Wahl, Piccolini charge offense in victory

Carbondale came into Friday night’s game on the rain-soaked turf at Old Forge Veterans Memorial Stadium with a solid game plan.

Milk the play-clock on offense to keep the ball away from the Blue Devils high-octane offense, and prevent Old Forge tailback Brian “Bubba” Tomasetti from running wild as he had all season.

However the Chargers did not count on one thing – the play of quarterback Brenden Wahl and his stable of play-making receivers.

Wahl and his six receivers peeled the Carbondale secondary for 267 yards and four touchdowns as the Blue Devils pulled away from the Chargers in a 35-8 victory to remain undefeated and in control of the Lackawanna Football Conference Division III and District 2 Class 1A race.

The game started with a squib kick by Carbondale that was recovered by the Blue Devils, but on the first play from scrimmage, Tomasetti lost the slick pigskin to give the ball back to the Chargers.

Carbondale couldn’t move the ball it is first possession, nor on any other possession in the first half, as the Big Blue Wrecking Crew – led by middle linebackers Shane Schuback and Jorden Sekol – held the Chargers to minus-4 yards on 23 snaps in the first 24 minutes.

Old Forge mustered only five yards on its second possession, but the Blue Devils got going with 6:31 showing on the Big Board in the first quarter with a nine-play, 51-yard drive. The trip into the Carbondale red zone was capped by a 26-yard field goal from Matt Mancuso to give OF a 3-0 lead with 2:27 remaining in the quarter.

The drive was highlighted by a 17-yard run by Tomasetti – his longest of the game – and a 28-yard completion from Wahl to Anthony Piccolini on a slant to put the ball at the CA 3-yard line.

Defensive ends Kyree Toomey and Brandon Yescavage sacked Chargers QB Joey Gigliotti for a 15-yard loss on third down and an errant snap on fourth down forced the Chargers punter to run out of the end zone before being tackled by Michael Vieira to turn the ball back over to Old Forge at the CA 7.

Wahl and Piccolini hooked up on a slant on the very next play for a 7-yard touchdown to give the Blue Devils a 9-0 lead with 49 seconds left in the first.

Carbondale picked up its first two first downs on its next drive, but Schuback and Sekol put a stop to the drive by combining on tackles on second and third down to force a punt.

Old Forge came up short on a fourth-and-4 from the Carbondale 48, but Schuback and Joey Bruno sacked Gigliotti for a 12-yard loss on third down, forcing another punt.

Starting on its own 35 with less than three minutes remaining in the second quarter, Old Forge handed the ball to Tomasetti three straight times for 17 yards before going to the air.

Wahl hit Vieira on a quick five-yard out on first down from the CA 49, then after an incompletion found Jake Manetti in the middle of the field where the junior wide out made an outstanding grab for a 22-yard completion and a first down with less than 1:20 left in the game.

On the next play, Wahl hit Tomasetti in the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown and a 16-0 lead that the Blue Devils took into halftime.

Carbondale opened the second half with a simple four-yard gain on a dive, but the Chargers then went into their bag of tricks and on a perfectly executed flea flicker, Gigliotti connected with Jason Martin for a 42-yard touchdown. A halfback option from Brandon Sales to Mike Scotch worked for the two-point conversion and Carbondale was within 16-8 with 11:01 left in the third quarter.

Old Forge responded two possessions later.

After Wahl converted a fourth-and-1 by calling his own number on a sneak from the CA 49, the senior signal-caller hit Piccolini on the home sideline and the senior wideout ran past two defenders – one who was crushed on a block by Manetti – to the end zone for his second touchdown of the game, a 46-yard scoring play. Mancuso nailed the extra-point and the Blue Devils led 23-8 with 6:30 left in the third stanza.

The play of the defense forced yet another punt, and after an illegal man downfield penalty pushed Old Forge back to its own 49, Wahl went back to work.

Wahl completed two passes to Schuback for 20 yards, then hit Warren Welsh across the middle for a 39-yard gain to the Carbondale 1. The first-year starter then called his own number and crossed the goal line for a touchdown, giving the Blue Devils a 29-8 lead with 3:19 left in the third.

A 12-yard kickoff return by the Chargers, and a 15-yard personal foul penalty by the Blue Devils, set Carbondale up at the Old Forge 39. But the defense forced an incompletion on fourth down to give Wahl one more shot.

The 1,000-yard quarterback was sacked on second down for a seven-yard loss but connected with Piccolini for 22 yards on third-and-12 before hooking up again with his favorite receiver for a 55-yard scoring strike and a 35-8 ld with 10:06 left in the game.

Wahl – who had never taken a varsity snap before this season – went over the 1,000-yard mark passing during the game, finishing, 12-for-19 for 267 yards and four TDs in the air.

Piccolini caught five balls for 158 yards and three touchdowns, and Manetti and Schuback each made two catches each.

Tomasetti was held to a season-low 73 yards on 20 carries and was kept out of the end zone on the ground for the first time this season.

The defense, led by Schuback’s 15 tackles, held Carbondale to 40 yards rushing on 34 carries and just 91 yards passing on 18 attempts.

The B&G Blog Player of the Week: Brenden Wahl. Wahl was fabulous against the Chargers, often throwing under pressure or from outside the pocket and CONNECTING on those throws. Wahl has over 1,200 yards passing this season and has been a perfect compliment to the dominating Old Forge running game.

The B&G Blog Defensive Player of the Week: Shane Schuback. Suga Shane has steadily become a wrecking ball in the middle of the Old Forge defense. Schuback made a career-high 15 tackles against Carbondale and seemed to be in on every play let the charge (pun intended) of forcing the Chargers QB into 11 incompletions.

The B&G Blog Play of the Week: Wahl’s pass to Piccolini where the latter split two defenders before racing to the end zone for a 46-yard scoring play gave the Blue Devils a two-touchdown cushion after the Chargers closed to within one score to begin the second half. It was the first time since Week 1 that a team was within a touchdown of the Blue Devils in the second half.

The B&G Blog Coaching Move of the Game: Unlike myself who would have panicked by putting tight end Shane Schuback at right offensive tackle this week to replace stud two-way tackle Ryan Paulish who went down with an injury, late in last week’s game against Trail, Coach Mike Schuback went all Mike Tomlin on us and employed the “Next Man Up” Theory by placing sophomore Corey Souryavong into the starting lineup on Friday night. All Souryavong did was provide a solid replacement for the Blue Devils and a look to the future in being another good offensive lineman for Old Forge.