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South Fayette travels to Knoch

By Eleanor Bailey Sports Editor Ebailey@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
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On the road again has been the theme song for South Fayette this football season and the tune does not change this week as the Lions travel to Saxonburg to face Knoch at 7 p.m. Sept. 22. The 90-minute trip comes on the heels of a journey to Uniontown Sept. 15 where the Lions downed the Red Raiders, 51-6, to run their record to 4-0 overall and their regular-season winning streak to 52.

“None,” said coach Joe Rossi in response to how much emphasis the Lions place upon the streak. “We never talk about it. We just focus on getting better. We were pleased with the overall effort against Uniontown and going to new places. It’s a long ride on a bus and so is this week but hopefully it prepares us for the long haul.”

At the rate the Lions are going, they are readying themselves for a path that takes them to the playoffs and beyond. They get back into the hunt for the Northwest Nine Conference championship when they tackle Knoch. The Uniontown contest was a non-conference clash.

Rossi hopes the Lions establish themselves as they did against the Red Raiders. They rolled up all 49 points before Uniontown scored in the third quarter.

Drew Saxton completed 11 of 13 passes for 204 yards and scoring strikes of 19 and 15 yards to Mike Trimbur and Ryan Kokoski. Saxton, who recently surpassed 5,000 yards passing in his career, has completed 53 of 81 attempts this fall for 795 yards and seven touchdowns.

Johnny Beck rushed for 88 yards on eight attempts and scored twice on runs of 23 and 15 yards. He also returned a fumble for a 17-yard TD. Johnny Obenaur and Jared Mowod also rushed for TDs measuring 2 and 15 yards respectively. Beck leads the ground game with 335 yards on 52 carries and has scored five times.

Defensively, the Lions had four sacks and five tackles for losses from Ben Coyne, Ray Eldridge, Nolan Lutz, Jowad and Zach Sabo. Coyne (20) and Eldridge (19) are the team’s leading tacklers. Coyne is tops also in sacks with nine, followed by Eldridge, who has five.

“Defense has gotten the job done,” Rossi said. “Offensively, we’re spreading the ball around,” he added, noting Noah Plack, Peyton Tinney and Lutz had receptions in addition to Kokoski and Trimbur against Uniontown. “Beck’s also been scoring for us and taking care of the ball and those guys behind him (Obenaur and Mowod) are also working hard for us.”

The Lions will have to work as hard against the Knights. Frank Whalen, who coached Knoch during its Heinz Field run and served on the defensive staff at Geneva College the past few seasons, employs the flexbone offense that Georgia Tech and Navy runs.

“You rarely see it in high school,” said Rossi. “So we need a great week of practice and be disciplined.”

“We will see dives and options that utilize all of their running backs,” Rossi added. “On defense, they will blitz linebackers from all over and play man coverage.”

While the Knights boast a strong offensively line, they are “aggressive” in playing their 3-5 defense. Ivan Stapchuck, Tanner Grassi and Saavon Mosby are players to watch for the Knights.

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