Penn-Trafford football trounces section foe Connellsville

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 7, 2018 | 10:21 PM

With two losses to begin the season, the Penn-Trafford football team knew the importance of getting off to a good start with a win in Friday’s home opener against Connellsville.

After stopping a promising Connellsville drive to start the game, the Warriors (1-2, 1-1) scored six first-half touchdowns and cruised to a dominating 57-3 win over the Falcons (1-2, 0-2) in Section 2-5A.

“They had a good drive to set the tone,” Penn-Trafford coach John Ruane said. “But we buckled down, and that gave us some confidence.”

Penn-Trafford’s offense was firing on all cylinders through the first two quarters. In fact, the Warriors scored on all seven of their first-half possessions.

The game started with the Falcons putting together a nice drive into Penn-Trafford territory. However, the Falcons were stopped short on a fourth-down rush attempt, and from there, the game belonged to the home team.

Penn-Trafford got the scoring started on its first drive as Ethan Carr rushed for a 17-yard score. Before the first quarter was over, Gabe Dunlap ran a quarterback draw and raced for a 20-yard touchdown.

Then in the second quarter, Penn-Trafford broke the game wide open.

Connellsville managed to stop the Warriors’ touchdown streak, but Penn-Trafford came away with points thanks to a 36-yard field goal from Keaton Hier.

The Warriors kept coming. On their next drive, Carr scored his second touchdown with an 18-yard run.

Dunlap found Noah Allen for a 26-yard touchdown strike, making it 31-0. Dunlap finished with four completions for 117 yards.

Before the half was over, Caleb Lisbon rushed for a 36-yard score and Sam Fanelli hit paydirt on a 24-yard scamper. Lisbon racked up 101 yards on six carries.

The Warriors couldn’t have asked for a better way to break their two-game slide.

“This was a big deal,” Ruane said. “To go 0-2 and have everyone question what’s going on, it was big. It gives us confidence. The kids worked hard in practice all week, and they played well.”

For the Falcons, a team looking to build some confidence of its own against some of the section’s heavyweight teams, the first half was a disaster.

“We got stopped on that first drive, and they had a good game plan and ran it down our throats,” Connellsville coach Marko Thomas said. “I don’t know what to say because I was baffled. I was really surprised.”

The Warriors didn’t slow much in the third quarter as Nate Frye paid off a 65-yard run by Brad Ford with a 2-yard touchdown run. Ford then picked off a Gage Gillott pass and raced 23 yards for a score.

The Falcons managed to break Penn-Trafford’s bid for a shutout midway through the fourth quarter. Gillott, who came in at quarterback in place of Josh Maher to start the second half, led a drive into Penn-Trafford territory before booting a 37-yard field goal to get Connellsville on the board. David Marchewka ripped off a couple of nice runs on the drive and finished with a game-high 35 yards on the ground for the Falcons. Otherwise, it was a game Connellsville will not want to look back on too often.

“We came out well, and then as soon as something went wrong, it was over,” Thomas said. “It will be an ugly film day (Saturday).”

Next week, the Falcons play at home against Plum, and the Warriors visit McKeesport.

Jason Black is a Daily Courier staff writer.

Tags: Connellsville, Penn-Trafford