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Sloppy Fitch hold off East in Rayen Stadium flag-fest
By Curtis Pulliam
Youngstown
As the Austintown Fitch football team walked off the field, Phil Annarella told his players to wait in the locker room.
Önnarella was displeased with his team’s performance.
“Lackluster,” Annarella said. “The penalties were just ungodly.”
The Falcons overcame 10 penalties and held off East, 30-14, at Rayen Stadium on Saturday.
Antwan Harris led the way for the Falcons with 121 rushing yards and 126 passing yards.
“I thought we could have played better,” Harris said. “But the fact that we got the win is most important.”
On their second drive of the game, the Falcons started on their 17-yard line.
A Harris run of 19 yards and a Harris pass to Earl Scott for 59 yards set the Falcons up on the Panthers’ 5.
Two plays later, Tyler Hewlett scored on a 4-yard run.
“We just had to get this all done really,” Hewlett said. “The line gave me a hole like they always do.”
After Hewlett’s 17-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, Harris found the end zone with his feet.
“The run with me was working real well,” said Harris of his 7-yard third-quarter touchdown run.
The Panthers had some success rushing the ball in the first half.
A 10-play drive to start the game ended with a loss of downs. Jawalen Shaw came up short on a fourth-down run.
“We are in a situation right now where we are not doing well with the little things that take you from a close game to over the top,” East coach P.J. Mays said. “The game plan was to give our kids an opportunity to be in it late.”
The Falcons led 23-0, but the Panthers staged a comeback.
A 27-yard pass from Bobby Jefferson to Marquoise Gurley cut the lead to 23-6.
After a defensive stop, the Panthers scored again on a 3-yard touchdown by Shaw.
The two-point conversation was good on a run by Shaw to make it 23-14.
A failed onside-kick attempt proved too much for the Panthers.
The Falcons bounced back with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Nate Stevens with 1:07 left to close out the scoring.
The touchdown sealed the victory for Fitch.
Hewlett added an interception in the fourth quarter to go with his earlier touchdowns.
“It (our performance) was sloppy,” Hewlett said. “We played with no energy out there.”
But Mays was impressed with Hewlett’s play.
“Like he does every week we knew he was going to make a play,” Mays said. “He plays phenomenal football.”
Harris felt the Falcons overlooked the Panthers (1-6).
“They shouldn’t have scored on us,” Harris said. “We should have shut them out. That was the objective of the game.”
Mistakes cost both teams, who combined for 24 penalties.
“Every big play was getting called back because of a hold or something else,” Annarella said. “We’ve got to fix that.”
Despite improving to 6-1, Annarella was still furious afterward.
“If we play like that our last couple of games, we are going to get beat,” Annarella said. “We have to coach better and work harder at practice.”