Facing the daunting task of stopping Meyers tailback Parrish Bennett, the Old Forge defensive line asserted itself early and often.
After rushing for 1,700-plus yards last season at Hanover, and for 293 yards last week against Holy Cross, the senior transfer was held to just 36 yards on 19 carries as the Big Blue Wrecking Crew dominated the line of scrimmage in a 42-7 demolition of the Mohawks at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium on Friday night in South Wilkes-Barre.
A rotating front four of defensive linemen Tony DeSando, Ryan Paulish, Tyler Clark, Paul Papi, Joey Bruno, Kyree Toomey, and Brandon Yescavage combined for 13 tackles as they held Bennett just six yards on his first 12 carries of the game - including eight carries for one-yard or less.
And while the defensive front had its coming-out party on its side of the ball, quarterback Brenden Wahl continued to impress on the offensive side.
Wahl - in just his second varsity start - was a perfect 7-for-7 as he did his best impression of Joe Montana, hitting receivers in stride for 255 yards and four touchdowns.
The senior signal-caller completed his first pass of the night during the Blue Devils second series when he hit Anthony Piccolini down the seem for a 73-yard scoring toss for a 6-0 lead with 4:28 left in the opening period.
Meyers responded with a 12-play drive, but a Matt DeMarco touchdown was negated by a clipping penalty. And after a Bobby Rinaldi tackle-for-loss of Bennett, and a Shane Schuback sack for a 10-yard loss, the Mohawks were forced to pun on fourth-and-goal from the Old Forge 30.
The Blue Devils then handed the ball to Brian Tomasetti who darted for 45 yards and eight yards, before stepping aside for Yescavage who went 32 yards to the Meyers’ 4-yard line.
Two plays later, Tomasetti walked into the endzone for a six-yard score with 10:08 showing on the second quarter clock. Tomasetti then ran in the two-point conversion, and Old Forge (2-0) led 14-0.
It didn’t take long for Tomasetti to find the endzone again.
On the Blue Devils next series, Wahl took the snap out of the shotgun on third-and-5 from the 50, scrambled right before coming back left to find his senior tailback wide open in the flat. Wahl put perfect touch on a pass over a defender, and Tomasetti did the rest of the work, sprinting down the visitors’ sideline to the pylon after picking up a hellacious block from Piccolini at the 25.
Shane Schuback’s PAT was goo, and Old Forge let 21-0 with 7:05 left in the first.
The defense stepped up again, holding Meyers to minus-1 yards on three carries to force a punt.
Three plays later, Wahl found junior wideout Jake Manetti behind the defense down the left hash for a 39-yard touchdown and a 27-0 lead with 3:56 left in the second stanza.
Schuback then picked off a Teageun Labatch pass on the second play of the ensuing drive, and returned the pigskin to the 16 to set Old Forge up in the red zone.
An offsides penalty on the Blue Devils negated an 18-yard touchdown run by Tomasetti, but after a pass interference penalty on Meyers and a nine-yard completion from Wahl to Mike Vieira, Old Forge hit paydirt when Tomasetti carried in from the 1.
Wahl hit Manetti for the two-point conversion, and the Blue Devils set up a second-half of the Mercy Rule with a 35-0 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.
The third quarter was more of the same as Yescavage dropped Bennett for a six-yard loss, and the Big Blue Wrecking Crew forced two incompletions before Meyers punted.
On Old Forge’s first play from scrimmage in the second half, Wahl threw a perfect ball to Vieira who turned the catch into a 68-yard touchdown with 8:32 left in the third period. Schuback drilled the PAT, and the Blue Devils led 42-0.
Meyers finally answered on its ensuing drive with a seven-yard run by Labatch on a busted play against the Old Forge reserves. But it was far short of what the Mohawks would need as it would be their only score of the game.
Wahl hit five different receivers on his perfect night, again spreading it around to the Blue Devils corps.
Vieira led the way with two catches for 77 yards, and Manetti had two grabs for 42 yards. Warren Welsh also added a catch for 13 yards.
Tomasetti finished with 114 yards and two TDs on 16 carries, Yescavage added 43 yards on four carries, and Toomey rushed for 20 yards on four carries as Old Forge rushed for 180 yards on 32 carries overall.
Clark and Manetti led the defense with five tackles each.
B&G Blog Player of the Game: Brenden Wahl. On the heels of his 7-for-7 night, Wahl is now 2-for-2 on B&G Player of the Game awards. Wahl’s 255 yards and four touchdowns gives him 398 yards an five touchdowns on the season on 17-for-25 passing.
B&G Blog Defensive Player of the Game: Tyler “Tippy” Clark. Clark was unblockable in the middle of the Old Forge “44” defensive scheme, racking up five tackles while clogging up the middle.
B&G Blog Play of the Game: Brenden Wahl scrambled around and got out of trouble before lofting a nice touch pass to Bubba Tomasetti in the flats. Tomasetti then picked up a great block (“ooh the block”) on his way to the 50-yard touchdown. See it here http://wnep.com/2012/09/08/old-forge-vs-meyers/
B&G Blog Coaching Adjustment of the Game: After Meyers quarterback Teaguen Labatch and 6-foot-2 receiver Matt DeMarco tried to hook up twice over 5-foot-7 Mike Vieira on two jump-ball passes, Blue Devils Head Coach Mike Schuback moved 6-foot-2 Bubba Tomasetti from right corner to left corner to match up better with DeMarco. The next time Meyers tried to lob it up, Tomasetti picked off Labatch.
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