The right Cook
JACKSON TWP — Jack Cook wasn't short-changed in his first varsity win as a starting quarterback.
Seneca Valley's junior signal caller accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) as the Raiders crushed visiting Fox Chapel 42-14 at NexTier Stadium Friday night.
“He's a dangerous athlete,” said SV coach Dave Vestal. “What makes him really dangerous is when he rolls out and is able to find a guy in open space. He brings valuable intangibles to the position.”
Cook performed well in a 34-24 Week 1 loss to North Allegheny, accounting for 171 total yards and throwing a touchdown pass. But his effort against the Foxes will go down as his coming out party.
His 64-yard touchdown run opened the scoring with just two and a half minutes gone from the first-quarter clock. In the second quarter, he connected on a 9-yard scoring toss to Payton Skalos and scored again himself on a 6-yard run as the Raiders led 28-0 at halftime.
Cook ended the game completing 11 of his 18 pass attempts for 154 yards, hitting six separate targets in the process. He also chewed up 122 yards on the ground on 12 carries.
“We want to jump on a team's throat and make a lot of big plays early,” said Cook. “I feel comfortable in the pocket, but also when I'm moving around. I thought we played really well tonight. The line played well and my receivers helped me out by making plays.”
Fox Chapel's offense was hardly a threat in the first half. During the first two quarters, senior tailback Tommy Smith rushed for 92 yards, but the rest of the team had minus-17 yards of offense.
Smith's 30-yard romp early in the second quarter set the Foxes up at the Raider 35, but on the very next play, quarterback Brendan Whelan and Smith had a bad exchange on a handoff and Seneca's Jake Holl recovered the fumble at the 37.
With only one weapon to worry about, SV's defense pounced on the Foxes' anemic attack.
“We had a couple of different defensive calls going in, but we didn't make it too complicated,” said Vestal.
Penalties did a better job than Fox Chapel's defense of slowing the Raiders down. In the first half, SV was flagged six times for 61 yards. By the end of the game, the total damage was 12 for 96 yards. Most of the infractions were holding, illegal procedure and illegal block fouls.
“That's definitely a concern,” Vestal said. “Those are things that we can control and we will fix them. We can't hurt ourselves with that many penalties.”
Fox Chapel's defense turned in the team's first score early in the second half when Cook's pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Smith, who reached the end zone from 26 yards out.
Cook threw two touchdown passes in the third quarter — 12 yards to Mark Smith and 25 to Ben Bachik.
Fox Chapel's Nick Gizzo scored on a 49-yard touchdown run in the fourth period.
Seneca Valley travels to Norwin next Friday for a non-conference game.
