Central cruises past Freedom

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Freedom succeeded in keeping Central Catholic's offense sidelined for most of the first quarter.

Once the Vikings began receiving regular possessions, they delivered the quick strikes Freedom feared.

Central Catholic quarterback Brendan Nosovitch set a Saturday night rout in motion by busting two draws for long touchdown runs in the second quarter at J. Birney Crum Stadium. That started a streak of 35 straight points for the Vikings, who opened their Lehigh Valley Conference football schedule by rolling to a 42-7 mercy-rule win over the Patriots.

Freedom (1-1 overall, 0-1 LVC) came to Allentown wanting to see how it measured up to one of the LVC's top teams. Central Catholic (2-0, 1-0) stood head and shoulders above the Patriots on this night.



Nosovitch led the way, running for 156 yards and two scores while throwing for another 135 yards and two touchdowns. His big plays cancelled any damage his three turnovers could have done to Central Catholic.

Colin McDermott added 60 yards and a touchdown on nine carries for the Vikings. He also blocked a punt and returned it 29 yards for a score.

"Freedom's definitely a good team, but we just came out and made a lot of big plays," Nosovitch said. "That's what definitely made this game. It's not like we drove down the field play by play."

McDermott delivered the first big play with his punt block, scoop and score on Freedom's first possession. The Patriots came back to tie the game on their next drive and picked off Nosovitch late in the first quarter before Central Catholic took command.

Nosovitch gave the Vikings the lead for good when he took a quarterback draw and raced 39 yards for a touchdown with 8:42 to play in the second quarter. He outdid that play on the Vikings' next drive, taking another quarterback draw and sprinting 48 yards without Freedom touching him to make it 21-7.

"He's capable of that," Central Catholic coach Harold Fairclough said. "We saw it last year. We saw it a little bit in the first game. It was just wide open. I think we went empty [backfield], and we took advantage of what the defense gave us."

Central Catholic delivered a knockout in the second quarter when it recovered a Freedom fumble one play after Nosovitch threw his second pick of the night. Three plays later, Nosovitch fired an 8-yard touchdown strike to Kevin McKellick, sending the Vikings into the locker room with a 28-7 lead. Jack Sandherr (three catches, 51 yards), Shane McNeely (two catches, 39 yards) and Kevin Gulyas (two catches, 26 yards) also contributed to Central Catholic's passing attack.

The Viking defense prevented Freedom from threatening their lead, limiting it to three second-half first downs. The Patriots managed just 75 rushing yards on 31 carries and 174 yards of total offense one week after they hung 48 points on East Stroudsburg South.

"You can't turn the ball over against a good team," Freedom coach Jason Roeder said. "You've got to tackle better. You've got to win third and fourth down. You can't give up blocked kicks.

"We got our butts kicked, from me on down," he added. We got outplayed and outcoached."

Freedom7000—7

Central Catholic72177— 42

FIRST QUARTER

CC – Colin McDermott 29 yard blocked punt return (Kevin Jarossy kick) 9:09

F – Lukas Giovarelli 1 run (Sean Wrobel kick) 3:29 (Drive: 11 plays, 68 yards, 5:40)

SECOND QUARTER
CC – Brendan Nosovitch 39 run (Jarossy kick) 8:42 (Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards, 2:28)

CC – Nosovitch 48 run (Jarossy kick) 3:20 (Drive: 4 plays, 62 yards, 1:55)

CC – Kevin McKellick 8 pass from Nosovitch (Jarossy kick) 0:31.7 (Drive: 3 plays, 28 yards, 0:21)

THIRD QUARTER



CC – Kevin Gulyas 19 pass from Nosovitch (Jarossy kick) 4:33 (Drive: 6 plays, 46 yards, 2:43)

Fourth quarter

CC – Colin McDermott 23 run (Jarossy kick) 11:18 (Drive: 3 plays, 60 yards, 0:58)

TEAM STATISTICSFCC

First downs915

Rushes-yards31-7532-251

Passing yards99135

Comp-Att-Int9-23-19-13-2

Punts-average3-42.30-0

Fumbles-lost1-11-1

Penalties-yards2-203-30

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING — F: Elliott 16-49; Rene 3-9; Santiago 1-5; Perez 2-5; Giovarelli 4-4-1 TD; Alozie 4-2; Colon 1-1. CC: Nosovitch 14-156-2 TDs; McDermott 9-60-1 TD; Taylor 3-20; Harkins 2-10; Winger 4-5.

PASSING — F: Giovarelli 7-19-1-89; Uliana 2-4-0-10. CC: Nosovitch 9-13-2-135-1 TD.

RECEIVING — F: Elliott 2-20; Busci 2-18; Young 2-10; Rene 1-36; Colon 1-10; Decker 1-5. CC: Sandherr 3-51; McNeely 2-39; Gulyas 2-26-1 TD; Robb 1-11; McKellick 1-8-1 TD.

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-football-freedom-central-0911-20100911,0,5207096.story?page=2