Despite game-tying TD in final seconds, North Catholic football falls in 2OT to Elizabeth Forward
ADAMS TWP — The ground game won out for Elizabeth Forward on Friday night.
Two players combined for 200 yards, and the Warriors utilized both to beat North Catholic football 34-28 in double overtime at Mars Athletic Complex.
“We need to go back and watch the film, but I would imagine there are some 1-on-1s that we need to win, and there are probably some misfits that we need to go in and clean up. Hats off to their quarterback, he’s a great player. The guy beat us with his legs all night and made good decisions with the football,” Trojans head coach Chris Rizzo said after the loss.
Rizzo wasn’t wrong, as junior quarterback Kaden Allen beat up on the Trojans’ defense, rushing for 95 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries. Allen wasn’t the only one carrying a heavy load for the Warriors (2-0), as sophomore running back Rocco Thompson had 105 yards rushing on 23 carries and three touchdowns, including the game-winner.
Even with the loss, Rizzo was still happy with how his offense performed and the level of compete his guys had.
“There is a lot of fight in our kids, no doubt, but fight is not going to be able to crawl you out of mistakes hurting you, and constantly battling back obviously has its tolls. Unfortunately, towards the end we were tired, so the positives are that we have fight, but the negatives are that we have to fight too much,” Rizzo said.
The game unexpectedly got moved from J.C. Stone Field to Mars Athletic Complex because J.C. Stone didn’t have electricity after Thursday’s severe storms, but coach Rizzo said it didn’t have any impact on his team because it was still close.
Standout North Catholic (0-2) senior wide receiver Will Waskiewicz had five receptions for 71 yards and one touchdown, as well 53 return yards.
“Some of the positives are that we put points on the board because, at the end of the day, we were able to put up 28 points on a good team, but you know when there is a loss we generally see more negatives than positives, so we need to get back out and tighten things up,” Waskiewicz said.
Senior Will Toprani had an up-and-down day at quarterback, going 12 of 25 for 203 yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown to tie the game with 8 seconds left in the fourth quarter. However, he also threw two interceptions.
The Trojans also had an effective rushing attack. Junior Nate Swisher carried the ball 14 times for 80 yards and one touchdown. Senior tight end John Flerl also had himself a day, hauling in four receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown.
“We are looking to clean up some of the correctable stuff, like penalties that are getting us killed and missed opportunities like letting the quarterback beat you on third down because the effort is there, but when that stuff happens, it negates the effort,” Rizzo said.
Elizabeth Forward 7 7 7 0 7 6 — 34
North Catholic 0 14 0 7 7 0 — 28
1st Quarter
EF — Rocco Thompson 8 yard run (Luke Holdren kick), 5:30
2nd Quarter
NC — Will Waskiewicz 20 yard pass from Will Toprani (Jackson Schlegel kick), 10:30
EF — Kaden Allen 12 yard run (Holdren kick), 2:30
NC — John Flerl 80 yard pass from Toprani (Schlegel kick), 1:35
3rd Quarter
EF — Thompson 3 yard run (Holdren kick), 3:30
4th Quarter
NC — Toprani 1 yard run (Schlegel kick), 0:08
1st Overtime
EF — Thompson 10 run (Holdren kick)
NC — Nate Swisher 11 run (Schlegel)
2nd Overtime
EF — Thompson 3 run
Rushing: Elizabeth Forward, Rocco Thompson 23-104, Kaden Allen 16-95. North Catholic, Nate Swisher 14-80, Anthony Greene 6-25, Will Toprani 2-9.
Passing: Elizabeth Forward, Kaden Allen 8-11-26. North Catholic, Will Toprani 12-25-203-2.
Receiving: Elizabeth Forward, Ryan Dolekary 8-18, Aiden Hicks 3-8. North Catholic, Will Waskiewicz 5-71, John Flerl 4-97, Louie Laquint 3-35.
