Rough debut
BUTLER TWP— Josh Vick and the Kiski Area aerial game performed as advertised Friday night.
The Cavaliers senior quarterback, the leading passer in the WPIAL before suffering a season-ending knee injury midway through last year, threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-0 high school football victory over Butler.
Vick's performance spoiled the debut of first-year Golden Tornado head coach Jeff McAnallen.
"That quarterback is the real deal,"McAnallen said. "He threw the ball really well and you can only expect our guys to stay with their athletic receivers for so long."
Butler's defense sacked Vick only once and rarely got any pressure on him.
The Cavaliers scored on all four of their first-half possessions, putting together touchdown drives of 61, 80 and 52 yards, along with a 35-yard field goal by Zach Murdock.
Kiski's only score of the second half occurred on a screen pass to Bret Gunn that he broke for a 45-yard touchdown with 9:16 left in the game. The play was the Cavaliers' first snap following a Murdock interception of a Cole Harvey pass — one of three Butler turnovers.
"My first two years, we started slow out of the gate,"Kiski coach Chris Heater said. "We knew we had a lot of talent coming back and we were facing a young team.
"I wanted to keep my players' feet on the ground, that's all. We came out and played well."
The shutout was the first of Heater's three-year career at Kiski.
Butler moved the ball well early in the game. After the Cavaliers scored on their first possession, the Tornado strung together three successive first downs — all on the ground. A 28-yard run by Mason McLaughlin highlighted a march that resulted in a first-and-goal at the Kiski 9-yard line.
On fourth down from the 3, Harvey rolled right and threw his first pass of the night. James O'Quinn intercepted the ball in the end zone to end the threat.
"That play wasn't executed the way we wanted it, but (O'Quinn) is very athletic and was able to get back and make a play on the ball,"McAnallen said.
Butler picked up two more first downs on its next possession and would have had a third when Jared Oesterling crossed midfield after catching a screen pass. A holding penalty wiped out the play, however, setting up a third-and-18.
McAnallen had Harvey quick kick with his team trailing, 14-0.
"At that point in the game, we weren't ready to convert that down,"the coach said. "Our receivers weren't going to get behind the coverage there, so I figured we'd try to pin them back, make a play defensively and get back in the game."
Vick ruined that plan by completing a 70-yard bomb to O'Quinn on the next play, setting up Murdock's field goal.
The Tornado offense never ventured into Kiski territory again.
"Their first two possessions, we had defenders jumping around into gaps, trying to adjust to what they were doing,"Heater said. "After that, we settled into our base defense and that worked."
McAnallen agreed.
"They sat in a base and reacted to our plays,"he said. "I still expected us to make plays, but their athleticism was able to stop us."
Harvey led the Tornado ground attack with 54 yards, but he threw for only 17.
Eli Christy recovered a fumble in the second half for Butler's lone takeaway.
"We had glimpses of playing good football. We just couldn't put it together tonight,"McAnallen said.
