Plum finishes strong in win against Connellsville

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 13, 2017 | 11:36 PM

The Connellsville football team came out with a fast start in Friday's home finale against Plum, but it wasn't enough to hold off the hard-charging Mustangs, as Plum rolled to a 48-12 Class 5A Big East Conference victory at Connellsville Stadium.

“We started out alright, but then they had the strip fumble, and they poked one in on us,” Plum coach Matt Morgan said. “But we bounced back and played our kind of game.”

The Falcons (1-7, 0-6), who started out last week's game with an interception on defense, stopped Plum on its first possession when Cameron Sapola recovered a fumble, setting Connellsville up at their own 39-yard line.

From there, quarterback Dylan Bubarth led the Falcons on a nine-play drive.

Bubarth found Luke White and Jared Ozias on 22-yard pass plays before finishing the drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to give Connellsville a 6-0 lead.

Getting points off of a turnover was a great way for Connellsville to begin the game.

“We've been harping on making something happen on defense, and then we went down and scored,” Connellsville coach Marko Thomas said.

However, Connellsville's lead didn't last as the Mustangs (3-5, 3-4) scored the next 48 points, including two touchdowns on interception returns.

“I didn't think the defense played badly,” Thomas said. “We just had those turnovers.”

Coulter Robb, who fumbled on Plum's first drive, made up for the turnover with an 8-yard touchdown run to help Plum take the lead.

Before the first quarter was over, Dominic Carlisano pulled down a 38-yard touchdown strike from Anthony Little.

Little completed 6-of-10 passes for 124 yards.

Then in the second quarter, the Mustangs took complete control with four more touchdowns. Robb picked off Bubarth for a 22-yard score before Dakota Sunday bulled in for a 2-yard touchdown run. Hunter Fields delivered another defensive touchdown as he scored on a 28-yard interception return.

“We executed on offense, and it was nice to see the defense get some points,” Morgan said.

Before the half was through, Robb, who rushed for a team-high 96 yards on 18 carries, scored on a five-yard run as Plum took a 41-6 lead into the half.

With a running clock in the second half, the teams traded scores in the fourth quarter.

Plum's Lawrence Scafuri scored on a 1-yard run before the Falcons' White raced in for a 6-yard score.

White led the Falcons with 86 yards rushing on seven carries. He and Bubarth each had an interception for Connellsville.

After losing to Baldwin, 49-0, last week, Thomas felt his team took a step in the right direction this week.

“I'm a lot happier than I was last week,” Thomas said. “We're making mistakes, but they're not lazy mistakes. The kids are trying hard.”

For Plum, many of the players saw second-half action, which was important to Morgan.

“We got everybody into the game, and it's a good win for us moving forward,” Morgan said.

Connellsville will conclude the season with games at Armstrong and Latrobe respectively.

Plum will travel to Latrobe next week before wrapping up the regular season with a home game against Fox Chapel.

Jason Black is a freelance writer.

Tags: Connellsville, Plum