Musolino, Reese power

Struthers past Campbell

By ERIC FORTUNE

sports@vindy.com

CAMPBELL

The 88th meeting between Campbell and Struthers was again as physical a game as any between two schools separated by just three miles.

In the end, the Wildcats won for the sixth straight time behind the legs of A.J. Musolino and Regal Reese en route to a 28-0 victory at John Knapick Field.

“I just wanted to get out of here with a one point victory and go home when coming to your rival’s place,” Struthers coach Curt Kuntz said. “Honestly, I’ve been standing on top of the table all week, to anyone who would listen to me, on how physical and well coached these guys were.”

Musolino (159 yards and two touchdowns) and Reese (93 yards and two touchdowns) finished with 252 of Struthers’ 355 total yards.

The Red Devils lead the series 45-41-2, but the Wildcats have won 10 of the last 12 games between the teams. Struthers' six-game winning streak is its longest in the series.

The Red Devils (2-5, 0-3 All-American Conference Blue) opened the game with two first downs running nearly six minutes off the clock before watching their drive stall near midfield.

Struthers (6-1, 2-1 AAC White) responded with their own lengthy drive consuming more than seven minutes going 83 yards on 15 running plays. The Wildcats ran just one pass play and overcame two penalties when Musolino snuck it in from a yard out on fourth-and-goal to make it 8-0 early in the second quarter.

On their ensuing possession, things went south for the Red Devils as they fumbled the ball in Struthers territory.

Three plays later, Musolino broke a 54-yard run and broke four tackles to extended the lead to 15-0 at the 8:50 mark of the second quarter.

“We just called a pass play and they did a good job of getting underneath of what we wanted to throw,” Kuntz said. “He just kind of did the rest on his own.”

After both teams punted on their next possessions, pinned at their own 4, Campbell’s punt traveled just 16 yards.

Five plays later Reese punched it in from three yards with 30 seconds left in the half to extend the lead to 21-0.

“I didn’t sleep a lot all week because they are a representation of their head coach [Ed Rozum]. They are extremely physical,” Kuntz said. “They are a tough bunch. Fortunately for us, they put the ball on the ground and gave us opportunities.”

The Wildcats controlled the line of scrimmage with 213 total yards to just 37 for the Red Devils in the first half.

In the second half, the Red Devils forced the Wildcats to punt and were poised to cut the Struthers lead to 14 when Darian Jones found Lazarus LeBron behind the Struthers secondary. But the ball was dropped.

Reese’s second TD made it 28-0, then Campbell saw another drive end at midfield when Jones’ pass was intercepted.

“I thought we did some good things, but two turnovers hurt us,” Rozum said. “I thought we dropped some passes that we should have caught. Our kids played hard. I’m proud of how they played. It’s something that has been all season with us, is our execution.”

Struthers held Yianni Koullias, coming off a 163-yard, four-TD performance against Girard, to just 25 yards.