PD Old Forge Sports

old forge football

By Rick Notari rnotari@psdispatch.com
Pittston Sunday Dispatch Staff Writer

An emotionally charged Riverside team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the 93-year history of its Tri-Boro rivalry with Old Forge as the Vikings took a 30-14 win from the Blue Devils in front of over 3,000 fans in the District 2 Class 1A semis at Old Forge Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

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Above, Old Forge’s Brian Morris stiff arms a tackler on his way to a 15-yard gain early in the first quarter of the District 2 semifinal.

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Pictured at top, Old Forge quarterback Malkolm Blackshear is forced to pitch the ball as Skylar Lavage tries to make a play from the ground. At left, AJ Grasso tackles Paul Lassiter; and above, Mike Matisko is stunned as he listens to coaches speak after the game.

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The victory puts Riverside in position to defend its D2 crown next week against the winner of last night’s Northwest v. Wilkes-Barre Meyers semi. Old Forge had its season come to a stunning end with its first loss of the year.

The Blue Devils received the opening kickoff and ran Brian Morris for nine yards on three plays after drawing Riverside (4-7) offsides on the first play from scrimmage. But on third down, the Vikings forced a fumble on a Malkolm Blackshear quarterback sneak.

Riverside defensive back Tommy Armillay pounced on the loose pigskin to give the Vikings first-and-10 at their own 46.

From there Riverside pounded the ball right at the Blue Devils – looking more like a throwback team from the 1940s in a single wing formation, than its normal wide open offense.

Corey Talerico ran 17 yards on the Vikings first play from scrimmage and added nine on his second carry to move the ball inside the Old Forge 30.

Paul Lassiter then carried 13 yards before Talerico – who didn’t play in the opening game of the season while serving a PIAA suspension – carried twice for 15 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown run to put Riverside ahead, 6-0, with 8:29 left in the first quarter. Lassiter added the two-point run for the 8-0 lead.

Old Forge came right back with an eight-play, 77-yard drive that was aided by a Riverside unsportsmanlike penalty after Morris rushed for 16 yards on the first two plays of the drive.

Morris rushed two more times for another 16 yards after Klaus Woodeshick bulled his way for a three-yard gain and the Blue Devils had first-and-10 inside the Vikings 30-yard line.

Blackshear – who made his first start at quarterback for the Blue Devils – carried twice for nine yards before Old Forge was whistled for illegal participation to set up third-and-6 from the Riverside 23.

Facing a two-down situation, the Blue Devils called on Morris who broke through the middle of the line before sprinting to paydirt for a 23-yard touchdown run with 4:17 left in the first quarter. The two-point run was stopped, but Old Forge was within 8-6.

The Old Forge defense went to work, stopping Riverside on three downs during its next series before forcing a punt.

Morris carried twice for three yards to open the ensuing drive, and Blackshear would break away from three tacklers to gain 26 and set the Blue Devils up with first down at the Vikings 37.

But Riverside stopped Morris for no gain on first down before forcing Blackshear into two incompletions on second and third down. The Blue Devils decided to punt, and senior Mark Zambetti nailed his kick to the one-yard line where Talerico fielded it before bringing it out to his own 8 to open the second quarter.

Talerico carried on first down for one yard before another unsportsmanlike penalty pushed Riverside back to its own 4 facing second-and-14.

But Lassiter carried for eight on second down and quarterback Nick Dranchak found Talerico on an out for nine yards to give Riverside some breathing room at its own 21 yards line.

From there the Vikings marched 71 yards on nine plays to the Old Forge eight-yard line where they had first-and-goal with less than six minutes showing in the first half.

Talerico threw incomplete on first down before Lassiter ran for four and two yards on second and third-and-goal.

With the ball on the Blue Devils 2, Talerico took a handoff on fourth-and-goal on what looked like was a designed run. But the junior pulled up and lofted the ball toward the endzone where a host of Old Forge defenders seemingly waited to make the interception.

However, the pass went off the hands of three different Blue Devils and into the arms of Skylar Lavage who was on his back in the endzone for the Riverside touchdown.

The run failed but the Vikings had taken a 14-6 lead after its 16-play, 92-yard drive had taken 7:52 off the clock in the second quarter.

The Blue Devils tried to respond after a Riverside personal foul penalty set them up on the 50. The personal foul was called for roughing the quarterback on a play that Blackshear had overthrown a wide open Morris in Riverside territory.

A reverse that Michael Mancuso took for 25 yards negated a sack and moved Old Forge (10-1) to the Riverside 35. But two incompletions, including a dropped pass inside the 10, and a loss on a screen pass gave the Blue Devils a fourth-and-14 from the Vikings 39.

Blackshear was sacked on fourth down for a 10-yard loss and Riverside took over before the clock ran out in the second quarter.

The Vikings received the second-half kickoff and moved into Old Forge territory when Talerico scampered 22 yards to the Blue Devils 37. Two plays later, Woodeshick picked off a Dranchak pass to stop the drive and give Old Forge the ball and seemingly some momentum.

The Blue Devils drove to the Riverside 27 as Blackshear completed passes to Connor Fultz for 11 yards and Dave Argust for 14 yards. But the Viking defense rose to the occasion again when Armillay picked off the Blue Devils dynamic quarterback at his own six-yard line.

With its running game clicking, Talerico and Lassiter split 10 carries on a 94-yard scoring drive that was finished off when Talerico went 32 yards on second-and-9 for another Riverside touchdown. Lassiter carried in the two-point run, and the Vikings led 22-6 with 1:45 left in the third quarter. The tandem burned the Blue Devils for 313 yards rushing on 40 carries between them.

Old Forge went exclusively to its passing game from that point in the game, and went three-and-out on its next series as Blackshear was sacked on first down before throwing two incompletions.

Zambetti’s 50-yard punt pushed Riverside back to its own 19, but again the Vikings kept the clock ticking with a punishing ground game.

Talerico and Lassiter carried eight times for 41 yards before the Blue Devils got a break.

Talerico fumbled on an exchange with 8:19 left in the game that Zambetti recovered to give Old Forge the ball at its own 40.

But Blackshear was sacked twice more for a loss of 10 yards before an 11-yard completion and an incompletion gave the Vikings the ball back.

Five plays later, Talerico scored from 10 yards on Riverside’s 24th consecutive running play to put the game out of reach. Lassiter punched in another two-point conversion and the Vikings led 30-6 with 4:10 left in the game.

The Blue Devils added a late touchdown when Blackshear found Argust over the middle for a 55-yard score with 1:59 left. Blackshear ran in the two-point conversion for the final score of the night and a 30-14 final.

Devil Details

Old Forge leads the overall series with 30 wins against 28 defeats. The teams have tied four times…. Morris finished with 72 yards on 13 carries – all in the first half. The senior did not touch the football in the second half. Morris finished his career with 2,939 yards and 42 rushing touchdowns….. Blackshear was 6-for-16 passing for 90 yards. He threw his first interception of the season….. Argust led the receiving corps with two catches for 69 yards…. Woodeshick played outstanding defensively in his last game for the Blue Devils, recording 10 tackles and an interception…. Alex Enciso finished with six tackles and AJ Grasso and Mike Tagliaferri pitched in with five each.