Fox Chapel can’t hold lead late against Mt. Lebanon

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, August 25, 2017 | 11:42 PM

Fox Chapel had the No. 4 ranked team in WPIAL Class 6A on the ropes, and then Mt. Lebanon did what it does best: move the ball in a hurry.

Trailing 27-26, the Blue Devils put together a 12-play drive that was capped by a John Naylor 1-yard touchdown run to lift Mt. Lebanon past the Foxes, 32-27, in a Week Zero nonconference matchup at Mt. Lebanon.

“First game of the year, we made a lot of mistakes, and I'm not going to take anything away from Fox Chapel,” Mt. Lebanon coach Mike Melnyk said. “These kids played their guts out, and every time we threw a punch, they threw one back.”

There was plenty of back-and-forth when it came to momentum. In the middle of a sloppy third quarter, Fox Chapel (0-1) regained the lead when quarterback Nicholas Gizzo spotted receiver Cole Wexter for a 56-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 24-20 with 2 minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the third.

“We had a lot of opportunities, and we didn't get it done when we had to,” Fox Chapel coach Tom Loughran said. “I'm disappointed. We played hard, and I thought we competed hard but we didn't win the game.We're not looking for moral victories. We're looking to win the game.”

Gizzo finished the night with 100 yards rushing and 145 yards passing.

With standout senior quarterback James Stocker on the sidelines still recovering from knee surgery, the Blue Devils had to resort to back-up quarterback Seth Morgan, who looked every bit as polished as Stocker. Morgan led Mt. Lebanon down the field twice in the fourth quarter.

Morgan spotted wide receiver Aiden Cain for a 22-yard touchdown at the midway point of the fourth quarter. Cain was a player who the Foxes had no answer for. He finished with 11 receptions for 235 yards and three touchdowns.

“Cain hurt his knee the last two years, and he is a Division I athlete,” Melnyk said. “He finally got a chance to get out on the field and show people what he can do.”

Things didn't start well for Mt. Lebanon (1-0). The Blue Devils turned the ball over on its first two possessions, allowing Fox Chapel to take a quick 10-0 early in the first quarter.

Cain pulled in his first touchdown of the night when Morgan spotted the deep threat for a 31-yard touchdown pass. The Blue Devils' offense picked on the Fox Chapel secondary for most of the first half. Morgan found Cain again for a 29-yard touchdown reception to bring the score to 13-10 after the blocked point-after attempt and came back with a 7-yard scoring strike to Austin Graybill from 7 yards to give Mt. Lebanon a 20-10 lead.

Gizzo scored on a 1-yard keeper to narrow the score to 20-17 late in the second quarter. The Foxes let it be known that they weren't going away as time expired in the first half.

“They did a nice job, and I thought they wore us down a little bit with their numbers,” Loughran said. “I still thought we hung, and we competed and we hung in there into the fourth quarter and we just didn't get it done.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Mt. lebanon