Knights cruise to 6-1
TORONTO — The Toronto offense scored on every offensive possession it had and the defense added a score with a pick-six as the Red Knights knocked off a woefully undermanned Beallsville 11 Friday night at Clarke Hinkle Field.
The victory improved the Red Knights to 6-1 and set up a red letter date at home next week against unbeaten River.
The Toronto offense scored on the first play of its first four offensive possessions. Once it got 35 points with a Max Tice 14-yard run off right tackle, the officials invoked the mercy rule and ran the clock throughout the remainder of the game. That made it one of the fastest played high school football games in years with the 7 p.m. start ending at 8:40 p.m. including a 20-minute halftime.
Beallsville competed with only 11 players in uniform. They have 15 on the roster, but four were sidelined with injuries.
The Blue Devils scored its lone touchdown against mostly freshman Toronto players and with just 48 seconds left on the clock on a 37-yard pass play from freshman quarterback Dakota Phillips to classmate James Schnegg.
Schnegg, a running back, was the only Blue Devil player with positive yardage as he ran the ball three times for four yards.
The winless Blue Devils had minus 12 yards rushing in the game. The game was so one-sided that the 37-yard touchdown pass gave the Blue Devils a net of 25 total yards in the game.
Meanwhile, the Red Knights tallied 219 yards (159 rushing and 51 passing), which appears to be a small number when you look at the score, but virtually the entire game was played deep on Beallsville’s side of the field and Blue Devil coach, Larry Deem, chose not to punt the ball on most fourth down situations.
“I have to credit the Beallsville team with having the courage to come in here with 11 bodies and playing a team like us,” said Meek after the game. “We’ve had success and we have some big, strong physical kids.
“But it was a good night. We scored early and often, played great defense. We were able to get the first team out and everyone got to play. I thought our jayvees played well.
“We’re focused on this year, but I want to say our freshmen and sophomores have improved tremendously since they were in middle school. We feel our future is bright.
“We’re healthy and going into the game next week 6-1. We have a very good River team coming in here, but it’s our intention to win the game. We’ll have a good week of practice and get the kids ready.”
On Toronto’s first play from scrimmage at their own 49, sophomore quarterback Nathan Karaffa found Danny Zdinak open on the right sideline at about the 25-yard line. The senior eluded a couple of Beallsville tacklers as he dashed to the end zone. It was Toronto’s lone pass of the game.
Zdinak, who made six of seven extra point kick attempts, split the uprights giving the Red Knights the 7-0 lead just 28 seconds into the game.
As coach Meek said, the scores came often after that. The next one came 2:10 later on a 43-yard punt return by senior Max Tice. It was the first of three touchdowns for Tice. He raced through a gaping hole at right tackle from 11 yards out to make it 21-0.
Ty West’s interception and 20-yard return to pay dirt was followed by another Tice run off right tackle this time a 14-yarder.
Junior Jake Keenan, who replaced Karaffa at the start of the second quarter, scored on a 17-yard keeper up the middle and sophomore Carson Meek, the coach’s son, scampered 27 yards as the Red Knight offensive line cleared out the right side. That made the score 48-0 at the half.
Sophomore Kobe Herrick replaced Keenan and he too found pay dirt with an 18-yard keeper to open the second half scoring.
Freshman Zach Berger got into the act with a 3-yard run up the middle. Another freshman, Jesse Fulton bolted into the end zone with a 16-yard scamper for the final Toronto score with 5:49 left in the game.
Toronto 66, Beallsville 7
Beallsville 0 0 0 7 — 7
Toronto 35 13 12 6 — 66
T: Zdinak 51 pass from Karaffa (Zdinak kick)
T: Tice 43 punt return (Zdinak kick)
T: Tice 11 run (Zdinak kick)
T: West 20 interception return (Zdinak kick)
T: Tice 14 run (Zdinak kick)
T: Keenan 17 run (Zdinak kick)
T: Meek 27 run (kick failed)
T: Herrick 18 run (run failed)
T: Berger 3 run (run failed)
T: Fulton 16 run (run failed)
B: Schnegg 37 pass from Phillips( Hill kick)
RUSHING: Beallsville: 9-(-12). Schnegg 3-4, Milosavljevic 5-(-4), Nace 1-(-5), Phillips 12 (-7); Toronto: 15-159-6TD. Tice 2-25-TD, Berger 3-19-TD, Meek 2-35-TD, Stackhouse 1-21, Smith 1-(-3), Fulton 1-16-TD, Keenan 1-27-TD, Herrick 2-30-TD.
PASSING: Beallsville: 3-15-37-TD-2INT (all by Phillips). Toronto: 1-1-51-TD (all by Karaffa).
RECEIVING: Beallsville: Milosavljevic 2-0, Schnegg 1-37-TD. Toronto: Zdinak 1-51-TD.
FIRST DOWNS: Beallsville 3; Toronto 4.
FUMBLES-LOST: Beallsville 1-0; Toronto 0-0.
PENALTIES: Beallsville 0-0; Toronto 2-20.