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By SCOTT FERTAL; Times Leader Sports Correspondent
Sunday, October 09, 1994     Page: 1C

LEHMAN TWP. — After last weekend’s 34-20 loss to GAR, Lake-Lehman coach
Rich Gorgone feared the loss would affect his team’s play Saturday against
Crestwood. And by the Knights’ play in the first half, Gorgone was right.
   
But Lake-Lehman (5-1 overall) played inspired ball in the second half and
held off the Comets 14-6 in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division II game at
Edward E. Edwards Stadium.
    “We talked about the possibility of a letdown all week,” Gorgone said. “And
in the first half, we were just going through the motions.”
   
Crestwood (0-6) dominated the first half with its defense, holding Lehman
to 69 total offensive yards. The Comets led 6-0 at intermission.
   
As Gorgone evaluated the poor first-half performance, he knew adjustments
had to be made.
   
“We wanted to establish our running game instead of our normal wide-open
style,” Gorgone said. “We felt we could take advantage by running counters and
traps right at them.”
   
The Lehman adjustment was evident from the start of the second half as the
Knights went on a nine-play, 84-yard touchdown drive. Mike Pitcavage ended the
drive with a 20-yard run to tie the game at 6-6. John Oliver added the
point-after to give Lehman a 7-6 lead with 7:59 remaining in the third
quarter.
   
Pitcavage, who was held to 37 yards rushing in the first half, finished the
day with 154 yards on 17 carries and was the nucleus to the Knights offense in
the second half.
   
“He’s a great player,” said Gorgone of Pitcavage, who was forced to leave
the game midway in the fourth quarter with a back injury. “He’s important to
us both offensively and defensively (as an outside linebacker). We can’t
afford to lose him.”
   
But the Comets wouldn’t quit after Lehman’s score, as they took the ensuing
drive deep into Lehman territory. But the drive came up empty as the Comets
missed a 29-yard field attempt.
   
“We’ve just been making crucial errors at crucial times and shooting
ourself in the foot,” said Crestwood coach Jim McGovern. “We make the field
goal, it’s a different game.”
   
The Knights took advantage of the Crestwood miscue and marched 80 yards on
10 plays as reserve tailback Mark Ronczka, who replaced the injured Pitcavage,
bulled in from 3 yards out to increase the Lehman lead. Oliver’s extra-point
gave Lehman a 14-6 lead with 5:27 left to play.
   
Still, the Comets wouldn’t quit and drove to the Lehman 34 with less than
two minutes to play. But on a fourth-and-four, Crestwood quarterback Kevin
Zurawski slipped and fell after a 1-yard gain, to turn the ball over on downs.
   
Zurawski appeared to have a lot of running room on the play, but just fell
short, a theme to Crestwood’s winless season.
   
“They’ve played teams tough this year,” said Gorgone of the Comets. “And
they played very well today.”
   
Added McGovern, “This team has potential, but this team needs a win. I
don’t believe in moral victories, just wins and losses. They’ve got to find
something positive out of this and go out and play angry football because of
everything that has been taken away from them.”
   
After a scoreless first quarter, the Comets chewed up more than 10 minutes
of the second quarter with a 14-play, 87-yard drive. Zurawski climaxed the
march with a 9-yard run. The point-after was no good, leaving Crestwood with a
6-0 halftime lead.
   
Mike Johnson was a key to Crestwood’s early running game success, rushing
for 82 yards in the first half and 122 yards on the afternoon.
   
“He came to play,” McGovern said of Johnson. “He really stepped it up
today.”
   
Crestwood 0 6 0 0 – 6
   
Lake-Lehman 0 0 7 7 – 14
   
First Quarter
   
No scoring.
   
Second Quarter
   
CREST – Zurawski 9 run (kick failed)
   
Third Quarter
   
LL – Pitcavage 20 run (Oliver kick)
   
Fourth Quarter
   
LL – Ronczka 3 run (Oliver kick)
   
Crestwood Lehman
   
First Downs 12 13
   
Rushes-Yards 33-221 31-230
   
Passing yards 11 20
   
Passes 2-6-0 3-9-0
   
Sacks by 1-9 1-10
   
Punts-Avg 5-31.8 5-44.2
   
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-1
   
Penalties-Yards 2-15 3-21