By Bill Albright

The Blue Devils scored on the first play of the game, but Farrell responded with 43 unanswered points.

FARRELL, Pa. — It was homecoming for Farrell High School Friday night, and the Steeler football team provided the alums with a lot to cheer about as they rolled over Sharpsville 49-14 in a District 10, Region 1-A battle.

“We were flat coming out,” said Farrell coach Jarrett Samuels. “It has been a rough week for me personally with my wife recovering from neck surgery, but I am extremely happy that my coaches kept things intact for me. I really appreciate them and the kids really performed for us tonight.”

Sharpsville coach Paul Piccirilli saw his worst fears come true in the game.

“If you look at our team, normally on a good year this is basically a JV team,” he said. “We have about three good seniors, but we are just going to keep battling each week and try to get better. Our team is so young and they [Farrell] are so quick. They have a nice team and there is no doubt about that.”

Samuels put his finger on one important aspect of his team that has plagued them recently.

“We have to get healthy,” he said. “We have 36 total players and we only had 24 dressed to play tonight. We have a number of starters banged up and we have to get healthy and we have to do it fast. We also have to stay focused in the classroom, stay eligible, stay out of trouble and come on the field and perform. They can perform when they are on the field. What we need to do is get them on the field.”

Maybe knowing what was facing his team, Piccirilli tried a few different wrinkles at the outset of the game.

The Blue Devils didn’t show up to Paulekas Stadium until about 15 minutes prior to kickoff, and when the game began, they showed their version of the tight formation on offense that resulted in a touchdown on the first play of the game.

“We knew what was going on and we just decided to try something new to get our kids in a good frame of mind,” he said. “For one play it was nice and we tried the tight formation because our kids haven’t been picking up the blitzes of our opponent.

“On a whole, I thought we did real well. The only thing that really disappointed me was that sometimes we just let down too much, but they are young and they will learn. They are doing a great job of learning and growing up this year so what we need is to win next week’s game to hopefully get the fourth [playoff] slot in our league.”

The Steelers (5-2, 4-1) have won five in a row, putting themselves in a good position to qualify for the playoffs.

“We still have to win out,” said Samuels. “Every game for us from here on out is a playoff game. When you start out 0-2 and in a hole, you have to come out fighting and our guys have been doing that. They have been called all kinds of things, but these guys have responded for the past five weeks after the tough start and we just have to keep it going.”

The Blue Devils (4-3, 4-2) scored on the first play of the game on a 61-yard run by Nathaniel Titus, but Steelers responded with 43 unanswered points.

Farrell’s Hailstock brothers as each scored a pair of touchdowns.

Lamont scored on runs of 1 and 11 yards, while Malcolm hauled in a 46-yard TD pass from quarterback Dan Odem before completing the scoring with a 49-yard burst.

Lamont finished with 34 yards on seven carries while Malcolm wound up with 90 yards on eight carries.