Mt. Lebanon punches playoff ticket with shutout win

By: Mitch Montani
Friday, October 28, 2022 | 11:48 PM

Mt. Lebanon punched its ticket to the Class 6A playoffs Friday night. The Blue Devils downed the beat-up Canon-Mac Big Macs, 31-0.

“We’re grateful to enter the playoffs,” Mt. Lebanon coach Bob Palko said. “We’re not going to take that for granted. We had our backs against the wall. You tip your hat to the kids and the staff.”

The Blue Devils went ahead early with a 79-yard flea flicker touchdown pass from David Shields to Michael Beiersdorf.

Canon-McMillan was without its starting quarterback, junior Mike Evans. Senior Ben Urso, typically a receiver for the Big Macs, made the start at QB. On the second drive for the offense, Urso had an interception returned for a touchdown by Fred Lasota.

“We didn’t come to play,” Canon-Mac coach Mike Evans said. “We have issues. They do, too. They dealt with theirs better than we dealt with ours. Give them credit.”

The interception was the first of three picks for Urso and the first of five turnovers for the Big Macs. They turned the ball over on downs five times. Evans took responsibility for the loss and was complimentary of his team’s effort.

“The kids did what they could,” Evans said. “A lot of them played beat up. It hurt to have our starting quarterback out. Ben is very capable, but he only practiced for a week. And we didn’t have him at Z, where he’s very important to us, too. We didn’t do a good enough job preparing the group we had.”

Mt. Lebanon led 14-0 at halftime. Though the Blue Devils went three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, the ensuing punt was muffed by Canon-Mac. Cole Markel picked up the loose ball and scored, giving a the Blue Devils a three-score lead.

They added a Ben McAuley field goal in the fourth quarter. This was followed by a Nate Sala touchdown. For Palko, the shutout win began with being prepared.

“It happened on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday,” Palko said. “We had a great week of preparation. “

The win is the third straight game for the Blue Devils without allowing a touchdown. Defense been key to the three-game win streak heading into the playoffs.

“They’re having fun,” Palko said. “They’re listening, and they’re studying. It’s pretty cool to see.”

Despite the loss, Evans wants to keep moving forward.

“We are a dangerous team,” he said. “Until tonight, we played with everybody. We beat some teams we hadn’t beaten in a while. We want to keep building on that.”

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Mt. lebanon