Yough displays balance in runaway win over Burrell

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 21, 2018 | 10:30 PM

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WPIAL rushing leader Dustin Shoaf gets most of the limelight at Yough, but the senior running back is quick to deflect attention to his teammates. The Cougars have other weapons, Shoaf tried to sell to everyone during training camp. Just give them a chance.

Those complementary players did their part Friday night, taking some of the pressure off Shoaf in a 35-6 victory over visiting Burrell at Cougar Mountain Stadium.

The game, subject to the mercy rule in the second half, finished just before heavy rain hit Herminie.

Shoaf ran for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, but quarterback Jake Sever threw two touchdown passes and Yough (3-2, 3-1) made some strong defensive plays, particularly against the pass, forcing three turnovers and keeping the Bucs (1-4, 1-3) off the scoreboard until late in the fourth quarter of the Class 3A Big East matchup.

“They put nine in the box, loaded the box after seeing last week’s film,” Shoaf said. “It opened up the passing game. We knew that was going to happen. Gamal Marballie is a phenomenal player, Jake Sever … he has come a long way. We’re opening it up and getting it going. We’re more dynamic now. We’re looking good.”

Sever didn’t throw a touchdown last year when Yough went 2-8.

“We don’t want to put the load on Shoaf,” Sever said. “We know he can handle it. But we can split it up, keep them guessing and keep him healthy, that’s great.”

Last week, Shoaf ran for 401 yards and five scores on 41 carries at Deer Lakes. He is the only player in WPIAL history to run for more than 400 yards in a game twice.

The Cougars’ all-time leading rusher ran for 428 and five TDs on 43 carries last year against Southmoreland.

“We have been working on it all summer and beating it into these kids heads,” Yough coach Scott Wood said. “It doesn’t have to be the Dustin Shoaf Show. Jake is maturing and improving … we have some other weapons. We are excited about what we have. We don’t care what the stats are, we just want to play as a whole team.”

Shoaf is at 4,300 career yards and passed Terrelle Pryor (4,238) for fifth in Westmoreland County. Shoaf had a 64-yard score called back by a penalty.

Shoaf has topped 100 yards in 14 of his last 15 games. He has seven 200-plus-yard games in his career.

“I thought we kind of took (Shoaf) away a little bit,” Burrell coach Shawn Liotta said. “He’s a heck of a high school football player. You just try to limit a back like that. We didn’t want to let him beat us.

“We just missed on some opportunities, some in the red zone and didn’t come away with points.”

Yough struck first when Shoaf scored on a 16-yard run two minutes in. Shoaf ran for 49 yards on his first four tries.

After a 57-yard punt return by Marballie, the Yough sophomore scored on a nifty reverse — Sever to Shoaf to Marballie. Two-point tries failed on Yough’s first two scores, and it was 12-0.

The teams exchanged interceptions — CJ Waldier for Yough, Seth Fischbach for Burrell — but the turnovers proved irrelevant. A Burrell fumble, though, came with consequence. Mason Brunson drilled Bucs quarterback Logan Phillips, and George Tusing recovered for the Cougars at the Bucs 19.

“We need to keep our defense believing in what they’re doing,” Wood said. “They’re enjoying the game of football the way it’s supposed to be played. They’re attacking and making turnovers. We have to tighten up a few things. We have some big games coming in.”

Three plays later, Marballie pulled in a 15-yard scoring strike from Sever. Marballie added the 2-point run to make it 20-0.

After another Burrell interception late in the second quarter, this one by Brunson, Sever went to the air again. His soft lob to Russell Pytlak covered 37 yards, and Shoaf’s conversion gave the Cougars a 28-0 lead at the half.

The mercy rule started late in the third, when Shoaf scored from the 7.

Luke Kastelic scored on a short run for Burrell late in the fourth. He ran for 60 yards on 23 carries a week after running for more than 300 yards.

Burrell recovered an onside kick after the score.

“We’re trying to get better every single day,” Liotta said. “We’re trying to rebuild the program. We had a big win last week against Uniontown. We tried to get some momentum from that, but it didn’t go our way. We’ll keep trying to get this thing turned around.”

Bill Beckner is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Burrell, Yough