Fitzroy leads Apollo-Ridge in rout of Leechburg

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, August 26, 2017 | 12:09 AM

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Apollo-Ridge's Kyle Fitzroy connected with younger brother Klay on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 8 minutes, 42 seconds left in the first quarter of Friday's Week Zero nonconference opener at Leechburg.

The score got the Vikings started as they cruised through the rest of the first half, led 34-0 at the break and came away with a 34-7 victory over the Blue Devils at Leechburg's Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“Based off of our scrimmage last week (against Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic), we improved so much,” Kyle Fitzroy said.

The Vikings senior quarterback connected on five of his first six passes and finished 10 of 16 for 204 yards and three touchdowns.

He added 52 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

Those totals all were in the first half as Kyle gave way to Klay at quarterback in the second half.

“We went out this week and executed, but we know there are still a number of things, the simple stuff, that we need to improve on,” Kyle Fitzroy said.

Klay, a freshman getting his first taste of varsity action, caught five of Kyle's first-half passes for 110 yards.

Freshman Jake Fello and junior Bradley Milko also caught TD passes from Kyle Fitzroy, and junior Ryan Bias rambled 53 yards in the second quarter for an additional score.

Freshman Mayce Anthony, also a forward on the Apollo-Ridge girls soccer team, kicked four extra points.

“The kids relaxed and got into the flow of the game,” Apollo-Ridge coach John Skiba said. “I am happy with the progression since camp. (The game) was very important for the younger kids who haven't had a whole lot of experience under the lights.”

Skiba said he is looking forward to seeing how his team moves forward next week as it hosts conference foe Deer Lakes.

Leechburg wasn't able to get its offense untracked the way it wanted to in the first half. The Blue Devils tallied 40 yards in the first half, but 23 came on one pass play, a connection from junior quarterback Bret Kardos to freshman Ezekiel Keitzer late in the second quarter.

“We were so wide-eyed in the first half with us being so young and inexperienced at a number of spots,” Leechburg coach Mark George said.

“Apollo-Ridge also came out in a different defense, and it took us some time to adjust to it. The linemen kind of froze a little bit. But we got them settled down at halftime, and they played well in the second half. I liked the way we didn't quit in the second half.”

Leechburg's lone score came midway through the third quarter as Kardos hooked up with a wide open senior Sean Mason for 35 yards on 4th and 13.

Kardos led the Blue Devils with 46 rushing yards on 12 carries, and he was 4 of 9 passing for 80 yards.

Sophomore Jake Blumer added 12 carries for 31 yards for Leechburg, which travels to rival Riverview on Friday to open Eastern Conference play.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Leechburg