Saturday, September 24, 2011
Austintown
The Austintown Fitch sidelines and home crowd breathed a sigh of relief when GlenOak running back Bri’Onte Dunn was shaken up midway through the second quarter.
The 5-star power back and Ohio State commit did not play for the final six minutes of the first half and he sat out for the entire second half.
In his place, a trio of Golden Eagles shared the carrying duties and ran their way to a 21-10 victory.
“We knew the backups were good, we just didn’t expect them to play as much as they did,” Fitch coach Phil Annarella said. “They did a good job all over the field.”
Tyler Lancaster, Josh Lever and Jordan Autry accounted for 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
“All three of our guys did a great job filling in,” GlenOak coach Scott Garcia said. “They were kind of our three-headed monster and filled in wonderfully.”
The Falcons caught the bad side of the injury bug, too. Their starting running back, Will Mahone, was injured on the first possession of the game, right after a 31 yard dash. He did not return.
Backup Tyreese Anderson ran for 122 yards on 29 attempts as the centerpiece of the Fitch offense.
“It was just one of those nights for both of us,” Garcia said.
On Anderson’s third carry of the night he scored a 5-yard touchdown, the preceding play was a 41 yard scamper by the junior.
GlenOak answered on its next possession, a three play drive sparked by a 36-yard hookup from quarterback Reid Worstell to Dashawn Hall.
Later on, a 31 yard field goal by Ken Kilpatrick gave the Falcons a 10-7 lead heading to the locker room.
But, that would be it. Defensive adjustments from GlenOak limited Fitch to just 45 yards of offense in the second half.
“We didn’t give up big plays,” Garcia said. “The defensive coaches did a great job fixing what needed to be fixed and we stopped them.”
The loss of Mahone was finally catching up to the Falcons who were struggling to move the ball and re-establish their running game.
“When you have a couple of your key pieces out on offense its a little tough and it feeds into their defense,” Annarella said.
Greater pressure was added to junior quarterback Matt Futkos, who was also promoted from his understudy role filling in for Demitrious Davis.
He was sacked five times and lost 20 yards.
“This is the only time I’ve seen him play negatively,” Annarella said. “He is very capable and works incredibly hard. He was a little rattled.”
