Herald Staff reports
ä Sharpsville 42, Linesville 7 — At McCracken Field in Sharpsville, the Blue Devils (6-2, 7-2) secured the No. 2 spot behind Farrell in Region 1-A with a victory over the Lions (5-2, 7-2).
Junior fullback Marcus Llewellyn rumbled for 245 yards and scored 4 touchdowns as the Blue Devils rolled to the win.
Llewellyn gave Sharpsville a 6-0 lead in the 1st quarter on a 19-yard TD run. Jonathan Wilson booted the PAT to make it 7-0.
In the 2nd quarter, Llewellyn scored on a 12-yard run and Wilson added the extra-point for a 14-0 lead. That TD was set up on a big 58-yard run by Llewellyn.
Sharpsville made a statement just before halftime by putting together a 12-play, 96-yard drive that was capped on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Frank Joseph to Nate Titus. Wilson added the PAT as the Blue Devils took a 21-0 lead into the break.
In the 3rd quarter, Llewellyn scored on a 5-yard run and Wilson’s kick gave the Blue Devils a 28-0 advantage.
Linesville cut the lead to 28-7 early in the 4th frame on a 24-yard TD pass from Trevor Litwiler to Jack Sindlinger and Litwiler’s PAT.
Sharpsville answered on their next possession with a 6-yard TD run by Joseph. Llewellyn would later add a 19-yard TD run.
Titus finished the game with 106 yards rushing on 12 carries.
Sindlinger led Linesville’s ground game with 40 yards on 5 carries. Litwiler was 12-of-27 for 176 and 1 interception. Litwin caught 4 of his passes for 70 yards.
ä Oil City 19, Hickory 0 — At Hornet Stadium, it was no Koyack, no comeback, no clinching.
The host Hornets had an opportunity to control their own playoff destiny Saturday night, and the Oilers were without their NCAA Division I tight end prospect Ben Koyack.
But unlike a year ago when Hickory rallied from a 31-7 halftime deficit to post a 42-38 shootout win at Oil City, the Hornets were held to just 83 total yards and 4 first downs by the Oilers.
Orchestrating the Oil City offense was quarterback Mark Kulinski, who connected on 10 of 19 attempts for 200 yards, including a 69-yard TD toss to Dallas Williams on the game’s initial play from scrimmage.
“That took the life out of us, the first play of the game,” Hornets’ head coach Frank Antuono admitted regarding what he termed a “blown coverage.”
Defensively, Oil City (4-2, 7-2) coerced the Hornets into 3 turnovers — twice recovering mishandled squibbed kickoffs — and sacked Hickory quarterback Tyler Gargano 3 times for 32 yards in losses while also forcing him to fumble once.
“They played great defense against us. The field (condition, which was pock-marked with puddles and mud) didn’t help — it hurt our speed a little bit — but both teams gotta play in it, so there’s no excuses. We got beat by a better football team,” Antuono added.
Complementing the Oilers’ offense was Cody Johnson, who rushed for a game-high 86 yards on 18 totes, including a 6-yard TD run, and Logan Carson, who capped an 18-play 79-yard, 10-minute, 49-second drive with a 2-yard plunge over the left side with 2:38 remaining.
With Kulinski connecting with a handful of different receivers and utilizing play-action, the Oilers amassed 329 yards on 56 time-consuming plays.
“Our defense has played well all season long, and the defensive staff has done a great job with them. There’s some tough, hard-nosed kids on that defense,” Antuono said regarding Mike Grata, who picked off a pass, Mark Mrozek, who recovered a fumble, and Akeem Fields, who generally wreaked havoc. “But you can’t be on the field seventy-five, eighty percent of the game; it’s just not gonna work. Offensively, we just didn’t do what we needed to do.”
Hickory (4-2, 5-3) hosts Sharon Friday night in its regular-season finale. Wilmington (6-1, 8-1), Sharon (6-1, 7-2) and the Oilers have secured District 10 Class AA playoff berths, while the Hornets have to win over Sharon or hope Greenville (3-3, 6-3) is upset at home by 2-win Slippery Rock.
“They took it to us,” admitted Antuono. “But with all that being said, our playoff lives are still alive.
“We’ve got to play a great Sharon team next week, it’s our rival, it’s Senior Night, and our kids, we still have something to play for,” Antuono assessed.
Note: Koyack reportedly injured a meniscus knee ligament in a practice a week ago Thursday and did not play last week. The junior tight end, who caught 4 TD passes last year against Hickory, reportedly is lost for the balance of this season. — By Ed Farrell, Herald assistant sports editor.
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LINESVILLE 0 0 0 7 7
SHARPSVILLE 7 14 7 14 42
Scoring plays
S — M. Llewellyn, 19 run (Wilson kick)
S — M. Llewellyn, 12 run (Wilson kick)
S — Titus, 5 pass from Joseph (Wilson kick)
S — M. Llewellyn, 5 run (Wilson kick)
L — Sindlinger, 24 pass from Litwiler (Litwiler kick)
S — Joseph, 6 run (Wilson kick)
S — M. Llewellyn, 19 run (Wilson kick)
Team stats
LINESVILLE SHARPSVILLE
15 First downs 18
97 Rushing yards 371
176 Passing yards 10
27-12-1 Att-comp-int 5-2-0
273 Total yards 381
N/A Fumbles-lost N/A
3-28 Penalties-yards lost 4-40
Individual stats
Rushing: LINESVILLE — Sindlinger 5-40, Litwiler 18-39, Kerns 4-18; SHARPSVILLE — Llewellyn 31-245, Titus 12-106, Joseph 2-16, Totin 1-3, Christopher 1-1.
Passing: LINESVILLE — Litwiler 27-12-1-176; SHARPSVILLE — Joseph 5-2-0-10.
Receiving: LINESVILLE — Litwin 4-70, Miller 2-40, Sindlinger 3-36, Thompson 2-24, Kerns 1-6; SHARPSVILLE — Stafford 1-5, Titus 1-5.
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OIL CITY 12 0 0 7 19
HICKORY 0 0 0 0 0
Scoring plays
OC — Williams, 69 pass from Kulinski (kick failed)
OC — Johnson, 6 run (pass failed)
OC — Carson, 2 run (Klena kick)
Team stats
OIL CITY HICKORY
11 First downs 4
129 Rushing yards 27
200 Passing yards 46
19-10-1 Att-comp-int 8-4-0
329 Total yards 83
1-1 Fumbles-lost 3-3
7-60 Penalties-yards lost 3-15
Individual stats
Rushing: OIL CITY — Johnson 18-86, Carson 11-25, Kulinski 5-16, Heasley 3-2; HICKORY — Pegues 9-25, Hayes 8-23, Hosey 2-4, Gargano 6-(-25).
Passing: OIL CITY — Kulinski 19-10-1, 200; HICKORY — Gargano 8-4-0, 46.
Receiving: OIL CITY — Lantz 3-49, Williams 2-85, Taylor 2-38, Johnson 1-11, Heasley 1-9, Forgey 1-8; HICKORY — Jones 4-46.
