Old Forge creams Crusaders

Another slow start did nothing to impede Old Forge's quest for a ninth victory as the Blue Devils throttled an undermanned Holy Cross squad, 55-8, in the last regular-season home game last Friday night at Old Forge Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Crusaders took a page out of Carbondale's offensive playbook, milking the play clock while keeping the ball on the ground to keep the pigskin away from he Blue Devils offense.

Holy Cross ran six plays before Old Forge stopped them on fourth-and-1 from their own 46. But the Blue Devils gave the ball back after a Brian Tomasetti 13-yard run when Brenden Wahl threw just his fifth interception of the season on first down from the Holy Cross 33.

The Crusaders again took the play clock to close to zero on each snap running four more plays before punting the ball back to Old Forge with almost eight minutes gone in the first quarter on the Big Board.

It didn't take long for the Blue Devils to put a crooked number on the scoreboard though as Tomasetti jaunted 55 yards up the middle for a touchdown. Wahl added the two-point conversion and Old Forge led, 8-0 with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter.

The Big Blue Wrecking Crew got another stop, forcing a three-and-out as Mike Vieira and Brandon Yescavage each registered two tackles. Then on fourth down, the Holy Cross punter dropped the snap and was tackled for a 15-yard loss to give Old Forge the ball at the Crusaders 11.

On the next play, Tomasetti sprinted in from 11 yards out for a touchdown. The two-point pass was incomplete, but the Blue Devils still led, 14-0, with 1:22 left in the opening stanza.

Yescavage continued his assault on the Holy Cross offense, blocking a punt which Vieira recovered on the Crusaders 2. On the next play, Wahl followed center Tyler Clark into the endzone for the score. The PAT was blocked and Old Forge led 20-0 just eight seconds into the second quarter.

Holy Cross completed its only pass of the game on its next series but on second down from the HC 38 Jorden Sekol forced a fumble which Shane Schuback recovered. The Dynamic Duo linebackers totaled 22 tackles on the night with Sekol registering 12 and Schuback 10.

Schuback then got into the act on offense, hauling in a 35-yard scoring strike from Wahl to put the Blue Devils ahead 27-0 after Matt Mancuso banged his first extra-point of the game with 7:52 showing on the second-quarter clock.

Jake Manetti then gave the ball right back to the offense with his first interception of the season on the ensuing play from scrimmage. Two plays later, Tomasetti surpassed the 1,400 yard rushing plateau when he went 24 yards for a touchdown. The two-point pass failed and Old Forge led 33-0 less than one minute later.

Holy Cross got on the board when Connor Callejas returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown. Eric Gatto hit Dan Barmes for the two-point conversion and the Crusaders were within 33-8.

Old Forge came right back when Wahl hit Anthony Piccolini on in stride over the middle for a 53-yard touchdown toss with 5:21 left before halftime. Mancuso's kick was good and the Blue Devils went ahead, 40-8.

Tomasetti had a 43-yard touchdown run called back to open the third quarter, but on he next play Yescavage went 35 yards untouched to paydirt behind new right tackle Sekol. The kick was good by Mancuso and the Mercy Rule went into effect with the 47-8 lead.

The Crusaders put together a 12-play drive that travelled just 21 yards from the HC 6 to the HC 27 after a botched punt gave Old Forge the ball back.

The Blue Devils had a 27-yard touchdown run by Matt Trotta nullified by a penalty on its next possession, but Tyler Salerno would get in from the same distance one possession later with Trotta adding the two-point conversion to finalize the scoring at 55-8.

Tomasetti ran for 156 yards and three TDs on just nine carries to put him over the 1,400-yard mark for the season. The Blue Devils gained 248 yards on the ground on just 18 carries while Holy Cross rushed for 75 yards on 54 carries. The Crusaders ran 57 offensive plays to Old Forge's 21.

Sekol led the Big Blue Wrecking Crew with 12 tackles and a forced fumble, while Schuback racked up 10 tackles and forced a fumble. Tony DeSando added a season-high seven stops, as did Mike Vieira who had six tackles.

B&G Blog Player of the Game: Brian Tomasetti. All Bubba did this week was average over 17 yards per carry on his way to three touchdowns and 156 yards rushing. He would have went over 200 for the third time this season but a 43-yard TD run was called back after a holding penalty occurred after the senior had picked up 17 yards.

B&G Blog Player who is not Bubba Player of the Game: Shane Schuback. Suga Shane caught one pass for a 35-yard touchdown, recovered a fumble and registered 10 tackles in a do-it-all performance for the Blue Devils.

B&G Blog Defensive Player of the Game: Jorden Sekol. Sekol totaled a team-high and season-high 12 tackles and also forced a fumble to lead the Old Forge defense in limiting Holy Cross to only 90 yards of total offense, including just 75 yards on 54 carries.

B&G Blog Play of the Game: The opening kickoff. When Jorden Sekol leveled Holy Cross kick returner Connor Callejas on the opening kickoff it sent the message early that the Blue Devils were not there to fool around. The Crusaders were able to run more than twice as many plays, but Old Forge scored on 8 of its 21 offensive plays and delivered more hits on defense that normal. And it all started with Sekol setting the tone.

B&G Blog Coaching Move of the Game: No offense to Coach Schuback and his staff, but there was not much coaching needed to be done once the whistle blew to begin the game. The game plan on both sides of the ball was flawless so the CMotG goes to the preparation part of the Week 9 game. Kudos to the staff for its work during practice.