Wallace throws for 390 yards, 5 TDs as Kiski Area blanks Fox Chapel
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Saturday, September 15, 2018 | 12:06 AM
Ryne Wallace and his wide receivers have a signal, and they know when to use it.
So when Fox Chapel put single coverage out wide on receivers Jack Colecchi and Tracey Morris, Wallace and his wideouts turned on the ‘Cav’ signal and went to work.
Wallace passed for 390 yards and five touchdowns, four covering 39 yards or longer, as Kiski Area sailed to a 37-0 victory over Fox Chapel in a Class 5A Northern Conference game at Richard J. Dilts Field.
“They just said they were going one-on-one against them, but we took advantage of it,” Wallace said. “We made the plays when we needed to.
“…When it’s one-on-one, you’re going to take it most of the time.”
The passing yards and touchdowns both marked career highs for Wallace, as the 6-foot-5 senior lefty used all the playmakers at his disposal. Colecchi caught six passes for 217 yards and touchdowns of 39 and 71 yards, Morris added a 41-yard score and Troy Kuhn grabbed touchdowns of 72 and 10 yards in the second half.
Kiski Area (3-1, 2-1) led 23-0 at halftime and put the mercy rule into effect early in the fourth quarter.
“We kept saying, ‘oh, they’re going to move their safety over, they’re going to move their safety over, on Jack,’ and they just never did,” Wallace said. “So we’re not going to stop it, and we just kept doing that. Everything’s kind of finally connecting with the receivers. We’ve got three games under our belt.”
The Cavaliers bounced back from a seven-point loss to North Hills with what coach Sam Albert called their most complete performance of the season, with the exception of a dozen penalties.
“I told the kids all week it’s not about getting beat,” Albert said. “It’s about how you get up once you get knocked down. I was real proud with the way they came out.”
Fox Chapel (0-4, 0-3) struggled to slow a high-powered passing game for the second straight week, having lost to Penn Hills last week, and the Foxes also suffered a second straight shutout.
“They threw the ball pretty much against us at will,” Fox Chapel coach Tom Loughran said. “They had a nice plan. … (Colecchi) was the kid that did most of the damage to us, and the quarterback did a nice job of throwing the football. And offensively, we did not do a good job of handling their pressure.”
Kiski Area went deep early and often. Their first downfield completion — a 42-yarder to Colecchi — didn’t turn out well at first, as the senior fumbled inside the red zone and Fox Chapel recovered. But after the Foxes went three-and-out, a snap sailed over punter Sam Brown’s head and through the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 Kiski Area lead midway through the first quarter.
From there, Wallace and his wideouts took control. He found Colecchi behind the defense twice for touchdowns to make it 16-0, and then went to Morris on the other side to widen the gap to 23-0.
Kuhn’s 72-yard catch-and-run, where he broke several tackles down the right sideline on his way to the end zone, came in the third quarter, and the big tight end pulled in a Wallace rainbow in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.
Fox Chapel quarterback Shane Susnak passed for 180 yards, but some drops and Kiski Area pressure kept the Foxes off the scoreboard.
“I just told the kids, we’re down, we’re not playing very well, we’re 0-4, but the coaches are still with you,” Loughran said. “We’re still going to come (Saturday), and it’s a new day, a new week.”
The Cavaliers sacked Susnak six times, held Fox Chapel to minus-27 yards rushing and forced a pair of turnovers on downs inside the red zone in the second half.
“I’m proud of my defense,” Albert said. “I told them, ‘Hey, fellas — I’m done with that: I want a shutout. Nothing less than a shutout.’ They stepped up when we needed to.”
A big test awaits next week as Kiski Area visits Penn Hills (4-0, 3-0), the top team in the conference and the No. 2 team in Class 5A.
“It’s going to be a battle every single game,” Albert said. “They’re real hard to match up with … they’re all Division I kids. They bring a lot to the table, but our kids will compete with anybody.”
Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.
Tags: Fox Chapel, Kiski School
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