Elizabeth Forward pulls away for rout of Greensburg Salem

By: Ted Sarneso
Friday, September 26, 2025 | 11:53 PM

The opening Class 3A Interstate Conference game between Elizabeth Forward and Greensburg Salem was a one-score contest through a quarter and a half.

The Warriors (5-1, 1-0) proved to be bigger and faster, pulling away for a 49-7 victory over the Golden Lions (2-4, 0-1) at Offutt Field in Greensburg.

“Greensburg Salem’s kids are always tough,” Elizabeth Forward coach John DeMarco said. “They have a great, young football coach who always has his team prepared. I knew after it was 14-0 that they weren’t going to roll over and die on their home field.”

Said Golden Lions coach Tyler George: “I liked the energy and the way the guys were fighting early in the game. It showed we had grit and toughness, which was great to see.”

For the Warriors, it began with the connection between quarterback Ryan Messina and receiver Logan Rider, who combined to do most of the damage, connecting eight times for 157 yards.

“It was one of those things where you take what the defense gives you,” Messina said. “If defenses want to play those two-high shells to cover the curls and leave the flat routes open, our guys are going to take advantage of that and credit to our coaches for game planning.”

It helps when defenses are more concerned with Greensburg Central Catholic transfer Landon Honick, which opened up opportunities for Rider.

“Landon’s an outstanding player,” DeMarco said. “He had 13 catches for 138 yards against South Fayette, so defenses are putting their best defender on him and having a guy over the top and that leaves the middle open for guys like Logan, who wasn’t playing a lot but has had two big games these last couple weeks.”

DeMarco was very pleased with Messina, who is a dual threat. Friday, he only carried the ball four times for 20 yards.

“Ryan’s the ultimate competitor and has been waiting for this moment. He wants to play, wants to run the ball,” DeMarco said. “He got banged up at South Fayette, so last week he had only one carry and tonight we weren’t trying to run as much.”

Messina finished his night 12 of 19 for 217 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“Opposing coaches are mad that their kids aren’t in coverage, and I always tell them, you can’t stop missiles,” DeMarco said. “Ryan knows exactly where he’s going with the ball, and his arm is so strong, he zips it in a three-inch window.”

But Messina knows that it isn’t just him out there, and that all that matters is the final score.

“I don’t really look at my individual performance,” Messina said. “I’ll look back later and say I need to do this or that and micromanage how my game went. It just matters what the scoreboard says, and we won tonight.”

The Warriors, the fourth-ranked team in Class 3A according to Trib HSSN, wasted no time getting on the board, scoring on a Rocco Thompson 6-yard touchdown run 39 seconds into the contest. Thompson set up the score with a 61-yard scamper on the second play of the game.

After Greensburg Salem punted on their first drive, Messina and Rider connected for pass plays of nine and 45 yards, setting up a 7-yard touchdown run by tailback Travis Dusi.

The Golden Lions then drove 50 yards and were well within field goal range before quarterback Chris Berger was tackled for a 16-yard loss after he wasn’t ready for the snap, and the ball got by him.

Kicker Alex Swatchick then attempted a 46-yard field goal, but it was well short. He attempted a 40-yarder on the Lions’ next possession after a Warriors punt, but came up just short again.

Berger, a freshman, was the starter for the Lions because senior Brody Chismar was still nursing a knee injury he suffered last week against Ambridge.

“He didn’t really blink,” Salem coach Tyler George said. “The team rallied around him, and to see him make some of the plays he did and not shy away from the moment, we’re proud of everything he accomplished tonight. Not only is that going to pay off in the immediate future, but down the line. I think he’s going to play a lot of good football for us.”

Berger finished 6 of 16 passing for 131 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

On the Lions’ third possession of the first half, they caught a break.

Messina’s attempted pass tipped off Honick and into the arms of Lions defensive back Tyrese Lewis, who took it 38 yards to the Warriors 22-yard line.

Berger then found Lewis down the left sideline on a play-action pass to put the Lions on the board.

But the Warriors’ offensive firepower took over as they scored on their next two possessions. Messina found receiver Brendan Stroschein for 37-yard touchdown to complete a five-play 70-yard drive. Then Thompson scored for the second time with a 16-yard run on a 48-yard, three-play drive.

That gave the Warriors a comfortable 28-7 halftime lead.

“We can’t let stuff like that interception affect us. Things like that are going to happen,” Messina said. “Whenever a guy has something like that happen, where it tipped off Landon (Honick), we have to pick him up. He ended up drawing a pass interference penalty on that first scoring drive, and we scored two plays later.”

Thompson finished the night with seven carries for 107 yards and two scores.

The Warriors added on in the second half with a Dusi 1-yard run on their first possession, a 7-yard pass from Messina to Aaron Ullmer and, with their backups in, running back Noah Curran ran in a 19-yard score with seven minutes left in the game.

The best play for Greensburg Salem was an 82-yard kickoff return by Akheim McCreary after the Curran score.

Set up at the 11-yard line, the Lions lost 3 yards on a Berger run and got a pass interference call on Elizabeth Forward. But then Berger was picked off by Aiden Hicks, and Elizabeth Forward took over to bleed more of the running clock.

Even with the lopsided loss, George is proud of the way his kids fought and showed their toughness, going up against a team visibly bigger than them.

“Elizabeth Forward’s a great football team, a lot of big kids, so it was a good test for us,” George said. “I was proud to see our kids not back down and continue to fight.”

Tags: Elizabeth Forward, Greensburg Salem