of them, but we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that situation. We should have put it away early, but we turned the ball over. But we’re happy with the win.”
Joe Serventi, who led all rushers with a workman-like 103 yards on 31 carries, drew OLSH within 14-7 at the 5:04 mark of the third quarter by capping a 10-play, 40-yard drive by scoring from two yards out. The drive was set up when Nick Metz recovered a Laurel fumble, one of the Spartans’ three turnovers in the game.
“We kept giving them the ball, and they just controlled the football,” Cuba said of the Chargers, who ran 59 offensive plays to just 37 for the Spartans.
Laurel (2-1 conference and overall) answered after the teams exchanged fumbles with its first sustained drive of the game.
Taking over at their own 36-yard line, the Spartans put together a seven-play drive that was capped by Josh Dando’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Pullium. Noah Wertz added the PAT kick to put the Spartans up, 21-7, just 42 seconds into the fourth quarter.
After the defense stopped OLSH (1-2, 1-2) on its next possession, Laurel iced the victory with a five-play, 51-yard drive that was capped by Matty Conway’s 31-yard TD scamper with 1:32 remaining in the game. Wertz’s kick set the final.
“We had to eliminate the turnovers,” Dando said. “We just brought our line together and we started moving the ball on the ground.”
Laurel built a 14-0 halftime lead thanks to a pair of big passing plays. Dando connected with Clayton Sharek for a 28-yard TD strike on the Spartans’ second possession of the game. That duo then hooked up on the team’s next offensive series for a 57-yard scoring pass.
“We knew we had to work on the passing game a little more, and it showed tonight,” Dando said. “All of our receivers have great hands, and we just found them tonight.”
Dando connected on 7-of-12 passes for 153 yards in the game. Sharek was his favorite target, catching three of those passes for 11 yards.
“Josh is on just about all of the time,” Cuba said. “He does a great job for us. He’s a great leader and he takes things into his own hands when we need him to. Everything we ask him to do, he does.”
While Dando was having a big night throwing the ball, Laurel’s defense was shutting down OLSH’s passing game. The Spartans picked off three of the Chargers’ nine pass attempts in the game. Steve Reeher, Pullium and Chris Peluso each had picks.
“Our defense did a great job,” Cuba said. “Realistically, we’ve played good defense in every game, even against Neshannock. They bent, but they didn’t really break.”
Laurel will host Springdale on Friday in non-conference play.
“We have to keep improving every week,” Dando said.
(Email: ncsports@ncnewsonline.com)
LAUREL OLSH
11 First downs 11
125 Yards Rushing 163
13 Yards Lost 41
112 Net Rushing 122
12 Passes Attempted 9
7 Passes Completed 3
1 Passes Intercepted 3
153 Yards Passing 25
265 Total Yards 147
3-2 Fumbles-Lost 1-1
1-30 Punts-Average 3-35.3
7-61 Penalties-Yards 1-5
LAUREL 14 0 0 14 — 28
OLSH 0 0 7 0 — 7
Scoring plays
LAUREL — Clayton Sharek, 28-yard pass from Josh Dando (Noah Wertz kick).
LAUREL — Sharek, 57-yard pass from Dando (Wertz kick).
OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART — Joe Serventi, 2-yard run (Greg Strong kick).
LAUREL — Spencer Pullium, 8-yard pass from Dando (Wertz kick).
LAUREL — Matty Conway, 31-yard run (Wertz kick).
|