ALMEDIA – With a roster featuring 22 juniors and seniors, Lower Moreland has one of its most experienced teams in recent years. By contrast, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech entered this season with a very inexperienced roster, and its inexperience has been exacerbated by a rash of injuries that has necessitated an installation of a new offense midway through the season.
So, with those two things as the backdrop, Saturday’s result wasn’t all that surprising. Lower Moreland limited CMVT to just 26 total yards as the Lions largely shut down the Rams’ rushing lanes and options out of the backfield, while the Lions scored on all six of their first half possessions and also added a score on special teams as Lower Moreland topped the Rams 51-0.
“They’ve had some injuries with their offense because we saw some tape from earlier in the season and it was a different offense, but I totally understand where he’s coming at it throwing some single wing and misdirection stuff, but we got film on it and our defensive coordinator did a great job getting our guys prepared and getting ready for it,” said Lower Moreland coach Dominic Gregorio. “Our kids are pretty aggressive. On our defensive line, we have all five starters back from last year and we were able to get after them a bit.”
The win improves the Lions to 6-1, their best start to a season in several years. Next week, Lower Moreland can win its seventh game in a season for the first time since 2009. And with at least two wins in their last three games, the Lions can notch an eighth win for the first time since 2008.
The Rams managed just two plays of 10 yards or more on the afternoon and had 17 plays go for negative yardage.
“This was probably the best team we’ve played all year. As a coach, you always look for that weak spot or gap in their system but there wasn’t one out there today,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “They were just beating us to the gap, to the ball carrier, to the spot, to the blocks, so sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team. We do need to play better against good teams like this, but I think we were a little shell shocked and a step behind on some of our blocks.”
The Lions scored touchdowns on five of their first 12 offensive plays of the game, and also returned a blocked punt for a score as well. Meanwhile, CMVT didn’t get its first first down of the game until the final minute of the first half.
The Rams opened the game with a three-and-out and Lower Moreland took over near midfield. The Lions then put together a seven-play, 52-yard drive capped by Andrew Rodriguez’ seven-yard touchdown run. That ended up being the longest scoring drive of the game for Lower Moreland, both in plays and yards.
The Lions’ next three touchdowns came on a two-play drive and a pair of single-play drives. The Rams turned it over on downs at their own 38, and then Rodriguez ripped off a 38-yard touchdown run on the second play of the Lions’ ensuing drive.
Jude Gove and Chase Carroll then connected for a pair of touchdowns, the first for 65 yards and the second going for 42 yards to put the Lions up 28-0 at the 11:38 mark of the second quarter. Those two connections broke single-season school records for the Lions, as Gove now has 11 touchdown passes and Carroll has 12 touchdown catches.
“We have some athletes and when we throw the ball up, they have a chance at catching it,” said Gregorio.
CMVT then had a punt partially blocked from its own 13 that rolled back behind the line of scrimmage, where it was scooped up at the 1-yard line and carried into the end zone by Jagger Fink.
A pair of rushing touchdowns by Eddie Weber later in the second quarter, one of which came following an interception that was recorded on one of just two pass attempts by the Rams on the day, capped the first half scoring. The Lions also added a safety in the third quarter.
“The main problem with our defense today was our tackles were getting pushed inside, and instead of fighting pressure and holding their gap, they were stepping inside and hands were coming out and that gave them a big area to run through,” said Varner. “We adjusted that in the second half and made sure our ends didn’t get too deep and our tackles fought pressure better and it shut that gap down and things looked much better in the second half. We’ll take it as a learning opportunity and make adjustments and move on.”
Lower Moreland 51, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 0
Lower Moreland (6-1) 20 29 2 0 – 51
CMVT (1-7) 0 0 0 0 – 0
First quarter
5:50 – (LM) Andrew Rodriguez 7-yard run (Makharov kick), 7-52, 4:34
3:29 – (LM) Andrew Rodriguez 38-yard run (kick blocked), 2-38, :16
:53 – (LM) Chase Carroll 65-yard pass from Jude Gove (Makharov kick), 1-65, :20
Second quarter
11:38 – (LM) Chase Carroll 42-yard pass from Jude Gove (Gove run), 1-42, :09
9:44 – (LM) Jagger Fink 1-yard blocked punt return (Makharov kick)
6:55 – (LM) Eddie Weber 2-yard run (Makharov kick), 1-5, :27
1:39 – (LM) Eddie Weber 8-yard run (Makharov kick), 4-28, 2:46
Third quarter
5:08 – (LM) Team Safety
Statistics
LM VT
First downs 13 3
Rushes-net yards 30-186 39-26
Passing yardage 121 0
Passing 5-6-2-0 0-2-0-1
Fumbles-lost 1-1 7-2
Penalties-yards 7-60 2-8
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Lower Moreland: Eddie Weber (11-49-2), Constantine Ryan (10-48), Andrew Rodriguez (4-65-2), Jude Gove (2-25), Team (2-(-2)), Levi Fishman (1-1); CMVT: Cody Zimmerman (28-44), Liam Patraw (5-14), Blake Sponenberg (3-5), Zane Labate (1-(-10)), Team (1-(-12)), Jaxon Hartman (1-(-15))
PASSING: Lower Moreland: Jude Gove (4-5-114-2-0), Constantine Ryan (1-1-7-0-0); CMVT: Jaxon Hartman (0-2-0-0-1)
RECEIVING: Lower Moreland: Chase Carroll (3-111-2), Kieran Campbell (1-7), Matthew Duchossois (1-3); CMVT: None