Oct 11, 2009 4 min read

MAPLETOWN – George Messich was all in favor of the rain that fell at Mapletown High School football field on Friday night. The veteran head coach of the Maples was hoping the wet weather and the wet field would even the playing field against a talented Beth-Center squad.

It didn’t.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead and never looked back as they beat the Maples, 48-8, for a Tri-County South Conference victory.

Beth-Center sophomore quarterback Sal Faieta threw for 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 4-of-4 passing to lead the offensive attack. Faieta also added a 43-yard interception return for good measure.

“For a sophomore quarterback, I am really pleased with how Sal is progressing,” Beth-Center coach Ed Woods said. “He’s playing well and he is taking a leadership role.”

Faieta led the Bulldogs (4-2, 3-1) right down the field on their first possession of the game. On the sixth play of the drive, Faieta handed the ball off to Sean Veatch and watched as he ran 46 yards for the score.

It was Faieta who then intercepted a wayward Maples’ pass on their next possession and he ran into the end zone untouched for a 14-0 lead.

A bad snap and fumble on a punt attempt by the Maples led to the third Bulldogs’ score – a 1-yard dive by Jake Sofran – and the route was on.

While the Bulldogs’ offense was firing on all cylinders, it was the Maples’ offense that was sputtering in the downpour from the skies.

It didn’t help matters that the Maples (0-6, 0-4) played the entire game without senior wide receiver Jarrett Porterfield – a main weapon in their spread offense.

“I was really worried about (Porterfield),” Woods said. “I know that George gets his kids ready to play and I just wanted my kids to play with passion and play hard.”

The Maples did have a goal-line stand late in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs made Mapletown pay as Faieta struck with a 31-yard scoring pass to Chuck Bowser with 1:16 left in the first half.

To make matters worse for the Maples, Buddy Blackburn returned the opening kickoff in the second half 81 yards for a touchdown and a 35-0 Bulldogs’ lead.

“I’m not making excuses, but we did have six or seven starters from the beginning of the year that aren’t able to play right now,” Messich said. “The kids that played tonight, played with effort. Beth-Center is a very good football team and I thought at the beginning of the year that they were the best team in the conference. I still believe that.”

The Maples did piece together a 10-play, 65-yard scoring drive in the third quarter. It ended when Tommy Riggleman scored on a 2-yard run.

Much of that drive came out of the old I-formation for the Maples.

“It was raining and we didn’t have Porterfield and we just got in the I-formation and did some good things,” Messich said. “We don’t practice that much, but we did a good job of executing on that drive.”

But it was too little, too late for the Maples as Faieta connected with Jeremy Price for a 60-yard strike and Jordan Kinder scored on a 9-yard run to finish off the scoring.

“We only played the varsity six plays in the second half and we still did a nice job of moving the ball for the most part,” Woods said.

The Maples return to action Friday at West Greene where they will try to get Messich his 100th career victory.

The Bulldogs host California in a Tri-County South matchup. The Trojans (3-1, 4-2) are looking to rebound after losing their first conference game to Carmichaels.