Vikings outlast Mustangs in OT battle
It was the opening week of the high school football season but Laurel Highlands and Mount Pleasant battled as if they were in a WPIAL playoff game on Friday night.
The two traded punches in a back-and-forth clash that went into overtime at Mustang Field with Vikings quarterback Bobby Smithnosky’s 2-yard, fourth-down touchdown plunge being the difference in a 24-17 non-conference win by the visitors.
Mount Pleasant’s defense made that score stand up as it kept the Mustangs out of the end zone on their OT possession with Colten Keefer knocking away Gabriel Centofani’s fourth-down pass from the 8-yard line. The Vikings then celebrated as LH players walked dejectedly off the field.
“What a game,” Mount Pleasant coach Jason Fazekas said. “This is as good as it gets. I’m exhausted and I didn’t even play.
“The character, their guts, I’m so proud of my football team. Give the other team credit, too.”
It was Laurel Highlands’ first game under head coach and former three-sport Mustang star Ian Edenfield who took over after Aaron Raffle resigned in May.
“I can’t even say how proud I am of these guys,” Edenfield said. “They’re upset because we lost. I feel bad for the kids. They played so hard. There was no quit. They kept fighting.
“We lost to that team last year 49-0.”
Kaden Hudec led the way for Mount Pleasant with 11 carries for 127 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter that gave the Vikings a 14-10 advantage.
Nick Morell added 61 yards on seven carries and Stephen Predajna gained 34 yards in seven attempts on his team’s first drive before leaving with a leg injury as the Vikings accumulated 257 total yards, all on the ground.
Laurel Highlands featured a more balanced offense that produced 226 yards with 111 rushing and 115 through the air.
Most of the passing yards for LH came from the arm of sophomore Centofani, who completed 10 of 20 throws for 113 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Jonah Coleman snagged three passes for 54 yards and scored both of LH’s touchdowns with a fumble recovery and a 5-yard reception. Alafia Calloway also had 54 receiving yards for the Mustangs on six catches.
Both teams found the end zone in the first quarter, with the first score coming after fumbles on consecutive plays.
Coleman’s leaping catch of a pass from Centofani for a 43-yard gain on Laurel Highlands’ third play from scrimmage set up a first down at the MP 17. Runs of 5 yards by Coleman and 8 yards by Centofani set up a first and goal at the 4 but Keefer recovered a fumble on the next play to give Mount Pleasant the ball at its own 7.
On the next play, LH’s Donovan Lynn broke into the backfield and knocked the ball away from Smithnosky with Coleman pouncing on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Jackson Nairn’s extra point made it 7-0.
Mount Pleasant answered with a 13-play, 82-yard drive capped by Tristan Wtorkiewicz’ 5-yard touchdown run with 1:33 left in the opening quarter. Tyke Snyder’s extra-point kick knotted the score at 7-7.
The Mustangs threatened to take the lead with a long drive of their own in the second quarter as they moved from their own 13 to the MP 15. Centofani’s touchdown pass to Calloway on the next play was negated by a holding penalty and Keefer came up with his second turnover of the game on an interception the following play.
Laurel Highlands did seize the lead early in the third quarter after a fumble recovery by Reed at the MP 9 led to a 25-yard field goal by Nairn to make it 10-7.
Hudek’s 80-yard TD run came on the next play after he turned the left corner and outsprinted the LH defense to the end zone. Suddenly the Vikings had their first lead of the game, 14-10, after Synder’s extra point.
“You need big plays like that in a game like this,” Fazekas said. “They were playing our box hard. They were blitzing us a lot. Sometimes when they’re doing that if you can sneak one past the second level you usually got a big play. They were hard to get against that team so we needed it.”
The play deflated the Mustangs, but only temporarily.
“They broke that run, they scored, and I got the offense together and said guys, it’s not over,” Edenfield said.
Nick Crouch gave Laurel Highlands good field position at its own 43 with a 33-yard kickoff return and then took a lateral toss from Centofani 22 yards for a first down at the MP 35. Centofani completed a third-and-7 pass to Calloway for 14 yards and a first down at the 18 then connected on a third-and-goal throw to Coleman on a rollout for a 5-yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone to put the Mustangs back in front, 17-14 with 2:37 left in the third quarter.
Edenfield commended Centofani after the game.
“He’s only a sophomore and he’s been awesome,” Edenfield said. “All summer, every day after we would have a three-hour workout he’d come sit in my office for about an hour to an hour and a half and we’d watch film. He’s definitely taken a jump.”
Now behind again, the Vikings responded once more. Runs of 33, 14 and 11 yards by Morell keyed a drive to the LH 14 from where Snyder nailed a 31-yard field goal from the left hash mark to knot the score at 17-17 with 10:01 remaining in the game.
The defenses dominated the rest of the quarter. Laurel Highlands’ last three possessions of regulation ended in punts while the final three times Mount Pleasant had the ball resulted in a punt, an interception by Crouch and the clock running out.
Fazekas revealed his preparation for overtime.
“I’m trying to get them right,” he said. “We’ve got the couple, three, four plays we’re going to run. We’re just making sure we’ve got everyone in. You just try to get them focused.”
Mount Pleasant got the ball first in OT from the 10-yard line and runs of 6 and 2 yards by Hudec sandwiched around a no gain by Morell set up fourth and 2. Fazekas decided to forego the field goal and Smithnossky got the ball over the goal line from a shotgun snap for what proved to be the game-winning score. Snyder added the extra point.
Laurel Highlands got its chance with the ball but after a 2-yard run by Crouch to the 8, Centofani had two consecutive passes broken up by Noah DeWitt and his fourth-down throw was swatted away by Keefer to seal the victory for the Vikings.
Fazekas gave credit to Edenfield and the Mustangs coaching staff.
“I knew it was going to be tough. I knew they were a better football team now,” Fazekas said. “That staff is doing a good job in a short time.”
Edenfield lauded his players.
“They’ve been bought in since I got hired 96 days ago, May 12,” Edenfield said. “We came out and we competed. On defense we flew to the ball. We’ve just got to finish some drives on offense. We did what we wanted to do for the most part. But Mount Pleasant is a good team.
“Starting tomorrow we’re going to watch the film and we’re going to clean it up. Then we’re going to get back to work on Monday.”
SCORING SUM
Mount Pleasant 7-0-7-3-7 – 24
Laurel Highlands 7-0-10-0 – 17
Laurel Highlands
First Quarter
LH: Jonah Coleman recovered fumble in end zone (Jackson Nairn kick), 9:10
MP: Tristan Wtorkiewicz 5 run (Tyke Snyder kick), 1:33
Third Quarter
LH: Nairn 25 field goal, 7:26
MP: Kaden Hudec 80 run (Snyder kick), 7:11
LH: Coleman 5 pass from Gabriel Centofani (Nairn kick), 2:37
Fourth Quarter
MP: Snyder 31 field goal, 10:01
Overtime
MP: Bobby Smithnosky 2 run (Snyder kick)