TITUSVILLE 28, REDBANK VALLEY 0

Oct. 5, 2006

TITUSVILLE – Thing started off well but went south in a hurry for Redbank Valley Thursday night at Titusville.

The Bulldogs drive 74 yards to the Titusville 4-yard line on their first possession, but they never got the final four yards in a 28-0 loss to the Class AAA Rockets at Carter Field.

After getting to the four, Redbank lost five yards (one by Alex Bladel and four by Jake Smith). Titusville’s Ben Vincent then stepped in front of Smith pass at the seven and returned the interception 68 yards to the Bulldog 25.

"We made all the right decisions (on the drive)," Redbank Valley head coach Ed Wasilowski said. "Then we got down there and made a couple of bad ones. The interception was huge. If we score there and grab some momentum … we had it. We had out shots, no doubt about it."

It took Titusville (5-1) two plays to capitalize on the miscue when Andrew Clark hooked up with Derek Carr for a 20-yard touchdown pass on second down.

"That (the interception) is a total momentum swing right there," Titusville coach Scott Salvo said. "Our defense has really stepped it up this year, and they’re allowing our offense to be patient. Our defense has really done a nice job this year."

It was the third straight shutout for the Rockets, who have allowed 21 points all season.

It’s the first time Redbank Valley has been shutout in nearly eight years. The last time the Bulldogs failed to score was in a 26-0 loss at Karns City Oct. 9, 1998. That was the third time Redbank was shutout that season.

Titusville’s defense set up the Rockets second touchdown as well stopping Bladel three yards shot on a fourth-and-4 play from the Rockets 43.

On the next play from scrimmage, David Stewart took a pitch from Clark and rumbled 58 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead on the second play of the second quarter.

The score remained the same until late in the third quarter when Carr polished off a four-play, 60-yard drive with a 55-yard TD run making it 21-0 with 20 seconds left in the stanza.

Titusville’s final score typified how the game went for each team. The Rockets drove from their 20-yard line to the Redbank 24. On second-and-11 from there, Marc Bodamer gained 3 yards before the ball popped loose. It went right to Andrew Repasky, who ran the final 21 yards for the score. Ian McCray’s kick set the final.

"We have the kid stopped on a third-and-I-don’t-know-what and he reverses his field for a first down," Wasilowski lamented. "Then the very next play, they fumble right to their kid and he runs it right in. If we wouldn’t have had bad luck, we’d have had no luck at all tonight."

While the Rockets were piling up 351 yards of total offense, the Bulldogs’ high-powered attack was limited to 149 yards in 49 plays, including just 46 yards rushing in 29 attempts (1.6 yards per carry). Bladel, District 9’s second-leading rusher with 770 yards coming into the game, was limited to 50 yards on 16 carries.

"We just told our guys to keep hitting him," Salvo said of his team’s game plan to stop Bladel. "Our defense just stepped up. We knew that they were going to be able to throw the ball, but they are so balanced offensively that we said we couldn’t ignore the run. When we got the ball, we just needed to go after him."

Despite the loss, Wasilowski was not down.

"It doesn’t matter anything in the KSAC," he said. "And, I don’t know how the seeding will work out for the (District 9 Class A) playoffs. All I want to do is make the playoffs, and if we finish as the No. 1 Class A school in the KSAC, I think we’ll have a high seed.

"We just couldn’t get any other game and we didn’t want to have a week off. In hindsight, maybe we should have had a bye week."

NOTES – It was the second straight loss for the Bulldogs after starting the season 4-0. Redbank has been outscored 51-7 in the two loses, both of which came against teams from higher classification (Class AA Karns City; Class AAA Titusville). That was after outscoring its opponents 145-66 in the ‘Dogs first four contests

TITUSVILLE 28, REDBANK VALLEY 0

Redbank 0 0 0 0 – 0

Titusville 7 7 7 7 – 28

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

T — Derek Carr 20 pass from Andrew Clark (Luke Tarr kick), 2:46.

Second Quarter

T — David Stewart 58 run (Tarr kick), 11:43.

Third Quarter

T — Carr 55 run (Tarr kick), :20.

Fourth Quarter

T — Andrew Repasky 21 run (Ian McCray kick), 6:17.

RV T

First downs 10 14

Rushing yards 29-46 34-287

Passing yards 103 64

Total yards 149 351

Comp-Att-Int 11-20-1 6-15-2

Punts 6-30.2 1-27

Fumbles-lost 2-0 3-0

Penalties/yards 6-52 4-33

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Redbank Valley: Alex Bladel 16-50, Jake Smith 11-4, Jerrett Magagnotti 1-(-4), Team 1-(-4). Titusville: Stewart 12-126, Carr 10-94, Marc Bodamer 4-26, Repasky 2-40, Joe Anderson 3-6, Clark 2-(-5), Isaac Richards 1-0.

PASSING – Redbank Valley: Smith 11 of 20, 103 yds., 1 Int. Titusville: Clark 6 of 15, 64 yds., 1 TD, 2 Int.

RECEIVING – Redbank Valley: Mike Booher 3-30, Bladel 3-13, Magagnotti 2-22, Justin Dunnivan 2-25, Pat Wasilowski 1-13. Titusville: Ben Vincent 2-21, Carr 1-20, Bodamer 1-12, Tarr 1-6, Stewart 1-5.

INTERCEPTIONS – Redbank Valley: Smith, Cody Buchleitner. Titusville: Vincent.