Central Catholic pays back Parkland

FROM THE MORNING CALL

One year ago, Central Catholic traveled to Parkland with a perfect record and a defined plan. The Vikings left with their first loss after allowing Trojans running back Andre Williams to romp for 384 yards and five touchdowns.

Central Catholic found itself in a similar spot Friday night. Near-flawless defensive execution allowed the Vikings to spoil Parkland's homecoming game.

Central Catholic aimed to shut down Parkland fullback Rob Dvoracek. It succeeded, holding him to 35 yards on 13 carries.

That helped the Vikings keep their perfect 2010 season alive with a 34-7 Lehigh Valley Conference football win at Parkland School District Stadium.

The Trojans (3-4 overall, 3-3 LVC) finished with just 146 yards of offense, 74 of which came on a touchdown pass from Kyle Stinner to Tobi Salako with Central Catholic (7-0, 6-0) already leading 27-0. Parkland managed only 32 rushing yards on 28 carries.

"We had our game plan, and it was stop the run, stop their base plays, and we'll be all right," said Central Catholic linebacker G.B. Harkins, who returned a fumble 7 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Dvoracek came into Friday ranked fourth in the league with 572 rushing yards, 296 of which came in the last two weeks. He was averaging 7.8 yards per carry.

Central Catholic held him to 3 or fewer yards on nine of his 13 carries.

"Our No. 1 goal was to stop [Dvoracek] and try to make them throw the ball," Central Catholic coach Harold Fairclough said. "Our guys bought into that. They were trying to be as physical as possible on him, and they did a good job with that."

Despite its offensive struggles, Parkland played even with Central Catholic until a game-changing sequence late in the second quarter. The Trojans took possession of the ball on their own 27-yard line with 2:46 left in the half and no score in the game.

Rather than try to run time off the clock after a 5-yard loss on first down, Parkland threw two passes into the wind. Both fell incomplete, and a Trojans punt into the wind netted 0 yards.

Two plays later, Central Catholic quarterback Brendan Nosovitch (14-for-26, 183 yards, four touchdowns, one interception) fired an 11-yard touchdown pass to Shane McNeely. A three-and-out by Parkland on its next possession gave Central one final chance to strike in the first half. The Vikings did, with Nosovitch lofting a 60-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Gulyas with 8.6 seconds left.

"I went deep, and I just saw [Nosovitch] rolling, so I kind of stopped running," Gulyas said. "Then I saw the ball in the air and just quickly had to grab it."

Gulyas caught two more touchdown passes in the second half and finished with 10 catches for 142 yards. The Vikings also received 133 rushing yards from Nosovitch and 93 from Colin McDermott.

With games against winless Dieruff and Allen in the next two weeks, the Vikings are closing in on a solo LVC title after sharing the league crown with Easton last year. Don't expect them to change their ways as their schedule softens.

"It's about us these next two weeks, us improving and executing," Fairclough said. "It's just about us doing what we do."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-football-parkland-1015-20101015,0,3948201.story