Catty overcomes mistakes, injuries to beat Saucon

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Catasauqua coach Tom Falzone and Saucon Valley counterpart Matt Evancho left Friday night's game happy with their respective team's hustle and determination.

Both clubs fought through the mistakes, turnovers and penalties.

But Falzone slept a little better Friday night because the Rough Riders executed better late in the second half of their 17-10 victory.

It also marks the first time in 16 years, according to what Falzone had been told during the week, that Catty is 5-0 to start a season.

"The way 2A is so bunched up and only four teams make districts," he said. "You can't let games like this slip away."

Catty tried, at times, to give away Friday's night contest, which was clinched by Jake Bloszinsky's 22-yard touchdown pass to Zach Stopay with 3:18 left.

After finding the end zone on their first series of the game, the Rough Riders scored the next series but the 73-yard touchdown pass from Bloszinsky to Sa'Quon Burton was called back by a holding penalty.

"Any time you take a score off the board, it hurts you," Falzone said. "You have to be able to put a team away. When a team is a within a score, there's always hope."

Eventually, a bad exchange out of the shotgun formation killed Catty's second drive and gave Saucon some time to settle down defensive.

Saucon (1-4) bottled up Catty's running game for much of the game after giving up Luke Garner's 59-yard run on the third play from scrimmage for the Rough Riders.

The Panthers registered more tackles for loss than the Roughies managed to bust for big plays, as they had in their previous four wins.

"We had a couple of breakdowns on defense," Evancho said. "But not as many as we had on offense. I'm very proud of how the defense played."

The Panthers twice got inside the Rough Riders' 25-yard line in the first half, but couldn't score.

They were driving again on their first series of the second half, but fumbled it away.

"When you get in the red zone, you have to be able to score," Evancho said. "We took some chances on third and fourth down and came up empty. You can't do that against a team like Catty."

Saucon tied the game at 7, taking advantage of a Catty fumble. Eight plays later, Christian Kennedy hit Chris Mamay, who had a solid, all-around game, with a 20-yard TD pass on fourth down.

It was the same screen play that went for big yardage earlier in the game, but was negated by a penalty.

Catty responded with a Zach Pattison field goal, set up by a 27-yard flea-flicker pass from Sa'Quon Burton to Patrick Burker.

After the Panthers punted at the 4:46 mark of the fourth quarter, the Rough Riders needed only four plays to go 88 yards for what turned out to be the game-winning score. A 22-yard run around left end by freshman Shakur Lester and a 45-yard burst by Bloszinsky set it up.

"We came out second half and it looked pretty bleak offensively for us," Falzone admitted. "We weren't able to run the ball. Teams have been loading the box on our run. That opens things up for us to throw the ball a little bit.

We really did it when it counted in the end."

Saucon got within a touchdown on a 41-yard field goal by Jake Young with 36 seconds left, but Burker recovered the onside kick for Catty.

Both teams hurt themselves with mistakes.

In addition to the holding call in the first quarter, Catty also had a sure touchdown pass dropped in the end zone and had to settle for a field goal.

The Rough Riders also have injury concerns with Vinny Pellechia (shin) and Garner (knee) leaving the game in the second half.

The Panthers also lost two-way lineman and captain Brian Herbold suffered a leg injury in the second half.

But there were enough positives for both teams to build on.

"The biggest thing is the way the kids have come together since Week 1," Evancho said. "They've really bonded and want to see each other succeed.

"That's the number one thing we've seen."

thousenick@mcall.com

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Catasauqua, 7, 0, 0, 10 --- 17

Saucon Valley, 0, 0, 7, 3, --- 10

ORDER OF SCORING

FIRST QUARTER

C-Luke Garner 59 run (Zach Pattison kick), 8:31

THIRD QUARTER

SV-Chris Mamay 20 pass from Christian Kennedy (Megan Huston kick), 1:57

FOURTH QUARTER

C-Pattison FG 22, 9:32

C-Zach Stopay 22 pass from Jake Bloszinsky (Pattison kick), 3:18

SV-Jake Young FG 41, 0:36

TEAM STATISTICS, CAT, SV

First downs, 12, 14

Rushing att.-Yards, 29-149, 43-169

Passing yards, 126, 107

Comp-Att-INTs, 10-17-0, 10-20-1

Penalties-Yds, 3-35, 7-70

Fumbles-lost, 3-1, 4-1

Punts-Avg., 4-29.5, 4-29.8

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Catasauqua: Luke Garner 7-53, TD; Shakur Lester 5-51; Sa'Quon Burton 2-(-5); Jake Bloszinsky 10-47; Ra'Von Burton 3-5; Team 2-(-2). Saucon Valley: Matt Laub 12-45; Kenny Solt 20-75; Chris Mamay 8-48; Christian Kennedy 3-1.

PASSING — Catasauqua: Bloszinsky 9-16-0, 99 yards, TD; S. Burton 1-1-0, 27. Saucon Valley: Solt 1-3-0, 8 yards; Kennedy 9-17-1, 99 yards, TD.

RECEIVING — Catasauqua: S. Burton 6-61; Zach Stopay 1-22, TD; Garner 1-8; Patrick Burker 1-27; Lester 1-8. Saucon Valley: Josh Hough 4-33; Mamay 3-41, TD; Spencer Felix 2-24; Laub 1-9.

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-saucon-football-0930-20110930,0,766828.story