The Montour Spartans extended their winning streak to six as they defeated New Castle in dominant fashion, 51-6, Friday night at Thomas J. Birko Memorial Stadium.
Montour 51, New Castle 6
Montour improved to 2-0 in Class 4A Parkway Conference action, good for a tie for first place with Aliquippa, while New Castle fell to 0-2 in the conference and 2-4 overall.
Trey Hopper connected with Marcus Battles for a 12-yard touchdown pass to cap off an 11 play 61 yard drive to give the Spartans an early 7-0 lead.
A Brayden Davin 34-yard field goal and a Hopper pass to Daniel Batch for a 29-yard touchdown extended their lead to 17-0.
Hopper found Dominic Baron for the 7-yard score right before the end of the half.
Things went further south for the Hurricanes when Kaleb Platz took a blocked punt return for the 12-yard score.
James Bundridge tallied two touchdowns. The first was a 42-yard reception in the third quarter, and the other was a 20-yard interception return, giving Montour a 45-0 lead.
New Castle got its first score in the fourth quarter on a 46-yard touchdown pass from Travis Whetzel to Chase Lemmon.
A Luca Nuovo 2-yard touchdown run, capped off the win for Montour.
Hopper spearheaded the Montour offense, completing 15 out of 25 passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns, throwing one interception.
His main target was Bundridge, who caught three passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
The Spartans take on Ambridge, a conference opponent, next week.
Bishop Canevin 42, Serra Catholic 0
The Crusaders clipped the wings of the Serra Catholic Eagles, giving them another Class A Black Hills Conference win. Bishop Canevin is now 5-1 with a 2-0 conference record.
Myontae Mott spearheaded the Crusaders offense, rushing for 134 yards on 11 carries, notching two touchdowns.
The Crusaders got off to a 21-0 lead at the end of one quarter.
Mott had an opening 10-yard touchdown. Kole Olszewski threw a 9-yard pass to Damar Olds and an 8-yard touchdown pass to Justin Melvin in the first quarter.
An Olszewski 9-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Lindsey and a Mott 5-yard touchdown run gave the Crusaders m a 35-0 lead going into halftime.
A Justin Saunders 75-yard interception return put a feather in the cap for the Crusaders, earning them a 42-0 conference win over Serra Catholic who were 2021 2A WPIAL champs.
Peters Township 23, Moon 14
The Moon Tigers carried a 14-7 lead going into halftime against the reigning 5A WPIAL champions.
Andrew Cross threw a bomb to Jared Moyer for a 74-yard touchdown to tie it up 7-7. Moyer caught the pass and wrestled off Darius McMillon, taking it in for the score.
Moyer got things going on defense as he nailed Peters’ Nolan Dilucia as he dropped back to pass, jarring the ball loose. Nicholas Clemens took it to the crib for a 30-yard scoop and score.
But that would be it for the Moon offense.
A linebacking core of Stanford commit Mickey Vaccarello, Reston Lehman, and Lucas Shanafelt stifled the Tigers run game, holding them to minus-14 yards through the game.
The Indians tied it up at 14 when Nick McCullough returned a punt for 73 yards.
Nick Courie ran in his second rushing touchdown of the game from 2 yards out, retaking the lead 21-14.
A safety in the fourth quarter sealed the game for Peters as they took a two-score possession lead.
Cross threw for 139 yards and a touchdown, completing 8 of 19 passes.
Moon fell to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the Allegheny Six conference. The Tigers take on Baldwin next week.
“It’s a must win game for us,” Moon head coach Ryan Linn said. “We have to win in conference play to give ourselves a chance. If you ask any of the coaches in our conference, they’ll tell you that they’ll take four teams from our conference. You need to win two at least to get there. Three would be ideal. We need to win next week and find another along the way.”
Seton LaSalle 49, Sto-Rox 0
Seton LaSalle pounced on the Sto-Rox Vikings, going into halftime with a 35-0 lead.
The Rebels continue their undefeated streak, improving to 6-0. Sto-Rox’s struggles continue as they fall to 0-6.
The Rebels were led by Michael Pastirik who completed 9 out of 14 passes for 130 yards, tallying two touchdowns and an interceptions.
Logan King ran for 106 yards on 12 carries, for three touchdowns.
Sto-Rox plays at Carlynton next week.
Waynesburg Central 27, Carlynton 26
The Cougars lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Waynesburg Central Raiders.
John Sciuli had a huge game for the Cougars, rushing for 102 yards on 21 carries, for two touchdowns.
Sciuli ran in the first two touchdowns for the Cougars.
Carlynton trailed 7-6 going into the second half, but retook the lead on a Sciuli touchdown run.
Ross Tennant ran in two touchdowns on back-to-back drives, giving the Raiders a 20-14 lead. A Devonte Dean 1-yard run, giving them a chance to win the game.
Nevertheless, a missed PAT sent it into overtime. Raiders’ quarterback Jacob Stephenson scored from one yard out on the first drive.
A Dean 4-yard touchdown run cut it to 27-26. The Raiders stuffed the Cougars, giving the Raiders the conference win.
The Cougars look to bounce back next week against Sto-Rox.
Fort Cherry 35, Cornell 6
The Raiders, 5-1 coming into the game and with a strong defensive start to the season, ran into the proverbial buzzsaw in the form of the explosive Rangers offense and their four-star recruit Matt Sieg.
Fort Cherry rolled up 403 total yards, 280 of those yards coming on the ground to remain unbeaten on the season.
Fort Cherry went up 14-0 after a Nik Massey run and a 17-yard touchdown pass from Sieg to Shane Cornali. The Rangers didn’t look back as they held a 34-6 lead going into halftime.
The Raiders leader on offense was Walter Clarit, who tallied 78 rushing yards.
The loss to Fort Cherry gives Cornell its second conference loss. Nevertheless, the Raiders look to bounce back next week against Rochester, looking to earn a playoff bid in the next three games.
Editor’s note: Sports writer Antonio Rossetti pinch hit for us this weekend and for that we are eternally grateful.
Photos by Mike Longo Jr.
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