WPIAL Playoffs: Unbeaten Neshannock ready for Clairton
Written: Nov 13, 2014
 By Andrew Koob
New Castle News
The Lancers are in familiar territory.
This season marks the third time in as many years the Neshannock High football team has reached the WPIAL Class A semifinals. The previous two trips never produced a spot in the finals at Heinz Field, as the Lancers lost to Clairton 37-7 in 2012 and 27-14 to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic last year.
Neshannock hopes to reverse history when it meets the Bears for the second time in three years at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Canon-McMillan High.
“We’ve been working on everything we can take care of in terms of executing and preparing for Clairton,” Neshannock coach Fred Mozzocio said. “That’s all you can do. We don’t change much, we’re just preparing as usual. That’s what we’ve been focusing on, ourselves more than anything.”
Neshannock (11-0) will have its hands full with a Clairton team on a roll. The Bears’ smallest margin of victory this year came against Jeannette, a 44-point win.
Lamont Wade headlines the Clairton attack. The sophomore tailback has accumulated 1,847 rushing yards, 224 receiving yards and 33 total touchdowns. Wade is averaging 16.6 yards per carry and 22.2 receiving yards per catch.
Bears quarterback Ryan Williams has been impressive throughout the year as well. The senior has thrown for 2,084 yards and 26 touchdowns while only turning the ball over through the air three times.
“They have a lot of team speed and size up front. They’re 11-0 and their record speaks for itself,” Mozzocio said. “We do a lot of different things, I don’t know if they do as much offensively scheme-wise but they’re just as effective. They have athletes all over the field that can take it the distance.”
The Lancers bring their own handful of skill players that can light it up.
Tailback Eli Owens leads the way with 1,123 rushing yards in only eight games and can either run through or around defenders. Sophomore quarterback Frank Antuono has thrown for 1,582 yards and 19 touchdowns while only throwing four interceptions.
“You’re talking about the semifinals of the WPIAL,” Clairton coach Wayne Wade said. “When you’re down to the final four teams, you expect a football game. They’re well-coached and they definitely have some good players. They’re not doing anything different, they just play football. They execute and they have a nice football team. Everybody at this point now can win it.
“I don’t think we have to slow them down, defensively what we’ve been doing is to get them to go three and out. If they can’t sustain drives, that gives us more opportunities. We have enough to skill to match up with anyone. We have to make plays against them. It’s that simple.”
The matchup could easily come down to which defense steps up first, which leads to another intriguing battle. Clairton has only allowed 3.9 points per game, while the Lancers have given up 12.3 points per contest.
“I don’t think very much has changed there,” Mozzocio said. “Big and strong up front, they play great defense and there’s speed all over the field. At the same time, we’re going down to play them and I don’t think they’ve faced anyone that can move the ball like we do.”
The Lancers and Bears have had two common opponents this season in Shenango and Jeannette. Neshannock defeated the Wildcats 33-0 early in the season, while Clairton topped Shenango 68-7 last week in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals. In turn, the Lancers bested the Jayhawks 46-32 in their quarterfinal matchup last week and the Bears did so in a 58-14 victory over their Eastern Conference foe in a regular season matchup.
“That game against Shenango, they did what we did to them,” Wade said. “They got their skill guys out to the edge so may the best team win. We’ve played them before and we had a great team that year and it was a dogfight.
“We’ve been watching them for a couple of weeks and we know what they’ll bring to the table. I’m sure they’ve been watching us and they’ll know what we can bring.”
Tomorrow will mark the third-straight game against an Eastern Conference squad for the Lancers. After defeating the fourth and second-placed teams in first round opponent Greensburg Central Catholic and Jeannette, Neshannock gets the conference champion.
“We’ve heard about it all year that it was the best conference,” Mozzocio said. “We’ve been able to get by the last two weeks and now we’ll face the kings in Clairton. The kids and everyone came in on Saturday and were focused on Clairton and that’s where our minds are at.
“I know that nobody gives us a chance and that’s fine. The only ones that have to believe is us. We’ll try to advance and get to Heinz on Friday.”
(Email: A_Koob@ncnewsonline.com)
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