Spartans cage Cougars

Written by: Frank Kastreva on Saturday, October 11th, 2008. Follow Frank Kastreva on Twitter.

By Frank Kastreva, WVCD2.com

HAZLETON Harmon-Geist Stadium in downtown Hazleton is a place that has not been so kind to the Valley West Spartans and their legendary head coach George Curry.

The Cougars came into the ballgame with two consecutive wins over Valley West since “King George” made the move to Spartan land.

In fact, Rocco Petrone and his Hazleton Area Cougars have been on the winning side of Curry coached teams since 2004.

Petrone and Hazleton Area downed Berwick in their final game of 2005, knocking Berwick out of the playoffs. It was Curry’s final season in Dawgtown.

Hazleton Area also gave the Spartans their first loss in 2006 and 2007 with Curry at the helm. Valley West came in to both of those games unbeaten.

Tonight, the tides turned and Valley West was the one knocking off the unbeaten as the Cougars came in with an unblemished record, only to have the Maroon and Gold destroy it on homecoming night at Hazleton Area.

The Spartans found themselves down 7-0 in the first quarter as Jr. Chad Nicholas returned a punt 55 yards to paydirt. It would be the only score of the half.

Valley West moved the ball quite a bit in the first half, but had nothing to show for it due to turnovers and penalties. On the defensive side of the ball the Spartans only allowed one first down the entire first half.

The Spartans would come out in the second half reeling off 24 unanswered points while only giving up one score which came late in the fourth quarter.

Scoring for the Maroon and Gold were So. George Simms, Sr. Ali Muhammad, Sr. Dave Ryncavage and Sr. Bill McGuinness on a 30 yard FG.

With the win the Valley West Spartans have climbed right back in the quad A playoff race, which may be a surprise to some, but not to all.

“We know we have to run the table for any kind of shot to qualify for the state tourney, so we must stay focused. As seniors we must lead the way, we have made the playoffs in the last two season, we don’t want to lose that streak in our final year.” said Jack Crossin from the Spartan’s locker room.

As for those local sports writers that claimed Valley West will now have to play the spoiler role, please tally up the playoff points, because your story is the only thing that’s spoiled NOW!

 

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4 Responses to “Spartans cage Cougars”

1. tony says:
   October 14th, 2008 at 7:48 pm

   josh. i couldn’t agree with you more they should have passed the ball more and i suppose that i can see your point with the rekick, you know and i do too that they were going to kick it away from your brother for that reason. me and a couple of guys i was standing with had a feeling that curry would do something like that and that it would be a turning point of the game which it was. getting back to that passing game that rocco should use more often because drumheller is not that bad of a QB. i’ve seen him throw a couple of good passes to his receivers including your brother. however, he tries to attack with the run which is what rich matz did when he was coach of HAHS, which (by the way) petrone was an assistant when he was there. i will be at the game on friday when we should kill Crestwood. hopefully, your brother will get the ball thrown to him. i will certanly have to pay attention to him on friday and see how they play him.

2. Joshua "too fast" Pollitt says:
   October 13th, 2008 at 12:32 am

   well..to tony, i hear..u but that was actually a smart move..almost like a WIN_LOSE Situation when he chose to rekick..because..if you know may or may not know..Hazleton has the best kick returner in the state…He’s unknown, he’s the faster player in the wyoming valley conference..and maybe even the district 2…when track season cmes back up again…and he’s also my little brother..he already ran back.a couple of returns for touchdowns…and valley west was afraid to kick it to my brother..DONALD POLLITT…but..if hazleton would have…well..petrone..stopp being favortism…and throw..the ball..to my brother..they wouldv’e killed valley west…man..and maybe give him time at corner or safety…yeah man..He’s unknown..Donald pollitt

3. Polecat says:
   October 11th, 2008 at 11:08 am

   Rocco had three straight wins over King George. The Cougs defeated his emminence in Royal George`s last game at Berwick. Things still are uncertain that WVW makes the playoffs, we will see how things shake out.

4. tony says:
   October 11th, 2008 at 9:51 am

   i was at that game last night and the cougars were out coached and out played. the running game which is basically what the cougars use about 75% of their attack was basically shut down. they could have gone to a more spread out offense and passed the ball a little more but they chose not to. the defense for the cougars did play as well as they could but when the spartans were starting their possessions deep in cougar territory it is not that easy to keep them off the scoreboard. the turining point of the game i believe was after the spartans scored their first touchdown. the kickoff sailed out of bounds and instead of taking the ball at the 35 petrone chose to rekick and curry surprised him with a squip kick that went off a cougar player and recovered by the spartans. i can truly say last night that the best team won. the cougars can only pick up the pieces and move on next week against crestwood.