BIG SEVEN Farrell passes test against South Side

The Steelers erased Beaver's 14-6 halftime lead.
By ERIC POOLE
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
FARRELL, Pa. -- After blowout victories against Union and Neshannock the previous two weeks, Farrell got an unexpected gutcheck Friday against South Side Beaver.
After spotting the Rams (1-6, 2-7 Big Seven) two first-half touchdowns, the Steelers (6-1, 7-2) got ready for the playoffs with a 28-14 win.
"We could have collapsed but we didn't," said Farrell coach Lou Falconi. "We needed this kind of win."
And no one met Farrell's test of character with more style than Allan Claiborne, who gained 108 yards on 10 carries and had touchdown runs of 1, 43 and 39 yards. The senior running back-linebacker had 93 of his yards in the second half as the Steelers erased a 14-6 South Side Beaver halftime lead.
Claiborne said he didn't do anything different in the second half.
"I just kept my posture and ran hard," he said. "My line did the job and I just finished it."
Both ways: But Claiborne may have been even better on defense, with 13 tackles. A pretty fair number of those stops came against Rams 5-foot-9, 240-pound fullback Matthew Kohnen, who gained 92 yards on 30 carries.
The foul weather conditions forced South Side Beaver out of its normal option attack and into a power-based game with Kohnen as the focal point.
The Rams got the game's first break in the middle of the first quarter, when James Kazil partially blocked a punt by Farrell's Jason Marshall. The 6-yard kick gave South Side Beaver possession at the Steelers' 30.
Kohnen, whose longest run of the night was 8 yards, finished the 9-play drive with a 3-yard plunge with 51 seconds remaining in the period.
A fumble recovery by Nathaniel Reese put the Rams back in business at midfield less than two minutes later. This time, South Side Beaver quarterback William Schneider caught Farrell overplaying Kohnen.
The result was a 42-yard touchdown run and a 14-0 Rams lead.
Gaining momentum: After that, it was the Steelers' turn to answer the challenge. After Claiborne's 1-yard scoring run, which capped a 7-play, 70-yard drive, the momentum clearly shifted to Farrell.
The Steelers' quick-strike running game keyed their first touchdown march. Brothers Justin and Quentin Odem provided the drive's big plays with back-to-back runs of 29 and 31 yards, respectively.
The second half began on a truly bizarre play -- a negative 1-yard kickoff. The Rams attempted squib and onside kickoffs all night in an effort to keep the ball away from Claiborne and the Odem brothers.
Tyler Mercer's kick to start the second half headed toward the sideline, took an odd bounce and rolled back inside the South Side Beaver 40 before a Rams' player fell on it.
Big call: Falconi decided to take advantage of having both the wind and the ball on the next play by calling a pass -- one of only four the Steelers threw all night. Brian Dungee's near-perfect toss hit Pete Craig in stride for a 39-yard touchdown play.
Even though an unsuccessful two-point conversion left the Rams with a two-point lead, Farrell's victory was only a matter of giving the ball to Claiborne for two long scoring runs.
The Steelers will open the playoffs at home next Friday or Saturday. Playoff pairings will be announced by the WPIAL Monday night in a press conference at the Marriott Hotel in the Pittsburgh suburb of Green Tree, Pa.