Trojans ride quick start to 36-0 win at Frazier
PERRYOPOLIS – Good teams excel in all three phases of football: offense, defense and special teams.
Each of those units produced impact plays for California in the opening minutes of its Class A Tri-County South Conference clash with Frazier on Friday night.
The stellar start propelled the Trojans to a dominating 36-0 victory over the host Commodores and into a first-place tie with Beth-Center in the standings. California improved to 2-0 in the conference and 3-2 overall. Frazier fell to 1-1 and 2-3.
Alan Dennis led the way for California with 147 rushing yards and two touchdowns and one reception for a 60-yard score in totaling 207 yards.
Trojans coach Ed Woods felt it was a statement win for his team.
“The kids came out and they really wanted to get this ‘W,'” Woods said. “They wanted to be 2-0 and send a message to the rest of the conference. Even though we lost two, we’re still a pretty good football team.”
The Commodores upended the Trojans in a WPIAL first-round playoff game last season, 27-12, but Woods insisted revenge wasn’t stressed in the lead-up to the rematch.
“There was no type of revenge. It was nothing about that,” Woods said. “It was just about us having to keep building wins in our conference.”
California showed it was prepared to do that on the first play of the game when Chase Shemansky gathered in the opening kickoff and raced down the right sideline for an 87-yard touchdown. The Commodores stopped the two-point conversion try – the one chink in the Trojans’ armor this night – but found themselves quickly down 6-0.
“That first kickoff return was huge,” Woods said. “That was a tone-setter.”
California’s special teams would also block a punt later in the game.
Frazier’s start didn’t go nearly as well as it was hit with penalties on its first two plays, setting up a first and 25. It was a common theme for the Commodores whose first three possessions each started with a flag.
“That’s a good football team. To win games against teams like that you can’t shoot yourself in the foot,” Frazier coach Tony Battaglini said. “We played behind the sticks a lot of the time in that first half. We’re in first and 20, second and 15.
“We’re not a team that has a whole lot of huge splash plays. We’re a team that has to stay on schedule. We need to get ourself in second and manageable, third and manageable. We didn’t do a very good job of that today.”
Three plays later it was the defense’s turn to make a big play for California. That was supplied by Weston Monticelli who picked off a third-down pass by the Commodores’ Brady Secrest at the Frazier 41.
Next up in the spotlight for the Trojans was their aerial attack with quarterback Brandon Meier completing a 28-yard pass to Brayden Crockett and then a 33-yard touchdown toss to a wide open Shemansky to make it 12-0 just 4:03 into the game.
“After that 12-0 start we knew we had them reeling a little bit and we had to keep our momentum going,” Meier said.
California again failed on the two-point try and would end the night 0 for 6 in that category, including a kneel down by Meier after its final TD.
After the Trojans defense forced a three-and-out, they set up shop at the Commodores 20. Now it was time for California’s ground game to step to the forefront.
Dennis broke free the next play on a scintillating 80-yard touchdown run and suddenly the visitors were up 18-0 with 5:11 still left in the first quarter.
“In all three phases tonight we proved we could be pretty good,” Woods said. “The special teams from the get-go, not just that return but the blocked punt. Our kids fed off of that and did a really good job tonight as far as tackling. That was definitely one of the keys for this week was rally to the football and be more aggressive than we were the week before.
“The backs ran hard. Brandon, for the most part, threw the ball pretty good tonight when we needed him to. Everything clicked.”
Frazier did have a few moments on defense where it rose up.
After a sack by California’s Carter Frank led to a Commodores punt, the Trojans threatened to score again but on the first play of the second quarter from the Frazier 21, Braydon Smith intercepted a Meier pass.
Frazier then notched its first two first downs of the game as Secrest completed a 13-yard pass to Austin Stewart and then ran for an 11-yard gain. The drive stalled soon after, though and a punt gave California the ball at its own 36.
Three plays later, Meier found with Dennis all alone behind the Commodores secondary for a 60-yard touchdown to make it 24-0 and the score stayed that way until halftime.
California had a chance to add to its lead after Crockett blocked a Frazier punt early in the third quarter to set up a first down at the Commodores 16.
Frazier’s defense allowed one first down but stiffened from there and Nico Anderson came up with the Commodores’ biggest play of the game when he intercepted a fourth-down pass by Meier at the 3-yard line and returned it 40 yards.
Still only down three scores, Secrest tried to rally his team and completed four of five passes for 31 yards as Frazier marched to the California 26, but Shemansky snuffed out the threat with an interception two plays later.
The Trojans would force three more turnovers, ending the game with five.
Frank recovered a fumble on the first play of the fourth quarter at the California 47. It took just two plays for the Trojans to turn that into their fifth touchdown. Meier scampered for a 41-yard gain and Dennis scored from 12 yards out on the next play for a 30-0 advantage.
Three plays later it was California’s Tyrese Blake pouncing on a loose ball at the Trojans 28.
From there, California marched 72 yards in a nine-play touchdown drive capped by Meier’s 4-yard pass to Crockett.
The Trojans’ Elijah Carpenter added an interception late in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t turn the ball over four or five times against a good football team because they’re going to capitalize on that,” Battaglini said. “We battled and we played a full four quarters, but it was just the mistakes and the turnovers. We kept putting ourselves in bad situations.
“A team with a pedigree like them, who’s won this conference numerous times in the last several years, you just can’t do that to yourself.”
Secrest completed 12 of 27 passes for 103 yards and the three interceptions. Stewart had six catches for 48 yards and Brant Alekson snagged four passes for 45 yards.
California’s defense held the Commodores to just six first downs, seven rushing yards and 110 total yards.
Meier connected on 9 of 13 passes for 196 yards, three TDs and two interceptions. He also ran the ball 10 times for 87 yards.
While revenge wasn’t the focus for California in its preparation for the game, Meier admitted last year’s playoff loss to the Commodores was still in the back of his mind.
“I was hyped up for this game,” Meier said. “When we saw they got moved into our conference we were looking forward to playing them again. Obviously, Frazier is a good football team. We knew we had to play really well to beat them.”
When asked about his own performance, Meier said, “That’s my offensive line, when I’m running or I’m throwing. All the props go to them.”
Shemansky reeled in three of Meier’s passes for 52 yards, Crockett made a pair of catches for 32 yards and Carpenter had one reception for 33 yards.
“I thought they played well tonight,” Woods said. “We’ll watch the film tomorrow, correct any mistakes that we made and move onto next week.”