I’ve run out of superlatives to describe Nick O’Brien’s performance this year. Against Mid Valley, the numbers speak for themselves. 33 rushes for 277 yards, 1 reception for 77 yards—a total of 354 yards from scrimmage. On the Warriors first offensive play of the game, O’Brien ran for a 85 yard touchdown.
O’Brien’s offensive performance was supported by great offensive line play as well as an inspired game plan drawn up by the coaches. In the first half, the Warriors often spread the field by setting five players wide, with O’Brien taking the snap from shotgun formation. This leaves much of the defense nowhere near the point of attack. With a little room to operate, O’Brien typically can make a few guys miss, and then he is off to the races.
We have chronicled the good play of the offensive line throughout the season: Bartoli, Zielinski, Driving Hawk, Smith, Erzar, Taylor—and we saw Corey Popovich in at tight end for the injured Trent Grove. But it’s time that the receivers get some recognition for their blocking. Adonizio, Schmitz, Langdon, Zezza, and Dylan Pegg have come to realize that their big blocks downfield have a lot to do with those 85 yard runs. So good job by all.
Even with the impressive offensive numbers compiled by O’Brien, the game with Mid Valley was not decided until late in the fourth quarter. Mid Valley came out on their first possession and drove the ball 86 yards behind the impressive running of Antonio Russo and Chris Merenich. The Spartan offensive line was having their way with the Warriors as they ripped off runs in 5 and 10 yard chunks. The Spartans converted a third and 22 from the Warrior 33, when Sophomore QB MartinWalsh scrambled far behind the line of scrimmage and finding Ronnie Tommasetti for a completion near the first down markers. On the fourth and short, the Warriors then jumped off side to give the Spartans first and goal and soon scored the game’s first touchdown on a 7 yard run by Russo.
The Warriors answered in stunning fashion. On their first play from scrimmage, O’Brien took the snap from shotgun, ran around the right side—looked to be hemmed in between tacklers and then broke through, and ran 85 yards to tie the score at 7.
Jake Smith’s deep kickoff hemmed the Spartan offense inside their own 20, and the Warrior defense got on track and forced a punt and the Warriors took over on the Spartan 38. It only took 3 plays for the Warriors to drive down the field and it looked like a sure score. However, from the 5 yard line, Jeff Skursky fumbled the ball into the end zone giving Mid Valley new life.
The Warrior defense was starting to figure things out. Mid Valley went three and out and a nice punt return by Cody Schmitz put the Warriors at the Spartan 25. Three plays later, O’Brien ran a keeper, broke two tackles off the left side, and ran 20 yards for a score and putting the Warriors up 14-7.
In the middle of the second quarter, Cody Schmitz scored on a 7 yard TD run. Schmitz had a nice night running the ball (6 rushes for 29 yards), seeing action at tailback for the injured Ahmad Bouie. With the Warriors up 21-7 in the middle of the quarter, and the Warriors again with the ball, the young Mid Valley team showed that they were not going to quit. On a third and three from their own 33, O’Brien was caught behind the line of scrimmage for a loss and the Warrior were forced to punt. Mid Valley then drove a short field and Walsh hit Russo with a 10 yard pass making it a 21-14 game at half.
The Warriors received the kickoff in the second half. Going for the jugular, O’Brien dropped back looking for Tight End Corey Popovich streaking down the middle of the field. O’Brien’s pass was underthrown and picked off by Flume and returned to the Warrior 28 yard line. The Warriors dodged a bullet when two plays later, Jordan Zezza picked off a Walsh pass near the goal line and made a nifty return to the 30 yard line.
The Warrior offense went scoreless in the third quarter, with Zezza at QB and O’Brien at halfback running out of the “I”. In the middle of the 3rd, Tyler Collins returned a low line drive punt for 56 yards and a TD, tying the score at 21. Going into the fourth quarter, it was anyone’s ball game.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Zezza took the snap from the shotgun with O’Brien in the slot to the right. O’Brien took one step behind the line of scrimmage and Zezza quickly threw the ball in his direction. However, the ball was thown a little too far down field, and O’Brien had to lean far ahead off balance to catch the ball. He was completely defenseless as he leaned forward trying to make the catch and keep his balance, with a defender right there ready to demolish him. Miraculously, he kept his balance, the defender missed, O’Brien broke two more tackles and he was off to the races for a 77 yard TD reception giving the Warriors a 28-21 lead. Every time you think you have seen it all out O’Brien, he makes a jaw dropping play like this.
But the game was far from over. On its next possession, Mid Valley faced a critical 3rd and 10 from its own 20 yard line. Coach Frank Pazzaglia, one of the winningest coaches in the state of Pennsylvania, dug deep into his playbook and had his team execute a perfect hook and ladder play. Walsh dropped back, hit Tommasetti who had done a quick turn in 5 yards down field. Tommasetti pitched the ball to a trailing Rossi who had a full head of steam and took the ball 80 yards for a score making and tied the score at 28 with 10:42 left in the game. What a game!
The Warriors took the ball from their own 28, and on the second play of the drive came O’Brien’s best and perhaps most important run of the season—and it wasn’t even a touchdown. O’Brien took a pitch from Zezza, ran through the first wave of three tacklers behind the line of scrimmage, was hit five yards downfield, keeping his balance while doing a 360 degree pirouette. He then was hit straight on—knocked back two yards, shed the tackle, weaving his way toward the near sideline. He was finally horse collared at the 13 yard line of the Spartans. Two plays later, he scored the winning touchdown on a 6 yard run with 9:14 remaining in the game.
Still, the Spartans were not ready to quit. This is a team with only 4 seniors. They gave the Warriors all they could handle. Lineman Marcus Munley played an outstanding game on both sides of the ball. Rossi and Merenich are high quality running backs—and sophomore quarterback Martin Walsh showed he could throw the ball on the run. Ronny Tommassetti certainly proved that he is a force on both sides of the ball. There were several points in the game when they could have folded, but give them credit, they kept fighting back. While Rossi and Merenich will graduate, all of their other skilled players will be back next year including Chris Rebar and Tyler Collins. They should be a force next year in AA.
After O’Brien’s final touchdown, it took a big defensive play by Jake Smith and Marty Michaels to seal the deal. With the Spartans driving near midfield and a 3rd and 3, Smith and Michaels penetrated and hit Rossi for a 2 yard loss. The Spartans failed to convert the fourth down, and the Warriors were able to run out the clock.
AJ Lenkaitis was 5 for 5 for extra points--and those were big. Corey Popovich had another nice game at defensive end and had crushing sack of Walsh. Joe Taylor played well on defense, and had an interception. All purpose player and quarterback Jordan Zezza looked like Joe Montana out there staring the play clock down to 1 second before signaling for the ball to be snapped. Cody Schmitz ran the ball hard from his tailback position. Then, there is the ever steady Matt Kintz. He did a superlative job blocking from his fullback position. . Toward the end of the game, Matt suffered severe pain in his jaw from being hit in the face on the previous play.
The Warriors live to play next week. They will be taking on GAR for the District 2 Championship..
Nick Perugini |
