“We just made too many mistakes,” New York head coach Glenn
Mountain said of his team’s 40-20 loss to Pennsylvania in the 33rd
annual Don Raabe Charities Classic game Saturday night at Parkway
Field.
On its opening drive, New York was unable to capitalize on great
field position, taking over with the football on the Pennsy 41-yard
line. The Empire Staters were penalized for an illegal shift and
then illegal motion before moving the ball forward.
Facing a fourth and nine on the same possession, N.Y.
quarterback Trae Rogers aired a pass out toward the right sideline
which was intercepted.
Trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, it looked like Team
Blue got its first break of the game when Alex Woodhead (Portville)
intercepted an errant pass from Pennsy quarterback Lucas Wendel and
appeared to return it for a touchdown. However, N.Y. was flagged
for an illegal block on the return, spotting the ball back at the
Pennsy 47.
“He was gone,” Mountain said of Woodhead. “There was just no
need for that block there.”
The New Yorkers relied on runs of seven, 10 and 16 yards by
Mandela Elom (Ellicottville), but soon faced a third and five at
the Pennsy 10. N.Y. would hand the ball to Elom on the play, but
penetration by Pennsy’s defensive Brandons (Brown of Otto-Eldred,
Luther of Youngsville) stopped him with no gain. A field goal
attempt would sail wide left on fourth and five, leaving N.Y.
trailing 7-0 with 6:46 left in the half.
To add to N.Y.’s offensive woes, their defensive woes were just
beginning. The Blue ‘D’ would give up touchdown passes of 50 and 47
yards before the first half ended, leaving them crippled, down
21-0.
Mountain told reporters after the game that his defense,
especially his secondary, was a “concern” coming into the game.
“It is a concern,” he said. “Some of the kids we have playing
secondary in this game haven’t played there in all their life.
They’re outside linebackers, etc. You always get a couple kids who
are secondary people and you rely on them. They (Pa.) had a good
passing attack.”
New York struck quickly in the third quarter. Portville running
back Joe Holcomb and Team Blue opened the third quarter with a
31-yard run. A 12-play, 73-yard drive would culminate in a
three-yard touchdown run up the middle by fullback Jeff Durow
(Randolph), which cut the Pennsy lead to 21-6.
On its next offensive possession, quarterback Tyler Dunne
(Ellicottville) went to the air found Kevin Butler (Olean Walsh)
down the right sideline for a 53-yard pass play.
The cross-state rivals finished off a 6-play 73-yard drive with
a quick strike from Dunne to Dan Fabiny (Wellsville) for a 10-yard
score, cutting the lead to 21-12 at the 4:03 mark of quarter
three.
“I thought we had turned the momentum our way,” Mountain said of
the rally. “We had to dig ourselves out of the hole we put
ourselves in. They (Pennsy) were able to regroup and have a long
drive there. That kind of broke our backs.”
Trailing 27-12 in the fourth quarter, Mountain’s squad was faced
with a fourth and six from its own 29. N.Y. tried a fake punt, but
a penetrating Pennsy defense swarmed Rogers, causing him to lose
the football and turn the ball over on downs.
“At the point we were at, 12 minutes left in the game, we were
down two touchdowns, and we hadn’t had a lot of success stopping
them,” Mountain explained. “The best way to stop their offense was
to keep our offense on the field. Just throw everything but the
kitchen sink at them. Had it worked, we would have been able to
keep the drive going, but it didn’t.”
Holcomb would later add a rushing touchdown in N.Y.’s 40-20
defeat.
Despite the loss, Mountain said he was “proud” of his team for
playing a clean game. While Pennsy was flagged for six
unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, N.Y. was nailed for just
one.
“I was proud our kids were keeping things within themselves,”
Mountain said, also noting that his running back (Elom) was
“punched” on two occasions by opposing defensive players.
