Jayhawks send Falcons reeling
REPUBLIC – Jeannette delivered an early one-two punch that sent Brownsville reeling and the host Falcons never recovered in falling to the Jayhawks, 42-7, in an Interstate Conference football clash on Friday night. Jerry Harris ran for a 37-yard score on Jeannette’s first play from scrimmage, Terrell Pryor tossed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Davonte Shannon on its second snap for a quick 14-0 lead and the speedy Jayhawks were on their way.
The lopsided victory was hard to assess, however, according to Jeannette coach Ray Reitz.
“They didn’t have a full team, so that really made it tough on them,” said Reitz of the Falcons who had four starters out for various reasons. “Any time you win by that score, you’re happy, but they were undermanned.”
Brownsville allowed 21 points in each of the first two quarters to trail 42-0 at halftime.
“I thought we were ready to go,” Falcons coach Andy Assad said. “We came out with a lot of emotion. But they’ve got a lot of speed, and their quarterback sets everything up.”
Pryor caused plenty of havoc for Brownsville in only a few opportunities.
In addition to his scoring strike to Shannon, Pryor scored the Jayhawks’ third touchdown on a 42-yard option keeper with 50 seconds left in the first half. Pryor completed 2 of 3 passes for 51 yards, and ran twice for 60 yards to lead all rushers.
Jeannette’s back-up quarterback, Shaw Sunder, was effective as well. His only pass was a 23-yard scoring strike to T.J. Burns to make it 28-0 with 7:23 left in the second quarter.
Jordan Hall’s 45-yard punt return set up a 3-yard TD run by Harris just 2:50 later. At that point, the Jayhawks had run 10 plays with five resulting in touchdowns.
Jeannette found the end zone on its first six possessions with the last score coming on Michael Matt’s 1-yard run which capped a four-play, 55-yard drive with 1:55 left in the first half.
While Brownsville’s defense struggled mightily, its offense actually put together a few strong drives on the ground in the first half, but came up empty both times.
“We have some speed,” Reitz said. “We’re capable of big plays, but I didn’t think we were sharp defensively.”
The Falcons’ best drive of the first half was a 10-play march from their 20 to the Jayhawk 42 that was keyed by Dimetrius Williams’ 20-yard run. Williams rushed for a team-high 36 yards on 16 carries.
“At times we moved the ball well,” Assad said. “That was our plan, to keep the ball out of their hands. But we couldn’t get anything through the air. I though Phil Shaw threw a few nice passes that we dropped.”
Shaw completed just one of his seven passes for 17 yards to Terrance McCoy, and was intercepted twice.
Brownsville controlled the ball most of the game, holding it for 32:14 compared to Jeannette’s 15:46, but that was more than enough time for the explosive Jayhawk offense.
The Falcons did win the second-half battle of reserves with a moving clock, 7-0. Brownsville’s only touchdown drive came in the fourth quarter, covering 51 yards in six plays with David Kovach scoring on a 6-yard run.
“Our young guys played hard,” Assad said. “They ran to the ball on defense. That gives us something to build on.”
Kicker Matt Mammeralla was another bright spot for the Falcons. Although he had a 44-yard field goal attempt blocked, he converted an extra-point kick, punted once for 30 yards, and nailed two long kickoffs, one to the 2-yard line and one into the end zone for a touchback.
Jeannette wound up with four rushers with over 40 yards. Matt rang up 56 on four carries, James Derry had 50 in 10 cracks and Harris rolled up 40 in two attempts.
Rashard Carter rushed for 22 yards in seven carries for the Falcons, and Daunte Johnson had 20 yards in six attempts.
“It’s hard to start off with a team the caliber of Jeannette, especially with all the young kids we’ve got,” Assad said. “But I told my kids it’s a marathon, not a sprint. We’ve just got to keep working and keep getting better.”