North Hills crushes Connellsville
CONNELLSVILLE – Before the season started Connellsville football coach Tom Dolde said that because of their exhibition schedule there was a chance the Falcons could take some lumps before they head into conference play. Friday night was one of those nights when they hosted North Hills and suffered a 61-14 beating in their home opener.
“Their overall team speed was excellent and was more of a factor than I anticipated,” Dolde said. “It wasn’t a lack of effort on our part. The kids gave everything they had. We were a little overmatched tonight.”
The Indians rolled up 577 yard of total offense, rushing for 503 of those yards on 49 carries. Indians running back Matt Timko did most of the damage rushing for 187 yards and four touchdowns as his offensive line ripped open huge holes in the Falcons defense.
Timko scored on runs of 1,56,10,and 36 yards. He also had a fifth touchdown on a 28-yard scoring catch.
Teammate Michael Rainey-Wiles added two scores on 16 and 40 yard runs while rushing for 138 yards on only nine carries.
“We wanted to execute tonight, and were lucky to get up on them early,” North Hills coach Jack McCurry said. “They have some good skill kids we worked hard to contain. It’s unfortunate the game turned out like it did. We don’t want to run the score up or embarrass anybody. We were hoping it would be a little bit closer.
The game was actually close and even tied in the first few minutes.
North Hills took the opening kickoff from its 45 and used eight plays to drive in for the first score with Timko carrying from one yard out.
On the ensuing kickoff, Scott Jones pulled the ball in at his eight, ran to his left, but was able to reverse to his right, picked up some blocking and sprinted 92 yards for the score.
North Hills came back to reclaim the lead for good on a 56-yard burst by Timko.
The Indians added three more scores in the second period to open up a 34-7 lead at the half.
Timko scored his third rushing touchdown of the half on a 10-yard run. Rainey-Wiles then made his presence known with his two scores.
“Timko is a good ball player, who started for us last year, so we know what to expect from him,” McCurry said. “He’s a two-way player for us. He has to play well for us to do well.”
In the third quarter Timko ran 36-yards for his fourth touchdown on the night.
The Indians kicked off and the Falcons’ Lance Straughters gave the home crowd a little excitement with a 76-yard return for a touchdown as the Falcons trailed, 41-14.
North Hills got that score back when Andrew Wyzkoski connected with Timko on a 28-yard scoring pass, increasing their lead to 48-14. The reserves for both team played through the fourth quarter as the Indians added two more scores before time ran out.
“North Hills executed well tonight and we didn’t. We’ve got a long way to go”, Dolde said. “We’ve got to shake this off and pick up the pieces and make changes where necessary. We have good kids here. I think they’ll bounce back”.