Central scatback too swift for Falcons
PITTSBURGH-The Connellsville defense was not able to catch up with Central Catholic scatback Lamont Smith, as he scored four touchdowns in the first half to power the Vikings over the Falcons 40-0 at Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field on the campus of Duquesne University Friday night. The game was halted at the 7:25 mark in the third quarter (9:05 p.m.) due to lightening and heavy rain.
“We didn’t know he (Smith) was that good,” Connellsville head coach Tom Dolde, Jr. said. “When we reload, we do it with sophomores and juniors that come up, when they reload, they are able to bring in players from other areas, and that’s a tough situation to face, but Central Catholic is a very good football team.”
Smith gained 171 yards on the ground in the first half for the PIAA defending champion Vikings. He also returned a punt 81 yards with less than a minute in the first half of the Quad East Conference game.
“The offensive line was great, and they opened up holes all night for me that were easy to run through,” Smith said. “On the punt return, the seam was there and I was able to stay in it and my eyes got big when there was nothing between me and the goal line.”
The Falcons fell to 1-3 overall, 0-2 in conference while Central Catholic improved to 2-0 in conference, 3-1 overall.
Connellsville did get an offensive rhythm going late in the game as quarterback Clay Hurley started hitting some short passes to Terrence McCrea. That opened up a running game that started to see some light, but the game was darkened permanently due to the lightening stoppage.
“I thought they (Central Catholic) had a real hard time stopping Terrence (McCrae) and had to switch defenses to make up for his gains, which started to open up our running game,” Dolde said. “Even though the game was stopped shortly thereafter, we got some continuity going to build on for next week’s game.”
On the second play from scrimmage, Hurley threw a long pass down the right sideline, but was intercepted by Andrew Taglienetti near midfield. Smith banged in from the one yard line less than three minutes into the game to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead. Smith tore off a 44-yard run to fuel the drive.
The Falcons were forced to punt on fourth and 26 on the next possession, but a bad snap led the punter, Terrence McCrae to take off down the right sideline. He only gained 20 yards, and Central Catholic took over at the Connellsville 46 yard line.
On the next play, Smith struck again and ran untouched 46 yards to reach 100 rushing yards on two possessions and another touchdown which extended Central Catholic’s lead to 14-0.
Smith’s 81-yard punt return touchdown blew the game open 21-0. The Vikings scored on three of their four possessions in the first quarter.
Hurley threw his second interception of the game early in the second quarter when Tagllianetti picked off another pass, which set up the Vikings at midfield at the 10:30 mark.
Central Catholic scored another touchdown on the gift after mounting a 51-yard drive capped by Andy Vaughan’s 1-yard quarterback keeper. The kick sailed wide right, leaving the Vikings with a 27-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
Smith continued to roll and scored on a 32-yard touchdown run after stiff-arming the lone defender that got near him on his way to the end zone. The kick was missed again as the Vikings went into the locker room at halftime with a 33-0 lead.
Smith was lifted for Dorian Hazlip in the second half and Hazlip made the most of it by scoring on a 56-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. The score extended the Viking lead to 40-0, which triggered the “Mercy Rule” running clock for the second half, but the game was ultimately stopped shortly thereafter anyway.
Last year, the Connellsville-Central Catholic game was one of only three WPIAL games played due to a stormed caused by Hurricane Ivan.